Last day in NYC March 14

It has been a whirlwind trip!  Unwilling to pay the $20 ish a day for Internet, I didn't write daily as I had hoped. Oh well...

Dianne arrived Friday night in time for everyone's favorite show ( as expected): " Something Rotten" --- the spoof of Shakespeare. Only disappointment was that Brian D'Arcy James had a stand in ( who was fine, but not him).  As expected Christian Borle was ---Wow!
It was wonderful to have Dianne join us-- then on Sat, Anita's friend Stephanie joined us so we were a foursome.

Here are my shows ranked from favorite down:  🎭
1. ( tie) Something Rotten and On Your Feet🏆
2. Eclipsed
3. Bright Star. --- the one by Steve Matrin et al. A most un traditional musical, imaginative staging and engaging story. Almost seemed like a drama with music. I imagine either people will love it or not appreciate it at all...
4.   Noises Off  ( a backstage farce-- 2nd act became hysterical -- bringing back my own theatre experiences)
5. She Loves Me
6. Disaster ( felt a bit like a college review or follies but w professional actors)
7.  Hughie

Not in my usual style, I do want to make note of places we ate where I really really liked the food: ( all near hotel )
Qi Thai
Blue Fin-- the manager chatted a long time about B'way shows & was quite interested in  ( & impressed about) our 8 shows!  He's friends w Seth Rudetsky & said he'd pass along my thanks about when he informed me(albeit on the Serius XM show!) that Audra McDonald would be doing Porgy & Bess at ART-- which got me to go there.
Carnegie Deli
Scarletto ( fabulous pre theatre dinner -- had the best salmon)
The new Trattoria at Macy's -- I had to-die-for Brussels sprouts

Staying at Marriott Marquis was Perfect and I'm thrilled I was there!   Will do that again.

Overall-- a fabulous trip, tho 8 was quite a lot. Made good choices all around.
Now: do you know the way to San Jose....🎼

Jane

Friday in NYC

I can't believe this is the first chance I've had to write-- from lobby wifi. The days are packed!  We arrived Wed and were delighted to get our room right away to get some sleep after the red eye. Whew!

Across from hotel is playing " Hughie" starring Forrest Whittaker (. who I also saw at Telluride the year he won best actor). The play was so- so but his acting was superb. That show was an add-on to the 6 reservations we already has made --so now it's 7 shows.

Wed and Thursday Anita & I entered the lottery to try to get tix to "Hamilton" but alas we didn't win.
Wed night was "On Your Feet"--about Gloria & Emelio Estevan. Fantastic!!!  The gal playing Gloria was an amazing fit.

Thursday I got to meet up with Greg ( former B'way dancer related to Joan). We had a nice lunch and visited & gabbed about theatre. He gave me several new tips about getting rush tickets.

Since we didn't get the Hamilton lottery we got rush tix for "Eclipsed"starring Lupita Nyong'o who I saw at Telluride for "12 Years a Slave"--- the role that got her an Oscar. A very moving story about the plight of women in Liberia-- so called wives of rebels. It just opened this week & I imagine is headed for a Tony. So that show brings our count up to 8!!

Today we went to the World Trade Tower memorial and museum. Powerful tribute. I was impressed at how many young people were there who were not born in 2001 or were very little.

Tonight Dianne arrives from Boston & we are heading out for a bite before the show I'm most excited about: "Something Rotten".

Then Sat & Sun we have 2 shows a day.   ...My kind of vacation!

Happy Birthday  to my sister!  Wish you were here too!

Jane

Broadway, here I come!

I guess that heading is a little misleading. . . I didn't get cast in a show----but I AM staying at the Marriott Marquis which is on Broadway!

I'll arrive Wed. morning and have booked 6 shows so far and have time to add another.  I'll try for the Hamilton lottery (literally) as a few lucky people can get tickets at the last minute.  I could have bought a ticket for $400-500 but couldn't justify that.  It will be in SF next year anyway.  I did buy the cast album, because in case I can go, I want to be prepared.  I also bought the Hamilton biography that the show was based on.  Just started it.

