Lisa: Los Angeles - Last Leg

Well, I'm finally going to finish telling about my trip to California with the Tabernacle Choir. I'm sure everyone cares even less than they did a month ago, but it's my online diary. SO THERE.

Okay, so after breakfast on Saturday morning we all walked from the hotel to Disney Hall, via an elaborate system of walkways and escalators in various office buildings that kept us from having to walk up too many hills. Since the women in the choir and orchestra are required to wear skirts and nice shoes when on tour, this was greatly appreciated.

Here's Disney Hall from the street corner:

After a bunch of waiting around and then a rehearsal, we were supposed to head back to the hotel for lunch. Unfortunately, Jeannine and I spent too much time in the L.A. Phil gift shop, and had to bypass the hotel and buy lunch at the cafe at our next venue instead. Before we left Disney Hall, we got someone to take our picture. Here we are:

Anyway, we headed over to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and ate in the courtyard.

Here's the outside of the cathedral:

After some more waiting around, we got to go inside and get set up.

After our rehearsal, I had to get a closer look at the tapestries hanging along the cathedral walls. From where we were sitting at the front, it looked like the subjects were painted on the fabric, but it turns out that these incredibly detailed portraits are actually woven. Anyway, they are all of different Catholic saints. Here's a closeup of one of the panels:

At the back of the cathedral there is a super tall panel depicting the baptism of Christ.

I thought this one was especially interesting from a theological standpoint, because it depicts Christ being baptised by sprinkling. In the LDS church, we interpret the bible as saying Christ was baptized by immersion.

ANYWAY, after the rehearsal at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, we walked back down to the hotel to eat dinner and change into our concert clothes. Then it was walking back up to Disney Hall for a concert, walking from there to the cathedral for another concert, and then back to Disney Hall again for a third concert. After we walked back to the hotel for the last time, my feet hurt pretty badly because I was dumb and wore the pretty shoes instead of the sensible walking shoes.

Which! Reminds me! Right before we went onstage for the last concert, the foot joint of my flute flew off and crashed on the cement floor backstage! One of the clarinet players grabbed his tools and fiddled with my flute until the low notes would come out again so that I could play the concert (thank you, Darin!), but I still have to get it fixed by a professional - and I should probably get the foot joint tightened a bit, too, so that doesn't happen again.

So, that's the end. On Sunday we split up onto about six different flights and headed back to Salt Lake and cold weather. I drank three big Diet Cokes right before getting on the plane, which was REALLY smart. Anyway, a good time was generally had by all. I hope they ask me to go on tour with them again.

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