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Last day in new York
Last night we got to bed super late but got up fairly early anyway. Charles went around the corner and got the 3 of us some lovely cream cheese bagels from the bakery. We had breakfast with Melissa and talked about what to do today.
First we caught the F train to Bowling Green to see the statue of the Charging Bull. I thought that it was together with the bear but they're separate. It was literally covered with tourists and surrounded with people taking pictures of their friends. Most people liked taking photos with its bottom. Then we walked down to the water's edge and looked out to the Statue of Liberty. She was really far away. The whole place was super busy and crazy. Next we took the 4 train uptown to East Village where we met Melissa at the Strand bookshop. It's a really pleasant multiple storey shop with antique books and interesting stuff. I saw a book on Star Wars crafts, like chewbacca sock puppets and stuff. It was awesome.
Next we walked to a thrift store nearby where melissa suggested. It was pretty rad. I bought a couple of jumpers which I think I'll wear all the time. Then we walked for a billion kilometers to a nice place to eat. It was so hot! Lunch was at a pulled pork place which was nice. Then Charles and I caught the train back to Brooklyn while Melissa rode her bike. We were in a rush because we needed to get to the airport by about 4:45 and it was about 2:30. The subways in New York are so hot, it was super unpleasant.
We said goodbye and managed to hail a taxi to take us to the airport. It was stressful because the traffic was so bad, and we were only just in time.
The first flight was fine, we arrived at LA airport quite late, around 10pm local time which was 1am New York time. We had to get a shuttle bus between terminals which was totally lame but we managed. I'm writing this from the second plane. We had a little sleep and are awake now even though we should still be sleeping since it's 4am at home. There are lots of upset children around us, particularly two little brothers behind us who are kickers. When we get to Sydney, we are catching the Murrays bus back to Canberra getting in at 12:30.
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Thursday, August 18, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Friday the 12th - last day!
Today is our last full day in America. We got up a bit late and bought croissants from the bakery around the corner, and ate them with Melissa in their backyard. Lovely.
Then we had a few things on the agenda. First we went uptown to 5th avenue again because we wanted to see Tenders Button Shop. As predicted, it was amazing and really cool. The buttons were sometimes hugely expensive, but many were rare or old or imported. I didn't buy any because the shop people were scary.
Next we took a train way downtown to East Village, where there is apparently a lot of bargain shops. Maybe we were doing it wrong, but we didn't see many bargains or shops. It was a bit desolate but also super hot. We stopped in Starbucks to refresh ourselves and decided to walk to Chinatown. It was sort of far and super hotty hot.
Weird lunch.
Chinatown crept up on us and all of a sudden everything was foreign. We weren't tempted to go in any shops. Then super suddenly, we were in Little Italy! Somehow it was a lot more pleasant than Chinatown.
We kept walking north and ended up at NoLita (north of little Italy), which is a pretty fashionable district. Keeping on walking we ended up at Broadway street, where we were last night! I saw an Irregular Choice shoeshop (regular readers may remember I bought my doggie shoes there in London). There were 4 shop assistants and they took turns asking us if we wanted help. Some took more than one turn! Super annoying. Then we went to H&M again and I bought that jacket finally. I had dreams about it last night and I'm pretty sure it goes with every item of clothing I own.
Our weird dinner was at a bad japanese place. It seemed like they were making the food from a picture... Completely wrong!
We finally got to relax at the basement jazz club: "Small's" where we were going to watch the first set of the night. Melissa was already there and we agreed it was a good show and a fun atmosphere.
The quarter was led by the bass player and played mostly his originals, for our own memory we wrote down some of the songs:
Delayed, The Overture, Grains of Sand, Fragments from Providence for L.C.R.,
After the show we wandered around the west village and found a place for a drink and a long chat. A wonderful New York summer night!
Then we had a few things on the agenda. First we went uptown to 5th avenue again because we wanted to see Tenders Button Shop. As predicted, it was amazing and really cool. The buttons were sometimes hugely expensive, but many were rare or old or imported. I didn't buy any because the shop people were scary.
Next we took a train way downtown to East Village, where there is apparently a lot of bargain shops. Maybe we were doing it wrong, but we didn't see many bargains or shops. It was a bit desolate but also super hot. We stopped in Starbucks to refresh ourselves and decided to walk to Chinatown. It was sort of far and super hotty hot.
Weird lunch.
Chinatown crept up on us and all of a sudden everything was foreign. We weren't tempted to go in any shops. Then super suddenly, we were in Little Italy! Somehow it was a lot more pleasant than Chinatown.
