Note from Hamburg

Hello, hello.

First preview Sunday afternoon went very well -- very good show, a responsive audience who enjoyed their experienced, and the team all around felt happy about the kick off. We had a big night out following the show -- drinks with the company, dinner, salsa-dancing, then after-after-party at our house. Never mind that I was leaving the next day at 1pm. We rallied on until 4:30am. Somehow I managed to wake up okay, and luckily I had pretty much packed before the weekend (I plan my partying in advance). I ran the errands I needed to run, and was ready to go to the airport.

David did not fare too well. He was, as we say in the DD company as coined by Ben Mingay, HURTIN'.

Anyway, good times were had.

And now I am in Hamburg, Germany, where it is rainy and cold. I'm in a suite at an apartment-style short-term residence. The suite is a split-level loft-style apartment, nothing big but nice. It seems kind of excessive for such a short stay, but apparently our usual hotel was fully booked. I kind of appreciate the coziness of the apartment though, and it feels quiet and homey (as much as staying in Hamburg will feel... yes, you're correct in surmising that Hamburg is not one of my favorite cities in the world). I'm in Hamburg for 2 nights, then I take a train to Berlin and will be there for 2 nights. Then train back to Hamburg and fly back out to Chicago the next day.

I didn't sleep at all on the flight, so I should try to get some rest. Today is my day off, for which I am grateful -- I shall have a chill day with myself.

It's weird to be out here on my own, when everyone else on the creative team remain in Chicago. Kind of like going away on a sleep-away camp by myself or something.

I hope David's feeling less hungover today...

Snapshots of Hamburg

(A view from the ferris wheel at the DOM, a famous and massive fair that comes Hamburg several times a year...)

As blogged before, our time in Amsterdam and then in Hamburg was rather hectic and loaded hours and hours of casting. Casting can be exhausting because we must be absolutely focused and attentive to what each person may or may not bring to our production. And casting our show is an intricate puzzle and balancing act. Although I am seated all day long (unlike David, who has to teach choreography and oversees the dancers on foot), casting is mentally strenuous, and often we return home ready to go to bed (after a dry martini).

David and I did managed to squeeze in a bit of fun amidst all of the casting. For one, we spent an evening on rides and eating bratwurst at the Hamburger DOM. This was a treat, as we have lovely memories of going to the DOM when we were in Hamburg two winters ago, often to escape the terrible cantine food at the theater for the rehearsal dinner break -- a quick cab ride and we were able to ride a couple of rides and eat bratwurst instead, and return to the theater in time for the evening sessions.

We also managed to go back to the East Hotel restaurant, which we have come to like very much. There, we found a flier for a BBQ the restaurant hosts during the summer time. It gave us a chuckle:

(Grillen und Chillen... grillin' and chillin', ever so un-German like phrase in, of course, German.)

Here, there, feels like everywhere...!

David and I have been doing a bit of European traveling the last week, since our trip to Mustique. First, we went to Amsterdam for 3 days, doing more casting for the Utrecht show -- we're not finished casting it yet, but we're nearly there! After Amsterdam, we have been in Hamburg for the last 4 days casting through the fruits of the "European casting tour" David did about a month ago. The days have been productive in each of the cities with their fair share of good fun, but we have been pretty flat out. We are currently packing at 1:23AM Hamburg time, to be picked up by a car at 6AM to go to the airport. Yikes. But we are happy to be going back to New York again. Of course, Friday (the day after we are back) we go to Vermont, but that is for a long weekend holiday, to which David has looked forward all year round, so that will be nice... but the next couple of weeks will probably be mad, basically, with David "moving" to London, me going to London with him, back to New York for a day or two and then "moving" to Toronto... yikes!

But, so it goes... and I had some very nice chicken wings at the Madison Hotel today.

Mobile phone snap shots of Hamburg

I left my camera charger in London, so I have no digital camera at the moment (it's out of battery), which makes me feel slightly naked, as it were. But, I did take a few choice photos with my mobile phone, which will have to do for the blog.

Here are photos of us very happy on our first night back together at the East Hotel restaurant in Hamburg:

(David very happy with the sashimi and tuna/avocado tartar starters...)

(And me feeling quite glamorous at the happening restaurant...)

