July 22, 2005

Hello  from Alicia!
We arrived in Innsbruck to the most glorious weather, clear blue skies, sun, steep and beautiful mountains surrounding us, with the river rushing from the heavy rain the day before.  Many wonderful  people from everywhere.  Solihin and I walked back up the steep hill to our hotel and watched the moon rise over the mountains from our balcony.  Waking in the early morning I heard all the church bells in the valley chiming, ahhh Europe......
Beautiful welcoming ceremony last night with different groups of singers, Slavic, Latino, Pacific Islands,  Celtic, French and German, with orchestra playing in the middle. The latihan this morning began from an unusually deep quiet, opening ceremony this afternoon, feel blessed and grateful to be here and that so many others are. There was an awareness of all of you all who are not able to be here and how important it is for us to share the congress experience with all of you.
much love,
Alicia Thom