Coincidentally, the short drive from Boston to the Berkshires was perfect given our late start. We strived to leave early to have more time to visit various museums and towns, but unfortunately the packing took forever. Getting everything to fit into the car was one heck of an optimization exercise -- the trunk alone had:
1 large box with speakers, 1 large box with amplifiers, 1 long box with Keith's matte cutter, his keyboard, the Thule roof racks, the umbrella, the yoga mat, a rice cooker box stored with various stuff, water bottles, and our suitcase! Whew!
And we haven't even described the rear seat!
I swear, the car sagged towards the back. All the road bumps felt dampened. By the time we were going on the highway, it was a heavy unstoppable cannonball!
The Berkshires are very green. Lots and lots of trees layering over the rolling hills. The first town we drove into, Lee, was very New England (although different in feel from the Vermont towns). While the town itself was very small (a 2-block drag along a small highway), this tall church steeple marked the town center. Next to the church was a quaint little brick building, stylishly converted into the now Lee Police Station!
The black and white picture to the left is of the front door of this church. It must have been very old, as are a lot of churches in the Northeast. Karen took this picture (and post conversion in Photoshop) to illustrate the texture! Go Karen! (she always tries to remember lessons in composition from her Photography class)
The next town over, one of the largest in the Berkshires, is Lenox. We've always wanted to visit Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was a beautiful day, and since there weren't any concerts playing this evening, the grounds were open to the public. We decided to take a look, and to our pleasant surprise, it was very uncrowded and peaceful. As we wandered through the rolling green lawns, we could hear choral music wafting from the Koussevitsky Music Shed.
A rehearsal was taking place! We had the chance to just sit inside the music shed and appreciate the beauty surrounding us. Music is truly wonderful; I was reminded of that today. Since Keith and I grew up playing instruments and attending classical concerts, we really appreciate the hard work of these artists.
I am also grateful that such a place like Tanglewood exists for the public to enjoy music in a nature-like setting. Here are some photos we took of the grounds at Tanglewood.
Tanglewood started as a dedicated school for musicians to study at. Now, it is a landmark to various musical achievements, including a building dedicated to Conductor Seiji Ozawa.
Compared to the main amphitheater (which they call "the shed"), the Ozawa hall is complete indoors and had a woody Japanese-design to thechairs, etc. The back of the hall has these massive wooden doors that swing open to allow a semi-outdoor concert in the summer!
The one thing I noticed about the Berkshires was that we received a lot of looks from the other tourists around... maybe it was because we did not see any other visitors below the age of ... oh, 55? Strange, since you would think a lot of yuppies want to come here for the weekend (we were here on a Thursday). The older people also did not want to talk or chat. In one example, we were lounging in the B&B living room during the evening, and a group of older guests came in (they wanted to play poker). One woman looked at us and loudly exclaimed,
"Darn, they took our spot."
Hmmm. Later we tried talking to them, but they ignored us. Oh well, sticks and stones, you can't disrupt MY 2 week vacation. We were able to let go and relax in the Berkshires... which is exactly what we came for!
No comments:
Post a Comment