Today, before I left for Amsterdam (from where I type), I went into casting with David for a few hours. It was an interesting experience, which I shall write about it hopefully in the next couple of days. Because we slept in as much as possible, woke up after breakfast and did not have time to go out for lunch before David was due at the casting session, we ordered room service instead. What did I order? What else but CHICKEN WINGS. And they were delicious. However they make them at the Madison Hotel, they remain memorably delicious and remind me why they my have inspired my obsession with chicken wings:

TM (blogging very late in the PM from her Amsterdam hotel)

Back in Hamburg

David and I are back in Hamburg staying at the very familiar Madison Hotel, where we lived for 3 months last year. David and his European casting tour team took the train from Berlin to Hamburg last night, while I flew from London. I never thought I'd say this: it is nice to be back in Hamburg, especially in the spring.

In the taxi from the airport to the hotel, I recalled many funny and fond memories David and I have of our life in Hamburg. As I found out upon our reunion, David had similar such trip down memory lane as he approached the hotel: our adventures in finding more comfortable bedding (I searched all over Hamburg, quite literally, for a king size flat sheet under which we could both sleep -- Germans do not believe in king-size bedding, just 2 twin-size bedding); going to the fair ground during our break for a bratwurst dinner and a couple of rides; face planting in the snow due to excessive sangria consumption at our beloved Portuguese restaurant; various food incidents, naturally, such as a crepe Amaretto flambe that I blew out too early in order to retain some of the alcohol content only to ruin it (I blew out the flame too early, and it was inedible), and David trying to resuscitate it by re-lighting it -- which failed miserably -- we ended up with match flavored Amaretto covered crepe, which is not tasty.

Now that it is spring, there is green in Hamburg and the city looks more appealing than I remember. The food tastes better too, fresh, and salads are available. David has been starving so far in his German casting tour -- food in Dusseldorf and Stuttgart left him rather thinner than I last saw him in London a week ago. I purchased shortbread cookies and fudge at Harrod's in Heathrow Airport, thinking David might bring them as treats for everyone in casting, but he hungrily opened them last night and started on them. Apparently, he has been living mostly on Snickers bars, which reflects what kinds of foods have been available to him at the cantines at work or restaurants to which he has been taken with his work colleagues.

Last night, to celebrate our reunion and in an attempt to feed David food other than Snickers bars, we went to East. East is an extremely chic hotel restaurant built to an impressively cavernous yet airy design, with an Asian-fusion menu. We went there last year for Valentine's Day. The food was fantastic, better than we remembered, mostly because of how fresh everything was. We had a delightful "catch of the day" sashimi, tuna tartar with avocado, crispy duck, and spargel -- white asparagus, which are in season at the moment. We had the spargel with a white fish, which had been grilled with vanilla bean pierced through the skin; the spargel themselves are drizzled with olive oil and parmesan cheese. David loved this dish, and has vowed that he will eat as much spargel as possible on his casting tour. The fish in Hamburg is excellent (since it is a port city), and we had a fabulous selection of them last night, as well as gorgeous spargel and mixed green salad (something we do not recall finding easily the last time we were here).

Today, we slept in -- we needed it -- and then wandered over to our favorite Portuguese restaurant for some grilled sepia and dorade. The restaurant does grilled, simple items well, nothing fancy and we used to rely on their friendliness and potent sangria, sometimes even grappa, to get us through the coldest, darkest days in Hamburg. The waiter remembered us, and was lovely. We sat outside as the weather was great, and had a great lunch. After lunch, we went to see the matinee of Hamburg Dirty Dancing. The show is good shape, although David and I both took notes we'd love to see incorporated. The cast was thrilled to see David, whom they see as their wonderful dance teacher. We met some of the new cast members we hadn't met, and the familiar ones were keen to hear about how the casting tour is going. They were friendly and nice.

One of the wonderful things that is happening in Germany is that smoking is being banned in restaurants and building. When we worked here last year, we could not sit in the cantine because of the smoke. Now, there are apparently designated times when smoking is allowed. Same with the restaurant last night -- last year when we went, people smoked in the restaurant. Now, we discovered to our delight that there is no more smoking allowed. This makes a big difference when eating dinner.

Tonight, we are off to Indochine for dinner. So far, maybe because I am not having to work here and the weather is nicer, Hamburg is turning out to be a nice, mellow city to have our weekend together before David and I go our separate ways again.