A Place Called Home

So last week I got to be home in Syracuse for a couple of days! I got to see old friends and carved pumpkins and ate good food, AND got to get all my stuff for my room! This includes my winter clothing, which is perfect timing because it was just starting to get really cold haha.

Ashes!

Megan's amazing handiwork carving Joe's pumpkin

All five pumpkins!

Herman on the front porch as usual

We also went to one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in town and the food was sooo good:

It was a short trip home but I'll be home in two weeks anyways so I'll get to see everyone again soon :)

P.S. I am currently in a Starbucks, and this man just sat at a table about six feet from me and literally REEKS of body odor. I mean, I shouldn't be able to smell him at this distance, but I can. I may or may not be burying my nose in my empty coffee cup...ok I need to move tables.

I'm Going Back Home

So Bridgeport is one of the most ghetto cities I've been to. One example is that the Rite Aid in the city was going out of business...who would think that some place in Connecticut would be so sketchy. So to say the least I did not really venture to explore too much, especially being there isn't anything to explore. The one thing they do have worth exploring is the Barnum Museum, but unfortunately it was closed because it took tornado damage last year, and still isn't open...oh well.

The Barnum Museum

Inside the arena. Pretty small.

The outside of the arena.

On Friday Tone drove up from Long Island and saw the 7pm show. I had a great time with her and she stayed overnight with me on the train, which was a hoot. We ate at this place called Ralph 'n' Rich's, which all the locals raved about, but both Tone and I thought the food was mostly bland and definitely overpriced.

Saturday Tone came with me to the morning show before heading back to Long Island, and then my dad met me after the last show since my brother had a game in Springfield, MA earlier that day, which is pretty close to Bridgeport. My dad and I tried to go out to get something to eat around 10pm, and we had the HARDEST time trying to find a place that had their kitchen still open. We ended up finding some Caribbean night club that still served food, and while it was really good food, we were the ONLY white people in there haha. Whatever it's all good :p

Afterwards I stayed with my dad at the hotel in the city. The next day, I realized I didn't have my ID with me...I had left it in Tone's purse...sigh...I called Tone and I lamented how stupid I am and she mailed it home to me so I would get it in Syracuse when I went home. Thank god THAT worked out! Haha anyways to wrap this up I played the last two shows in Bridgeport and then my dad and I drove home to Syracuse! Home sweet home! More to come on that soon :)

So back a while I said I would upload pictures from the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, and now I can finally do it! Here they are! (As I'm uploading these, I'm realizing that I don't remember who painted what painting, and I am not nearly educated enough in art history to know the difference between a Monet and a Renoir so I'm not going to even try haha).

Outside of the museum

This painting is HUGE! Notice the man standing to the left.

That is a GIGANTIC emerald

The atrium

The ceiling

Another Monet Waterlily painting!

I Wanna Be a Part of It

So after Boston we headed south to Bridgeport, CT. The only good thing about Bridgeport is that you can take the train to NYC and be there in an hour and an half. So early Tuesday morning I took the train and met up with Sara at the apartment she is subletting!

We took a nice long walk around Central Park (literally around, we walked in a circle haha) and then headed downtown to meet her sister for lunch at her work. Afterwards we went to a Crumbs bakery and got a couple of cupcakes, and they were delicious! They have so many kinds of cupcakes and they all looked so good. Sara then had to go off to work so I met up with Tone for dinner and sat in on her rehearsal for the Young New Yorkers Chorus. It was like being in Chamber Singers all over again! It was a lot of fun and it was nice to sing in a chorus again. Afterwards I met Sara and her friend Joey for drinks at a place called Rosa’s Mexicano across the street from Lincoln Center. Joey is currently working as the associate designer for the newly created Kathy Hilton designs, and the dresses they have created are incredible!

Skyline from Central Park!

Sara looking pensive :p

The next day it rained ALL DAY. Literally all day. And since I only had my Toms with me, they were soaked through in about two minutes. So I found a shoe store and found an awesome pair of rain books that were on sale! This was after we wandered up and down 6th avenue looking for a Macy’s that didn’t exist haha. Earlier that same morning I got up and got rush tickets to see Follies at 2pm. I also happened to run in LaRena so she joined Sara and I while we walked to the studio where Joey worked and got to see the dresses in person.

Before going to see Follies, Sara asked if there was a show I wanted to see that night, since she had to work again. I did want to see Sister Act, so at 1:30 we went to the theatre and they happened to have ONE rush ticket left: front row, $26.50! Sweet!

Follies was incredible. The design of the show was beautiful, the music is excellent and the full orchestra pit sounded amazing, and everyone is the show was great. Bernadette Peters was amazing, Jan Maxwell was INCREDIBLE, and Danny Burstein was excellent as well. There really wasn’t a weak link in the cast at all. I would definitely recommend this show to anyone who wanted to see an excellent Sondheim show.

After the show Sara left for work and I met Michelle for dinner at this little Italian place. I then went to go see Sister Act. Sitting in the front row was really cool, and I got to watch the orchestra and the conductor during the show. The show was cute; it wasn’t as good as I remembered it being in London. They scaled down a lot of the set, cut and changed a couple songs, which was good and bad, and a lot of the jokes and writing were changed to “dumb it down”. The jokes were easy and not really that funny to me. There was also an understudy for Mother Superior, and she wasn’t that great. Overall I was a little disappointed, but the audience seemed to really enjoy it and it’s still a fun show with lots of fun music.

