Day 2, Salzburg, Austria:
Part of the movie "Sound of Music" -- specifically the song '16 Going On Seventeen' -- was filmed at the Baroque Gazebo at Hellbrunn Palace. One of the challenges there was to conjure up and sing a quick verse and chorus of new lyrics based on using your age (ie- 42 Going on 43').
Link to video
Back story: We were exhausted after hitting the ground running on Day One and we hadn't mastered a routine for planning and researching our challenges yet. But, we had a couple hours on the train to Salzburg to start re-writing the lyrics to this song. However, we didn't have anything solid by the time we got off the train. We made some last minute changes at Hellbrun as we approached the gazebo, and this was our second take. The judges didn't award us full points on the Hellbrunn Palace multi-part challenge, but this particular video earned the respect of Judge 2 who said: "I love the team chemistry shown in this duet. It's not hard to see they're enjoying themselves in this self-effacing parody."
Day 4, Munich, Germany:
The challenge was to go to Loden Frey, a large department store that has a wide selection of traditional folk clothing, and pick an item, say its original function/significance and what situation could you justify wearing it in America and why.
Link to video
Back story: When we got to the department store, all we could see were dresses after dresses. I headed over to the men's section and saw a hat with what looked like a duster on it. Perfect, I thought, but no one in that department spoke English. We headed over to the hat section and the sales woman was very helpful. At one point she disppeared and I wasn't sure if she was coming back. She had been researching the traditional function for the trachten hute and gamsbart. We didn't even ask her to do that. I give her most of the credit for this video. After all, other teams were told they weren't allowed to film in the store, but Daniella was an active accessory to our "crime" in the accessory department.
Day 6, Koblenz, Germany:
Speedy is my middle name, which made this challenge appealing. We were to record our fastest laps around the track at Conquest Go Kart Center and the lowest times would received the highest number of points.
Link to video
Back story: While there is not much to this video, we got a good laugh when Sheila went the wrong direction on the track and I caught in on tape. Needless to say, her times weren't so good, but luckily we had two chances to better our lap times. Team Swift (DeAnna and Kelly) actually talked us into doing this challenge with them and it turned out to be a blast. The place required racers to wear close-toed shoes, which Sheila and I did not have. Kelly and DeAnna offered to lend us their shoes and we took turns racing. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts for being so generous. I also credit Kelly for giving me pointers on how to take the turns without taking a foot off the gas pedal. I'm now working toward becoming a professional drifter.
Day 8, German/Belgium border:
On our last day of challenges, we opted to take a railbike tour through some tiny villages. Our task was to find out from the locals some quirky fact or legend or event/person that should put those villages on the map.
Link to video
Back story:Very few people speak English in these small towns, but we met Alexandra, who spoke very well. I find the video very funny, because I say in it that there is something very special about the town and ask her to tell us what it is. Alexandra responds, "Yes, that's a hedge." Every time I watch the video, I laugh hysterically at that part. But, you have to admit, that's definitely a quirky fact about Kalterherberg. Apparently, the wind is so bad in the winter, that the locals grow their hedges high enough to block their homes from the cold. They also get frost starting in August. Anyway, Alexandra was so helpful and friendly and I love how she concludes the video: "Yes, come here!" So, if you are reading this, Alexandra, I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you!
Also on Day 8, The Netherlands:
From Germany and Belgium, we headed to The Netherlands to go skiing at Snow World. While on the ski slope, our job was to film a 30-second video with some color commentary about how well we were (or not!) skiing.
Link to video
Back story: I always bring Peruvian finger puppets with me on vacation so I can pass them out to kids. Well, this time, they came in handy for one of our challenges. I had an Andean shepherd wearing a colorful manta and knitted cap, so he essentially became the mascot for the ski slope. People were laughing and looking at me as I gingerly made my way down the slope with "Snow Joe" on one hand, and the camera in the other hand. This video is the very last one we did for Competitours. It goes show that we kept our humor intact, despite the crazy pressure we had been under for the entire trip.
Sheila hit it off with Snow Joe immediately and she took him to Paris with her as she decompresses before returning to Canada. It looks like they are having a great time, together!
No comments:
Post a Comment