My Fair Lady - Pittsburgh, PA part 1
Jan. 31st, 2024 06:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39The bus ride was long and blessedly uneventful.
There were some light flurries blowing around that didn't lay on the roads but coated all the trees with sugary crystals.
That was our view for pretty much all of West Virginia. I had a hard time on this ride because of stupid motion sickness. West V is mountainous, even the highways are winding. You go up and down in altitude so your ears are constantly popping, and the bus had to pump the brakes on the downgrades. By the time we got to the Walmart lunch stop I was feeling a little green around the gills, but took care of myself and was all right.
In Walmart I played with the big Valentine's Day plushies. Best find was this massive manta ray plush.
I got a very few groceries, mostly restocking travel-sized cleaning supplies. We were still far enough away and the bus was warm enough that I didn't want to get refrigerated things.
Our bathroom stop was the Pennsylvania Welcome Center, where we found shelves and shelves of fliers for nearly the entire state. I dug through the NEPA section until I found the place where I'm from: Columbia/Montour. And of course there was a flier for Knoebels, the small rural amusement park where I'd gotten my first-ever job, circa 1998, scooping ice cream at The Old Mill for $4.25 an hour!
Back on the bus and just an hour later we were in downtown Pittsburgh, checking in to the Omni William Penn.
It's a big, old, historic hotel, having been built in 1916 and hosting many famous people including quite a few US presidents. And therefore as soon as we got to our rooms everyone started tittering about it being HAUNTED. I will say that while unpacking, two of the four lamps in my room suddenly went out, and even though they shared outlets with other appliances (one with a phone and the other with a Keurig) the other appliances still had power, but the lamps would not turn back on until I physically unplugged each one and plugged it back in. I mean...I'd call that Old Hotel Things. But who knows...:p
Anyway, after ensuring that the tiny box fridge was functional I took an Uber to Whole Paycheck, intending to spend the gift card that my aunt got me. I ate at the hot bar and got all of my usual groceries plus some treats like local canned coffee, puffed lotus seed snacks, and a bag of baru nuts. And then at checkout without even thinking I hovered my hand over the Amazon One sensor and completely forgot the gift card. Boo! That's ok, there's no question it'll be put to good use eventually.
Back at the hotel I finished unpacking and had a nice shower and got the heck in bed.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday I was up early early early to eat breakfast and go do laundry. Because fancy, historic hotels do NOT have washers. I also wanted to do some sightseeing, because I've got today and Wednesday to do it and that's pretty much it.
It was cold and windy and I was not inclined to walk across the highway bridge over the river, so for the first time in my life I rode the city bus. How have I made it to age 40 without having ridden a city bus?? Light rails and trolleys and subways and trains and charter buses and taxis and Ubers...but somehow, not the bus. It was great. I paid with the app and the buses were on time. Easy.
The downside? They're stinky. But so are subways.
Did my laundry and rode back, then since it's a 3-hour transit pass I rode it again to get to the Strip District for a loaf of bread from Mancini's, a historic Pittsburgh Italian bakery.
I got "the twist that started it all," which was just a loaf of white Italian bread in a twist shape. It is simple as hell and has no preservatives, probably just yeast, water, flour, and salt. Crispy crust, fluffy white crumb.
There's not enough room to store half in the fridge like I normally would, so I'll just have to eat what I can before it goes moldy or stale. I've wrapped it up tightly so that should help.
After that I meant to walk next door to Wholey's fish market for sushi, but didn't know the sushi counter was closed until mid-February (Google says it's open.) Still, I admired the beautiful seafood for sale.
Wholey's hot bar just had fried foods, so instead I went to Peppi's and got a hot chicken mushroom Swiss hoagie made using Mancini's bread. It was simple but really good and flavorful.
There was a huge coffee/tea shop next door to Peppi's called Prestogeorge, I popped in and was overwhelmed by all the choices. Shelves and shelves of teas and coffees on both walls, like a library but for beans and leaves.
The sales folks were very helpful, and I ended up with Ethiopian Harrar Deep Blue entirely because the salesperson liked it, and with two sample-sized bags of their herbal orange tea and spicy chai.
I was THRILLED that neither of the herbal teas contained rooibos!! Nothing against rooibos, but it is used SO FREQUENTLY in caffeine-free teas and I am tired of tasting it as the base flavor for everything (that and liquorice root, they're in EVERYTHING and it's very annoying!) I tried the orange spice tea as soon as I got home and it was wonderful, flavor-packed and sweet. Might have to start ordering from these guys, especially in the summer when Jameson and I go through iced tea so frequently.
