My First Symphony Orchestra

Last night I was told we were going to Boston overnight but was not told why. Jared loves to do these kinds of things for me. Sometimes I get very annoyed being kept in the dark, but yesterday I was very excited for my surprise. We got to Boston and checked into our hotel in Copley Square and then walked around a bit. By the way... yesterday was probably the coldest day of the year in Boston. It was freezing!

After shopping and not spending a dime on the ridiculously overpriced shop items, we got ready for dinner. Our cab pulled up to this very nice restaurant called the Gaslight Brasserie. It was an awesome French restaurant. We had great wine, I had escargot (I love escargot! - a special treat), and duck confit. Jared had a lobster bisque and a delicious steak with red wine sauce. We of course both had dessert as well! Creme brulee for Jared and chocolate molten cake for me. I'm getting hungry again just thinking of it! The restaurant was an excellent choice. They even served you a baguette upon sitting down, fresh in a paper bag with soft creamy butter. Yumm!!

After dinner, I still did not know what were doing. But with a healthy buzz, we stood outside in the freezing wind and posed for a self portrait while waiting for our taxi. Of course I love this photo because it just shows how much taller Jared is than me :)

When we got in the cab, Jared directed him to Symphony Hall. I finally started to get suspicious about what we were doing. When the cab pulled over and let us out, we walked into Symphony Hall and Jared handed over our tickets. Still, I have no idea what I'm seeing. Then I get a program handed to me. We were seeing the Boston Symphony Orchestra Holiday Pops Show. I was SO excited! I love classical music but have never seen a live orchestra. I knew it was going to be incredible!

View from our seats. It didn't matter where you sat, the sound was amazing and that was all that mattered!

We got into our seats and I was beaming non stop. I called my mom and told here what we were doing, totally ecstatic! When the show started I was like a little kid seeing Santa for the first time. The music took my breath away. I was in tears and pretty much remained the way through the whole thing. They played the Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker and I won't even go there with my obsession with the Nutcracker music. That Tchaikovsky just really knew what he was doing... Listening to the Waltz of the Flowers was the most incredible thing. I videoed most of it but then had to stop due to the overwhelming flood of tears I needed to take care of.

One of the other cool things they did was they told the story of the Polar Express. They dropped a screen down and showed still shots from the book while an actor read the story. At the same time, the orchestra played the music from the movie. It was incredible! The most amazing story telling experience I've ever had.

Other awesome things: the Home Alone score, remixed version of the 12 Days of Christmas which was freakin amazing!, Sleigh Ride, and of course the sing-a-long at the end!

The entire show was amazing and I've told Jared we have to go to this show every year. I don't think I'll ever forget how wonderful it is. The thing is, I love classical music and moreover I love how all those instruments fit together to make such wonderful sounds and picking each individual one out during the song. The incredible thing is watching the music you can actually see all the instruments while you single out their sounds that together make the whole piece. It probably doesn't make any sense but to me, it's so much fun to do and to listen to.

By the way, I think being a conductor is one of the coolest jobs ever! I totally want to be one. I wonder if it's too late at this point in my life...

Thanks to my wonderful husband for taking to me to heaven last night.