Modern Food and Delicious Art

I went to the Musee d'Art moderne et d'Art conteporain yesterday. It was pretty interesting, here are a few shots from there:

This next shot is a sculpture that is in the garden in front of the museum. As you can see, it's pretty big.
This dress is made completely out of plastic bottles.
Some fun self portraits.


On my way to the museum I wondered through Old Town where I live and ran across the fish market.


I also stopped by a popular restaurant that has Socca which is like a giant pancake that is made from chickpeas or garbanzo beans and olive oil. It is a Nice specialty. The line for Socca at this place wrapped all the way around the corner.


This is a case of different delectables that they had on the other side of the restaurant. There are a lot of different and odd looking things including sardines which are very popular in Nice.


So of course I had to try it. I was a little leery on exactly how to eat them. Basically they were pretty much whole sardines that had been battered and cooked. I knew that I would run into bones so I wasn't sure what to do until a guy sat down next to me and started eating them whole, tail and all. So I dove in.
As you can see, I did run into bones and I wasn't to keen on eating the tails but I tried one, it was ok, a little crunchy. Almost a clean plate, my mom would be proud.

Here is another interesting thing I ran into and that I see at a lot of the butcher shops. It is a pig that is stuffed and then they slice it off like deli meat. I'm not sure exactly what they do with it though. Make tasty sandwiches? The first is a shot from the front.


And then from the back.Speaking of tasty sandwiches, these are pannini. There are a ton of little places that have these cases out front with all kinds of pannini. Some of my favorite is mozzarella, prosciutto, basil, and tomato. And then they grill them of course. Nice Nice fast food.

Opera sans Turkey

We moved into the theater finally. We had been rehearsing in another space that is about a 15 minute drive from the opera house. We would meet in front and all take a van to rehearsal. But now I am about a 3 minute walk from my apartment to the opera house.

This is a shot of the opera house from the front which is on the opposite side of the sea. Luckily that means that my dressing room looks out to the Mediterranean Sea and has this spectacular view.

The inside of the opera house is very typical to European theaters. There is no balcony, there is only a main floor and then 5 floors of boxes that surround the perimeter of the house. It looks very similar to La Scala but only smaller. It is very ornate on the inside and decorated with gold and red.

In this shot you can see the stage from the audience view.

Happy Day Late Thanksgiving. Apparently in Nice they don't have turkey so I had to settle for Chicken, some cheese and baguette, and perrier.

My legs and ass are killing me.....

This morning I was awoken by a marching band going down my street. I have no idea where they came from or where they were going. I think they came out of the cathedral that is just down the block from me, but I'm not sure. What an alarm clock though.

So the reason for my title is because I rented a bike today and rode around for 2 1/2 hours. I road through town and got lost but its pretty easy to figure out where to go. I just headed toward the water and was able to get my bearings again. There is no real grid system so the streets go in all different directions. I also road down the Promenade de Anglais which is an 8 Kilometer stretch of pedestrian and bike path that goes along the water front. It was a little chilly today and the sun only peaked out of the clouds every once and a while. At the end of the promenade there were a munch of men fishing off from some rocks.


I also road up to the top of Colline du Chateau which is where a Castle was that ruled over the old town Nice before it was dismantled in 1706. In the pictures of the fisherman it is all the way across the bay and up on the hill. Here are some pictures from there.


The picture of the boats in the bay is on the other side of the hill from Old Nice. And I love this panorama shot that I was able to get from the top of the hill.

It's cold and I am sitting outside at a cafe, so I am going to cut it short.

Till later........

Learning new things everyday......

Today I had some time to go out and take pictures. This first one here is of my “street” in Nice. I live in the area called Old Nice or Ville Vieux. As you can tell all of the streets are very narrow and are mostly pedestrian. Although during the day you see some cars driving down to make deliveries and such to all of the little shops in the area. I live above the restaurant La Tapenade, my window is right next to the street light hanging off the building. This is another view of my building looking down the other street on the corner.



I also went down to the market today. It is only a few blocks from my apartment and is open daily. It not only has fruits and vegetables, but also many flowers, olives, marzipan, candied fruit, and baked goods. Here are a few shots from the market.

