My first adventure in Germany took me to the beautiful and idyllic Maria Laach. Acoustic Tull was scheduled to perform for the televised German President’s concert, and I thought that it would be fairly simple to rehearse and shoot 15 minutes of music. I was surprised by the number of rehearsals we had, and I rather enjoyed having my hair and make up done by a professional. I looked nothing like myself, and the German promoter exclaimed “Oy, yoy, yoy!” when he saw me. (A compliment?) The band spent a few fairly restful days at Maria Laach and I enjoyed a couple of walks to the lake, evenings in the hotel pub, and the good company of the band and our new German friends. I also got to meet a new guitarist, Florian Ophale, who had toured earlier in the year with Jethro Tull. After the concert, the band was invited to a party with the president of Germany. The picture above shows me and Ian meeting the president.
This is the monastery where we filmed the concert. It was beautifully decorated on the inside with the most perfect Christmas trees I have ever seen.
I took this picture on our walk to the lake.
The view from my hotel window.
Flo posing with a smart car.
Right after our show in Germany, we traveled to London for a charity performance at St. Bride's. I stayed with Rev. George Pitcher at his country home in Sussex and his family made me feel so welcome. His wife was a fantastic cook and his sons were absolutely charming. I was so inspired at their home that I composed “Bach or Whatever” for the violin and wrote a Christmas prayer for the Tull performance. Rev. George also took me to see the hundred acre wood in the “Winnie the Pooh” books and showed me around St. Bride's. At St. Bride's I stayed in the rectory and was free to wander the streets of London on my own terms. I walked around and visited the markets, wandered into book stores and cafes, and gazed at St. Paul’s cathedral in its full Christmas glory. The concert at St. Brides was sold out, and it was truly special to perform with Tull in such a spiritual context. We read from the Bible, played Christmas tunes, prayed, read Christmas poems, and played some of Tull’s classic tunes in the mix. The picture above is the sanctuary/ concert stage at St. Bride's.
I took this picture of St. Paul's cathedral during a night time stroll through the streets of London.
This is the famous steeple at St. Bride's. Apparently, tiered wedding cakes were modeled after the beautiful steeple of the appropriately named church.
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