So, these are the shows so far:

Wed. March 9            8:00    Marquis Theatre                   On Your Feet

Thurs. March 10                               open. . . . (get ½ price ticket)

Fri. March 11             8:00    St James Theatre                   Something Rotten

Sat. March 12                       

Matinee:         2:00    American Airlines Theatre   Noises Off

Evening:         8:00    Cort Theatre                          Bright Star

Sun. March 13

Matinee:         2:00    Studio 54                               She Loves Me

Evening:         7:30    Nederlander Theatre                       Disaster

I'll be with a couple friends and on the weekend there will be four of us, so I know it will be fun!

I don't know if I'll have wi fi in the hotel. . . if I do I'll try to write in the blog.  If not, I may not write. Will see. . . 

Bye for now,

Jane

Venice Nov 4-5

Our last full days in Venice...
Wednesday
To get around in this town you either walk or take the city " bus" which is a boat called a vaporetto. It's been very nice hearing NO motor vehicles at all!  Today we took a vaporetto to several sites including city historical buildings & Bascilica di San Marco.

In the evening about a dozen of the group went to a concert of Vivaldi music at a church. There were 7 string instruments & a piano. I thought it was excellent. Lovely setting, excellent musicians, and Italian music!  After the concert, 5 of us didn't want to wait a long time for the Vaporetto so we walked..  Now, that entailed navigating all sorts of winding streets at 10 pm.  Fortunately the guy in our group used google directions & did a good job of getting us back--- actually before those who took the boat!  ( our walk was over 45 min.). That was a fun adventure.

Thursday
We began the day on a Vaporetto to take us to the island of Murano where Venitian glassmaking is done. We watched an informative video before watching the men work with glass. We learned that glassmaking used to be done in Venice proper but centuries ago the kilns tended to cause fires so it was decided that this job should be done on another island.  Makes sense.
I got videos & pix of the men at work. Such skill!  I did buy a few little trinkets back in Venice.
My friend Jan and I did some shopping & returned to the hotel to get ready for our last event: farewell dinner at the hotel.

The group of about 28 became very at ease & friendly over the weeks, so it was a lovely evening. We got some whole group pictures and have each other's contact info.  I think I may keep in touch with several of them.
Everyone else is leaving early tomorrow but my flight isn't till 8 pm so I have a bit more time here.  I'll fly to London, spend the night in an Ibis hotel, then depart for SF at 11 am on Saturday. That breaks up the trip a bit.

I'm tired now but I'll try to write 1 more time tomorrow and add some overall reflections of the trip.  But in short,  my earlier view that this was a well organized tour still stands.  I feel very lucky.
Looking forward to seeing my Swedie & puppy soon!

Venice Tues Nov 3

I am amazed at how unique Venice is!  I'm not sure if I love it or not but I can say it's unlike any other place I've ever seen. We arrived yesterday, so today was our first full day. I didn't have a great start because when I entered my hotel room yesterday there was a terrible odor. I had a friend & our guide smell it to see if they agreed & they did. We tried to get another room but the hotel said it was full. My Italian guide said if I leave the window open it could help a lot & sure enough it has. ( I can speculate with you later about the possible causes). Anyway I decided to stay in the room & I have kept the window open all the time.  It's pretty cold at night but the blankets are warm.  C' est la vie.

So about Venice:
We didn't see much last night but today we got around a lot.  At the top of the list was the gondola ride.  It was a cool but bright, sunny day so we were very fortunate.  We had 5 boats together for our group. I can say the gondoliers gave us zero attention but their water skills were excellent. We all enjoyed it.  I took a ton of pictures & videos. We also took the water bus for sightseeing& visited some historical sites.
The oddest thing to me is that when we walk around all we do is see other tourists. I know it's the part of town, but this really feels like walking around Disneyland minus Micky.  The population here has dropped ( according to our lecturer) so to me so far it hardly feels like Italy. But of course the physical attributes (  canals & architecture ) are amazing.

I'm exhausted right now & need to sleep cuz tomorrow is a busy day. We have 2 more days in the group, but while they all leave Friday morning, I don't fly till Fri night so I'll have more time here.

