Latvia

After a 3-hour coach journey that included various degrees of boredom and lack of things to do (aside from card-games, sleeping and listening to Jack Bazelgette’s ukelele), the choir were not ungrateful to finally step off the bus outside “Hotel Riga” and breathe some mercifully fresh air. Although it was around 10 o’clock in the evening, it seemed that the last thing on every treble's mind was to go to bed as soon as they found their room as key cards were distributed outside the hotel. From as little as 3 seconds of being inside the reception, everyone could tell that the standards here were very much higher than those of “Hotel Shnelli.”

Breakfast the next morning was very much a delicious and pleasant affair. That morning we had a guided tour, as we did in Estonia. We passed many interesting sites, including the “The Statue of Independence” and the “National Occupation Museum” which we would visit later that day prior to our opening concert in the “Riga Dome;” home to one of the world’s largest organs on which I am sure Mr. Jaekal was more than happy to use his talents.

The concert that evening was fantastic, the only downside being the lack of the giant audience for which we had hoped and expected. After an encore of “Riu Riu Chiu” the choir made their way back up to the organ loft where we had left our bags. After congratulations from Mr. Toyne, we walked towards the restaurant where we would eat our dinner. It was raining. A promising sign that, if it carried on through the night and into the next day, we would go to a water-park instead of the beach!

Alas, it did not. Whilst on the coach on our way to the beach, we passed the water-park which we may have gone to had the rain continued. A collective groan was let out as it came into sight, a groan that carried on until the water-park had disappeared from view. But many of us had groaned too soon! We arrived at the hotel in which we would eat our lunch and walked through it to the beach behind. It was incredible. The sand was white and warm and the water itself was also at a comfortable temperature. Soon a large game involving a rugby ball and sixth-formers giving piggybacks to trebles was entertaining almost the entire choir. After some time spent as such and a few choir members going back to shore, the remaining choir members in the sea eventually returned as well. When everyone was ready to go to lunch, it seemed as though a considerable portion of the beach's sand had made its way into the choir’s shoes.

Lunch in the hotel was very good. After many attempts to sit with counterparts and two incidents resulting in to broken glasses from the same Year 8 table, the choir managed to settle. After lunch was over, the choir drove further down the coast to a town where a large music festival was taking place. We were allowed 2 hours of free time around the town and the beach. Many people decided to spend their time in the ocean once again whilst others decided to spend it in the towns’ boulevard. Once our time was up, the choir met at the rendezvous point, where the coach was to pick us up and take us to our dinner venue. That day being Mr. Toyne’s birthday, after rehearsing in the restaurants car park, a Close-Harmony group including two trebles, two basses, an alto and a tenor performed a harmonized version of “Happy Birthday” inside the restaurant. After doing so, Mr. Toyne was presented with a series of awesome presents and a large cake!

Upon returning to the hotel after dinner at about 11 o’clock, all Years 7, 8 and 9 made their way to their rooms. The next morning seemed to have come too quickly: we had barely arrived in Riga before having to leave it. After room checks and quick excursions to the corner-shop just down the street, the choir boarded the coach that would take us to Vilnius in Lithuania...
Edan Umrigar (Year 7)