"Amy headed back to Blighty and we were straight into rehearsals for Sinfonia with our three new arrivals.  The first day was mostly just running through the piece to see where we all were, then we had a free afternoon.  Some headed off to another mall.  Will and I were a bit shopped out so decided to go to the Science Center.  Advice for the day - don't bother unless you're under the age of 9!

That evening we all went out for dinner together to celebrate Will's birthday, which was lovely.  

By this time we had all been drawn into the excitement of the World Series.  St Louis Cardinals were in the final with the Detroit Tigers, and the baseball stadium was right next door to our hotel.

The Cardinals' stadium from our hotel

Andy and Will were very excited about the whole thing, no doubt aided by the fact that they knew something about the game.  I did learn that the final consisted of a maximum of 7 matches, so it was the first to win 4.  When we arrived in St Louis, The Cardinals were drawing at one match all, but this evening St Louis won their 2nd game.  The TV was on in the restaurant, as it probably was in every single building in St Louis, and we kept a close eye on the match during dinner.  

On the way home, just a couple of blocks from our hotel, we met with police barracades.  We volunteered to walk the rest of the way, but Dan wasn't going to give up so easily.  Having driven round the block a couple of times trying to get in, he got out of our van and went over to a policeman.  We were just about to step out of the vehicle, anticipating the usual "can't let you through or I'll have to shoot you" response, but no.  The police cars not only moved aside, but we got a police bike escort with flashing lights and the whole bit.  We were all laughing so much, we forgot to take a picture.  When we asked Dan what he'd said to the policeman, his only response was "you don't want to know".  Brilliant!

When we got back to the hotel, Gerry and Andy headed out to get into the spirit of the game.  There were some railings on one side of the stadium where you could see right into the game.

Gerry and Andy at the railings

There were "Go Cards!" signs on every building, and the streets were a sea of red shirts.  Red dye had even been added to the fountain downtown, in The Cardinals' honour.

Red fountain

We had brought red jackets to wear for Sinfonia and couldn't have chosen better!  Just before the concert I went out to buy a big red foam finger saying "Go Cards!", and managed to hide it behind my enormous Sinfonia score on the stand. It emerged during the applause and I think we made some friends in St Louis that night!

We'd had such a great run-through in the morning, we couldn't have guessed that the on-stage sound would be completely different in the evening.  When Mandy and I sang anything above pp it was deafening, not to mention the volume of the other 6 singers.  The poor viola players in front of us flinched in horror and my only thought was how long I could endure this volume.  Unfortunately, the engineer dealing with the monitors was off-stage with the door shut, so there was nothing we could do.  Despite the decibels on stage, Will reported that we were hardly audible from the audience.  I couldn't believe it!  So a sound check was immediately arranged for an hour before the next concert.

Sinfonia was in the first half of the concert, so this gave us a rare opportunity to go out into the audience for the 2nd half. David conducted Beethoven 5 from memory.  The opening was the fastest I've ever heard it, but it really made you sit up and listen.  The orchestra did a fabulous job and David got a standing ovation.  They obviously love him in St Louis - and rightly so.

After the concert, we were taken to a lovely restaurant for dinner with Jeremy Geffen and David Robertson, where the baseball was once again on TV.  By the end of this evening, the St Louis Cardinals were 3-1 up!  Wouldn't it be amazing if we were actually there when they won the World Series....!"

Micaela