The next morning I met Lexi for breakfast by Columbia Univerisity at Tom’s Restaurant, which is the diner they show the outside of on Seinfeld:

The inside is completely different though since clearly the use a set on the show. Breakfast was good, except mine said is came with a glass of juice, and this is what I got:

I kind of felt like Zoolander with his tiny cellphone haha. After breakfast I hopped the train and came back up to Bridgeport. I realized as I was walking around NYC during my trip that I need to live there. I just love the city so much and there is truly nothing like it. One way or another I will end up there, I just know it.

Part of Columbia University

Since this is so long I’ll save the rest of Bridgeport for another post. Peace out!

Journey to the Past

So I am clearly SOOOO behind in blog posts, as in, it’s been over a week since I last posted. Oh my, so much to write about. Let’s see…

Last Wednesday I met Dani and Leora again for dinner, and ended up leaving MUCH later than I needed to to get to the arena. To sum it up, the show started at 7pm and I was still on the subway at 6:46…fortunately for me I made it in the nick of time. That’s definitely NEVER happening again.

Thursday I had rehearsal all day for the clown gag for next years show, and ended up missing the preview concert of the BSO that I had planned on going to. So instead I walked up to the Museum of Science. When I got there and saw the ticket price, I promptly left haha and I ended up going to the Museum of Fine Art, which was incredible. There are so many art pieces on display, and a whole Monet room, which I absolutely loved. I’ll have a separate post with all my pictures from the museum ☺

Front of the museum

That evening I met my friend Brian who goes to law school at BC at a place called the Border Café. All the food was delicious, and it was no too expensive at all! Definitely a great place to go to, and it was close to the train since it was in Harvard Square.

Friday after we presented next year’s clown gag we went to Fanuille Hall and ate lunch at Wagamamas, which was delicious! There are only Wagamamas in Boston and England, and I remember going to one in Oxford three summers ago and it being really good. Afterwards, I caught the matinee performance of the Yo-Yo Ma concert with the BSO. They played a Cello Concerto by Dvorak and it was incredible. The second piece they played was a one-act ballet called The Wooden Prince by Bartok. It was just alright, not my favorite piece, and I could tell the audience felt the same way.

Quincy Market

My view of the stage in Symphony Hall

Saturday I explored the North End of Boston. We tried to eat at a place called the Union Oyster House, which is really well-known, but it was packed and we didn’t have time to wait. So we ended up going next door to the Bell in Hand Tavern, which is the oldest tavern in the country. All three of us (me, Ian, and Andrew) got the lobster grilled cheese, and I got eggplant fries, all of which was delicious. Later that day I met Leora and we went to Mike’s Pastry, where I got one of the biggest cannolis I have ever seen (it was delicious as well). The line for the place was out the door and around the corner, but the local trick that Leora taught me is that you sit at one of the tables inside and a waitress will come over and serve you, so no long line!

The Union Oyster House

Bell in Hand Tavern

On Sunday we ate at a tiny Italian place called The Daily Catch, or the Calamari Café. My food was EXCELLENT. I got the pasta aglio olio, which was black pasta (meaning it was hand-made and used squid ink to give it it’s black color) sautéed with oil, garlic, and chopped up calamari. Such a good dish, I highly recommend this hole-in-the-wall place. They also make calamari meatballs, which were also delicious.

My pasta dish! It looks gross but it was reallyyyyy good!

Ian got the calamari platter

Well I got to end this post for today. After this will come by journey to Bridegport, Connecticut, and my stay in New York City for a couple days! More to come soon!

The Years Are Passing By

We made it to Boston on Tuesday! I've been so busy that I haven't really been able to update, and I don't have much time right now, so I'll try and get through as much as I can.

Tuesday I took the subway to downtown Boston and spent the afternoon walking around. It was sunny and gorgeous and I got some nice shots:

View of Boston from the train!

Downtown Boston

Boston Ballet

Orpheum Theatre!

The old City Hall

Statue of Benjamin Franklin

Donkey!

Old chapel next to old City Hall

The graveyard. On the other side of the fence there is a restaurant and they were roasting a pig on a stake haha

Actual City Hall (building is ugly as sin). That white tent is a touring production of the play Peter Pan that is done in the round and uses video screens on the ceiling! Looks pretty cool.

City Hall. Ugh.

TD Garden where we are performing!

So this cafe/bookstore is where I got breakfast on Newbury Street almost exactly a year ago when I came to visit Leora and Dani and I was working Cohoes. So weird, it feels like last week I was there...

The Prudential Center!

On Massachusetts Ave, I have a picture of this building from a year ago too.

Later that afternoon I met up with Leora and Dani in one of the practice rooms at Boco, and while Dani went to a lesson Leora showed me her apartment, which is really very nice :) Afterwards Leora had to run so Dani and I got dinner at this awesome Thai restaurant. I got the chicken pad thai and it was really good, and it was also a HUGE serving of it! Of course I ate the whole thing though haha.

After that Dani had to go and I was walking around and I happened to stumble upon Symphony Hall, and a performance was going to start in about 45 minutes. So I got in line, bought a ticket, and heard the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform! They were absolutely incredible, and the hall is huge!

My view of the stage from my second balcony seat, for only $30!

Across the floor at the other side. I love the statues and windows.

The back of the hall.

The front of Symphony Hall

They played the interludes from Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten, a Prokofiev piano concerto, and a symphony by Finnish composer Sibelius. All the pieces were incredible, and the conductor was awesome.

Afterwards I got a text from Ian and I met him and Andrew at Wally's Jazz Club and we listened to a group of Berkeley students play some awesome jazz. It was a very busy but awesome day :)

I have to run for now but I'll have more up soon hopefully!

In honor of being in Boston and by Berkeley, I'm posting more Jane Monheit :)