We kept walking north and ended up at NoLita (north of little Italy), which is a pretty fashionable district. Keeping on walking we ended up at Broadway street, where we were last night! I saw an Irregular Choice shoeshop (regular readers may remember I bought my doggie shoes there in London). There were 4 shop assistants and they took turns asking us if we wanted help. Some took more than one turn! Super annoying. Then we went to H&M again and I bought that jacket finally. I had dreams about it last night and I'm pretty sure it goes with every item of clothing I own.
Our weird dinner was at a bad japanese place. It seemed like they were making the food from a picture... Completely wrong!
We finally got to relax at the basement jazz club: "Small's" where we were going to watch the first set of the night. Melissa was already there and we agreed it was a good show and a fun atmosphere.
The quarter was led by the bass player and played mostly his originals, for our own memory we wrote down some of the songs:
Delayed, The Overture, Grains of Sand, Fragments from Providence for L.C.R.,
After the show we wandered around the west village and found a place for a drink and a long chat. A wonderful New York summer night!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Wednesday 10th
Wednesday we were to leave the Gerbers but we didn't want to get to New York too early because Melissa was working until 10pm anyway. We left the Gerbers around 11am and drove to Boston, where we were going to meet a friend of mine who I had not seen in about 6 years, Samantha.
Sam was at school with me in years 8 - 10 and we were super good friends. She is a diplomat kid so they moved every 3 years and she went to Thailand. I always missed her super lots at school and still miss her sometimes. Anyhow we were to meet her at her work at the Rowland Institute at Harvard, which is basically a science lab where Harvard university pays students to research. Sam was not a student at Harvard but somehow got a job doing neuroscience there. She took us up to see the lab. I was immediately weirded out because she was always very into animal rights etc and I never pictured her cutting up brains.
We went for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory which obviously specializes in cheesecake but is also a restaurant that sells one billion dishes. I had chicken and mashed potato stuff, jammie had a tuna thing, and Charles had a burger. It was huge! Super large! My thing turned out to be the biggest and I ate nearly all of it! Then we shared a bit of cheesecake. Mistake! We were full all day!
So it turns out that Jammie does not kill the animals she works with. She was horrified at the notion! She works with rats and does use electrodes to measure brain activity but afterwards the rats go back in with the others and are normal. They do not get disposed of and only have tiny holes in their head that didn't hurt. I was really relieved. She said that she refuses to kill them unless they are old and sick, and they are treated as well as any house pet. Interesting! It was great to catch up with her because she is just as wonderful a person as I remember.
After our lunch we said goodbye to Jammie and went to a mall. We were super full - unpleasantly full. We went to a Best Buy and Charles bought some gear for his iPhone. That was all we bought there apart from a coffee.
Then we drove down to Newbury Street, which we visited with Erin and liked a lot. It is the cool place to be in Boston! The best shop was Betsey Johnson, Wichita is a designer who make pretty frilly dresses. We also visited Urban Outfitters which has an interesting style and also sells nicknacks.
Unfortunately we overstayed our parking - by like a minute - and received a parking fine of a whopping $25. I thought it was a bit mean to book us so soon after the expiry. We were cheesed off so left the city. It was about 5:30 and peak hour but we got onto the highway immediately and were fine. The drive was long and lame and we went through another storm! Poor Charles was headachy but we managed. Stopped for a late dinner at a mcdonalds at Southbury, which is some non town. As we got closer to New York City, the roads got smaller and the traffic got more unpleasant and busy and insane. I was navigating and Charles was amazing.
We finally arrived in Brooklyn and found a car park. Gosh we were tired! Melissa found us and we went pretty well directly to bed!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sam was at school with me in years 8 - 10 and we were super good friends. She is a diplomat kid so they moved every 3 years and she went to Thailand. I always missed her super lots at school and still miss her sometimes. Anyhow we were to meet her at her work at the Rowland Institute at Harvard, which is basically a science lab where Harvard university pays students to research. Sam was not a student at Harvard but somehow got a job doing neuroscience there. She took us up to see the lab. I was immediately weirded out because she was always very into animal rights etc and I never pictured her cutting up brains.
We went for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory which obviously specializes in cheesecake but is also a restaurant that sells one billion dishes. I had chicken and mashed potato stuff, jammie had a tuna thing, and Charles had a burger. It was huge! Super large! My thing turned out to be the biggest and I ate nearly all of it! Then we shared a bit of cheesecake. Mistake! We were full all day!
So it turns out that Jammie does not kill the animals she works with. She was horrified at the notion! She works with rats and does use electrodes to measure brain activity but afterwards the rats go back in with the others and are normal. They do not get disposed of and only have tiny holes in their head that didn't hurt. I was really relieved. She said that she refuses to kill them unless they are old and sick, and they are treated as well as any house pet. Interesting! It was great to catch up with her because she is just as wonderful a person as I remember.
