The Second Leg of Tour so far: France and Italy

Upon going back overseas, our first destination was Bordeaux, France. When we got there the first 4 days were our rehearsal period: We put the show back together and filled in the missing pieces with the new cast. Joey came over to rehearse us which was nice.... especially for those who hadn't gotten to work with him before. So it was a great experience for all and very easy and productive. We stayed in Bordeaux for 2 weeks and it was such a beautiful city! Lots of wine and vineyards and shopping! My parents came towards the end of Bordeaux and when we traveled to our next city Trieste, Italy via a chartered plane, I took the train to meet them in Venice, Italy upon my arrival. We spent 2 days in Venice which was absolutely beautiful. We then opened in Trieste, Italy and have been doing shows ever since. Due the volcano my parents were finally able to make it back home last night but it was nice because since they stayed the extra few days we were able to go to the castle right on the water (Castle Miramare) SOOO PRETTY! The weather has been great as well but on Monday we go to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I am beyond excited! Here are some pictures from tour so far as well! Enjoy!

Christmas till Return in the US

So I will say I am officially horrible at updating this blog. Let's start with Christmas... On Christmas Eve our hotel hosted a fantastic dinner for us where we got to dress up and we played the game "White Elephant" which is a grab bag sort of game. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to spend Christmas with the cast, as we are one big family. We had a great time and for a while it made most of the cast forget they weren't home with their families for Christmas. After Christmas we had another week full of shows and before we knew it, New Years Eve was here!! A few of us from the cast went to an Indian Buffet for dinner and I popped open my first bottle of champagne. After we went back to the hotel, and hung out in our rooms. At midnight we stepped outside onto our balconies and watched the fireworks go off..... Because they aren't illegal there, the people of the town were creating and setting off such STUNNING fireworks. THEY WERE HUGE!!! We were all in such shock, we didn't know where we were!!!! It was so cool to say that I rang in 2010 in Scheveningen, Holland because I will most likely never get to do that again. After new years was over, we had out last week of shows and as the week slowly came to a close we realized that this was it, that we would be leaving one another. We finished our last show, our 180th show and we all lost it. The following day we headed back to the US and NYC and it was back to reality for us, back to a normal life away from our dream land of traveling the world and performing in the most amazing show. Upon returning in the US it was time to teach classes, take classes, audition, file taxes and live a normal life.

Enjoy these pictures from the last leg of our tour before the 2 month break. We go back over the end of March till the end of May and not the whole cast is returning. It will be a different energy level but I can't wait to do the show again and meet new people and create new friendships.

Thanksgiving, Bremen & Scheveningen thus far.

After we finished all our shows in Basel, it was time to head home for the week to spend Thanksgiving with our family and friends. It was a nice trip and it was great to be able to go home even for a week. I got to see my parents, my aunts and uncles, my grandma, my cousins and my friends from college. We had a fantastic time and it gave me a taste of what it will be like to go home again January 11th for about 2 months.

When the week home was over, we flew back to our next location: Bremen, Germany. The town was very cute and it had a HUGE CHRISTMAS MARKET!! It was at this market that we spent most of our time. During our time in Bremen I celebrated my 19th birthday. The cast made my birthday so incredibly amazing and I am so thankful to have them in my life! After Bremen, we began a 6 hour bus ride to our final location with the original cast on this first leg of the tour: Scheveningen, Netherlands.

Upon arrival we learned that since it was a beach town it would be FREEZING COLD and to tell the truth... IT IS!! The shows here have been sold out and the theatre is amazing. Last night (December 19th) we shared our last show with the original cast because a few people decided to go home to spend the holidays with their families. It was bittersweet to say goodbye but as we say it's not a goodbye it's a see ya later!

Today is now the 20th of December with Christmas Eve approaching in 4 days and 21 days till we get to go back to NYC. Today is also the day Scheveningen had SNOW!!! When walking to the theatre today it was blizzarding and the ground was deep in snow. We enjoyed our morning in the snow, building a snowman and throwing snowballs!!! We are hoping that after our first show that it will still be snowing so we can play some more and take some photos.

HOPEFULLY WE WILL HAVE A WHITE CHRISTMAS!!! FINGER'S CROSSED!

Till next time : )

xo

Belgium/Holland Update & Basel, Switzerland so far

The 3 cities in Belgium and Holland can best be described as follows:

1. Leige: Leige was my favorite out of the 3 cities. It had a carnival and a little shopping area outside of our theatre with cute little cafes....etc. The shows were great and I must say the audiences were pretty full as well! It was here in Leige that we celebrated our 100th show!

2. Heerlen: This is a city in the Netherlands. There was nothing too exciting about it. Just daily trips to work and then back home. Pretty uneventful!