After that I decided to be done and walked back to the hotel, where I cut up/wrapped the bread, put away my laundry and the other foods, packed myself a dinner to bring to the theatre, and got to sit still for about an hour before sound check.
What a lovely theatre! The Benedum was built in 1928 as a Stanley Theater (a movie palace) so it is ornate and gilded. To my great delight and surprise, this theatre has not only been restored but also RENOVATED: it has bathrooms backstage!! And water fountains!! Hallelujah!! I love these gorgeous historic theatres, but most of the Foxes and Orpheums out there have only been restored, so there'll be one 1930s toilet for the entire company to use, or one toilet per floor and ours is the 5th floor or something. I know this probably sounds like, "So what," but let me tell you as a touring musician, that it matters. Very, very much.
Sound check was fine, and the show was fine. Well-attended, and everything went smoothly. A few props fell into the pit (a coin used in one of the first act scenes, a bouquet from "I'm Getting Married in the Morning"), but that happens from time to time.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday I had planned to visit a museum, but now my stepmom and sis want to visit one when they come to visit on Friday so I held off and instead enjoyed a slow morning. The coffee from Prestogeorge was very good, very smooth and creamy. They've definitely made me a fan :)
In the afternoon I took myself for a walk. There are many "little things" around Pittsburgh, that are beautiful, that are not in museums.
The bridges, for one thing. (CLICK HERE to see)
This lamp! I love it. It has toe beans :)
Kaufmann's corner clock.
Some bike racks. I have a friend who runs a bike rack Instagram, so I send her pictures from time to time.
The Badenum Theater. We are performing here through my birthday :)
Entrance to our hotel.
It was a short walk, but it was in the mid-40s and sunny and nice.
The rest of my day was chilling out, because starting tomorrow things get busy.
We'll have rehearsal AND the show. Then on Friday my family gets here and we've got lunch, the botanical garden, dinner, and the show planned. We'll probably also have breakfast together the next day before they leave, then I'll have the matinees over the weekend.
In fact the only other thing that I've got planned is to try and eat at APTEKA, and I've just learned that they're so exclusive that I should have preordered food days ago so that probably ain't happening.
As I finish this post I'm getting dressed to walk to the theatre. It looks like a lot of people had a fun day today; some of our cast took a group tour of PNC Park, others went to the science museum, and others like me just enjoyed the nice day :)
(photo courtesy Zoe, cast)
----------------------------------------------------------
There were some light flurries blowing around that didn't lay on the roads but coated all the trees with sugary crystals.
That was our view for pretty much all of West Virginia. I had a hard time on this ride because of stupid motion sickness. West V is mountainous, even the highways are winding. You go up and down in altitude so your ears are constantly popping, and the bus had to pump the brakes on the downgrades. By the time we got to the Walmart lunch stop I was feeling a little green around the gills, but took care of myself and was all right.
In Walmart I played with the big Valentine's Day plushies. Best find was this massive manta ray plush.
I got a very few groceries, mostly restocking travel-sized cleaning supplies. We were still far enough away and the bus was warm enough that I didn't want to get refrigerated things.
Our bathroom stop was the Pennsylvania Welcome Center, where we found shelves and shelves of fliers for nearly the entire state. I dug through the NEPA section until I found the place where I'm from: Columbia/Montour. And of course there was a flier for Knoebels, the small rural amusement park where I'd gotten my first-ever job, circa 1998, scooping ice cream at The Old Mill for $4.25 an hour!
Back on the bus and just an hour later we were in downtown Pittsburgh, checking in to the Omni William Penn.
It's a big, old, historic hotel, having been built in 1916 and hosting many famous people including quite a few US presidents. And therefore as soon as we got to our rooms everyone started tittering about it being HAUNTED. I will say that while unpacking, two of the four lamps in my room suddenly went out, and even though they shared outlets with other appliances (one with a phone and the other with a Keurig) the other appliances still had power, but the lamps would not turn back on until I physically unplugged each one and plugged it back in. I mean...I'd call that Old Hotel Things. But who knows...:p
Anyway, after ensuring that the tiny box fridge was functional I took an Uber to Whole Paycheck, intending to spend the gift card that my aunt got me. I ate at the hot bar and got all of my usual groceries plus some treats like local canned coffee, puffed lotus seed snacks, and a bag of baru nuts. And then at checkout without even thinking I hovered my hand over the Amazon One sensor and completely forgot the gift card. Boo! That's ok, there's no question it'll be put to good use eventually.
Back at the hotel I finished unpacking and had a nice shower and got the heck in bed.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday I was up early early early to eat breakfast and go do laundry. Because fancy, historic hotels do NOT have washers. I also wanted to do some sightseeing, because I've got today and Wednesday to do it and that's pretty much it.
