Samuel Grant Robinson: Second Day in Xi'An

[Jan. 5, 2011 XI'AN] Day 2 here in Xi'an. The visit here started a bit roughly as the van carrying our luggage was in an accident, and we didn't get our luggage until 5:30. The students had to perform with no rehearsal or warm-up, but the kids were real troopers.

We had the opportunity to visit the city wall in the morning, which was very cool. After that, we went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which is one of the most beautiful places I have been in my life. It is still an active temple, with 60 monks living there. It is the traditional place where the words of the Buddha were first translated into Chinese.

The concert in the evening was spectacular. We performed at the brand new Xi'an concert hall, a $100 million hall. The students were blown away to be performing in such an amazing space, and truly rose to the occasion. The nearly sold out audience were very welcoming, and called for three encores. One of my favorite moments of the tour happened at the end of the third encore, when the bass drum at the end of the fourth movement of Tchaikovsky's 4th was so loud it brought down a piece of the hall. What a spectacular ending to the tour.

Today, we're off to see the tomb warriors, then an overnight train to Beijing, and the flight home. This has been such an amazing trip so far, and I'm sorry that it has to end so soon, but  am looking forward to being home.