Yesterday, David and I ventured into Philadelphia to see a PYO (Philadelphia Youth Orchestra) concert...ALONE. WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION. It was fantastic!
Earlier Sunday afternoon, we made reservations at the Bella Cena (an Italian restaurant near the Kimmel Center) for 6:00. We left his house around 5:00 and the GPS told us our estimated time of arrival would be like 5:57...but we did that whole "not going 55 mph on 422 thing" and got to the city at 5:37. Woot! But then...we had to find parking...not the most fun thing but we eventually found a place and were strutting the streets of Philly. :)
We parked on Locust Street and our dinner was on Spruce Street...we kinda intuitively wandered (David doing the intuitive part and me the wandering) and found it at 6:02.
I LOVE THAT RESTAURANT. It was pretty small and there was only two people on the waiting staff (the owner and one helper) but it was awesome. David ordered bruschetta as our apetizer...best idea ever. It was DELICIOUS. If you've ever seen "What About Bob?" we were definitely re-enacting the scene where Bob has dinner with the family for the first time. Then the pasta...I got gnocchi with a four cheese sauce and David got this pasta stuffed with meat with a tomato/cheese sauce...I love Italian food so much, haha. I came home last night and was describing the food to my mom and she laughed and said I should be a food critic the way I was raving about it. Oh! And then for dessert we had this scoop of chocolate ice cream that had a vanilla center with hazelnuts all throughout and it was rolled in cocoa powder...perfect way to end the meal. David picked that one too...I told him afterwards that having a good taste in food is definitely up on the list for traits girls should look for in guys. ;D
We left and walked about two minutes to the Kimmel Center, where we got our tickets for second floor seating and then went and waited for the concert to start.
The PYO (made up of "gifted, young, classical musicians" ages 6 to 21 from the Tri-State region) played two full symphonies: Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10 by Dmitri Shostakovich and Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 -- Pathetique by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
They were SO good...really impressive. Great ensemble sound and a wonderful balance between the strings, the woodwinds, brass, and percussion. At one point I heard a clarinet solo and I was looking around the group for the clarinet player and then realized...that's not a clarinet playing, IT'S A TRUMPET.
Such a fun night...and it may sound silly, but I felt totally awesome being in the city with David and figuring out parking, directions, and all that without any parental help.
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