We left Kampen and Elburg, waving goodbye to our lovely Kampen hosts until they were mere dots on the Dutch landscape. This is a true Dutch tradition and we are loving it. We traveled by bus to Amsterdam where we enjoyed an hour-long boat ride through the major canals of the city. We loved the 16th-century homes and marveled at those living in houseboats along the canals. We then toured the Rijksmuseum and walked to other city sites. At 4 p.m. we reported to Zolder-50 ("Attic-50"), our hosts for this evening. Zolder-50 is a church planting project led by American business-persons who have relocated here to reach the young professionals of the city by building relationships in the workplace. The leaders presented an overview of the project and hosted us for dinner. Our concert tonight is a fund-raiser for Zolder-50. Given the "voetball" (soccer) semi-finals tonight between the Netherlands and Portugal, we are a bit concerned about having a sparse audience. But the choir plans to close the concert wearing orange caps as Pearl did last evening. This will surely "feed" the national pride of our Dutch brothers and sisters!

We left the Zolder 50 at 6:30 p.m. a parade of black formal-wear for the almost two-mile walk through the streets of Amsterdam to the Begijnhof for our evening concert. The streets were already full of fans preparing for the big semi-final game, and people, stores and restaurants were ablaze in orange streamers. Arriving at the church was like stepping into a different world! The small and beautiful English Reformed Church is situated as a protected haven of peace in the center of the busy, noisy city. In early times, protected areas (cloisters) were built in the city centers for single women or widows who worked on behalf of the church. This historic church was a perfectly lovely spot for our concert, and since the cloister is no longer open to the public, people were eager to attend (that is, until the Netherlands made the semi-finals!).

The concert was a benefit for Zolder 50 and their staff worked hard to promote it. We certainly saw how sports and national pride can preempt even the greatest plans! We had an absolutely beautiful site, fabulous acoustics, and an audience of just 50 persons in what was one of our best performances. There was a small but pleased group of Calvin alumni in attendance and we gave this concert our all. After the last Gospel song we put on orange caps and cheered for the Dutch team as the audience expressed their appreciation for the music. They loved it!

We visited with guests and then left to walk to our bus along streets lined with overflowing sports bars and restaurants filled with soccer fans. It was a site to behold and we all got caught up in the fun as well! By the time we returned to our hotel we got the news that Portugal had won the game, but it was certainly a good run for the Dutch.