Seoul and Daegu, Korea

We started in Seoul, Korea where we spent two weeks in a great apartment. The piture above is of one of our dinners in the apartment. Pictured from right to left is Don - the conductor, Bryan - the drummer, me, Hiroshi - 1st violin, and Jason - bass. I had just finished load in and the boys had made dinner so they invited me to join - it was very nice. The apartments were great because we had kitchens and were able to cook whatever we wanted. I shared an apartment with Tracy the Assistant Stage Manager we had three bedrooms and two bathrooms so it worked out perfectly.



The picture above is one of our daily excursions. This is a piture of the boys in front of one of the palaces we visited. We did a full day of sightseeing.



This piture was taken on that same day. It was from a tower overlooking seoul. It is only 8,331.88 km to Seattle - practically home. Seoul was pretty good but I got very tired of the food - lots of kimchi - I don't need anymore of it ever again. I also ended up getting some kind of stomach bug which lasted about a month - it wasn't too fun.


After two weeks in Seoul we hopped on a bus and drove about 4 hours to Daegu. Daegu was quite small and pretty dirty. I would not say that Daegu was one of my favorite places but I am glad that I got to experience it. I had my first overseas visit to the doctor. I had an interpreter who wasn't too helpful but the doctor didn't speak a word of english. I think I had some kind of stomach bug so he gave me some medicine and an injection of some sort which helped me for a little while but whatever it was came back shortly after the visit. The photos above and below were taken at Woobang Tower Land, which is a small amusement park that we went to on our day off. It was a lot of fun. The photo below is of Hiroshi and I ice skating. It was only my third time skating and it was Hiroshi's first time ever. Bryan is really good and he held our hands and took us around the rink which helped us both out a lot. It was a lot of fun!


I had a nice time in Korea overall. It was the first of the Asian countries we visited and it was quite an experience. I had never seen the vendors sitting on the streets selling fruits, vegtables, and other goods. It was my first introduction to the asian culture and what is to come.

Reggio Emilia and Ferrara, Italy

Me in the beautiful Reggio Emilia theatre. What a long week. We spent three days in Reggio Emila and three days in Ferrara. We loaded out of Reggio Emilia drove to Ferrara slept for 2 hours and then headed to load in for about 8 hours. We then went back to the hotel slept for about 6 hours and of course back to the theatre around 10 pm to focus all night. We went back to the hotel around 7am and got to sleep until 2pm and then back in the theatre at 3pm to finish up load in and do a show. It was a long couple of days but it was very good and it reminded me of the one nighters that I love and miss.



There was not much sight seeing to be done due to the short amount of time we were in each place. On Sunday before load out we went to a castle that was by the theatre. These two pictures were taken at the top of the castle overlooking the city of Ferrara.



Italy was beautiful and I had a great time there but now it is off to Asia.
Next stop: Korea

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Rotterdam was great. This picture was taken in front of the bridge we had to cross everyday to get from the hotel to the theatre. We spent one week there and it was great.
One of the highlights of the trip was that I got to see my friend from highschool - Matt Ross.
This is a piture of us exploring the town. Matt is currently going to school in Amsterdam which is about an hour away. He stayed for two days and the first day was Valentines Day so he was my valentine.

This is a picture of me with the big knome we found in front of one of the many museums in town. The theatre was very spacious and new. It was a big change from the old Italian theatres we had been in up until then. Almost everyone in Rotterdam spoke English and were very friendly and helpful which made the week very easy. We stayed in a lovely hotel overlooking the river on one side and the town on the other.

Modena, Italy

Modnena was a beautiful small friendly town. This picture is a picture of me in front of a beautiful church the inside was absolutely amazing. Modena was quite small and we were able to see the town in a couple hours. Modena is actually the home of the Ferrari. The headquarters of Ferrari are there as well as a Ferrari gallery/museum. I really wanted to go and visit but unfortunately there just wasn't enough time but a couple of my friends from the tour did and they said it was great. Overall it was a great week and Modena is definetley a great little town.

Bologna, Italy

I have just spent two weeks in beautiful Bologna, Italy. This picture is from the rooftop of the theatre overlooking a small part of the city. This was the first two weeks of the tour. It has been a long couple weeks but overall it has been good. The first week was a bit rough in many ways: learning to work and live with the European crew (the crew I will be touring with throughout the run) - some of their ways are much different than in the US, being in a foriegn country, being away from my family, my friends and my house, but now things are starting to smooth out and I am getting over the brief stint of homesickness I was suffering from. The show looks great and we got fantastic reviews in not only local papers but national papers as well. We played the Teatro Comunale di Bologna which is supposedly the oldest theatre in Europe built in 1763. It is absolutely beautiful. It was quite strange as the stage is at a 3% rake. I have always heard about raked stages which is where the labels upstage and downstage came from but I had never actually been on one so it was very interesting to see. The bad part is that it makes load in/load out more difficult, and it is much harder on the dancers. We head to Modena, Italy tomorrow where there is a 5% rake which will be very interesting and has some of the crew a little worried as it may be too much for the set. We will be in Modena for a week and then it is off to Rotterdam. I will try to give an update in Modena but the rumor is that there is no internet where we are staying but the next time I have access I will fill you in on things. I am off to Modena!

West Side Story

For the next 10 months I will be touring Asia and Europe with the broadway show West Side Story. The crew is made up of about 10 europeans from mainly Germany, England, and one from Ireland along with 4 Americans, 1 Canadian and 1 Australian. I am fortunate to have toured with the Australian, 2 of the Americans and the Canadian last year on the broadway show Crazy For You. It is nice to have some people I know here with me. We stay in a place anywhere from one week all the way up to 6 weeks. It is a great schedule and I am looking forward to it. I will try and do a weekly post but I cannot guarentee as I do not know when I will have internet and when I won't. Please keep in touch I would love to hear from you as well. I'm off on my adventure.