Roar! Tonight Giraffe and I had tickets to go see the hit Broadway Musical "In the Heights!" Giraffe really likes musicals, I think they're... ok. She was really excited to see "In the Heights" so I suggested we head up the neighborhood it's set in to get some context for the show. So Giraffe and I followed Duke Elington's advice and took the A train to the "top of the world" to see what was happening in Washington Heights!
Right when we got off the train Giraffe and I were greeted by a ton of awesome looking Spanish restaurants! We were both feeling pretty hungry so we stopped at this great looking place to eat. I got pernil and Giraffe got beans and rice!
After lunch we headed over to Jumel Terrace to see the Morris-Jumel Mansion. Here are Giraffe and I on the terrace. It sure looks nice!
Roar! Here I am smiling for the camera!
Here we are in front of the Morris-Jumel Mansion. This is Manhattan's oldest house, it was built in 1765 and was headquarters to that t-rex lovin' gentleman, general George Washington! He lived here until 1776 when he was forced to flee New York after Continental Army was defeated in the Battle of Brooklyn.
After leaving the Morris Jumel Mansion Giraffe and I headed over to the corner of 160th street and Edgecombe to visit the apartment building where the famous African-American singer and actor Paul Robeson lived. Robeson was an amazing baritone and recorded a ton of great folk songs with Lawrence Brown back in the 1920's. He is one our favorite singers and it was cool to see where he lived!
After checking out Paul Robeson's house Giraffe and I went over to the Church of the Intercession on 155th street to visit the graveyard and see where someone very special to both of us was buried.
Here Giraffe and I are in the cemetery of the Church of the Intercession where we came to visit the grave site of John James Audubon! After famously studying the birds of North America he moved his family to an estate up here in Washington Heights where he lived until his death in 1851. The Church of the intercession where he is buried also has a funny story behind it. Originally founded in 1846, the Church of the Intercession was where all the rich Manhattanites were to buried rather than at the new cemetery belt establish between the border of Brooklyn and Queens. This way they would never have to leave the island ever again! Roar!
After paying our respects to Audubon, Giraffe and I decided it would be fun to check out the Spanish Heritage museum over on Broadway. Here I am outside the museum in front of a sculpture of El Cid that was in front of another monument about Spain's arrival in the new world. Talk about strange!
Here Giraffe is in front of Bastida's The Provinces of Spain while I am in the hall that contains the world's second largest collection of paintings by Goya and El Greco. They only have about a half dozen paintings by each artist but that is still more than twice as much than any other museum outside of the Museo del Prado in Madrid!
They also had a lot of nifty pottery including this awesome dragon plate! Roar!
After a fun afternoon, Giraffe and I headed back downtown to Times Square to see the Tony award winning musical all about the cultural heritage of Washington Heights! Here I am outside the theater right before the show.
Right across the street they were opening a new musical all about Scientology. Wow, they sure will make a musical about anything these days! Roar!
We had seats way up in the back that gave us a great view of everything on stage! Shh! Quiet, the show is starting! roar.
Wait a second... This is nothing like Washington Heights! There certainly wasn't any hip-hop dancing in streets while Giraffe and I were there! It just goes to show that mainstream musical theater is only capable of offering superficial story lines that barely pass for reality. At least Giraffe liked it! Roar!
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