Amber and I were VERY ambitious this morning. We woke up at 6:45am, got ready, and were out the door by 7:30. Of course, it was snowing VERY heavily, so the city was beautiful. We took the U-bahn to the center of the city and walked through the main arch to the Vienna Court Chapel, where the world-famous Vienna Boys Choir performs during Sunday mass!

You can either buy seats in the chapel, or get a first come-first serve standing spot in the middle of the chapel. We were 2 of the first people there, so we decided that standing for free would be just fine, since we'd be in the front. -- The inside of the chapel was, of course, gorgeous! It was pretty small, which made the environment very intimate and awesome. At 9:30, the priests of the chapel came out and started the mass. Being Southern Baptists at a German-speaking Catholic mass, Amber and I weren't exactly sure what we were supposed to do, so we just watched people. We couldn't see where the boys choir was supposed to be, but we just assumed that they'd march out sooner or later.

After a blessing from the main priest, we heard a small orchestra from somewhere in the top balconies of the church start up, and then we heard them! The boys were up and behind the entire church, so nobody could see them... but oh, boy, could we hear! I've heard a lot of choirs and singing in my day, but NEVER in my life have I heard anything that compared to these boys. Some had very strong, deep voices, and then some put my high soprano voice to complete shame (these must have been the really young ones). They sang several beautiful songs in Latin. I'm not even exhagerating when I say, that after the first few words, I had chills! It was completely breathtaking. Since we couldn't see them, I assumed that there were about 50-60 boys. Their sound was so powerful, and carried throughout the entire chapel.

After the boys had finished singing, the priest came back up, blessed the church, prayed, and then we took communion. Then, all of the sudden, this line of the most adorable little boys that you've ever seen marched out of the side curtain! They were all dressed in these blue outfits that kind of looked like sailor uniforms. They were SOOOO cute! :) -- When they all got out on the stage, I was completely shocked. The incredible sound that we'd been hearing for the duration of the mass had been coming from about 25 little boys. I'd say that the oldest of the boys was no more than 14, and the youngest had to be about 7 or 8 years old. They had come out for one final song, Ave Maria! If I could have anything for Christmas.... I think that it would be one of these little kids. lol. Their voices were so amazing, and most of them weren't even in middle school yet. :)

This morning was definately one of the MOST memorable in Vienna thus far. Today was AMAZING!