Victorian Bed & Breakfast in historic Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Bottger Mansion of Old Town
110 San Felipe Street NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104
(800) 758-3639
www.bottger.com
November 06, 2009
Morris House Hotel in Philadelphia
While in Philadelphia, we stayed for several nights at the Morris House Hotel, a lovely colonial-era B&Bin the heart of Philadelphia. The house has been restored to its original splendor, with modern conveniences added, of course. Our room was quite lovely, and in addition to being a historic home full of character, the location is fabulous.
The Morris House Hotel is on St. James Street, just off 8th Street (called "Jewelers' Row" because of the concentration of jewelry stores) only a few blocks from Market Street. Its location between the Old City historic district to the east and downtown to the west makes it a perfect spot for visiting much of Philadelphia on foot.
And visit on foot I did! I'm thankful that I had just bought a new pair of Dr. Scholl's sneakers, because I covered most of the city close in over two days--from Front Street and Elfreth's Alley all the way over to the Reading Terminal Market on Arch and 12th.
I'll post more about all of the things we saw later. As always, we seem to have adventures on our trips. The next post is called "getting locked in on the Philadelphia subway."
November 01, 2009
Church of Beethoven--sign me up as a member!
I was intrigued by their description posted on an Albuquerque calendar of events: "weekly chamber music and spoken word performances by professional musicians and poets. Concise and varied programs washed down with great espresso drinks."
And the slogan on their website: "church minus the religion."
It's in a former warehouse/industrial building on Fifth Street just south of I-40, and the space is now called The Kosmos. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it's a nice performance space that has been cleaned and painted, with a small stage at one end and rows of folding chairs. It's at the end of the building and the roof starts to slope down, so with the exposed beams and the shape, it reminds me of the "ark" type roof adopted by many Lutheran churches, including the past two of which we have been members. They also have a translucent "stained glass" fabric over the windows, so it takes little imagination to envision it as a church.
The program was absolutely delightful and lasted for about an hour. It began with an operatic performance of "A Hand of Bridge," Op. 35 composed by Samuel Barber is 1959. The performers were Thomas Munro, Matt Amend, Nilam Brown and Essence Johnson of the UNM Opera Theatre, accompanied by Ivan Koska on piano. I had never heard this piece before. Four people are playing a hand of bridge, and the lyrics are the thoughts of each of the players as they sit at the table. While Barber composed some fabulous "serious" music, it's nice to know he had such an interesting sense of humor.
That was followed by a reading by Anthony Hunt of selected American poems, so I heard "A Certain Slant of Light" by Emily Dickinson, Section 6 of "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman, and a work of T.S. Eliot (I didn't catch the title). It made me want to go read more works by those poets. Isn't that the point of exposure to culture and art?
A celebration of silence lasted for two minutes, which seemed to be a nod to the "church" part of the program.
A delightful string quartet performed the Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96 by Antonin Dvorak. ("Hey--I know this piece!" I know and appreciate fine classical music--I've just never been able to remember titles or composers.) The four movements were "allegro ma non troppo" (quickly but not too much), "lento" (slowly), "molto vivace" (very lively), and "vivace ma non troppo (lively but not too much). I looked those up in an online Italian-English dictionary. It was performed by David Felberg and Roberta Arruda on violins, Ikoku Kanda on viola, and James Holland on cello. It was as fine a performance as any chamber music concert I've ever attended.
There is one more thing that happened which added to my extreme delight in the morning. Soon after the performance began, a black pug trotted out of the audience seating area and through a door into a back room. Ah--the "job dog" as our family calls them. He obviously belongs to someone who works there or operates the place and has the run of the building. I didn't see him for a while. Then, during the "lento" section of the Dvorak piece (remember, this is the "slow" and "solemn" movement), the pug came wandering through the audience between people's legs and under chairs, surreptitiously sampling any drinks or food from the dishes people had set on the floor. He finished the last dregs of the espresso of the lady sitting next to me, then lapped up water from the glass of the woman in the row in front of me. I was trying to be quiet, but I was laughing so hard my shoulders were shaking and my eyes were watering!