After our lunch we said goodbye to Jammie and went to a mall. We were super full - unpleasantly full. We went to a Best Buy and Charles bought some gear for his iPhone. That was all we bought there apart from a coffee.
Then we drove down to Newbury Street, which we visited with Erin and liked a lot. It is the cool place to be in Boston! The best shop was Betsey Johnson, Wichita is a designer who make pretty frilly dresses. We also visited Urban Outfitters which has an interesting style and also sells nicknacks.
Unfortunately we overstayed our parking - by like a minute - and received a parking fine of a whopping $25. I thought it was a bit mean to book us so soon after the expiry. We were cheesed off so left the city. It was about 5:30 and peak hour but we got onto the highway immediately and were fine. The drive was long and lame and we went through another storm! Poor Charles was headachy but we managed. Stopped for a late dinner at a mcdonalds at Southbury, which is some non town. As we got closer to New York City, the roads got smaller and the traffic got more unpleasant and busy and insane. I was navigating and Charles was amazing.
We finally arrived in Brooklyn and found a car park. Gosh we were tired! Melissa found us and we went pretty well directly to bed!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday 9th
On Tuesday we were hanging out with the friends we were saying with in Hamilton. We got up early and went to Gloucester (small fishing town) for the morning. Breakfast was held at a really popular cafe. I already posted a photo of charles' meal, and mine was frty porridge with a hash on the side. Hash here is potato and corned beef and other delicious stuff all mixed and mashed up and fried. Yum.
Then Alison and I went to a vintage clothing shop. It was super amazing because of the range of stuff. There were some very very old clothes in great condition! They also had huge amounts of old jewelry. bought a hat that i think is probably only from the nineties but I love. Photos have already been posted of the hat!
Then we went to a record shop that sold billions of CDs and records. Cool!
Then we all went to Market Basket which is their local huge supermarket. We had wanted to visit a huge supermarket. The Gerbers totally hate this place for some reason. There was a lot of choice and a lot of awful looking food, but I didn't find it too depressing. There was a whole aisle of paper. Also we learnt that Americans can't say "toilet paper", it's called "bath paper" here. Americans don't go to the toilet.
Then it was home because Ralph needed his sleep and was very naughty and grumpy. We al. Just hung out at home all afternoon watching television. Charles and I went for a little walk around the grounds. Lovely.
After dinner the two of us went and bought ice cream, it was amazing.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Then Alison and I went to a vintage clothing shop. It was super amazing because of the range of stuff. There were some very very old clothes in great condition! They also had huge amounts of old jewelry. bought a hat that i think is probably only from the nineties but I love. Photos have already been posted of the hat!
Then we went to a record shop that sold billions of CDs and records. Cool!
Then we all went to Market Basket which is their local huge supermarket. We had wanted to visit a huge supermarket. The Gerbers totally hate this place for some reason. There was a lot of choice and a lot of awful looking food, but I didn't find it too depressing. There was a whole aisle of paper. Also we learnt that Americans can't say "toilet paper", it's called "bath paper" here. Americans don't go to the toilet.
Then it was home because Ralph needed his sleep and was very naughty and grumpy. We al. Just hung out at home all afternoon watching television. Charles and I went for a little walk around the grounds. Lovely.
After dinner the two of us went and bought ice cream, it was amazing.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Today - Thursday the 11th
We missed a few days of posting because of super tiredness. Sorry. Today was super long and busy so this post is not for the faint hearted!
Today we woke up at Melissa's beautiful house and took the car to Hertz in Brooklyn. It was a bit Difficult but we managed okay. Then we walked around the pretty brooklyn streets and found a nice looking cafe to have breakfast called Iris cafe. It was really nice and friendly and a comfy atmosphere.
Then we took the subway to central to visit central park. It turns out that it is a really big park! It's three avenues wide and like 50 streets long. Streets are narrower than avenues but it's still super long! W wandered around for a while and saw where Miss Piggy rollerskated in The Muppets Take Manhattan. We also walked up to Strawberry Fields where there's the John Lennon memorial. There were one billion tourists there. There were also bands, sunbathers, horses and carriages, a zoo, a huge pond, ducklings, etc etc. Fun! But hot.
We realized pretty soon that we were super hot and thirsty and also that we had $1.98 total. We left central park and walked along 5th Avenue where all the big brands are. First we went to the Apple store (another one) because Charles had heard it was good. It was actually really loud and really full of large Americans standing in front of all the stuff we wanted to look at. Disappointing!
