Dear Steve,
 

              We're back in Orange County, California after a great trip to Budapest, Linz, Salzburg, Prague, Leipzig, and Rothenburg. Pilgrim did a remarkable job taking my itinerary and making it a reality.  The folks who traveled are giving me great reviews. I asked one choir member yesterday if she had a chance to go back, where would she go and she said 'the same cities...but especially the small towns like where we stayed outside Rothenburg, like Bad Windscheim, Germany'.  She indicated that she could stay there several days to get a feel of the small towns. Her 13-year-old grand daughter also traveled and said the trip exceeded her dreams.

I usually break up the trip into 3 sections for review...food, hotels and everything else.  The dinners served all looked like a chef prepared them, where they would sprinkle seasonings and such around the plate. The food was great! To be honest, I usually expect wienerschnitzle, peas and French fries but was blown away meal after meal with different foods. The hotels provided a great nights rest night after night. It was great to have the porter service Pilgrim provided. Where A/C was not included, fans were provided to the guests. Europe is fairly quickly moving towards the western form of accommodation, which includes A/C, which we were thankful for in several cities.  Hotel staff were always helpful and we were happy that various train tickets were available in the hotels. Good job.

Our tour guide became family right from the get-go. He was willing to take small groups after a busy day of travel, into the various cities to further enhance the trip. He educated the group on sub-way use and such. He allowed each traveler to experience the trip in his or her own way. The same goes for the bus driver. These folks will be forever endeared to our group. And the Mercedes bus was great.

My personal highlight was perhaps the first venue Pilgrim was able to secure for a concert. Pilgrim indicated that they were able to secure St Stevens Basilica in Budapest. This church is on the top ten sights to visit in Budapest. We approached the church in the morning of the concert and there was the placard advertising our group. Further, our group encountered people handing out fliers in different parts of the city advertising the concert. Needless to say, our choir members were very pleased.  There were 550 people in attendance and the audience was very receptive to the choir.  The gentleman handling the concert was very appreciative and handed me one of each of the various publications where the choir was advertised. What a delight.

Thank you Steve Fiddler and all the associates at Pilgrim. You have gained our trust and future tour opportunities.
 

            Mike Kutzle

Minister of Music