science, symphony, cirque!

Yesterday morning started early, much earlier than a Saturday had done for a long time for me. But it was definitely worth it! I was a reader at the regional-level Science Bowl, a high-school competition. I've volunteered for it for the past few years and enjoy interacting with those students and their coaches. The whole experience reminds me of the after-school science projects I was fortunate enough to be part of in high school! Even my stuffy sinuses couldn't dull my enthusiasm today!
My bfe was the table judge for the room I was assigned to - another good thing! Though he did razz me about my pronunciation of the some of the foreign names, but, like, really??? How does Euler get pronounced "oil' er"??? Ah, well, I don't know that it made any difference to the students, nor to their coaches, so all was right in the world... and continued to be so!
After the Science Bowl, when all had their fill of pizza and soda and had pictures to show the folks back home, he and I set off for South Carolina. Woohoo! We had each brought our travel bags to the school, so it was a simple matter of va-va-va-VROOM!
We were off to the Symphony, you see. We'd had this trip planned since late Jeffvember - er, that would be November to most folks! - when I had been reminded of his enjoyment of live presentations of classical music. It was too late to catch anything he was interested in that month, and December would be too busy, but January? Definitely doable! I had gone ahead and gotten the seats, as the show was almost sold out, and I had even been fortunate enough to snag two seats in the front row in the balcony. Major score!!!
And now it was finally time for us to travel to Charleston, with plenty of driving-around-at-whatever-pace for the trip. Very nice!

We even had a few moments for an impromptu visit at the Farmhouse Antiques and Neat Stuff store on the side of road, boasting everything from books to fireworks to pink flamingoes and flying pigs. Really! We made a nice leisurely rest stop of it, wandering all over the property, picking up this, touching that. Okay, all of that touching of stuff was mostly me, since I wouldn't keep my hands in my pockets as I had been taught to do. But he did some, too. Yes, he did! And I found a lovely wooden sea turtle for myself and a hope-this-cheers-you-up gift (Batman coasters!!) for my huggable karate friend who's had a rough patch of luck lately.
Then on up to Charleston we drove, to the only downtown antebellum hotel there. Near the theatre and downtown? Sah-weet! And it's a historic building? Even nicer! And it really was.
We dropped off our stuff in the third-floor room and went off to explore the city. After wandering in the wrong direction for quite a while in the cold, we retraced our steps to the hotel, went up to get warmer accessories, then went in search of the symphony venue again. And, again, after a bit of misstepping, we DID finally locate the Sottile Theatre. Boasting a new marquee on King Street - well, new since I was last there two years ago - and its red carpet, the setting was right for the event that night!
We had an hour to spare, so off to Taziki's for a quick dinner, treat of the bfe. Woohoo! Grilled lamb gyro for me and Greek salad gyro for him and we were good to go. Mighty tasty, but not heavy - yum! But no time for dessert, as we needed to claim our seats for the Cirque de la Symphonie!
Yeah, you heard that right: Cirque de la Symphonie. The Charleston Symphony had arranged to have four entertainers from Cirque Du Soleil to participate in portions of their show. How very supercool! A juggler, a magician and lovely assistant, a box-twirler, a red ribbon swirler, and two sparkling aerialists, interspersed with and enhanced by the works of Antonin Dvorak, Georges Bizet, Piotr Ilych Tchaichovsky, Bedrich Smetana and others... Wow! Many of the works were familiar to me, as they were pulled from Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Carmen, other theatrical dance presentations, and that was wonderful, too. I could really enjoy the music AND the visual artistry of the Cirque troup! And when it was done, we both sat and allowed it to soak in, as the theatre emptied and the musicians cased their instruments and left. Then we took our leave, exiting to the brisk air of a night in January.
How about some baklava? Sure, that would be nice. Why don't we try this place across the street? Sure, it looks like it would have baklava! And Manny's Mediterranean Cafe did, indeed, have baklava, as well as bottomless cups of coffee and hot tea. What a great bonus! And we sat there and I had my baklava with the drizzled honey, and we talked and talked. At one point, we were concerned that we might be keeping them late with our meager fare, so we asked: "What time do you close?" "Not until 3 AM," the young woman answered. And then she gave us more coffee and hot tea! So we stayed a bit longer, until the late night crowd started bustling in, then we made sure of the quickest route back to the warm hotel and made it there with not wrong turns. Yeah for us!
What a marvelous Saturday, wrong turns and detours and all!