(ok, Gentle Readers, please bear with me, these posts are going to be very very long. Really long. Epically long.)
Technically, it was Tuesday when The Chief Fool told me that our plans would have to change a bit because she'd gotten this amazing opportunity related to her PhD studies. I said, what's the new plan? And she told me, and it actually worked out MUCH better for us, so, yay.
Woke up earlyish on Tuesday morning aching from head to toe because of the previous 14 hours travel. We enjoyed a leisurely time getting ready and having breakfast and went off to Ann Arbor, intending to spend the day because it is a cool town in its own right. One of the big things we were planning was to go see the Michigan Theatre. It is a historic theatre and I'm a historic theatre buff. I knew I'd probably never get the chance again to see it, so I grabbed the brass ring while I could . . . and BOY, am I ever glad I did!
Here is a shot of the exterior of the theatre:
And here is what the ceiling of the exterior lobby looks like:
Just look at that for a minute and take it all in. And it's like that EVERYWHERE in this theatre, inside, outside, on the walls, on the ceilings, everywhere.
Here's a couple pics of the Chief Fool and myself, just for fun:
She is standing outside in the lobby, and of course we picked the poster case that had the poster of Great Big Sea in it.
Here is me:
For being a relatively small theatre (1710 seats total, 1000 on the main floor and 700 in the balcony) the Michigan has a HUGE proscenium arch and in order to get ready for the Great Big Sea concert, they had covered over the orchestra pit also, which is where I'm standing. I'm standing right about the middle of where Sean and Alan wound up the next night during the show. The proscenium arch was SO HUGE we couldn't get all of it in the shot. The screen behind me is how they show movies.
Now, because this theatre was built in the early 1900's and also showed movies as well as live productions, they commissioned an organ from Eau Claire, WI, and had it shipped, then put the rest of it together *in situ* on the stage's right hand side. It's in its own alcove, which can be raised or lowered as well as covered up. For the Great Big Sea concert, it was covered and protected. It is totally original and they still play it every day to ensure that it will still function, because they often do movies here that require an actual, live, soundtrack.
This is the best picture I have of the organ. The Chief Fool is playing it, which was the highlight of her trip, I think, even better than seeing Great Big Sea.
Once we left the theatre we were in the mood for food, so we had lunch at Conor O'Neill's Traditional Irish Pub (which is a great place, at lunch it was quiet except for folks watching the soccer) and then wandered about the main street -- Liberty Street -- looking into shops and so on.
One of those shops was a Robot Parts and Repair shop and, being geeks, we both had to go in there. Turns out, the shop is actually a fundraiser for a local literacy group, which goes into schools and tutors kids in English, grammar and writing, and also hosts free writing workshops for older kids (ie, 10-18). I bought a couple of buttons and a sticker with their logo on it for my guitar case. The Fool bought some other stuff, all of it cool.
After visiting the Robot Shop, we turned into a cupcake shop -- that's all they do, cupcakes and coffee -- and the reason this is cool is because the owner and chief baker here has been on Food Network many a time with her pastry skills. Unfortunately I can't remember the name right now, but when I do, I'll edit this post to include it!
This is a picture of the shop:
And here is a picture of my cupcake! I had lemon and the Chief Fool had red velvet. My lemon was good, but the buttercream frosting was exceptional. No wonder the chef goes on Food Network!
After our treat, we hit the used bookstores, always fun. The Fool bought something but I can't remember what, and I found a paperback copy of The First Wive's Club for 50 cents. I don't have the book and I love the movie, so I picked it up. Didn't have a lot of time to read it until Friday on the train home, but it's good so far. We also went to the Border's there, supposedly there's something special about it (the first Border's in America, maybe?) but I found that it looks just like all the other ones. They did have some great tea, though. After our wanderings, the Fool and I wound up in their coffee shop and just hung out for a while. They had internet there so we got updates on a mutual friend's cancer surgery (it went very well) and I tried to get the Great Big Sea live show they were doing on Sirius radio *right then* via their website but no luck. Oh well. I wasn't fussed because we were going to see them live the next night!
We wound our way home and got back to Kalamazoo about 9pm, having spent a good 8 hours in Ann Arbor.
Next: The Great Big Sea Concert in Ann Arbor (with pics, adventure stories, and video!)
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