West Side Story I saw the full West Side Story at yesterday's matinee (I'd only seen the second half before). The first half has much more dancing. I got a rush seeing the song "America" and the dancing. Excellent singers all round. Josefina Scaglione, a 22-year-old opera-trained singer from Argentina, played an excellent Maria. She was really into the emotions of the part. I loved it. I'll see it again with my sister if she wants to see it. Picture of John Overgaard, me, Kate, Uncle Vince in front of West Side Story St Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Center Uncle Vince and my cousin Kate and I visited St Patrick's Cathedral and walked through Rockefeller Center before West Side Story. I'm surprised to find such a large cathedral so near the bustling theater district. Picture of Kate and Uncle Vince in front of Rockefeller Center Alvin Ailey "Uptown" Harlem Renaissance celebration In the evening, my mom and I saw Alvin Ailey perform a ...
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Ancient Egypt, smuggling food We visited the museum for the third time, this time taking a tour of Ancient Egypt. The tour guide knew a lot. She studied hieroglyphs for 15 years and could read them. I was amused that she was so proud of Egyptian culture. "People think that Romans invented marble columns and free-standing statues," she said. "The Egyptians built both of these long before the Romans." We went to Zabar's before entering the museum and bought lunch food: a pint of fresh-squeezed orange juice, a loaf of bread, fresh-sliced ham, and waffle cookies. The museum guards inspected our bags and wouldn't let any of this in, so we stuffed our coat pockets, entered, and then transferred the food back to the bags. My dad looked funny with a pint of orange juice inside his coat, under his arm. Rockefeller Center We passed through Rockefeller Center on the way to stand in line for Wicked tickets. We saw the big Christmas tr...
We just got back from a couple weeks in Dublin and a week in the English Lake District. Here's a summary of our trip & photos ( Dublin & Lake District ). Dublin Apartment We rented an apartment via Airbnb near the Google office and commuted on bikes along the canal, often in drizzling rain. We were surprised that it was quite cold. Work We both met several people on our teams. Li gave a couple tech talks and Cat worked on a few projects. We had a few "mandatory fun" team outings, like seeing "The Avengers", playing badminton, and gathering at some nearby pubs. Weekends We went on some great tours in Dublin. A free walking tour of the city itself, a tour of Trinity College, the Jameson Whiskey Distillery tour, and the Guinness Factory tour. The tour guides were passionate and all-around excellent. The Trinity College tour ended with a viewing of the centuries-old Book of Kelles and the beautiful Long Room. The Guinness Factory to...