Upcoming: California Coast

This is just an introductory post to preface my next trip.

Tomorrow, I will be traveling with the LBCC Wind Ensemble up the California coast.  It won't be a super fancy vacation, but I am looking forward to it.  It's very music-oriented: we're only playing once (doing a clinic at CSU East Bay), but we also get to go to an Air Force Band performance and a San Francisco Symphony concert, and will see some other interesting things as we make our way up to San Francisco.

So, I will be updating this blog daily again until Sunday!  I'm looking forward to having some interesting things to share with you all in perhaps lesser-traveled parts of California.

So, you'll hear from me tomorrow from San Luis Obispo!

A Slight Re-Introduction to Hollywood

I spent a couple of hours in Hollywood yesterday, and since I'm in the process of planning a visit from Mara (a friend from school in New York, former roommate and traveler extraordinaire) for hopefully this June, I thought I'd archive some of the things I came across.

I've lived in Southern California my entire life, and due to that callous, "of course I'm not a tourist, god forbid I should ever look like one" mentality, Los Angeles is very low on my list of places to explore.  An unfortunate side effect of that is there are many things I surprisingly have not done.  This blog will serve to keep track of adventures I have here in Southern California, and hopefully come of some use to fellow residents and tourists alike.

Yesterday, after rehearsal for my band up in Hollywood, Loren (my boyfriend), Ali (fellow band-mate) and I decided to hang out for a couple hours on Hollywood Boulevard.  This is where I made that re-revelation that I have not experienced much of what Hollywood has to offer the typical tourist: I've never been inside Ripley's, Madame Tussaud's, the Hollywood Museum, the Guinness Book of World Records... the list goes on for a long time!

We did not do any of those things, so those will be later posts as I've resolved to start working on my L.A./Hollywood local tourist knowledge.

Hollywood Boulevard is like a very run-down, dirty, dingy version of the Las Vegas Strip.  As you walk down the street you pass Elvis impersonators, superheroes, really creepy versions of Pixar characters, anything that's ever been in a movie (we even saw an Chuckie doll-man that might give me nightmares).  There are homeless musicians, store ringers (one almost tempted me to buy a $6 fish umbrella), strip club flyer-passers wearing gorilla suits, and the list goes on.

One somewhat redeeming revelation I had was that in front of certain famous venues, the stars in the streets (you know, the famous pink stars with famous peoples' names inlaid into the pavement that make up Hollywood's "star walk") matched the venue.  In front of Hard Rock Cafe are many famous musicians and record labels.  In front of the Pantages are names such as Andrew Lloyd Webber.  In front of the Disney store, there was Roy Disney, Donald Duck, Tinkerbell, Disneyland, and others.

The Disney store is right next to the El Capitan Theater, where Disney puts on their big premiers (I went to the Toy Story premier when I was younger and it was awesome!).  That is one thing I know for sure is cool, depending on what movies are coming out - if you absolutely must be a tourist in Hollywood, try to see a movie at the El Capitan.

Other theaters that have premiers include the Kodak Theater and the Chinese Theater.  One thing I've always somewhat known about but never really explored are all the stars' hand and footprints in the front enclave of the Chinese theater.  Had I known I was going to do a blog post about it I would have taken better photos, so I apologize for the lack in visuals.  Anyway, that actually is a really neat way to spend half an hour - crawl around and find famous actors and actresses' hand prints and compare your own, snap some pictures, etc.  We made a surprising revelation - Loren apparently has the Hollywood-approved standard-issue male hand size, with the exception of George Clooney, Harrison Ford, and most African American actors.  Almost every hand print he tried he fit perfectly.  Here are some fun photos (not wanting to look like a tourist, I neglected to get out my good camera, so these are all phone-pictures):

Loren trying on Hollywood hands

I am a monster compared to Judy Garland... and I have wicked witch of the West tights to match!

We found ourselves in front of the Kodak theater, which hosts the Oscars every year and has a timeline lining the entrance (it's a giant hallway of stairs and designer shops) of every best picture ever.  Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw a sign that made me take a double-take: Crumbs Bake Shop!  I had always thought it was a New York store, there was one near my dorm in 2007 that Mara and I frequented all the time - and they are primarily Manhattan based, but they have a smattering of locations in different states now!  I couldn't believe it - I had to buy a cupcake.