We wanted to find a Starbucks to check our emails and quench our thirsts, and we found one in the Trump building. We didn't notice when we went in, but it is actually a huge skyscraper. We were so thirsty. The building was entirely made of orange marble and the floors were very slippery and there was a waterfall. The entire building had one set of toilets in the basement. Weird.
Next we visited Tiffany and Co. We particularly ogled the engagement rings and wedding bands, knowing that we could not afford any of them. It was super fun to look. Diamonds are really sparkly, pictures do not do them justice. They are very pretty gems. We had fun (Charles too).
We looked at the other shops on the street and particularly visited H&M, where Chrissy found some things she really liked, a floaty chiffon spotty blouse and a winter jacket. She didn't buy either.
Next we walked to the Museum Of Modern Art (MOMA) and went to a cool exhibition called Talk To Me, about humans interaction with objects and computers. Chrissy's favorite was a piece about a small robot that only goes forwards and has a label that said "I'm heading for MOMA, point me in the right direction!" and there was a video of it roaming around a park getting helped by people who notice it stuck in gutters and going the wrong way.
After MoMA we wanted to go to uniqlo which was a train ride away in soho. It was super busy which was a bit annoying because Charles wanted to try on about 30 pairs of pants. Eventually he narrowed it down to two and bought both. We went to H&M there as well, but it was too busy to buy anything so we had to leave.
Then we got totally lost trying to get back to Brooklyn and took refuge in a cupcake shop. We tried to take one train but it was the wrong one and it took a bit of figuring out to get us on the right track! But we arrived in Brooklyn eventually and had dinner. Chrissy had grilled vegetables and Charles had a vege risotto. Yum.
Then we went to meet Melissa at Brooklyn Bridge Park where there was an outdoor movie event. The film... Breakfast At Tiffany's! Coincidence! We only got there halfway through the film but we got to see the good end bits. There were thousands of people at this park! It was nuts finding Melissa. She popped up and waved and when she sat down again we couldn't see her any more. She got us.
And now we're back at the apartment chilling out! We'll work out how far we walked today and I bet it's in the tens of kilometers. Our legs and feet are very unhappy!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Today we woke up at Melissa's beautiful house and took the car to Hertz in Brooklyn. It was a bit Difficult but we managed okay. Then we walked around the pretty brooklyn streets and found a nice looking cafe to have breakfast called Iris cafe. It was really nice and friendly and a comfy atmosphere.
Then we took the subway to central to visit central park. It turns out that it is a really big park! It's three avenues wide and like 50 streets long. Streets are narrower than avenues but it's still super long! W wandered around for a while and saw where Miss Piggy rollerskated in The Muppets Take Manhattan. We also walked up to Strawberry Fields where there's the John Lennon memorial. There were one billion tourists there. There were also bands, sunbathers, horses and carriages, a zoo, a huge pond, ducklings, etc etc. Fun! But hot.
We realized pretty soon that we were super hot and thirsty and also that we had $1.98 total. We left central park and walked along 5th Avenue where all the big brands are. First we went to the Apple store (another one) because Charles had heard it was good. It was actually really loud and really full of large Americans standing in front of all the stuff we wanted to look at. Disappointing!
We wanted to find a Starbucks to check our emails and quench our thirsts, and we found one in the Trump building. We didn't notice when we went in, but it is actually a huge skyscraper. We were so thirsty. The building was entirely made of orange marble and the floors were very slippery and there was a waterfall. The entire building had one set of toilets in the basement. Weird.
Next we visited Tiffany and Co. We particularly ogled the engagement rings and wedding bands, knowing that we could not afford any of them. It was super fun to look. Diamonds are really sparkly, pictures do not do them justice. They are very pretty gems. We had fun (Charles too).
We looked at the other shops on the street and particularly visited H&M, where Chrissy found some things she really liked, a floaty chiffon spotty blouse and a winter jacket. She didn't buy either.
Next we walked to the Museum Of Modern Art (MOMA) and went to a cool exhibition called Talk To Me, about humans interaction with objects and computers. Chrissy's favorite was a piece about a small robot that only goes forwards and has a label that said "I'm heading for MOMA, point me in the right direction!" and there was a video of it roaming around a park getting helped by people who notice it stuck in gutters and going the wrong way.
After MoMA we wanted to go to uniqlo which was a train ride away in soho. It was super busy which was a bit annoying because Charles wanted to try on about 30 pairs of pants. Eventually he narrowed it down to two and bought both. We went to H&M there as well, but it was too busy to buy anything so we had to leave.
