![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
GALA Festival Trip, Day 4 of 10
Jul. 9th, 2024 11:59 pmTUESDAY
I got up to pee about quarter to six and didn't get back to bed until 6:30. So when my alarm went off at 7:30 and I noticed Gary surfing the net, I encouraged him to go first getting dressed for a change and slept in until he got out of the shower around eight. We went back to the Nicollet Diner for breakfast. Our host looked familiar: wiry, dressed in black, with a trim beard and a knit cap. Another fellow, looking perhaps our age but probably younger, followed us in and was seated across the aisle. He told a good story about his friend who was supposed to meet him and pay for breakfast, but the host told him if the friend didn't arrive in 30 minutes, he'd be asked to leave. I overheard him calling the friend to relay the message or at least pretending to. We ordered breakfast: Gary had French toast with pink lemonade, and I had Sam's Skillet with hash browns, corned-beef hash, eggs over easy and a biscuit, with coffee. The dude across the aisle left without having to be asked. Our waiter asked if we were local; told we were here for Festival from Seattle, he mentioned two of his uncles work there.
As we left the restaurant, I noticed a big and tall bear in a grimy, sweaty hi-vis shirt. Gary: "No." 😊 We caught the 10 bus to Nicollet Mall station. As we waited for the Green Line to St. Paul, I spotted a younger bear, also in hi-vis, with thick, black hair and beard. His shirt bore a large logo in the shape of Minnesota on the back. We boarded the train and sat directly behind the bellows (as identified by a small sign warning not to lean on them). It proved to be a mistake to sit there, as I could only see out the windows on the other side of the car and didn't have a lot of leg room. Still, I was able to tell when we were crossing the University of Minnesota campus and spot a couple of other things on the way.
We left the train at Capitol-Rice Street Station and walked the short distance to the front of the Capitol building. We stopped by the tour office at the top of the stairs to the right. The lady behind the counter said the 11 AM tour would meet in the hall around the corner. I had a seat on a bench nearby and noticed rather of a crowd of construction dudes in hi-vis vests waiting for what I thought was our tour. I got halfway to the elevator when Gary got my attention and told me our tour was starting in another hall around the other corner from the office. Our tour moved quickly to the Rotunda, where our guide explained the artwork and the different types of stone used to build the Capitol, closing with "Don't take our Minnesota gneiss for granite." From the Rotunda we ascended the grand staircase to the Supreme Court chamber, one of the few such chambers in a capitol building in the US. Our next stop, after ascending a cantilever staircase (supported only from the outside walls), was the house gallery. Our final stop was on the roof of the building, to see up close and personal the grand gilded sculpture of four horses led by two women and pulling a man atop a chariot. There were barriers erected to keep people from carving their initials in the horses' asses. They take this quite seriously, with five-digit fines and five-year prison sentences. We took some pictures through the doors of the Senate chamber, used the bathroom, and descended the stairs to exit the building.
The map suggested we walk south on the path across the Capitol grounds to catch the eastbound train from 10th Street Station. When we reached the station, I sat on a somewhat questionable bench with litter on the floor surrounding it. Suddenly Gary motioned to me to get up and follow him. I was confused, so on our way out of the station I asked what he was asking me to do. As it happened, he'd spotted people dealing drugs from the bench to my right, and didn't want to cross their path when the train came. So we walked another block south and re-entered the station from the other end. Shortly after that, the train arrived and we rode all the way to Union Depot, the end of the line.
We entered the depot to see what was open. The large full-service restaurant space was not yet open for business and sported a "Coming Soon" sign. There were two other businesses open: a bike shop which also served coffee and snacks, and Choo-choo Bob's Train Store. We looked around the latter place briefly; they had a bunch of model train sets assembled on a pay-to-play basis. We sat in the large hall and Gary found the Lost Fox café across the street. He ordered chicken salad on a croissant with orange juice, while I had a turkey bacon pesto croissant with a Jarritos mandarin soda. After lunch, Gary wanted to take the 94 express bus back to Minneapolis, but between road construction and flooding of the railroad underpass, there was a risk that the bus wasn't going to stop at Union Depot, so I suggested we return the way we came by train. As it happened, the bus arrived as we were switching platforms because the train we wanted to catch had already left. This put Gary in a foul mood, but it soon passed.
We caught the next train to Nicollet Mall station and walked south, catching some pictures at the statue of Mary Tyler Moore (or, more properly, Mary Richards) tossing her beret in front of Dayton's department store, then buying more drinks and sundries at Target. On the way up the elevator at Target, Gary noticed a fellow around our age wearing a polo shirt with a bear run logo on it. We stopped for a brief conversation and discovered he's with the Queer Chorus of San Francisco. After checking out, we kept walking toward the hotel, getting briefly caught in a moderate rain shower (a bit heavier than a Seattle rain but not torrential) and arriving at the lobby reasonably close to dry.
As we approached the elevator to our room, Gary noticed an older fellow walking with a cane so we held the elevator for him. He turned out to be the co-founder of Chicago Gay Men's Chorus, now retired and living in Colorado "too far from Denver" as he put it. We returned to the room around 3:30, ditched the wet clothes and chilled for a few hours. I set an alarm for 5:30 pm and got up just before six.
We went to a belt sushi place next door to the hotel called Sushi Train, where we were served by a strapping young dude with close-cropped faintly purple hair. After dinner, we explored the Skyway system connecting the hotel with the Convention Center, and I showed Gary how the three round mini-auditorium spaces can be used independently (as configured before Festival began) or as part of the main auditorium (as they would be during Festival). I'd first seen this configuration (only with two rooms instead of three) at South Whidbey High School when we performed there.
We returned to the hotel and had a couple drinks in the bar (I had shandy while Gary selected a mocktail with grenadine). We returned to the room around nine and settled in for the night, tucking ourselves into bed around eleven.