Crumbs Bake Shop - click for more info

Crumbs sells gigantic specialty cupcakes that are INCREDIBLE.  It took me at least 10 minutes to decide on a cupcake.  I finally settled on S'More - chocolate cupcake with frosting descending down into the middle, topped with chocolate frosting, marshmallows, chocolate chips, and graham crackers.  Loren got a Devil's Food cupcake.  

We saved them for much later in the evening, after we enjoyed sushi at Sushi Hiroba on Vine just south of Santa Monica Blvd. (I'll save you a giant essay on food - long story short, we got a deal from LivingSocial, I had promised him a nice sushi dinner for his holiday gift, and we finally made it happen, and it was so very delicious).  It wasn't one of the "top sushi restaurants in L.A.," but it got great reviews on Yelp, had a wonderful atmosphere, friendly staff and chefs, and delicious and fresh fish.

So, it's not the most picturesque place in the world, and as Loren would say, it's "like an art class - full of sketch," but there are still random (and delicious) ways to spend your time in Hollywood and enjoy yourself.

I'll be sure to post on any of those typical tourist-y places as I visit them - since I'm in Hollywood every Sunday anyway, I hope to expand that area of local expertise in small bursts before and after rehearsal :)

New York: Day 5

My last day in this wonderful city.

As per usual, Mara and I got going late morning.  We were surprised with this view upon exiting her dorm - apparently, it had snowed overnight.

Everything was covered in this light layer of snow - so, as a California girl whose only winter in New York three years ago was a relatively mild one, I was gawking and snapping photos everywhere we went.  Everything looked so enchanted and magical.  It was, obviously, quite cold, but I didn't care because everything was so beautiful.

We went to Pie for lunch, crossing off the last food-related item on my to-do-in-New-York list.  Pie is a thin-crust pay-by-the-pound pizza place on 4th Avenue, just south of Union Square, and during freshman year we came for lunch every Friday.  We got to know the owner quite well, and he came in and saw us and recognized me and Mara!  I couldn't believe he remembered me - he noticed I'd chopped off my hair, remembered meeting my parents, and came in with a, "hey, it's just like old times, the gang is back!" (It was just me, Mara, and Joel who were able to come, but back then it had been our entire floor).  His name is Jeff, and he used to tell us many stories, such as being a small child living in Miles Davis's building and seeing him on the elevator.  It was the first time I'd gotten to see Joel, and he wound up being the only one of the three guys from our friends I ever got the chance to see while I was out there this trip.  Mara's boyfriend Zach was there too but Jeff didn't know him.

Pizza selections at Pie

My lunch

L-R Me, Joel, Mara, Zach

After Pie, Joel left, and Mara, Zach and I went up to the Met, where I'd planned to spend a lot of time with the things I'm learning in my ancient art history class this semester.  However, like I mentioned in the previous entry, the Met is large, intimidating, and crowded with tourists, and I got overwhelmed with the extensiveness of the exhibits - just the Egypt wings alone would have taken an entire weekend.  I only managed to find a couple things my professor had told me to find.  What I was most excited about - the Ancient Near East - was completely closed off, and so most of my artifact scavenger-hunt missions were foiled.   We went through some of the paintings and admired some Monet and Van Gogh, then found this chinese garden that's apparently difficult to locate, so at least I saw something new before I wanted to leave.  That museum is way to big to enjoy casually.  Fortunately, it is pay-as-you-wish, so I had again only given $2 entry and didn't feel like it was a big waste of money.

A view inside the Temple of Dendur, housed inside the Met

One of many, many rooms of Greek vases

Roman mosaic from Lod, Israel - Mara, who just spent a semester in Tel Aviv, has stood in the spot this was taken from.

All I could see of the Ancient Near East exhibit, which was closed off.

Haystacks - Monet

Mara and I in the Met's Chinese Garden

Upon leaving the Met, there was a cupcake cart parked strategically outside the front steps, and we fell to temptation and bought some.  I got a "whooziwhatsit" which had caramel and other deliciousness in it, and also a mocha coffee.