Then we got totally lost trying to get back to Brooklyn and took refuge in a cupcake shop. We tried to take one train but it was the wrong one and it took a bit of figuring out to get us on the right track! But we arrived in Brooklyn eventually and had dinner. Chrissy had grilled vegetables and Charles had a vege risotto. Yum.
Then we went to meet Melissa at Brooklyn Bridge Park where there was an outdoor movie event. The film... Breakfast At Tiffany's! Coincidence! We only got there halfway through the film but we got to see the good end bits. There were thousands of people at this park! It was nuts finding Melissa. She popped up and waved and when she sat down again we couldn't see her any more. She got us.
And now we're back at the apartment chilling out! We'll work out how far we walked today and I bet it's in the tens of kilometers. Our legs and feet are very unhappy!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
More photos!
Christina before her xylophone concert. There were pretty flowers outside the music building.
Playing Fluffy Ruffles with the marimba band and singer.
Christina and our new friend Roger, from the vibes workshop.
The whole xylophone gang. Evan, Chris, singer Courtney, other Chris, Sean, Bob Becker, Ben, Harvey, Christina, David, Tracy, Rose, and Rick.
Christina with Bob.
Playing Fluffy Ruffles with the marimba band and singer.
Christina and our new friend Roger, from the vibes workshop.
The whole xylophone gang. Evan, Chris, singer Courtney, other Chris, Sean, Bob Becker, Ben, Harvey, Christina, David, Tracy, Rose, and Rick.
Christina with Bob.
Photos from the last few days!
Charles playing at the vibes concert!
Charles and our good friend Carolyn who attended the vibes workshop!
A squirrel eating pizza.
Charles and our good friend Carolyn who attended the vibes workshop!
A squirrel eating pizza.
Monday 8th
Today we spent the morning doing fun stuff with our friends. We went to the university where Jonathan works and had a look around. It was like hogwarts!
Then we drove to Beverly which is a little suburb that has shops. Charles had a coffee and Alison and I walked to a thrift shop called Beverly Bootstraps. It was really good and I bought a cardigan to replace the one i lost in New York and a black blazer. It only cost me $4 altogether!
After that we went home for a quick sandwich and then Charles and I started driving to Boston to see our Friend Erin. It took us about an hour to get there because in the middle of the trip is started pouring with extreme rain so we had to slow down a lot. Then it cleared up by the time we arrived, or it hadnt started raining yet in Boston. Anyway we got to her house somehow because I am an amazing navigator through one-way streets and misleading signs.
We walked to a local cafe and had some coffees and cake. We also talked to her fiancee, our good friend, on FaceTime!1 It's video phone calling! Awesome! Erin is getting married and so are we so we talked Wedmin (wedding administration). While we were there it started storming outside again but it stopped by the time we left.
Then we actually went into town in her (Sam's) car and went to the Apple store and then to a wedding dress boutique! Erin had been there many times so had their number in her phone and called to make sure we could come. Since it wasn't a real appointment I couldn't try any on, but I was cool with that because they were all one billion dollars. We just had a brief look. Some of the dresses were so heavy they were difficult to pick up off the racks. Weird. You'd have to be a super strong bride to carry that stuff all day.
Then we realized that it was pouring with rain outside AGAIN, so we ran over the road to Anthropologie, a women's clothing and homewears shop. They had some really beautiful things, including two whole displays full of different knobs! I can't wait to have a house with cheap furniture so that I can put new knobs on all the drawers and doors. They were amazingly beautiful!
Then it stopped raining again so we went to a beautiful Tapas restaurant. It was busy but we could just get a seat. We had corn on the cob with delicious stuff on it, fish balls, potato wedges with saucy stuff. It was lovely!
Then we went back to the Apple store and ... I bought an iPad. It's really great. Now I can use FaceTime while Charles is away and I can have Internet everywhere. Yay!
Then we walked along some of the cool shopping streets of Boston. There was a shop that only sold vintage cowboy boots and hats and jackets. So interesting! There was a dress shop that was pretty much the same as modcloth.com. I tried on a gorgeous dress that had a camel print and had a cute collar, but it was massively overpriced. We stopped for ice-cream which was super nice!
Back at Erin's house we hung out and watched Masterchef and I un-boxed my new iPad and we looked at wedding magazines. Then Charles and I started the drive home again! We got back at around 11:20 and went to bed soon after!
Then we drove to Beverly which is a little suburb that has shops. Charles had a coffee and Alison and I walked to a thrift shop called Beverly Bootstraps. It was really good and I bought a cardigan to replace the one i lost in New York and a black blazer. It only cost me $4 altogether!