3. Charleroi: Our final city in Belgium and by far the WORST city on the planet. It is known for its heroine problems and crimes so it was interesting that they even took us there! We were all scared to walk around and go anywhere....etc so all we did was go to work and go straight home! We were so relieved to get out of there but the audiences there were suprisingly awesome and the theatre was beautiful...... SHOCKER!

BASEL, SWITZERLAND SO FAR:

This is our last stop before heading home for Thanksgiving week! We are here for a month and so far it has been incredible. Basel is a beautiful city and the weather has been off and on! We will be finishing up week 3 of ours shows tomorrow with one week remaining!! On Halloween, we used the conference room in our hotel to have our party. Our producer was very generous and gave us 1200$ for it!!!! It was fun to see how creative everyone got! Costumes varied from individual costumes to a group coordination such as The Jolie-Pitt family, Seasame Street, Spiderman & Batman, Liza Minelli, A sexy nerd (me), A lifeguard and much more!!! Everyone was there and had a wonderful time!! While in Basel I also saw the Michael Jackson Movie: This is it! It was incredible and very inspiring.

As of right now the countdown is at 10 shows, 9 days!!! I can't wait. We have one more 2 show day tomorrow before our final day off in Basel. I should probably use that time to take some photos!! Hopefully it will stop raining and clear up so that taking photos would be possible!

Till next time! : )

Nicole

A VERY LATE UPDATE!

As you can tell I am pretty bad at updating this thing, so here is another long needed update!

Let's start where I left off, Israel: One of the places I have been dying to go to my whole life! To have the chance to go here while doing what you love, and getting paid to do so is such a blessing. Coming here made me realize how lucky I am to have what I have and how lucky I am to be living the life I am living. Enjoy my journey’s below!

Jerusalem: Seeing Jerusalem was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had in my life. We walked through the Muslim, Jewish and Christian Quarters, walked the Via Dolorosa, visited the Wailing Wall where I was lucky enough to go in and leave a note in the wall (see above). I also got to see a panoramic view of the city of Jerusalem (both the old and new city). It was a breathtaking experience that I will hold in my heart forever.

Masada& The Dead Sea: What a cool day!! The story of Masada goes as the Romans versus the Jews and all the men had to kill their families (wives and children) until there were ten men left. They knew the Romans were coming so they drew who would kill the nine men then themselves. By the time the Romans got there, everyone on Masada was dead. Their choice was either death or slavery: as you can tell by the story, they chose death. When going to The Dead Sea all I have to say is this: It was very cool to float on the water and be able to have a natural mud bath and exfoliate but it is a once in a lifetime thing which I will probably never do again.

Ceasarea, Haifa, Acre, Rosh Hanikra: These are 4 different cities in Israel, each of their own beauty but Rosh Hanikra was by far the most incredible place for one reason: it was the border between Lebanon and Israel. All you see are watch towers looking over to the Lebanese side and gates with security points where no Israeli citizen is to pass and no person with an Israel stamp on their passport was to be allowed access to. It was crazy to see the actual tensions between countries become visible to the point where you yourself were hesitant in as to why you were standing there because you could be placing your life at risk.

Tel Aviv/Jaffa: This is where we stayed in Israel. Just down the beach was the city of Jaffa: one of the oldest cities in Israel with one of the oldest ports in the world!! We got to enjoy the Mediterranean Sea, the sun, the sand, the shopping and the beautiful sunsets while we were there!

Bethlehem: The city of Bethlehem was one of the scariest yet coolest experiences I was able to have. When going into this city it is on Palestinian land so signs are everywhere stating: “No Israeli Citizens.” I know I am not a citizen but the fact that I am Jewish scared me. Thankfully we were fine! We got to see the Church of Nativity (where Jesus himself was born). It was a really cool experience and we learned about the Jerusalem Cross which is a cross with 5 points on it.

The Yad Vashem: The Holocaust Memorial was something I have always wanted to do. It is one of the two things relating to the Holocaust, the other being to visit a concentration camp. It was very touching and emotional to hear stories first hand of one’s experiences. Just walking through there made me realize how lucky I truly am!

The City of David: The Jews true homeland. It consisted of many underground tunnels where they fought in the Jewish War. It was an awesome experience and we got the chance to walk through these tunnels and learn the stories as if we were living it ourselves!

Being in Israel for 3 weeks gave us the chance to really explore and take in Israel for what it is and what this country has gone through to get where they are now.

As you can tell, I have been blessed to be able to see a lot of Israel! It was such an incredible experience! In addition to being able to see everything, we performed at the famous Tel Aviv Opera House to SOLD OUT audiences EVERY NIGHT!!

After Israel we continued on to Amsterdam and below is my Amsterdam update!!

What an incredibly beautiful city to be able to visit for a period of 3 weeks. When we left I did not want to leave! This was the place my mom and dad came to visit me for about a week.