Brilliantly located cupcake cart

Cupcake and a mocha on a cold winter's day - brilliant.

We decided to walk through Central Park for a bit, since I was so enchanted with the snow covering everything.  I'll let the pictures do the talking for that.

Bridge, snow, and an Egyptian obelisk outside the Met (just to the right out of the shot).

Mara and I in Central Park.

Mara and Zach walking through the park.

The Conservatory Water, with Alice in Wonderland at the far end of the frozen pond.

Hans Christian Anderson statue by the Conservatory Water

Snow.

After a nice walk through the park, we got on the subway, and said goodbye to Zach (he had a different stop) before getting back to Mara's.  I finished getting things together, and she walked me to the subway I needed to take the airport, and we said goodbye.

A note about transportation to/from JFK: I always take the subway/airtrain combo.  The Airtrain connects all the terminals to the Sutphin Blvd. subway station, which services the J and E trains.  Each Airtrain ride is $5, and from there you figure out your subway fare (single fare is $2.25 now, but there are unlimited cards for set amounts of time as well).  This is far and away the best way in and out of Manhattan, provided you don't have too much luggage (getting on/off subways and through turnstyles being the major consideration).  Taxis run up to $80, with tax and tip and everything included, so if you are a single traveller it's obvious which is the better option.

So, I got on the subway and took the long ride on the J train to JFK airport.  The terminal was closed and I had to go around a sketchy back way to a different terminal, and my bag was enormously heavy (after getting inside I put all my coats in my bag since I was no longer going to be in New York weather), and my gate was a great distance away, so I was pretty miserable by the time I got to the gate, but I made my flight with plenty of time.

I was so sad to leave, but I had such a wonderful visit.  I'm going to be looking into the faculty and various music schools over the next while, because I'd forgotten how much I missed living in the city until this trip, and that seems like the most likely way I'll get to go back for at least 2 years (a potential Master's program).

Anyway, thank you all for reading.  If I don't update on a random Los Angeles adventure before, I will be back to this March 31, when my school's wind ensemble goes on a trip up the California coast.

P.S.  I took far more photos than I've been posting on this blog.  To see all photos from this New York trip, visit my Flickr album.

New York: Day 4

Today was still cold, but at least it was sunny and not fake-snowing.

I had a more laid-back day today, but I still loved every single second of it.  I yet again slept in (getting responsibilities done beforehand + not being a first-time tourist makes for a VERY relaxing vacation), waking up at 10 and not getting out until after noon.

I left Mara's at 12:30 to go to the Upper West Side, where Manhattan School of Music is located just north of Columbia University, at 122nd street.  There, I met Isaac for a very pleasant breakfast/lunch in the italian place under his apartment building called Pisticci.  It had a nice brunch menu, with pastas and omelettes, but I opted for the simple nutella and bananas on bread (when I see the word "nutella" all other words become muted and I can't focus on much else), and he got a very cheesy and tempting-looking pasta.

It was so wonderful to catch up, reminisce about old experiences and people we used to know, learn a little more about our lives now... when we finally wrapped it up so he could go practice and I could go up to the Cloisters, I was in such positive spirits I was walking up Broadway with a huge smile on my face, and it had to be noticeable to the everyday stoic-faced New Yorkers I passed because they gave me slightly prolonged glances (a few milliseconds more than normal).

There is something about hanging out at a bar in New York on a Saturday night with a group of girlfriends, drinking a hard cider and watching your middle school friend's band kick serious butt, catching up with that friend over a nice lunch the next day, while taking yourself all over Manhattan by yourself like you belong there, to really have it hit home that you've grown up.

After lunch, I went up to the Cloisters (calling Mara on the way because I'd forgotten to actually check how to get there besides "due north") at 190th street.  The Cloisters is an extension of the Metropolitan Museum of Art far uptown, dedicated solely to medieval and gothic art, with architecture directly taken from many 13th-century abbeys and other such buildings.  In order to get to them, after getting out of the subway at 190th street, you have to walk through Fort Tryon Park.

