The Discovery

We stopped in Dundee to check out the ship, the Discovery. This ship was responsible for many Antarctic and Arctic explorations starting in 1900. this ship visited Frobisher Bay many times so considering that the choir's hit single 

Last day of Aberdeen

-------- Original message -------- Subject: Last day of Aberdeen From: Bradley van Middelkoop To: bvanmiddelkoop.africa@blogger.com CC:

Today we took a walking tour of old Aberdeen. We learned that this town is much much older than anything in Canada! The university was basically the beginning of the town and it was founded in the 15th century! 

The picture above is an old part of town where women used to do laundry but is now a beautiful inner city park! 

After our walking tour we headed an hour out of town to the small city Berlin to do a concert.  We sand in a cathedral that was built 800 years ago!!! 

We had an awesome concert and were very well received! Frobisher Bay continues to be a crowd favorite and it improves everyone we sing it.

The Aberdeen Youth Festival has been fantastic! Off in a northern direction!

Scotland day 2

Today we sang at St. Mary's cathedral in Aberdeen during their church service. We were incredibly well received and fed! The official opening ceremony of the festival was today so we were treated to 16 national anthems with flags and then a traditional Scottish bagpipe group finished the ceremony.  The group produced so much sound it was deafening! 

Tonight we learned how to Scottish dance in the hottest,  sweatiest, most packed party I have ever seen. Man, who would have thought dancing could be dangerous but with all the spinning and partner switching you really have to watch yourself!

And of course, the night ended with several laughs and pints! 

Aberdeen!

After battling jet lag with will power, beer, and making some new friends, I woke up this morning feeling quite refreshed and ready to get this choir tour underway.

All 800 or so participants at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival gathered and paraded down the main street in Aberdeen, performing along the way. 

This was my view as we walked.  We tried to keep a chair distance away from the "Happy German Bagpipers" in front of us.  We sang and handed out small Canadian flags to the onlookers as we went.

This afternoon we performed a small set in the shopping mall and then sang some a cappella tunes at this place:

This is the municipal offices of Aberdeen and inside is a huge square.  It great acoustics for an outdoor space and the audience loved us.

It is now beer o'clock which means I will likely have a pint of Tanners which is a Scottish lager.  Tonight we hear the National Youth Orchestra, then go to a cabaret and then have a disco!

Cheers!

Girls' Choir treats me well

We are on our way to the Calgary airport and our tour manager handed me this:

This is my lunch money.  All that I need to do is replace this ten dollar bill with a receipt. Excellent service!

Getting Ready

It has been years since this blog has been updated but that is because it has been years since a Koop has traveled and had something to say about it!

I am getting ready to take the lovely Medicine Hat College Girls' Choir to the Aberdeen International Youth Festival in Scotland! 

After choir tour, the lovely Josie Piché will be joining me to tour Ireland and London! 

Today is my last day in Canada and I have left all of my preparations Until now.  Here is a picture of how I have coordinated my Girls' Choir t-shirts with my lululemon underwear.

Stay tuned for travel updates, pictures, and maybe even the ramblings of some special guest bloggers!

Cheers!