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2004 Tour • Thursday, July 1

After an early start, we headed to the lovely city of Gouda for a morning tour and lecture on the beautiful stained-glass windows of St. Janskerk, the longest church in the Netherlands and the most historic church in Gouda. The tour of the 16th century stained glass windows and organ were fabulous and the sexton gave Ken Bos a chance to play the historic organ. What a thrill! We then had free time to walk to the city marketplace for market day and the cheese auction. Again, we helped the Dutch economy and enjoyed the wide array of cheeses and bakery goods. Several choir women also bought the famed Dutch window-washing cloths – watch for cleaner windows in Grand Rapids in the future! At 11:30 a.m. we reported back to St. Janskerk to prepare for our 12:30 p.m. concert. This concert was well-planned by local host Joke van der Kemp to fit a monthly concert series, and we had a terrific audience of just about 300. What a thrill to sing in this beautiful and historic setting. The stained glass surrounding us reminded us of the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us.

Immediately following the concert we walked to the bus to leave for our final concert in the province of Zeeland and the town of Kapelle. This Gereformeerde church was built in 1548 and has recently undergone a massive historical restoration. We were hosted by 1977 Calvin grad Saskia DeVenter-Metz and her husband, Rev. Luuk DeVenter, pastor. The warmth, careful planning, and loving hospitality of Saskia and Luuk and their entire community were the perfect musical and spiritual ending to our music-making. The church hosted a lovely coffee reception to close the evening. Saskia had several old Calvin Prisms from the late 1970s with her and some folks enjoyed finding their pictures. The entire experience in Kapelle was heel gezellig!

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Ken plays historic Sint Janskerk organ, Gouda
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Noon concert in Gouda
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Striking a deal, Gouda cheese market
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Wooden shoes
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Alumni Choir at Kapella Church
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Memories from the Calvin Prism yearbooks
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Presenting gifts to Kapelle host Saskia Deventer-Metz
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Saskia, Luuk and Pearl in historic Kapelle church, built 1248