Arrival in Schwenningen - 1st Nov

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We are now reporting from Central Hotel, Schwenningan, Germany.

The delegation gathered atChak Lap Kok at 9:15pm on Halloween night, 31 October. Checked in at the airline counter, and took lots of group pictures. There must be some 15 to 20 cameras around. The flight took 13 hours from HK to Zurich, Swizerland, our first stop. Again we took a lot of group photos. From Zurich to Schwenningan, we came in two coaches. The coach ride was very comfortable - much better than the aircraft.

At 9:30am, we arrived at Central Hotel, 30 minutes before plan. The hotel is not very big. It has 4 floors, most of the delegates were assigned to the 3rd floor, and the rest to 2nd and 4th floor. We probably account for 80% of the guests in these few days.

Tam Sir once again reminded the team to behave properly, e.g. keep the place clean, try our best not to disturb other guests even though we have to practise. After settling down, we took a walking tour to nearby sites. The weather today is beautiful. It was slightly raining when we boarded the coach, but as we approached Germany, we saw the clouds clearing, and by the time we went out to the streets, the rain had already stopped. We could see some blue sky, and the air was fresh and clean. Today is probably the most relaxing for all of us. In spite of the long plane ride, we are pretty much free all day long. We took many photos in this short walking tour, and admired at the clean environment, the neat buildings, and the falling autumn leaves.

We stopped by the train station, waited to see the train arrive and leave. At 12:30 we were back to the hotel. We crossed the street to have lunch. And soon we learned the lesson. The restaurant was probably not used to serving 50 visitors at the same time, so it took them a long time to serve everybody. We also wondered if they have enough plates and silverware for serving the food.

After lunch we went back to the hotel to take a short break. At 3:00pm Tam Sir led a group of 15 people to visit the neighbouring town Villengen. While the rest of the group stayed in the hotel, many of them practising. For dinner, we ate in the hotel's dining room which we had reserved. The room was just big enough for our group. We also met Mr. Mueller of the festival organizer. When Mr. Mueller arrived, we had just finished the main course and started to celebrate 4 members of the group whose birthday lie in this week. We discussed several issues with Mr. Mueller, and chatted for a few more things. It was past 8pm when we said good night to Mr. Mueller and the plan for a one hour band practice was not materialsed. Many members were so tired. Some of them nearly fell asleep during the meal, so they headed straight to bed after dinner, while some others chose to practise more.