Another Perspective

Just wanted to let any and all readers know that there is another blog being written about our trip which will likely prove to provide another perspective on our stay here. I encourage you to check it out. =)

pacificsymphonyblog.org

The Adventure Begins

Note: Friends, family, and anyone else reading this. Sorry for the delay in posts, there wasn't any Wi-Fi in the rooms so I had to figure out how to hard-connect to the hotel's network, hence the delay.

Bulgaria: Day 1

     Finally time for our long-awaited trip to the far side of the world. Yesterday (well, technically two days ago since I'm typing this up in Bulgaria and the time change basically ate another day) saw us off to the airport, where we rendezvoused with Allison and the other cellos/horns/bassoons/trombones. Then, we got to wait for the rest of our group to arrive, killing the time with some Rat Slap, 13, and Pictionary. A couple hours later, we had our entire group through security and waiting at the gate. We had somewhere around an hour or two before our flight left, so several people found wonderfully overpriced airport food, while others watched Unknown (Liam Neeson) on Mr. Austin's laptop. When the wait was finally over, we boarded the plane and prepped ourselves for the twelve hour flight.

    All I can say about my initial impressions of the plane is “wow”. Being my first time on a 747, it was quite exciting to both myself and Meri and see two columns of seats, as well as the staircase leading to the lower deck. Each seat had a touchpad screen which could be used to browse through dozens of movies, hundreds of CD's, and a bevy of TV channels, all included with the flight price. As if the entertainment wasn't enough to keep our little minds amazed the entire trip, the food that we received was equally impressive, or at least dinner. Dinner was a selection between a pasta or chicken entree, a roll, fruit cup, some salad, and a brownie. Meri and I both got the pasta and were immensely impressed. The rest of the meal was just as good, the salad was crisp, the brownie was fresh, and the fruit was very sweet. The majority of the flight felt pretty much the same: some people were sleeping, others were incredible still not sleeping, a handful of lights in the darkened cabin were lit, and the constant drone of the engines annoyed me to no end. During the flight, I invested two hours into The Adjustment Bureau, a movie released last year if you haven't heard of it. The movie delves (lightly) into the issue of free will (versus Predestination...) and perhaps how those set along a predestined path can “overwrite” that path with our free will, or something like that. It was a very interesting movie that provided a little more meat to the thinking watcher than your average hack and slash flick. I also got through about three quarters of Rango which, despite the slightly negative things I heard about it, I found quite entertaining and funny.

     Well, time shift ahead half a day +ten hours for the time zone and we're in Munich. Our legs rejoiced as we walked down the jetway and into the German terminal. We checked out some very expensive gift shops, saw an Asian cuisine, and laughed as my cousin got ripped off by the horrible airport currency exchange rates. The next flight was considerably shorter and less lavish, though it was still fairly enjoyable. Finally, after around thirteen hours of air time and twenty-five (I think) hours later, we arrived in Bulgaria. After claiming our baggage, checking to make sure none of the cellos were damaged, and exiting the airport (while being filmed for TV broadcast), we met our Bulgarian couriers who drove us to the hotel where this blog post is being typed. We checked in, got our keys, and promptly went to sleep.

-Philip

T-Minus One...

Ahh, last day before our expedition begins! Unfortunately, it turns out that we have to get to the airport an hour and a half earlier than expected because I have a cello. Lame. And, we cellos have to put those incredibly ugly "fragile" stickers all over our beautiful cases. Double lame. =( Despite such things, we are both super pumped for this trip and excited to be so close to departure. Blog posts should be coming en masse very soon, so hopefully we can satisfy all you readers' voracious appetites for all things Bulgaria. Back to packing!

-Philip

Rehearse, Rehearse, REHEARSE!

Yes, we have had rehearsals everyday this week, and slowly but surely getting back to a descent level of playing.  Some of my friends are commenting on how long the rehearsals are, but if you think about it, 20 hours of rehearsals really isn't that much to get ready for our first international tour.  At a tour dinner on Monday, Maxim was telling about all the publicity we're getting already.  It's a little scary!
  One thing that has made this week a bit crazier than expected was my grandfather's passing.  He passed away on Saturday morning, and everyone (my mom and her siblings especially) has been working very hard to get the service together before we leave on Sunday.  God is good all the time, but He has been especially gracious during this time, letting the church and cemetery be open, the pastor available, family being in the area.  Even the day and time he died couldn't have been better.  So the service is tomorrow is tomorrow and the burial on Friday.  Then we're full steam ahead to Bulgaria!