After that we went home for a quick sandwich and then Charles and I started driving to Boston to see our Friend Erin. It took us about an hour to get there because in the middle of the trip is started pouring with extreme rain so we had to slow down a lot. Then it cleared up by the time we arrived, or it hadnt started raining yet in Boston. Anyway we got to her house somehow because I am an amazing navigator through one-way streets and misleading signs.
We walked to a local cafe and had some coffees and cake. We also talked to her fiancee, our good friend, on FaceTime!1 It's video phone calling! Awesome! Erin is getting married and so are we so we talked Wedmin (wedding administration). While we were there it started storming outside again but it stopped by the time we left.
Then we actually went into town in her (Sam's) car and went to the Apple store and then to a wedding dress boutique! Erin had been there many times so had their number in her phone and called to make sure we could come. Since it wasn't a real appointment I couldn't try any on, but I was cool with that because they were all one billion dollars. We just had a brief look. Some of the dresses were so heavy they were difficult to pick up off the racks. Weird. You'd have to be a super strong bride to carry that stuff all day.
Then we realized that it was pouring with rain outside AGAIN, so we ran over the road to Anthropologie, a women's clothing and homewears shop. They had some really beautiful things, including two whole displays full of different knobs! I can't wait to have a house with cheap furniture so that I can put new knobs on all the drawers and doors. They were amazingly beautiful!
Then it stopped raining again so we went to a beautiful Tapas restaurant. It was busy but we could just get a seat. We had corn on the cob with delicious stuff on it, fish balls, potato wedges with saucy stuff. It was lovely!
Then we went back to the Apple store and ... I bought an iPad. It's really great. Now I can use FaceTime while Charles is away and I can have Internet everywhere. Yay!
Then we walked along some of the cool shopping streets of Boston. There was a shop that only sold vintage cowboy boots and hats and jackets. So interesting! There was a dress shop that was pretty much the same as modcloth.com. I tried on a gorgeous dress that had a camel print and had a cute collar, but it was massively overpriced. We stopped for ice-cream which was super nice!
Back at Erin's house we hung out and watched Masterchef and I un-boxed my new iPad and we looked at wedding magazines. Then Charles and I started the drive home again! We got back at around 11:20 and went to bed soon after!
Sunday 7th
On Sunday Charles and I picked up Bob Becker to take him to Philadelphia airport. Then we kept driving north to get to Boston.
The drive was kind of interesting and also kind of horrible. Through the cities there were traffic jams and big things and billions of signs. We stopped at one rest stop that had no wifi and huge lines for the toilet and was ridiculously busy and hot and loud. Gross.
We stopped again at mcdonalds which was actually nice. Free Internet and a delicious cheeseburger.
In Massachusetts it was suddenly a lot greener and there were forests and lakes everywhere. We arrived at our friends' house about 7 hours after leaving Philadelphia airport. We had driven through Delaware, new York, conneticut, Massachusetts, and new jersey. Petty good for one day! Finally arrived, we ate delicious food, played with the baby, watched iron chef America and went to bed.
The drive was kind of interesting and also kind of horrible. Through the cities there were traffic jams and big things and billions of signs. We stopped at one rest stop that had no wifi and huge lines for the toilet and was ridiculously busy and hot and loud. Gross.
We stopped again at mcdonalds which was actually nice. Free Internet and a delicious cheeseburger.
In Massachusetts it was suddenly a lot greener and there were forests and lakes everywhere. We arrived at our friends' house about 7 hours after leaving Philadelphia airport. We had driven through Delaware, new York, conneticut, Massachusetts, and new jersey. Petty good for one day! Finally arrived, we ate delicious food, played with the baby, watched iron chef America and went to bed.
Friday 5th, Saturday 6th.
Haven't posted in a while whoops!
Friday was a petty average day for the xylophone people, but it was the last day for the vibes workshop and the day of their concert. The concert went well for everyone! Charles played in your quiet place by Keith Jarrett. He was great! After the concert we went out with some of the vibes people for a drink at Buffalo Wild Wings. Lovely!
Saturday was the final day for the xylo workshop. We had all morning off so Charles and I went to collect the car from Hertz. We got a cute little zippy car. In the afternoon I went in to rehearse with everyone. After rehearsal Charles and I went into town and bought some Delaware t-shirts.
The xylo concert went well too and we all got photos with Bob Becker afterwards. Then the other kids were going to some house party so Charles and I got pizza and ice-cream instead. Yum.
Photos later!
Friday was a petty average day for the xylophone people, but it was the last day for the vibes workshop and the day of their concert. The concert went well for everyone! Charles played in your quiet place by Keith Jarrett. He was great! After the concert we went out with some of the vibes people for a drink at Buffalo Wild Wings. Lovely!
