Tricia and Erin in England

Tricia and Erin Freer returned recently from a two-week trip to England with Erin's school choir. They sang, visited numerous landmarks and even happened to be in London when the two Mercedes car bombs were discovered and, luckily, defused. Here are some pictures and Tricia's travelogue:

Erin and I flew out of San Francisco Intl Airport June 19th with 75 other kids and adults from the Liberty High School choir from Brentwood, California. The choir was invited to participate in a celebration of American Music in Great Britain. For 10 days we toured around Wales and England singing at churches and schools. We started in Windsor at the Windsor Parish Church. After singing we took a tour of Windsor Castle. The Queen was in residence as shown by the English flag flying over the castle. Prince Andrew passed us in his jeep as we were queuing up to tour the castle.

From there we drove to Bath. The next day we sang at Bath Abbey. The acoustics were incredible and the kids delighted in hearing their voices echo through the church at the end of a song. We spent two days in Bath and then continued on the Cardiff in Wales. Then we headed back to London via Stratford, Warwick, Oxford and other towns. Our days were packed with events and tours. At times it was tiring, but left to our own devices we would never have seen all that we saw.

Erin (left) with two classmates trying to see how

many people they can cram into a London phone booth.

Unfortunately, the Guinness Book of World Records

won't even take your calls for just three!

The last four days were spent in London. Like most big cities it is a very crowded and congested place. On top of that it is always raining. On Thursday night June 28th, I was in the Piccadilly Circus area with 11 teenagers. Three hours later they found the first car with the explosive devices that failed to explode. The next day was our final performance in St. James Piccadilly Church. We decided not to cancel the performance, as the “show must go on.” We had plans to take the kids to an under 18 dance club that night, but scrapped that plan when it was learned that the targets of the terrorist attempt the night before were kids at dance clubs.

Also while in London, Tony Blair spent his last day in office. Never one to miss a photo opportunity, our dear Governor Arnold was there to help Tony clear out his desk. For Erin and I the highlight of London was taking the Underground to Abbey Road to take pictures of the cross walk used on the Beatles' "Abbey Road" album cover,and pictures of the Abbey Road Studio. One of the stops on the Underground was Wembley. So we took the train to Wembley. Of course you all know the joke about the train to Wembley my Dad always told.

Erin (right) and a

classmate crossing

Abbey Road.

At all of the performances the audience commented on how great the kids sang. I also heard from more than one person that it was such a pleasure to see and hear something good about America. They thought these kids were great ambassadors for America. Apparently they only hear bad things about Americans. One exception to that was a performance at the London Boys School. After finishing with “God Bless America," I overheard a young boy tell his teacher he was insulted that we sang our national anthem.* I’m not sure where this attitude comes from or why they are negative towards Americans. Are they still upset about our dumping tea in Boston Harbor?

Tricia at the cottage of Anne Hathaway,

the wife of William Shakespeare.

My job was to chaperone Erin and two other girls. I had the distinct honor of being the only chaperone to have a student hold up the departure on the first morning because she overslept. I was also the only chaperon to manage to lose two kids completely in Oxford. Thanks to cell phones we were able to find them. They had exited a Burger King from a different door than they entered and got lost. The rest of the trip they were never far from me.

It was a wonderful trip and a great memory for Erin and I.

* Editor's Note: Tell that ungrateful Brit brat to brush up on his U.S. history. Our national anthem is "The Star Spangled Banner." ;)