The Big Apple

Click here to see our Big Apple photos:

http://web.mac.com/jimsmart1/iWeb/Site/NYCbest48.html

Excitement and thrills in new York City:

Jack, jumping up and down with excitement at the Color Purple, his first big Broadway show. His smile when he was able to get some of their autographs afterwards.

Jim, getting very very close to Ray Davies and Vincent Van Gogh (well, his paintings).

Bill, smiling at seeing his old school chum at breakfast, Jack O'Brien, who is the director of two current Broadway hits.

Today's our last day. One day more, one show more, and a 3:30 wake up call in the morning.

Jack was blown away by Wicked. We all were. The ultimate peak comes at the end of act 1, with Defying Gravity. It's easily the best, most powerful theatre moment I've ever been a part of.

It was cool when we got to do the "Behind the Emerald Curtain" tour the morning before the show. Two friendly, amazing cast members showed us how Wicked works behind the scenes. Very worth it.

I love walking around this city, staring at the lights in Times Square, getting purposely lost in Central Park, meeting friends, and drinking Guiness (a word I don't know the plural of) in Irish pubs.

We spent a lot of time at Ground Zero feeling the pain, checking out the latest plans for the Freedom Tower, and learning about September 11.

Upward!

Jim

college tour photos

Today we went into the scenic Hudson River Valley in upstate New York. Roosevelt territory, across the river from West Point.

Bard College is great and cool, but it didn't have the right vibe for Jack.

Vassar College, just down the river, is his favorite so far.

Tomorrow we enter New York City for more schools and a few Broadway shows. Jack is in heaven.























48 photos of our trip so far: http://web.mac.com/jimsmart1/

The Bershires

Hi all,

We've been driving around the lyrics of some old favorites. First we drove through Stockbridge and the Berkshires, mentioned in Sweet Baby James. We even played it on the car stereo via my iPod. Ditto for Barrytown and My Old School by Steely Dan as we neared Annandale-on-Hudson.

Oh yeah, and the colleges. Been a lot of fun seeing the wild student activists at Clark, the gothic beauty of Amherst, the stunning Boston-in-the-Adirondacks majesty of Williams, and the funky farmlands of Bennington.









Today we ate at two diners, both of them old metal tubes that look like motor homes or boat bubbles on a city lot. We stuffed our faces with good old American grub, and now I can barely lift my fingers to type this.



Tomorrow we go to Bard and Vassar before entering the Emerald City on Thursday.

Viva la Revolucion!

Jim, Jack, and Bill

Boston

Hi!

We are having fun on our Three German guys on an East Coast college search trip. Bill and I would like to go back to college instead of doing our jobs.

We started at Harvard on Sauturday, where we saw a student production of Chicago that was fun of fun and spirit.

It's really cold here, so Jack and I bought gloves and Harvard hats for strolling between the ivy colored walls with the squirrels.

Today we walked through BU and had a great visit at Emerson. We got some students talking about how they like the school, and they just went on and on about how great it is. Bunch of theatre/arts/English/creative types who are in heaven at the school. I think they got to Jack.

Bill and I are ready to enroll!

At night we enjoyed the spunky impossible-to-describe Blue Man Group, a show that makes you smile, makes you think, and then makes you talk a lot about what it all meant.

Onward!

Jim