KURIOS: Cabinet of Curiosities - Cirque du Soleil

Over the years, Gregory and I have attended many of Cirque Du Soleil's shows in the big, yellow and blue, big top. It is a "circus" like no other circus you will ever go to. It is a cross between a traditional circus, performance art, a surreal experience, visiting otherworldly places, and a combination joyful/nightmarish dream. 

The music, costumes, lighting, visuals, acts of skill, background story, and clowning cannot be compared to real life, which makes the experience so wonderful. Most of their shows travel under the big top but a number are now permanently located in Las Vegas and New York.

A special experience Gregory and I took advantage of the last several times was called "Tapas Rouge." For an additional cost you get to participate in private parking AND a special experience in a special side tent (for 200 people vs 2,500 who will be attending the show under the big top.)

You get to enter the experience an hour early, pre-show, for all you can eat fine wines and delectable hor dourves, a private gift shop, private rest rooms, all in a beautiful environment specially lighted and decorated with Cirque music variously assaulting and soothing your senses.

You get the best seats in the house, coffee and French pastries at intermission, a photo in an unusual setting (sometimes with a performer,) a souvenir program, and a special gift. All these perks are well worth the price and make the experience even more amazing than the circus itself already it!

This year I will be going to see Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities with my friend Patricia. The subject of this show is of special interest to me of course based on my own private museum "Case of Curiosities" called Michael's Museum: A Curious Collection of Tiny Treasures, (Click to go to MM's site in a new window) which has been a permanent exhibit at Chicago Children's Museum (Click to go to CCM's site in a new window) on Navy Pier since May of 2012.

Additional wonders this year include showing up at the special tent 90 minutes before showtime for a 25 person back stage pre-show tour, all of the above, then an after show return to back stage to chat with performers and backstage workers. They encourage attendees to being a camera so you can look forward to some photographs of Pat's and my experience. 

I   A M   S O   E X C I T E D!

Quebec City, Canada

Time to try revisiting my five day, four night experience visiting Quebec City. I chose to come here because it is close to home but as French as you can get without going to Europe. I have been yearning for Paris lately and this trip, then, was the perfect match.

French is the first language in Quebec City and I found myself feeling lost language/communication wise. In fact, although all the shop keepers and restaurant people were kind and friendly, I found myself being embarrassed at speaking English. I tried with simple "Bonjour," "Au Voire," "Merci," "Je Non Parle Pas," etc but still! When I tried to pick out what I thought might be a French word it ended up coming out in Spanish or even Italian. All Romance languages but still.

Yes I would love to live in QC but only if I could do my life over again and end up at 20 or so years old. It is a vibrant city filled with good looking, what seemed like confident, young people. Yes there were a lot of us older folks around but for the most part they go un-noticed. QC seems like a culture of youth.

The energy feels good, the faces are beautiful, the hair (I mostly noticed the men :-0) worn long with lots of it tied up on top of their head or partly shaved close and partly longer, beards were plentiful but not overpowering. Not everyone of course but noticeably many. Everyone but a few seemed slim and in good shape. Dressed very simply but stylishly grungy or  monochromatic. Lots of dark colors. Tee shirts the order, three quarter length shorts. Most looked "louche" like.

(lo͞oSH/ adjective

1. disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing way.

   "the louche world of the theater"

The women were especially pretty, wore little if any makeup, and wore their hair simply. A plain top and skirt or slacks accented their thin frame. Boobs were available but no huge bouncers. Wonder why! Several costumes which I spotted, consisted of an above the knee length black slip like top,with a lace fringe, a pair of sandals, and nothing more. Lovely!

Many young families with young children, many male/female couples. My "GAYdar" could not detect too many gay men, women, or couples even though QC is very gay friendly. I guess I just couldn't tell the gay ones from the straight ones.

Yes there were older people but it seemed like less than 25% of those I was around. The older the people, the fewer you saw.

Now take it in mind that a lot of the people I spotted were visiting the city but I could also tell which ones lived here or in French speaking Quebec Provence. Very few people could be heard speaking English or other languages.

One funny experience I had was when two overweight, middle age men walking a little behind their wives, got a kick out of some street performers, one saying to the other in a thick Texas type drawl, "Why don't we have these kind of things back home?" You had to hear the drawl to really enjoy the comment.

The cost of living seems expensive, even in the grocery store I visited. Restaurants are not out of reach (I don't visit those kinds) but the average cost of a meal was higher than what I am used to in the US. Perhaps because most of the places I ate at were in The Old City, the prices were more touristy.

In The Old City, where my hotel was, the buildings are very European, French/Paris monumental types. There are a lot of new buildings with some added to or next to and imitating the older one in a contemporary way. Some were just future looking modern.

The city was very clean and felt very safe.  Even in the crowds of the Quebec Festival (which was taking place during my stay) it felt safe. While I did protect my camera and cell phone, it did not feel like they would be grabbed by a run by assailant. I kept aware of my pockets but never felt in danger of being pick pocketed. There was a very low level presence of police but I would guess there were plenty undercover if only because the festival brings in millions of visitors and some of the individual gatherings I attended had several thousand attendees.

All in all, I had a good time (apart from my periodically allowed 90 seconds of loneliness at being here without Gregory,) walked my feet off, ate some unique food, bought some exciting souvenirs (which by the way is a French word,) and also am looking forward to being home in my own bed tomorrow night.

Welcome Home IB

Yesterday Gregory and I ventured out into the late 9:30 pm Sunday night. Haven't done that for a long long time. We headed to the airport to welcome home our God Son Isaac who had been in Japan for over a year as part of the JET Program (Japan Exchange Teachers) His mom and dad and friends Janet and Dave as well as Gregory and I were there to greet him. Mom and dad prepared an18 or so foot banner and Gregory and I waved flags as Isaac arrived at the luggage pick up area. I brought my Bose bluetooth speaker and streamed ... if not blared ... "Stars and Stripes Forever" from my iPhone. All in all we provided a loving, if not embarrassing welcome home for Isaac.