Cheryl was walking near Venice's San Giacomo di Rialto Church a few weeks ago when she came across a group of girls in floral dresses who were getting ready for a street concert (or perhaps we should say an "arcade concert," since the girls had gathered under the arches around the square).
Cheryl asked about the choir's provenance and was told only that it was a school choir from Regensburg, Germany.
We've put together a short video with highlights of the choir's performance, including a shot of a dog who accompanied the group. (The dog was one of three Chihuahuas in baskets who guarded the girls' backpacks, handbags, and other possessions during the show.)
ABOVE: Can't afford Venice's public toilets? Bring your own.
If you're hoping to spend a penny in Venice, good luck: The city's public toilets cost a staggering €1,50 per visit, which means you'll pay twice (or several times) for your already-expensive liter bottle of San Benedetto water or Coke.
In our Venice for Visitors article, "Public Toilets in Venice," we tell where to find WCs and how to avoid the high cost of voiding if you can't bear the city's €1,50 fee per wee.
Here's another tip: Stay at a hotel, B&B, or apartment in Venice's historic center, and you'll have a convenient place to go when you need to go.
ABOVE: A poster for the Gustavus Choir's concert in Venice during its 2011 Italy Tour.
In the musical realm, Venice is a city of pleasant surprises. Over the years, we've attended performances by visiting groups that have ranged from the Shaker Heights High School Band (Ohio, USA) to a choir concert by a pair of Australian prep schools.
Yesterday, after seeing a poster near the Rialto Bridge, we went to the Church of San Salvador for a free concert by The Gustavus Choir from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, USA. (If we hadn't seen the poster, we might have learned about the concert in another way: Before show time, a dozen or so young men from the choir sang on the busy street in front of the church while members of their retinue handed out flyers to passersby.)
Gustavus Adolphus is a Lutheran institution with Swedish roots, and--like many church-related colleges in the United States--it has an outstanding music program. We were blown away by the quality of The Gustavus Choir's performance, which covered a repertoire that ranged from Gregorian chant to a recent work by the American composer Stephen Paulus.
During the concert's closing song, a number of choir parents took videos from the pews. Cheryl followed their example, and here are a few snippets of the Gustavus Choir's performance in Venice on Thursday, January 27, 2011. (The man with the baton is Professor Gregory J. Aune, who has conducted the Gustavus Choir for 16 years.):
Veniceforvisitors.com Venice for Visitors has offered unbiased advice to millions of travelers over the past 16 years. PC Magazine has called it "the premier visitors' site for Venice, Italy."