In Amsterdam we went to the Van Gogh Museum, took a canal cruise, shopped, went to an ice bar and went to the Anne Frank House. Everything we did was incredible but the Anne Frank House was the most amazing thing I did while I was in Amsterdam!

To be able to walk through the Secret Annex, hear the stories, read pieces from her diary was breathtaking. It gave you the chance to piece together each part of her story. I had never read her diary and upon leaving her father’s office (where they hid), I went to purchase her diary and I am currently reading it. Everything I had seen when I went to the Anne Frank House I was able to put together as I read her diary page by page. It gave me the ability to fully understand what a person her age was experiencing in a great time of danger. I am very thankful her father survived the war allowing for her story to be shared with the world!! The one thing about Amsterdam that is insane is the amount of bikers they have........ Basically, THEY RULE THE ROAD!!

I can't post any because it takes hours to post the few pictures I do put up. To see pictures you can check out my facebook page!

We are now in Leige, Belgium for the week and we will be going to one more city in Belgium and another in Holland before heading off to Basel, Switzerland.

After Basel, we get to go home for thanksgiving week! I wish we had more time than a week because I will not be able to get down to Florida. Hopefully we will get our 2010 schedule soon so I can plan a trip then!!

Till next time!!

- Nicole

A long needed update!!!!!

1. The 2 week vacation: My close friend from home, Ashley, came and stayed that week! She got to see 2 of the shows and then we toured around Spain and then went to Paris for 3 nights!! After Ashley left I went to a bullfight!!!! Ah!! Basically what happens is this...........................

Every Sunday night at Plaza de Toros a bullfight takes place.... Since we were off a few of us decided that it would be a great cultural experience to go and see what a bullfight was actually like. It was an experience I was glad to have but it was a once in a lifetime thing and I would not go back due to the brutality of it. there are 3 matadors and 6 bulls which means each matador takes on 2 bulls. The event began at 8:30pm and lasted till around 11:30pm. At the beginning a march through is done where the matadors, the crew and the trainees walk around the stadium initiating that the bullfight is about to begin. After they exit: the bull is let out into the stadium and the fight has begun. The same thing happens with each bull: the trainee matadors are brought out into the ring with the bull and they are carrying capes that are pink and yellow. Their job is to irritate the bull and wound the bull prior to the entrance of the matador and the traditional red cape.It is very sad and brutal but a cultural experience I was glad to have went to. After the trainees are done, the matador then comes out and begins the traditional bullfight. There is a whistle at the end which the matador then gets the sword (very disturbing to see!) and tradition says he should kill the bull with one stab that would hit it directly in the heart. :( Only one of the three matadors succeeded in doing so and because he had success he got to keep the bulls ears. Because the other 2 matadors did not we had to watch them stab the bull over and over till it died. I had to cover my eyes because of how brutal it was. Our quote for the night was: “IT’S CULTURAL!!!” At the end of each fight the ending is always the same, the matador survives and the bulls are sacrificed. There was only one time in which the bull was spared: 1982 because the matador asked that it’s life be spared because he felt as if the bull fought like an actual human being. That has been the one and ONLY case! CRAZY!! This is a very dangerous event to even witness, let alone participate in so I must say that these matadors are very brave!

On my 2nd week of the tour layoff I spent a few days in Spain relaxing by the pool and then I took a trip to London to visit 2 of my friends: 1 from home and 1 from college. While I was there I met a lot of people and 2 of those people I met happened to go to Fordham!!!! :) Anyways, we did a lot of sightseeing and it was a beautiful place which I want to go back to and spend a lot more time at.

2. Japan: Our first stop was Nagoya for 1 week and now we are in Tokyo moving into our 2nd and final week before we head off to Osaka.......... Japan is such a cool place!!!! It's indescribable and can only be explained through pictures. All I can say is this: the people are very friendly and willing to help with anything and of course, there is tons to do and there are tons of sights to see!!!! Our opening party in Tokyo was incredible: chocolate fountains and everything......... sooooo nice!!! They also gave us each a program and a t-shirt :) Upon our arrival in Tokyo I went to the electronic town and I got a camera : the Nikon P90 and it is INCREDIBLE!!! I'm slowly learning the about the cool things it does and every new thing I figure out makes my camera seem even cooler! ha! Also, the hotel we are staying at in Shibuya (in Tokyo) looks over the world's most famous/busiest crosswalk in the WORLD!!!!!! Anyways, yesterday: august 3rd, 2009 i climbed Mount Fuji! It was hard and something I will only do once in my life but it was so worth it and it was such an incredible experience. Throughout are some pictures from this post to best explain everything i have written (or attempted to write) above....... As they say: "A picture is worth a thousand words."

Will be updated tomorrow!

Sorry I have taken so long to update..........

There will be a new post tomorrow morning, PROMISE!!!! :)