There was more entertainment involved and just about as much serenity as in any church service I've ever attended. I could tell that a lot of the people attending (it was packed) were regulars, and, just like after a real church service, they lingered to talk and have coffee after the performance was over.
Sign me up as a member of the Church of Beethoven!
Where: 1715 Fifth Street NW, Albuquerque, New Mexico
When: Sundays at 10:30 a.m.
Cost: $15 per person
Extra: frequent attender passes available, volunteers wanted, and a jar is designated for "offerings to the Kosmos."
October 28, 2009
Dia de Los Muertos--November 7, 2009
If you've never attended a Dia de los Muertos ("Day of the Dead") celebration, now is the time!
This year's Dia de los Muertos in Old Town begins at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 7th, with the community parade that starts on the east side of Old Town (San Felipe Street) and around Old Town Plaza, ending at Poco a Poco Patio. There will be music, dancing, a community altar (called an ofrenda), a costume contest and art giveaways from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Entertainment will feature the New Mexico Marimba Band, La Compania de Danza Xallitic, Mariachi Nuevo Mexico, and Wagogo World Music.
Old Town is north of Central Avenue, just east of Rio Grande Blvd.
And it's free!
October 27, 2009
Dia del Dulce--trick-or-treating in Old Town
The Halloween festivities just keep coming! On Saturday, October 31st, Dia del Dulce ("Day of Sweets") will be held in Old Town Albuquerque. (Old Town is just north of Central Avenue, east of Rio Grande Blvd.)
Events begin with trick-or-treating from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. At 5:30 the pet parade and pet costume contest will take place at the gazebo, followed by the people costume contest and parade at 6:30 at Plaza Don Luis, just west of San Felipe Church.
A special presentation of "Thriller" will be performed on the gazebo at 7:00 by the Dance New Mexico Network.
October 26, 2009
October 06, 2009
a lovely breakfast at the Pueblo Harvest Cafe
This morning we had a rare treat--no guests for breakfast, since everyone went the Balloon Fiesta very early in the morning. We've wanted to try breakfast at the recently-remodeled Pueblo Harvest Cafe at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.
Steve had the ranch breakfast, which is a little more typical for here--eggs with cheese, green chile, fried potatoes, bacon and frybread. I decided on the blue corn pancakes with pinion butter--delicious! We've been so busy that I forgot I wanted to try them at the B&B.
Things get much quieter after the Balloon Fiesta, so I'll be trying out recipes to make them ourselves. We'll post the recipe when we've gotten it just right.
October 04, 2009
The Grecian Festival in Albuquerque
While the first weekend in October may be the start of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, it's also the weekend of the Grecian Festival. We were able to go for the first time on Saturday evening.
It's held at St. George Greek Orthodox Church at 308 High Street SE in Albuquerque. I think we arrived at just the right time--between a busy afternoon and the evening rush. The line to get in seemed fairly long (about 20 people at the time) but it moved quickly.
While standing in line, Steve noticed the shirts that some of the workers were wearing. You can guess what the front says. The back is obviously a reference to the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding and says in Greek, "put some Windex on it." If you haven't seen that movie, you should. It's really fun and gives some insight into Greek Americans.
The first thing we did was look inside the church, which was open to the public. What a beautiful place! They had a number of incredible mosaics on the walls and a spectacular altar area.
The focal point of this festival is the food--holy cow! I think they're doing it right. You don't purchase the food directly but buy tickets, then they tell you how many tickets each item takes. It's sort of like the state fair where you buy tickets for the rides, and the rides take different numbers of tickets. All of the classic Greek foods were there--souvlaki, spanakopita, gyros, rice pilaf, those wonderful potato wedges with the Greek spices, Greek salad, and some others I've never heard of. Drinks could be picked up at the exit of the food area, and the cashiers took the appropriate numbers of tickets for what you picked up. It's a good system, since it keeps the food servers from having to handle the tickets or money. The lines moved fairly quickly. They were out of some of the food items at the time, and one server said people were coming in quicker than they could restock the big pans of food. Good for them! I'm happy that so many people came to their festival.