I got up to pee about quarter to six and didn't get back to bed until 6:30. So when my alarm went off at 7:30 and I noticed Gary surfing the net, I encouraged him to go first getting dressed for a change and slept in until he got out of the shower around eight. We went back to the Nicollet Diner for breakfast. Our host looked familiar: wiry, dressed in black, with a trim beard and a knit cap. Another fellow, looking perhaps our age but probably younger, followed us in and was seated across the aisle. He told a good story about his friend who was supposed to meet him and pay for breakfast, but the host told him if the friend didn't arrive in 30 minutes, he'd be asked to leave. I overheard him calling the friend to relay the message or at least pretending to. We ordered breakfast: Gary had French toast with pink lemonade, and I had Sam's Skillet with hash browns, corned-beef hash, eggs over easy and a biscuit, with coffee. The dude across the aisle left without having to be asked. Our waiter asked if we were local; told we were here for Festival from Seattle, he mentioned two of his uncles work there.
As we left the restaurant, I noticed a big and tall bear in a grimy, sweaty hi-vis shirt. Gary: "No." 😊 We caught the 10 bus to Nicollet Mall station. As we waited for the Green Line to St. Paul, I spotted a younger bear, also in hi-vis, with thick, black hair and beard. His shirt bore a large logo in the shape of Minnesota on the back. We boarded the train and sat directly behind the bellows (as identified by a small sign warning not to lean on them). It proved to be a mistake to sit there, as I could only see out the windows on the other side of the car and didn't have a lot of leg room. Still, I was able to tell when we were crossing the University of Minnesota campus and spot a couple of other things on the way.
We left the train at Capitol-Rice Street Station and walked the short distance to the front of the Capitol building. We stopped by the tour office at the top of the stairs to the right. The lady behind the counter said the 11 AM tour would meet in the hall around the corner. I had a seat on a bench nearby and noticed rather of a crowd of construction dudes in hi-vis vests waiting for what I thought was our tour. I got halfway to the elevator when Gary got my attention and told me our tour was starting in another hall around the other corner from the office. Our tour moved quickly to the Rotunda, where our guide explained the artwork and the different types of stone used to build the Capitol, closing with "Don't take our Minnesota gneiss for granite." From the Rotunda we ascended the grand staircase to the Supreme Court chamber, one of the few such chambers in a capitol building in the US. Our next stop, after ascending a cantilever staircase (supported only from the outside walls), was the house gallery. Our final stop was on the roof of the building, to see up close and personal the grand gilded sculpture of four horses led by two women and pulling a man atop a chariot. There were barriers erected to keep people from carving their initials in the horses' asses. They take this quite seriously, with five-digit fines and five-year prison sentences. We took some pictures through the doors of the Senate chamber, used the bathroom, and descended the stairs to exit the building.
The map suggested we walk south on the path across the Capitol grounds to catch the eastbound train from 10th Street Station. When we reached the station, I sat on a somewhat questionable bench with litter on the floor surrounding it. Suddenly Gary motioned to me to get up and follow him. I was confused, so on our way out of the station I asked what he was asking me to do. As it happened, he'd spotted people dealing drugs from the bench to my right, and didn't want to cross their path when the train came. So we walked another block south and re-entered the station from the other end. Shortly after that, the train arrived and we rode all the way to Union Depot, the end of the line.
We entered the depot to see what was open. The large full-service restaurant space was not yet open for business and sported a "Coming Soon" sign. There were two other businesses open: a bike shop which also served coffee and snacks, and Choo-choo Bob's Train Store. We looked around the latter place briefly; they had a bunch of model train sets assembled on a pay-to-play basis. We sat in the large hall and Gary found the Lost Fox café across the street. He ordered chicken salad on a croissant with orange juice, while I had a turkey bacon pesto croissant with a Jarritos mandarin soda. After lunch, Gary wanted to take the 94 express bus back to Minneapolis, but between road construction and flooding of the railroad underpass, there was a risk that the bus wasn't going to stop at Union Depot, so I suggested we return the way we came by train. As it happened, the bus arrived as we were switching platforms because the train we wanted to catch had already left. This put Gary in a foul mood, but it soon passed.
We caught the next train to Nicollet Mall station and walked south, catching some pictures at the statue of Mary Tyler Moore (or, more properly, Mary Richards) tossing her beret in front of Dayton's department store, then buying more drinks and sundries at Target. On the way up the elevator at Target, Gary noticed a fellow around our age wearing a polo shirt with a bear run logo on it. We stopped for a brief conversation and discovered he's with the Queer Chorus of San Francisco. After checking out, we kept walking toward the hotel, getting briefly caught in a moderate rain shower (a bit heavier than a Seattle rain but not torrential) and arriving at the lobby reasonably close to dry.
As we approached the elevator to our room, Gary noticed an older fellow walking with a cane so we held the elevator for him. He turned out to be the co-founder of Chicago Gay Men's Chorus, now retired and living in Colorado "too far from Denver" as he put it. We returned to the room around 3:30, ditched the wet clothes and chilled for a few hours. I set an alarm for 5:30 pm and got up just before six.
We went to a belt sushi place next door to the hotel called Sushi Train, where we were served by a strapping young dude with close-cropped faintly purple hair. After dinner, we explored the Skyway system connecting the hotel with the Convention Center, and I showed Gary how the three round mini-auditorium spaces can be used independently (as configured before Festival began) or as part of the main auditorium (as they would be during Festival). I'd first seen this configuration (only with two rooms instead of three) at South Whidbey High School when we performed there.
We returned to the hotel and had a couple drinks in the bar (I had shandy while Gary selected a mocktail with grenadine). We returned to the room around nine and settled in for the night, tucking ourselves into bed around eleven.