Nightee night.
Jane

Nov 1 Florence

It's our last day in Florence.  Off to Venice by train tomorrow.

Our day began with an excellent lecture by a professor about Florence's history and the Medici family. Once again I was very interested in the content and again it helped tie together the art, the history &  architecture  in new ways. Having read about these works & places is one thing but visiting them is incredible. The videos that friend Jackie loaned me to watch in the last month really set the stage for me.

This afternoon was free for the travelers ( Roger calls us "Roadies") to do as they choose. I met up with former Academic Senate colleague Richard & his wife.  He is teaching a semester abroad through his college. It was wonderful to see them!  I wasn't interested in going to more galleries so we went to the Pitti  Palace to see their gardens. This was another beautiful, sunny day --- perfect for strolling through gardens. High atop the hill behind the palace we had a super view of the city and environs.  Got some nice pix. All the while we were catching up on the last couple years since we worked together. This was a welcomed change of pace.

I have not worn a Fitbit here but my IPhone keeps track of the daily steps & tells how many flights of stairs we take.  Oh my!!!   Today was 15,500 steps and the equivalent of 30 floors climbed!!  The other night the 6 people at the  table were discussing their exercise routines & all work out regularly-- not surprising as that is needed for this kind of trip. It seems that nearly everyone is in their 60s or 70s with 2 who announced that they are 85!! Incredible!

I noticed the group dynamics of this group & mentioned to our group leader how interesting it is to observe everyone. She was curious to understand  more about that topic so I think I'll share some group theory with her. We are sitting together on the train tomorrow.

Florence has been super. As everyone promised, it's lovely and easy to get around. I now understand its attraction.

Can't believe I'll be home next Saturday!

Jane

Florence Oct 30-31

Friday Oct 30
What timing!  First thing this morning I read an email from friend Jackie telling me to try to see if I could visit the newly renovated museum at the Duomo-- the cathedral. Our group would visit the Duomo this morning, and because of Jackie's message, I asked our tour leader if our Duomo tour pass also included the museum. She said " I don't know but I'll check."  Well, it turned out the museum was reopening TODAY and yes we could go there!! More about that in a minute...

We had a private tour of the Duomo with a man whose father had been a marble craftsman for the Duomo!  Immediately I noticed his speech was different & I wondered if he was a German speaker.  No, turns out I was hearing the Florentine accent.  The Duomo 's architecture is unique & its history is too.

He next took us to the Baptisry next to the Duomo. And finally he took us to the marble workmens' studio to show us some of the techniques of working with marble. This was very interesting!  The men were not working today so we had the place to ourselves.

This was a very active day because after lunch we visited an important museums: theGalleria dell' Accademia.  It's  the home of the huge statue of David by Michelangelo. Our art historian guide led us and added fascinating details about the art as well as the people.  This trip--- thanks to our lecturers -- has brought art to life for me more than ever. I'm seeing connections between artists & the history / culture of the various eras and can actually identify Italian works that I'd only superficially been exposed to before. ( I never took an art history course).

Fortunately we had some free time to have a short visit at the new Duomo museum. It was excellent! It displayed the history  of the church including parts from the earlier structure.  I appreciated an audio visual presentation chronicling the evolution of Florence.

Tonight was a special dinner & show held as a banquet at the Medici Villa.  We were greeted by Renaissance musicians in period costumes & were entertained by them & folk dancers. (Jackie--I got pix & videos for you!). A " court jester" provided comedy to the evening & managed to pull up most people in the audience at one time or another for a game or dance.  Very entertaining!

Sat. October 31
Happy Halloween!  It's nearly dinner time & I saw almost  no signs of Halloween here ( but I did just eat some chocolate ). When we go for dinner I'll be curious if anything changes after dark.
We began the day with an outstanding lecture by a professor about the Medici family & history/ art of  Florence. She told us what to look for this afternoon at the Uffizi Gallery and encouraged us not to try to see it all ( thanks) but rather focus on certain works. It worked!  Her presentation was so effective, we all found the critical works on our own, in a self guided tour. Wow!
We also visited the Bargello National Museum. Whew!!

This is a crash course in Italian art history !

Off to dinner now.
Jane