This morning I went to the shopping district on the street Jean Medecin. Once you get out of the Old Town, it is more like being in a metropolitan area. They have a tram-train that runs all over the city and is only 1 euro per trip. I took the train down to the shopping area but ran into some trouble on my way home. I got and the train and it only went 1 stop and then they made an announcement and everyone got off the train. So I started to walk back to my apartment and I then found out what was going on. There was a large protest for education and they had blocked the way for the trains. There had to be over 1000 people including 2 giant flatbed trucks with bands playing on them. I didn’t have my camera, so no pictures. :(

A final thought. Some things just don’t translate well. During rehearsal we were working on Act 2 which I only sing at the end of. As I was sitting and waiting for my part, the soprano who is singing Magda, Daria, asked me an odd question. She said “Do you have big balls?” By the look on my face, she knew the translation didn’t work so well. In Italian they have an expression “Che due Palle?” which in essence is asking if you are bored or “weighted” down, hence “big balls”. An odd expression, but definitely an interesting one.

Nice is Nice

So I am starting up my blog again. But now I am writing from Nice, France. I will be performing the role of Rambaldo in Opera d'Nice production of La Rondine. I have been here for a week and have not had a chance to do any sightseeing.

On our first day of rehearsal I found out that there is an alternate 3rd act that was written in 1920/21. In the original score, I am not even in the 3rd act. But much to my surprise, during our musical rehearsal, I discovered I have a whole scene in the 3rd act. No one informed me which version we were doing before I got here. In fact, in the score I purchased in the US, there isn't even an indication that there is an alternate 3rd act. So needless to say, I have been craming all week to learn and memorize it.

A few other issues I have run into. I tried to learn some French before I came to this country, I was using the Rosetta Stone method. So far I have been able to use 1 phrase that I learned. Un garcon sous la table. Which means the boy is under the table, I actually was able to use it when I saw a kid playing under a table at a cafe. It's a good thing that I didn't invest too much in learning French because of of my rehearsals are in Italian. The majority of the cast including the Maestro and Director are all Italian and speak Italian the entire time. I can keep up most of the time until we are in social situations were they are using slang and speaking FAST. Oh well, it's really great for my languages though, full immersion.

So not much more to write right now, I will add more when I have time and have taking pictures. Nice is beautiful though, I now understand why so many artists have come here.

a domani....or longer

the end of the road...

Well it has taken almost a week to actually sit down and write my final blog about my adventures in Japan. This week has been pretty cool. I mostly did a lot of shopping around and visiting different areas of Tokyo. It reminds me of Manhattan because it is mostly a downtown area that is split up into different neighborhoods. Each little area has it's own unique touches.

Here are some of the places that I have gone to. This is a picture of Harajuku and some of the shops that are there. As I mentioned in my previous blog, it's a very trendy place. This is one of the odder stores that they have. But believe it or not, I have seen a ton of young Japanese girls in the maid outfit on the right side. Here is a reminder of home. This Nathan's stand is right by Harajuku. For those of you who don't know, Nathan's is the famous hotdog restaurant at Coney Island where they do the hotdog eating contest every 4th of July.

This is a picture of Simon O'Neill and myself with one of the french maid girls. She was also dressed like a cat, with ears and a tail. She was handing out ads for something. This was in the area called Akihabara which is also know as "Electric City." This place is Amazing! It is a techno-geek's dreamland. One store in Akihabara called Yadobashi is like a Best Buy on steroids. It has 9 floors and each floor is huge. They had pretty much every kind of electronical thing that you could think of, and some I had never even seen before.

I would say one of my most exciting nights was last night. I went to the final performance of Walkure and heard Domingo, Voigt, and Pape, sing live for the first time. It was pretty over-whelming. They are amazing. Domingo sounds like he is 45 years old. His performance all around, including his acting, was top notch. And to hear Debbie Voigt live, Wow is all I can say.

Here are some pictures with Debbie Voigt and Domingo backstage during the performance. They both are lovely people. I love the picture of Debbie and I, look how skinny I look. :-) Here are also some videos that I shot during the performance. On the one with Debbie and Domingo, the voice you hear is Simon O'Neill who is Domingo's cover.

Well this may be my last blog unless I decide to do one when I get home. I think I will most likely update my blog every once and a while just to let you all who care know what is going on with me. I hope you enjoyed my ramblings about Japan.

Placido Domingo, Jose Cura, and Horse Meat

Well I am officially on my 3rd day here in Tokyo. Today was my first jaunt out into exploring the city. Let me first fill you in on the last few days.