Saturday was the final day for the xylo workshop. We had all morning off so Charles and I went to collect the car from Hertz. We got a cute little zippy car. In the afternoon I went in to rehearse with everyone. After rehearsal Charles and I went into town and bought some Delaware t-shirts.
The xylo concert went well too and we all got photos with Bob Becker afterwards. Then the other kids were going to some house party so Charles and I got pizza and ice-cream instead. Yum.
Photos later!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Thursday 4th August
Today Charles had more seminars with David Friedman, famous for his book "Vibraphone Dampening and Pedalling". He went through a really interesting exercise for discovering sounds on the vibes by transposing chord voicing up and down diatonically depending on which scale you're in. In the afternoon, he played a little duo concert with Tony Miceli which was very interesting.
Christina had a long listening session in the morning. As it turns out, one of her favourite rags, "Fluffy Ruffles" is actually a song! For voice! The words are something like: "Fluffy Ruffles, She's the something or other, all the boys adore her etc etc".
In the afternoon she had improvisation lessons which were REALLY hard and then she had ensemble rehearsals. Charles got an early mark so he got to see some of the end of Chrissy's last session.
In the evening there was a party at Harvey's friend's house. It was great. We had a great time teaching people how to say Australia correctly ("uh-straya"). We also had a nice talk with Bob Becker and learned that he enjoys Fred Astaire films and Harry Potter. So there.
Christina had a long listening session in the morning. As it turns out, one of her favourite rags, "Fluffy Ruffles" is actually a song! For voice! The words are something like: "Fluffy Ruffles, She's the something or other, all the boys adore her etc etc".
In the afternoon she had improvisation lessons which were REALLY hard and then she had ensemble rehearsals. Charles got an early mark so he got to see some of the end of Chrissy's last session.
In the evening there was a party at Harvey's friend's house. It was great. We had a great time teaching people how to say Australia correctly ("uh-straya"). We also had a nice talk with Bob Becker and learned that he enjoys Fred Astaire films and Harry Potter. So there.
Yesterday - Wednesday!
Yesterday was Wednesday, which was my third day of classes and Charles' fourth. David Friedman came to teach the Vibes class today. He's a really amazing vibes player and a cool guy!
So as usual we went to get coffee and breakfast at Saxby's over the road from the university. Delicious! Then we went to our respective classes. I had a listening session where we heard lots of really old xylophone recordings from before the 1920s. It was very interesting!
In the evening was the "Vibes Hang", a internet-streamed concert which was going live on Tony Micelli's website. There was a drummer and a bassist there too to play with all the vibes players. There were lots of jazz tunes. Charles and I did our duo version of Triplets and everyone thought it was super great!! There were comments like "i'd hate to follow that" etc etc. Lots of people have been telling us how much they liked it, and we even got some compliments from Bob Becker. Here's a photo of him rehearsing with some of the other workshop participants:
Bob Becker played a version of Dance of the Octopus by Red Norvo which he had arranged. It was super lovely - that's a tune I'm actually currently learning. I video recorded it on Charles' camera so I can refer to it later. It was so lovely.
After the concert finished at about 8:30 Charles and I went for a long walk down main street looking for a place to eat. We ended up going to this weird 50s-themed cheeseburger restaurant. It was amazing! It had a bar with cute metal stools and pink neon lights everywhere. The music was all from 1053 2CA and there were cutouts of Elvis, the Fonze, and Betty Boop. I ordered a milkshake (because that's what you DO) and we both got cheeseburgers and chips. Yum!
So as usual we went to get coffee and breakfast at Saxby's over the road from the university. Delicious! Then we went to our respective classes. I had a listening session where we heard lots of really old xylophone recordings from before the 1920s. It was very interesting!
In the evening was the "Vibes Hang", a internet-streamed concert which was going live on Tony Micelli's website. There was a drummer and a bassist there too to play with all the vibes players. There were lots of jazz tunes. Charles and I did our duo version of Triplets and everyone thought it was super great!! There were comments like "i'd hate to follow that" etc etc. Lots of people have been telling us how much they liked it, and we even got some compliments from Bob Becker. Here's a photo of him rehearsing with some of the other workshop participants:
Bob Becker played a version of Dance of the Octopus by Red Norvo which he had arranged. It was super lovely - that's a tune I'm actually currently learning. I video recorded it on Charles' camera so I can refer to it later. It was so lovely.
