Life at the Chateau: CA Girl

I love traveling. I really do. I think it's so great how people are people regardless of where they live. People always talk about how great New York City is. Personally, I don't see it. Don't get me wrong, there's lots of wonderful things to do there and it has some wonderful history, but I just don't see the love affair that so many people seem to have with the city. Apparently, I'm just a West Coast kind of girl. Both Dave and I were trying to figure out why people think it's so much better than San Francisco. I've decided there are lots of reasons for living in SF over NYC. For example SF doesn't really have humidity, it's only an hour from wine country, it's not as crowded, you can do many of the same things (art museums and such) and it doesn't snow in SF. Oh, and there are no cable cars in NYC... one of my favorite things to do in SF.

Having said that, I really did enjoy the city. First of all there's Broadway. If and when I go back, I will see more Broadway musicals. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we saw Mary Poppins. I think this is probably my 2nd favorite musical, second only to Sound of Music. First of all, it's Disney, so everything was done to the hilt. The costumes were amazing. The theater itself was incredibly ornate as well. I also just love the character of Mary Poppins. Just in case you aren't aware, the Broadway play has a slightly different story line then the beloved Disney movie. Both the musical and the movie are based on a series of books and the musical works in some different portions of the books. There are some different songs and some wonderful lines about how Mary can't teach children who don't want to learn, how she doesn't need to explain her actions and of course how she is "practically perfect, in every way." It's a great show with a wonderful story line, fabulous music and some fun Disney "magic" worked in.

Additionally, I enjoyed going to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on the fourth of July. This is something I've wanted to do for a very long time and so it was great to go and actually get some mental (and physical) pictures of what these places look like. I was really excited to find some of the political cartoons that we study in school displayed on Ellis Island. Not only did they appear in color, giving me a different perspective on them, it was also good to know that the material I pick for my students to spend time studying is in fact viewed as important by this museum.

Below are a few pictures from our trip. More will be sure to follow on our other website www.davesphotos.org for those who are interested. I'll warn you though, most are pictures of things and not people as Dave took somewhere close to 400 pictures on our trip. You have to love digital photography. :)