During our trip we usually had to be at breakfast around 7:30 or 8:00am but on the morning of February 14th we were finally able to sleep in! We didn't have anything on the itinerary until 1:45pm. So Brad, Eric, and I went to lunch in downtown Tettnang at a place called La Piazza. The boys ordered pizzas and I ordered gnocchi in a formaggio cheese sauce. Their pizzas turned out to be HUGE and delicious and my pasta was melt-in-your-mouth yummy. It was so rich I only ate about a third of it and took the rest back to my hotel balcony to leave in the snow.

After lunch, we changed into our concert blacks, loaded the bus, and headed into Ravensburg, Germany (pronounced Raw-vens-burg). We arrived at a beautiful protestant church where we were to give our concert and it was heated!! The last one we played in was so cold that it was hard to concentrate let alone stay in tune! Not only was it heated but the pastor was very thoughtful and had snacks and water prepared for us. After our rehearsal he even brought some warm pretzels from a local bakery around for us. We had a quick break before the concert was supposed to start so we explored the church a little.

The jazz combo played a set while the audience came in and got settled and then the chamber ensemble played two movements from Charles Gounod's Petite Symphony. The pastor gave a short speech followed by the mayor (or Burgermeister) of Ravensburg. After the warm welcome we gave our concert. We finished with The Stars and Stripes and they went CRAZY! We got our first standing ovation of our tour and we even played an encore. The pastor came up after the encore and presented us with candy from the area and Ravensburg "Gold Medals." They were big pretzels hanging on blue and white ribbon and everyone got them!

Traveling was really starting to wear us out so that concert was just what we needed to lift our spirits! My friend Jessie and I talked to the pastor afterwards and were able to take a picture. He was such a sweet and caring man.

We ate dinner right across the street at Nudelopen where they had all you can eat pizza, pasta, and mexican food for 7.77. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant because it was REALLY overpriced and the service was terrible but the pizza was good. :)

After dinner we went back to Tettnang and went downtown to see if anything was open. There was a HUGE party going on in town square and everyone was in their pajamas--even the statue! Lots of music and dancing...it was really fun!