Freiburg to Stuttgart

Well I've added another place to my list of places to come back to. Freiburg is beautiful, but we had so little time here, plus it was a Sunday so there was not much open. We went for a walk in the old town and managed to take in some lovely buildings, but it was desperately cold, so we didn't manage to last long and after about an hour headed back (via a cone of chips and mayo!) to the hotel to warm up before the rehearsal.

I enjoyed a luxurious soak in the bath with my book, and realised that it was my first bath since leaving London. Before you go 'oooooer, bit wiffy Jools', I've been having showers instead which has been great, as I've missed having a shower the last few months, Lou's flat only having the disturbingly pink bath etc. I have always viewed baths as something of an indulgence and find it very difficult to have a quick functional bath in the way you can have a quick functional shower in the morning before work. The temptation to wallow is tremendous, and I've been finding the whole 'body wash before work’ thing a bit stressful, so it’s been great to have some good old vigorous German showers before a concert - just the thing to pep me up. Today however, because I’d ended up with more time to play with, I decided on a spot of indulgence and hoped having a bath wouldn't make me feel too much like just going to bed after!

The concert hall was attached to the hotel we were staying in, so it meant we could get ready in our rooms again (very civilized!) and then fling on a coat and wizz round the corner to the artists entrance ready for our bit in the second half of the concert. I hate to say this again, but it was another really good concert, we just seem to keep getting better, which is saying something as it was pretty damn good when we started in Hannover. I really enjoyed the acoustic - I don't know what it sounded like out front, but it felt so easy to sing there, the notes and runs were pinging out remarkably well and it was a really enjoyable experience.

The concert was followed by an 'official' photo of the choir - a couple with Neville before he was whisked off for dinner somewhere - and the rest with Johan, and then another night cap in the bar - I have a feeling there was some dancing at one point ... Oh dear! Bed was a late one but happily we didn't have to be on the coach to our final port of call, and our final concert :-( until 1100 this morning (luxury!), so I still managed a reasonable amount of sleep which is just as well, as the route we're taking to Stuttgart is through the mountains, and is far to pretty to try and sleep through.