Pictures!

I just figured out how to add pictures!

Day 1


Self Explanatory



A replica of the Little Mermaid statue in Solvang.

Day 2


Three Kids on a Rock




Mom and Philip with the Olallieberry lemonade.





Uncle Dana and Jevi.



 Day 3 


A novelty at the Holliday Inn Express.




The hill.  Those tiny people are us.




Vicory!



It was a large hill




Winchester Mystery House.

 


At the aquarium.



One of the many posters in the Hot Pink Flamingos Exhibit.




Baby Seahorses!

 


The Neo Cube! Look it up; like Wagner, its harder than it looks!









You already have pictures from day 4. :)







~Meri

The Long Road Home

Day 4: June 17

Walt's Barn

Yesterday was our last day of vacation.  We left our hotel earlier than I wanted to leave, and I promptly fell asleep in the car.  From what I understand, I missed driving and more driving.  A quick stop in a slow drive thru, and we were on the road again.  At long last we came to our first stop: Robert Caur Violins in LA.  Thus is where both my violin and Philp's cello were bought.  We ducked in for just a minute to resharpen Philp's endpin (that dangerous weapon!).  While we were waiting, a young cellist came in to report that her bridge (the fragile wooden piece that props up the strings) had been knocked out by her brother.  He accidentally hit her cello with an exercise ball.  Let us all take that lesson to heart: no throwing balls in the house!  Happily the rest of her cello was not damaged.

  A hop, skip, and a jump away (comparatively) was Walt's Barn.  Yes, this was Walt Disney's barn that has been relocated from his property to Griffith Park.  Unfortunately the barn was closed, but we could see it through the fence.  Dad has been up there before, and said it is a small museum that tells about his railroad hobby and has some original pieces.  Then back in the car.

  Our final stop was the Griffith Park Observatory.  It was really exciting getting to "stand on top of the world" from up there, and also see the Hollywood sign.  We watched two planetarium shows; one on a general history of astronomy, and a second on the aurora borealis.  The second was really interesting since I didn't really know what caused the northern lights.  It was also very funny because since the vikings thought the northern lights were the valkyries carrying away the souls of lost heroes, the presentation played Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries which PSYO played last year.  All I have to say about it is that it is alot harder than it sounds. After learning about sun spots, meterorites, the planets, cloud chambers, and eclipses, we left.

  After searching for a place to eat for a very long time, we found ourselves at a Panda Express in Fullerton.  Panda has never tasted so good!  Finally we made it home safe and sound.

Fatigue, Fish, and Feet

Day 3:

     Our last few hours in Pacifica were spent waking up, eating breakfast, and scaling a miniature mountain for a picture. This quest, which was originally intended to be a simple little walk up the hill turned out to be a very fatiguing hike and took in all probably half an hour from start to finish. While trekking back down the hill, my siblings and I were educated in the velocity-slowing properties of deep sand. After this adventure, we set out in our trusty van for yet another expedition on the road. Our destination: Monterey. After spending an extra forty-five minutes stuck in traffic in the Santa Cruz mountains, we reached our afternoon's entertainment, the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

    Our family had visited this aquarium thirteen years ago, but, seeing as I was all of three at the time, I was able to take in the sights and sounds as if for the first time. We were able to see pretty much every exhibit during our time there, including: a giant octopus, a scary amount of jellyfish, moray eels, rock crabs, skeleton plankton, tiger sharks, bat rays, sea stars, the whole lead cast of Finding Nemo, sea otters, anchovies, sardines (not in a can), flatfish, and the like. One of the featured exhibits was on Seahorses, so we got to see an especially large amount of those. Unfortunately, one of the other featured exhibits, which lures in unsuspecting tourists with its catchy title (Hot Pink Flamingos), not only contained very few hot pink flamingos, but also was filled to the brim with environmentalist propaganda that looked like it could have come out of Communist Russia. O_O Not cool. Besides that sobering exhibit, the rest of our aquatic experience was very enjoyable and educational.

     We dragged our exhausted feet back to our car, found our hotel, and unpacked for the last time. I was able to make a pretty cool makeshift bed out of a reading chair combined with two small couches intended to go with the room's main beds. After kicking back for a few minutes, we found out that X-Men: First Class was playing in a nearby theater...in half an hour. So off we go gallivanting to the theater with empty stomachs and tired feet. After the movie, we retired back to our hotel room, added onto our collection of “Day in Review” videos and then drifted off to sleep...

-Philip