Fort Tryon Park is probably the most beautiful place in Manhattan, a fact I was not aware of because I never made it up there while I lived here.  My walk through the park was absolutely breathtaking... tree-lined paths along cobblestone walls, on a hill overlooking the Hudson River just north of the George Washington Bridge, snow still on the ground around the leafless trees... there is no way I can describe how beautiful that walk was.  I will show you some pictures, but they do a laughably small amount of justice... the chill in the air, the smell of cold and snow and nature in the middle of such a vibrant city... there is just no way.

View of the Hudson from Fort Tryon Park

The Hudson, with George Washington Bridge in the background

The Cloisters from the top of the large hill in Fort Tryon Park.

Looking back at the hill that afforded incredible panoramas, but nothing my amateur little camera could capture.

I made it to the Cloisters with about an hour to spare before closing.  I would have liked more time, but because the museum is pay-as-you-wish, I wasn't worried about getting my money's worth (I payed $2). The Cloisters did not let me down on my beauty high - all old stone archways, wood doors, priceless works of art intricately carved out of ivory, inlaid with gold, stained glass windows perfectly preserved - I stayed until the museum workers started closing down the museum systematically and shoed the stragglers from room to room... I was the last person in the museum.

Room with medieval stained glass and effigies

Some of the gardens - closed in winter.

Book of Hours depicting days of the week and seasons of the calendar through pictures and lettering systems

All intricately carved from ivory

A saint's bones were once kept in here to see and retain their power.

I emerged to find myself bathed in the light of my favorite time of day, the time just before sunset when everything glows with that golden light.  I didn't take any pictures of this time through the park because I wanted to feel it and experience it, rather than frantically try to capture its intangible essence.

I know I've gone on and on about hardly anything in this entry, but this was the experience I had today.  Very meaningful moments amidst a bustling, busy city that can sometimes force someone to overlook such things.  This is the beauty of New York City - that you can discover new restaurants and shops and dash about to and fro along the many many streets and neighborhoods, and get worn out, and then go to a place like Fort Tryon park and immerse yourself in beauty and culture and be in an entirely different world.

If you ever go to New York, even though it isn't on the "must-see" list, you MUST take an afternoon for Fort Tryon and the Cloisters.  It promises to be a much more rewarding experience than museum-hopping in the busy tourist area around southern Central Park.

After getting back downtown, I relaxed my weary feet at Mara's for a couple hours, then headed out to Indian food with what was supposed to be "the whole group."  None of the boys could make it, however, so it wound up just being all my NYU girlfriends, which was still fantastic.  We went to Panna II Garden, one of three connected Indian restaurants on 1st Avenue between 5th and 6th streets.  It is tiny, you are bustled in and out so they have an incredibly high yield of business, but it is cute and festive and delicious and perfect for a bunch of college kids - though we each ordered our own food, you could easily order one less dish than the amount of people in your party and be set.  I had a spinach/cheese dish that came with rice, and ordered a side of naan (amazing Indian bread) and a mango Lassi (a cold sweet drink).  It was all very delicious.

The outside of the restaurant(s)

The tiny interior of the restaurant

My dinner

The girls: L-R Dani, Emily, Me, Brittany, Roomie, Mara

I said goodbye to everyone except Mara for the last time on my trip, then went back to the Little Cupcake Bakery for dessert and coffee.  I got an oreo cheesecake and a nutella cappuchino, Mara got a cookie dough cupcake, and we brought it back to her room.  The cheesecake was incredible - creamy, melt-in-your-mouth, worth-every-single-penny-and-then-some.  I will be dreaming about this cheesecake for months.

That was the end of my day.  Tomorrow is my last day in New York, then I fly home late in the evening.  I am so sad to leave - this trip has rekindled my love for this city, and given me aspirations to perhaps be able to go to a high-tier music school here for an advanced degree (the pinnacle of which would be a doctorate at Julliard - it's OK to dream big).

We shall see.

New York: Day 3

What a spectacular day.

The wonderful weather left.  Mara and I got going around noon, and when we went outside it was 40, with a windchill factor of 30, and there was light snow blowing through the air.  I had layered up, but was still quite cold.

