Fourth of July Weekend

Bruce arrived safely and in good order on the Vamoose bus on Friday night after returning to Dulles Airport from Aspen, Colorado at 1 am Friday morning. Needless to say, he was quite tired, but happy to be here and looking forward to our weekend. Amanda hasn't been feeling well and in fact missed her ABT classes on Friday, so we did a lot of relaxing at the apartment.

We did manage to go to brunch at Pete's Tavern on Saturday, which was fun! While we were there we noticed a plaque on the outside that stated that Ludwig Bemelmans also wrote the book Madeleine while he was sitting in Pete's Tavern--while he was sitting at the bar! I never imagined that scenario when I read the book to my girls when they were young! Wow, first Gift of the Magi and then Madeleine...this place must have magical powers!

It is hard to imagine with all the noise at the bar from the patrons watching the World Cup, that anyone could concentrate enough to write a successful book--but if we ever wanted to write a book, Pete's might be a good place to start, haha.

After our brunch, we went home and rested as we had tickets for an ABT performance that evening. We saw the Brahms-Haydn Variations with Gillian Murphy, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Marcelo Gomes, Sascha Radetsky, and Jose Manuel Carreno.

So, there were some pretty amazing dancers on stage--when Gillian Murphy, Paloma Herrera, and Julie Kent are all dancing at the same time on the stage, truly you don't know who to look at! They were all amazing!

Bruce enjoyed seeing them dance in person and being inside the Met which is absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking! Being an ex-trumpet player, he also really enjoyed the orchestra which he found to be excellent.

After the Brahms-Haydn Variations, they performed Company B which consisted to music from the Andrews' sisters. It was a fun piece and consisted of music such as Pennsylvania Polka, I Can Dream Can't I, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, etc. After that we saw Fancy Free which was about 3 sailors on leave in 1944--another fun piece and appropriately very patriotic for the Fourth of July weekend!

On the Fourth of July, we were invited to an apartment in Noho and had a wonderful time! There is even a dance studio inside the apartment!

We had a very nice dinner and finished off the evening by having dessert on the rooftop! It was so exciting to be on the top of the building and see some fireworks! The singer Ricky Martin's apartment was just next door--so we thought that was something! Our host told us that Naomi Watts lives across the street, so it was interesting to know who was living in the area!

Monday was a day for relaxing and doing a bit of grocery shopping. Bruce and I went to Cosi in Union Square and Amanda did a lot of resting so she can get better. Then it was time for Bruce to catch the Vamoose bus. We won't see him for a month--he will be busy with our house settlement, so won't come back until it's time to return to Virginia!

We hope you had a great Fourth!

Beth and Amanda