It was cold and windy and I was not inclined to walk across the highway bridge over the river, so for the first time in my life I rode the city bus. How have I made it to age 40 without having ridden a city bus?? Light rails and trolleys and subways and trains and charter buses and taxis and Ubers...but somehow, not the bus. It was great. I paid with the app and the buses were on time. Easy.
The downside? They're stinky. But so are subways.
Did my laundry and rode back, then since it's a 3-hour transit pass I rode it again to get to the Strip District for a loaf of bread from Mancini's, a historic Pittsburgh Italian bakery.
I got "the twist that started it all," which was just a loaf of white Italian bread in a twist shape. It is simple as hell and has no preservatives, probably just yeast, water, flour, and salt. Crispy crust, fluffy white crumb.
There's not enough room to store half in the fridge like I normally would, so I'll just have to eat what I can before it goes moldy or stale. I've wrapped it up tightly so that should help.
After that I meant to walk next door to Wholey's fish market for sushi, but didn't know the sushi counter was closed until mid-February (Google says it's open.) Still, I admired the beautiful seafood for sale.
Wholey's hot bar just had fried foods, so instead I went to Peppi's and got a hot chicken mushroom Swiss hoagie made using Mancini's bread. It was simple but really good and flavorful.
There was a huge coffee/tea shop next door to Peppi's called Prestogeorge, I popped in and was overwhelmed by all the choices. Shelves and shelves of teas and coffees on both walls, like a library but for beans and leaves.
The sales folks were very helpful, and I ended up with Ethiopian Harrar Deep Blue entirely because the salesperson liked it, and with two sample-sized bags of their herbal orange tea and spicy chai.
I was THRILLED that neither of the herbal teas contained rooibos!! Nothing against rooibos, but it is used SO FREQUENTLY in caffeine-free teas and I am tired of tasting it as the base flavor for everything (that and liquorice root, they're in EVERYTHING and it's very annoying!) I tried the orange spice tea as soon as I got home and it was wonderful, flavor-packed and sweet. Might have to start ordering from these guys, especially in the summer when Jameson and I go through iced tea so frequently.
After that I decided to be done and walked back to the hotel, where I cut up/wrapped the bread, put away my laundry and the other foods, packed myself a dinner to bring to the theatre, and got to sit still for about an hour before sound check.
What a lovely theatre! The Benedum was built in 1928 as a Stanley Theater (a movie palace) so it is ornate and gilded. To my great delight and surprise, this theatre has not only been restored but also RENOVATED: it has bathrooms backstage!! And water fountains!! Hallelujah!! I love these gorgeous historic theatres, but most of the Foxes and Orpheums out there have only been restored, so there'll be one 1930s toilet for the entire company to use, or one toilet per floor and ours is the 5th floor or something. I know this probably sounds like, "So what," but let me tell you as a touring musician, that it matters. Very, very much.
Sound check was fine, and the show was fine. Well-attended, and everything went smoothly. A few props fell into the pit (a coin used in one of the first act scenes, a bouquet from "I'm Getting Married in the Morning"), but that happens from time to time.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday I had planned to visit a museum, but now my stepmom and sis want to visit one when they come to visit on Friday so I held off and instead enjoyed a slow morning. The coffee from Prestogeorge was very good, very smooth and creamy. They've definitely made me a fan :)
In the afternoon I took myself for a walk. There are many "little things" around Pittsburgh, that are beautiful, that are not in museums.
The bridges, for one thing. (CLICK HERE to see)
This lamp! I love it. It has toe beans :)
Kaufmann's corner clock.
Some bike racks. I have a friend who runs a bike rack Instagram, so I send her pictures from time to time.
The Badenum Theater. We are performing here through my birthday :)
Entrance to our hotel.
It was a short walk, but it was in the mid-40s and sunny and nice.
The rest of my day was chilling out, because starting tomorrow things get busy.
We'll have rehearsal AND the show. Then on Friday my family gets here and we've got lunch, the botanical garden, dinner, and the show planned. We'll probably also have breakfast together the next day before they leave, then I'll have the matinees over the weekend.
In fact the only other thing that I've got planned is to try and eat at APTEKA, and I've just learned that they're so exclusive that I should have preordered food days ago so that probably ain't happening.
As I finish this post I'm getting dressed to walk to the theatre. It looks like a lot of people had a fun day today; some of our cast took a group tour of PNC Park, others went to the science museum, and others like me just enjoyed the nice day :)
(photo courtesy Zoe, cast)
----------------------------------------------------------