We went to Bagel Bob's, which has the most delicious bagels with the most generous amount of cream cheese ever.  They have a cream cheese variety menu as long as their bagel variety menu... I opted for cinnamon raison bagel and plain cream cheese, and a hazelnut coffee.  Wonderful breakfast.

Lucky shot of Mara while the front door was opening.

Bagel with hazelnut coffee... perfect breakfast.

Mara continued her streak for running into random people while I'm in town, and saw her aunt and uncle walk by Bagel Bob's while we were in it (they are Florida natives, so this is an unusual sighting).  Her cousin is having a baby in the next few days, so it made sense, but still a surprise!

After Bagel Bob's we went up to Union Square, where there was the usual craft / farmer's market going on.  We sampled some jams, browsed the cheese and produce, and enjoyed a bit of sunshine (it was still snowing, despite there being hardly a cloud in sight - strange) before getting on the subway and going out to Brooklyn to see the Brooklyn Museum.

Mara trying some jams in Union Square - the red building in the background is the Barnes & Noble where on our first day of classes at NYU freshman year we went to a Bill Clinton book signing and shook his hand.

The Brooklyn Museum is pretty neat.  We only saw about 2/5 of it... it's a pretty large museum.  We started out with African arts, then we happened upon a Norman Rockwell exhibit, which was really fantastic.  It was an exhibit showing his photography and how he used it to compile images for his paintings.

The Brooklyn Museum

The Norman Rockwell exhibit - no photos were allowed inside, unfortunately.

Then we went up to the second floor, which had the Beaux-Arts, Ancient Near East, and Egypt.  Mara loved the Beaux-Arts, making her feel like she was back in Europe.  I just finished a unit of the Ancient Near East in my Art History class, and enjoyed the small exhibit they had for that.  The Egypt exhibit was large, and had really neat objects in it, but wasn't layed out very well and I got bored / lost.

Mara enjoying the European paintings

Myself in front of some Ancient Near Eastern art.

Then we came back to Manhattan, and got ready for our respective evenings.  Mara had another Israel group get-together, and I had a show to go to.

First, I met with Emily at Nanoosh, a hummus restaurant, and got a labane wrap with tabouleh, which was very yummy.  Then we went to an Italian place called Rocco's to pick up some dessert (I got some chocolate covered strawberries), and went to The Bitter End on Bleeker Street, a semi-famous music venue, to see my friend Isaac from high school play with his band, Sam Reider and the Lost Boys.

Labane wrap with Taboule

Strawberries from Rocco's

WOW THEY WERE ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!  You MUST check them out.  They. Killed.  So great... I don't even know how to describe it... and my friends loved it too.

Isaac soloing in his band at the Bitter End

It was my first time seeing Isaac in a few years, and it was really cool to see him play.  He is a trombone major at Manhattan School of Music, and has always been an amazing musician.  We were very close friends in middle school, and transferred to the same out-of-district high school where we continued to play in music ensembles together.  Hopefully we'll be able to reconnect before I go back to California and catch up a bit more, but it was great to see him.

Isaac and I before he went on.

Emily, Brittany and I

Emily, Dani, and Brittany - the NYU friends who had accompanied me to see Isaac play.

After they were finished playing, Mara was still out in Brooklyn, so I went with Dani and Brittany to a bar they really like called the Crocodile Bar at 14th street and 2nd avenue.  It was not very close, and my shins are now sore from all the fast walking in my still-unfamiliar boots, but it was a pretty neat little hangout.  It had several rooms extending very far back, and in the farthest back room they had oldschool games like skeeball and pacman.  You also got free pizza with your drinks, so we ordered a couple beers and had some fresh oven-baked pizza (you could literally watch them make it).

Brittany and skeeball at the Crocodile Bar.

The subways were running on different tracks, and it took me a long time to figure out the right one to take back to Mara's so I didn't get back until after 2 (I'd left the Crocodile Bar at 12:45 or so).  I was exhausted, but it was overall a great day - seeing Isaac play was definitely a highlight of my trip so far.  Great music, old friend on stage, NYU friends having a blast with me... I couldn't have asked for a better evening.