Tuesday we arrived in Tokyo from Kobe and I didn't really do much. Had a few drinks at the bar with some of the Walkure cast, including Rene Pape, and then had a great dinner at the Chinese restaurant in the hotel with the same crew.

Wednesday was our first performance of Traviata here in Tokyo, and only our 2nd performance of the 4. The backstage area where all of the covers hang out doesn't really have a lot of room. I think there are 8 chairs and about 12 covers. Anyway, about 15 minutes prior to curtain I was talking to Eduardo who is the Gastone cover and is singing some of the performances. He looked at the stage door and said "Oh, Maestro is here." I thought "of course Maestro is here, he has to conduct Traviata." Then I looked up and saw a different Maestro, Maestro Domingo. That was the first time that I have ever seen Placido Domingo in person. Suffice to say, I was star struck. He was here to see the show and he headed into the house. As I was preparing for the 3 hour wait, Jonathan Friend came by and asked if anyone wanted to see the show because he had some extra tickets. Only 3 of us decided to watch. I headed out into the house and looked down at my ticket, I had no idea how to even read it. I just walked up to an usher and she walked me to my seat. I was sitting in the orchestra section just off to the right and the 3rd seat in. Sitting in the 2nd seat, Placido Domingo. I just about crapped myself. I introduced myself and told him that Noble said "Hello!" (he says "hello" back to you sir) and that was the extent of our conversation. Only because Jonathan Friend was heading up the aisle with Christoph Eschenbach who is the conductor for Walkure which Domingo is singing in. I immediately stood and moved to the next empty seat. So there we were, Domingo, Eschenbach, and myself, ready to watch a little Traviata. What a crazy world.

And now to today. I decided to head down to Harajuku and check out the shopping. They apparently have this great store called the Oriental Bizzare. Well, they are closed on Thursdays. I was starving so I decided to stop in at a Sushi place. It was really cool. You sit down at a bar and there is a conveyer belt in front of you with plates of sushi passing you by. Most of them had 2 pieces of sushi, either nigri, which is a ball of rice with a piece of fish on top, or sushi rolls, which are made with dried seaweed. There was also a little picture menu so I could figure out what was what. There was one thing on the menu that I decided I had to try, Horse Meat. I know it sounds gross but what the hell. I asked the waiter and he said that they were out of Horse Meat, to my disappointment. I really do want to try it, I will most likely go back. Well on the belt was something that wasn't on the menu. I asked my waiter and he said it was "while." I asked him what it was again, with a puzzled look on my face. Again he said "while, while." It then hit me, I said to him "whale?" and he said "YES!" I had to try it of course. It was good. Here is a picturee of it (I already had eaten one piece.) I don't know how to explain it. It had a very mild flavor and didn't taste fishy at all. I also had yellow tail, fatty salmon, conch, and tuna. My meal also came with all the green to that I could drink. It all was amazing, by far the best sushi that I have ever had. It came to a whopping total of 1180 yen or about $10.50. unbelievable.

I walked around and looked at some of the stores in Harajuku. It really is a teen place to hang out. And I also felt like I stepped back into the 80's. That is the style of clothes for the kids here. Tons of bright colors with mismatching items. Girls with lace gloves and the fingers cut-out. Guys with long skinny ties and plaid pants. It was weird, but a lot of fun just to walk around. I had to head back to the hotel to get ready for the opera performance.

I didn't go and see the Met, but I saw Teatro di Bologna performing Andrea Chenier who happened to be performing here in Tokyo in the same theater that we are. The Met office had some tickets so I decided to go. Once I got there, I found out who was singing: Jose Cura, Maria Guleghina, and Carlo Guelfi, all conducted by Carlo Rizzi. It was a pretty damn good show. Cura sounded great, Carlo Guelfi sounded even better. His aria, Nemico della patria, was awesome. I decided to bootleg a little. Here is Jose Cura sing part of one of his arias. My camera can only take 30 second videos, so that's how long it is.

Seeing as we are performing at the same theater, I have a pass to get backstage, so of course I went. After the performance I met Cura and Guelfi and got pictures with them. Here is Cura and me. After the performance I headed back to the hotel and I am writing this right now.

My dogs are killin me and I think I am going to head to bed. Just another amazing night in Japan.

Till morrow...