We had no engagements on the day of our arrival, so after finding and settling in to our apartments, we spent it doing a bit of tourism or aclimatising to the local beer, according to taste.

On Monday 28th we sang a concert in St Nicholas Church, Old Town Square; a lovely example of Baroque church architecture.

The square itself is home not only to this church, but a number of other attractions, including the astronomical clock, the old town hall and numerous attractive buildings. Its pavement cafés are also the most expensive place to eat and drink in the whole of Prague, so far as our extensive research could tell!

 
The concert, which we shared with a local Czech choir called Resonance, was well attended by an appreciative audience.

Several of us came home clutching copies of their CD of Bohemian Gothic music.

Tuesday saw us singing on the grand staircase of the Czech National Museum, which stands imposingly at the end of Wenceslas Square.

Wenceslas Square was where Jan Palach set himself alight in 1969 in protest at the Soviet occupation. The spot is now marked by a small wooden cross.

The photograph shows us in rehearsal, during the concert some of the audience occupied the galleries and others sat on the steps.

 
On Wednesday we travelled a few miles outside Prague, to the village of Mnisek pod Brody, where we sang in the village church of St. Vaclav. Mnisek pod Brody is the home of Zita, who had assisted greatly in the arrangements for the tour, and is an old friend of one of our choir members.

 
After the concert, dinner was provided by our hosts. We were driven a few miles, ending up in the middle of a wood at a disused Soviet missile base, now in use as a drug rehabilitation centre. The occupants had cooked our supper, and before coffee we were given a guided tour of the missile bunkers. A strange and fascinating evening.

 
Our final engagement of the tour was on Thursday afternoon at St Ludmilla church, Miru square, where we sang for the mass and afterwards gave a short concert.

During the week we performed the following music: Fauré Cantique de Jean Racine, Stanford Beati quorum via & Magnificat in C, Pearsall Lay a garland, Ellington Will you be there & Father forgive, Rachmaninov Bogoroditse Dyevo & Tibye Payom, Todd Come now, my beloved, Josquin Ave Maria, Mozart Ave Verum & Sancta Maria, Purcell Hear my prayer, Howells Like as the hart, Gibbons Almighty and everlasting Lord & Short Nunc Dimittis, Farrant Lord for thy tender mercy's sake, Byrd Kyrie & Agnus Dei from the four part mass; and, for organ solo, Bach Piéce d'orgue & St. Anne fugue.