After the concert finished at about 8:30 Charles and I went for a long walk down main street looking for a place to eat. We ended up going to this weird 50s-themed cheeseburger restaurant. It was amazing! It had a bar with cute metal stools and pink neon lights everywhere. The music was all from 1053 2CA and there were cutouts of Elvis, the Fonze, and Betty Boop. I ordered a milkshake (because that's what you DO) and we both got cheeseburgers and chips. Yum!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tuesday 2nd of August
Today was Charles' third day of classes and Christina's second. As usual we went to the cafe over the road for breakfast before going to classes.
This morning Chrissy had a lecture about the history of the marimba and xylophone, plus a lot about how they are made and how they differ. Turns out there's no difference between a marimba and xylophone, except that the xylophone sounds an octave higher than written.
At lunch time, we ate pizza and then Charles and I went to have a play. Bob Becker was hanging out in the xylophone room playing all by himself! Charles asked if we could play for him and we played our duo version of Triplets. He thought it was pretty good! He suggested that we perform it at the "Vibes Hang" session tomorrow night. Yay!
After lunch, the group split into two to rehearse people's individual solos with the marimba band accompaniment. Here's a photo of me playing!
This morning Chrissy had a lecture about the history of the marimba and xylophone, plus a lot about how they are made and how they differ. Turns out there's no difference between a marimba and xylophone, except that the xylophone sounds an octave higher than written.
At lunch time, we ate pizza and then Charles and I went to have a play. Bob Becker was hanging out in the xylophone room playing all by himself! Charles asked if we could play for him and we played our duo version of Triplets. He thought it was pretty good! He suggested that we perform it at the "Vibes Hang" session tomorrow night. Yay!
After lunch, the group split into two to rehearse people's individual solos with the marimba band accompaniment. Here's a photo of me playing!
I think I did pretty well. Some people were not very well prepared or had no idea what the marimba band would sound like. I'm lucky that Gary makes us play so many rags.
Charles' Day: First we talked about technique and grip for a while, which was pretty boring. The tune of the day was C Jam Blues so everyone has to learn it by tomorrow. After lunch there was a boring malletkat session (Charles already knows everything about malletkat!) so he practiced instead with some new friends. In the afternoon, a violin player came in to talk about how she plays jazz with a vibraphone player.
For an early dinner, Charles and Christina and their new friend Carolyn went to a place called "Home Grown". It had really nice food! We had a really nice time talking. Then we all went to the vibes evening session where the violin lady played tunes with all of the students. Charles played "In Your Quiet Place" and it was really lovely. We both went to practice after that session, and stayed in until about 10pm, when we got too tired.
That's it for today!!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Today was the first day of the Xylophone workshop! Chrissy said that everybody had to play a rag they had chosen so that the teacher (Bob Becker) could see them play. It was scary! They also did exercises in improvisation and technique which all sound very interesting.
In Charles' vibraphone workshop the teacher had a bass player visit in the evening and everybody got to play a standard in a little trio with somebody else playing drums. Charles played Blue Bossa, which is a bit boring, but he doesn't know many songs from memory so his options were limited!
Chrissy went out to have dinner with the other Xylophone kids (literally they are all underage except for her) at some Buffalo Wild Wings place which looked like an RSL club and had televisions and pokies and only served giant spicy chicken things. Before ordering, the kids started talking about "kegs" and "getting stoned", so she half-faked jet-lag related illness and went to join Charles in the vibes jam.
We had a late dinner at the burrito place in town since it's Monday, you get to spin a wheel and win something when you buy a burrito. Charles won getting his burrito for free so that was good!
In Charles' vibraphone workshop the teacher had a bass player visit in the evening and everybody got to play a standard in a little trio with somebody else playing drums. Charles played Blue Bossa, which is a bit boring, but he doesn't know many songs from memory so his options were limited!
Chrissy went out to have dinner with the other Xylophone kids (literally they are all underage except for her) at some Buffalo Wild Wings place which looked like an RSL club and had televisions and pokies and only served giant spicy chicken things. Before ordering, the kids started talking about "kegs" and "getting stoned", so she half-faked jet-lag related illness and went to join Charles in the vibes jam.
We had a late dinner at the burrito place in town since it's Monday, you get to spin a wheel and win something when you buy a burrito. Charles won getting his burrito for free so that was good!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Photos of today - Sunday 31st July.
Last night's GIANT PIZZA. This picture doesn't do justice to how large it really was. I could only eat one slice and I was very VERY hungry!
Candid photo of the vibes workshop I took while waiting to be shown to a practice room. The guy in the middle is Harvey Price, and Charles is sitting on the left. There were a lot of people with vibraphones!
I chose an antique Deagan xylophone to practice on. It's cute!
The view from the window of my practice room. That building is where the vibes workshop is, the xylophone stuff is separate. People were playing with their dogs on that grass!
Us in the mirror!
More about today soon!
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