A grand kickoff for Holy Week!

I went to my usual Sunday worship service to celebrate Palm Sunday. I heartily enjoy our small, close knit community. For lunch, my homestay family had me over. We had a delicious pork roast with vegetables, followed by the usual courses of wine, cheese, and crackers, fruit, dessert and coffee. Chris, Mary, and I spent the afternoon pouring over their holiday scrapbooks. I don't remember how many times they have been to Italy. ha. Soon enough, it was half past six and time to head to St. Paul's Catholic Church for a concert: Handel's Messiah. The Hallelujah chorus was my favorite piece. It was phenomenal to hear live. Mary and I worked as volunteers before and after the show. We helped with the raffle and serving of wine during intermission. It ended up being a four hour ordeal and I enjoyed every minute of it. Martin, another church volunteer, ended up giving me a bottle of red wine at the end of the night since it was left over and half gone. I wasn't sure for sure if I could bring it into the castle because we are not allowed to drink in St. Cloud State's section of the castle. Anyways, Mary offered to take it home with her for me until I ask Wade about it. Some other girls told me as long as Wade knows about it I should be fine. I plan on saving it for a picnic in Hulne Park with some cheese and crackers:) 

St. Paul's - Just look at the stained glass in the window!

Memorial for Hugh Percy, 3rd Duke of Northumberland. 

I loved the lion at his feet, what a nice touch. 

The inside houses many works of the Italian artisans

 who also created works for the chapel in Alnwick Castle. 

On a unfortunate note, I have some bad news for my trip to Holland. I read about the Keukenhof Gardens online and the garden is all mud with no blooms due to the cold winter and spring. It said that the indoor displays were nice, but the whole point is the outdoor areas. I might do a little bit of gambling. I am going to call the travel company tomorrow morning and ask if I could post-phone my booking for a later date. I tried to due this earlier, but the cruise ship no longer had any single cabins on the later date. So, I might move my trip by booking a twin room and paying for two tickets. Yes, risky. But, this would guarantee blooms and I would try to ask someone to come with me on the trip and have them pay me for the extra ticket. The only problem is that all the other students will have already flown home at this time. So, I am going to have to ask Mary and Carol about it or see if any of the lovely ladies from St. Michael's would like go to with me. However, if the cost of changing the trip is not worth the trouble then I guess I will be seeing the indoor gardens after all.