The church grounds are larger than I expected, and there were a lot more people than I anticipated, but everyone seemed to be having a good time. As I said, this was all about the food, and they had plenty of tables and chairs everywhere.
In the parish hall were items for sale, like paintings, specialty Greek food items that you can't find in the grocery store, a raffle, and--best of all--the pastry items in the corner. We bought extra tickets so we could take home a box of baklava.
At the rear of the church was the main tent, again filled with lots of tables and chairs, some stadium bleachers, and a very large dance floor and stage. They mixed up the dancing, periodically having dancers in Greek costumes doing various demonstration dances, then calling "everybody dance!" I was watching some of the fancy footwork, which they could do quite well but looked very complex to me. Given enough ouzo, I might have attempted some dancing, but this was a non-alcoholic event.
Even our mayor, who is running for re-election, showed up to make an appearance. I thought he might have scored more popularity points if he had gone out on the dance floor and at least attempted one of the line dances.
Before leaving, we had someone take our picture in the obligatory cut-out board. During the Grecian Festival, everyone gets to be Greek!
Opa!
September 30, 2009
8th Annual Santero Market in Old Town Albuquerque October 3-4, 2009
The 8th Annual Santero Market will be held in Albuquerque this weekend, October 3rd and 4th. The hours on Saturday are 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and on Sunday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
If you're looking for uniquely New Mexican art, this is it! Wikipedia has a nice but short article on santos, which is the name for the statues themselves. The artists who carve the santos are called santeros, so the Santero Market is where the santeros will display and sell their work.
Think of this as a big party, with music, food, dance and children's activities in addition to the market. Some of the performers include La Rondalla de Albuquerque, the New Mexico Marimba Band, and Mariachi Nuevo Mexico. I've heard all of these groups perform, and they're really good. The entertainment generally starts around noon and goes all afternoon and into the evening on both days.
Here's a little history about santos from the flyer:
"In the late 17th and 18th centuries a unique form of folk art developed in the American southwest in the region that is now northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. The "Santero" tradition evolved as the need for religious images increased and imported images dwindled. To make do, untrained artists created their own folk art style images based on traditional Spanish examples. It is this legacy that today's santeros strive to continue."
See you at this year's Santero Market!
September 28, 2009
September 26, 2009
participating in retreat with the Navajo
September 26th was Native American Day in Old Town Albuquerque, filled with songs, drumming and dancing on the Plaza. The pow-wow was still going on when we went to the Plaza around 8:30 that evening. The dancers ranged in age from the tiniest two-year-olds to elderly grandmothers.
After watching the dancing for a time, Steve decided to go home while I stayed and chatted with a neighbor. Eventually the party wound down with the dancers, Navajo tribal members, a few tourists and some locals like me staying until the end.
They called for volunteers who were veterans to participate in the retreat ceremony. For a couple of minutes they had three of the four needed and kept calling for a fourth veteran to carry the POW/MIA flag. When I stepped forward, they were surprised and pleased to have a woman veteran join them.
Participating in the inter-tribal retreat with the Navajos has to be one of the most interesting things I've ever done. The man in full Navajo ceremonial dance dress carried the Navajo totem in front, and the three of us carried the other three flags behind him. This is quite a change from the military retreat, where the U.S. flag is always first and always held higher than any other flags. The Navajo nation is a sovereign nation, and in ceremonies the Navajo flag or totem takes precedence over the United States flag.
The music was a Navajo chant and dance rather than the standard U.S. military retreat tune. It was accompanied by the drummers pounding out the beat. Navajo ceremonial dances are based on a left-left-right-right dance step. Believe me, it's much harder than it looks. Try it sometime, carrying a flag.
The leader took us to the west side of the gazebo, around the grass on the Plaza, back in front of the canopy, and around to the east side of the gazebo. We then lined up, and all of the ceremonial dancers in costume came by.
"You have to shake everyone's hand," the leader leaned over to say to me.
And shake everyone's hand I did, from the tiny two-year-old to the elderly grandmothers. I even received a Navajo cheek-to-cheek greeting and "thank you" from one of the women.
Sometimes it's good to be a woman veteran. You just never know what opportunities will come your way.
