A majestic setting

I finally gave up this year on convincing Henry to buy season tickets for the San Antonio Symphony and bought a 7-ticket package for myself.

There's nothing quite like live music performances, and our fine symphony never disappoints.

Last night I used my second ticket and thoroughly enjoyed the program, especially the Mendelssohn violin concerto performed by a charming, talented, and rather nice-looking young man. Our bus schedules being what they are, I arrived downtown well before the show started and was able to sit in on his pre-concert discussion of the the piece before heading up to my seat in the Majestic Theatre's balcony.

As some of you might recall from previous posts, this place is really, really amazing. Built at the beginning of the motion picture era, it exhibits all the glorious decorative excesses of the period, and has been lovingly restored. (The link above the previous picture discusses the history of the building and its restoration; the video is long but very interesting.)

So I thought I'd use some of my extra time last night taking shots of some of the decorative features that caught my eye. Maybe I'll take some more photos on my next ticket, but here's a starter... (note: I took these with no flash so they're a little dark; the Majestic website has some that show details better)

stained glass fixture on the underside of the mezzanine level

ornate ceiling medallion

chandelier view from the mezzanine

Mezzanine "Ladies parlor"...so much nicer terminology than "Ladies loo"

railing of the stairs to the balcony

light above my balcony seat

super-ornate stage frame

boxes to the right of the stage

boxes to the left of the stage, and the balcony/mezzanine boundary aisle

Next season, the symphony will be moving out of the Majestic and into what's supposed to be a more up-to-date, technically-superior venue (also a restoration, sort of—but I think all that's really left of the Municipal Auditorium is the outer shell). And it might sound better there, but I can't imagine the new surroundings being as visually interesting.

I have fond memories of some even more gorgeous old movie houses in Houston that are no more. (A friend of mine from high school compiled this collection of photos from some of these monuments.) Every time I see the restored Majestic it makes me sad that H-town couldn't be bothered to do the same with the Loews and the Metropolitan.

At least my adopted home town had more sense!

Wordless Wednesday: not already!!?!!

New kid on the block

We took a quick trip to Austin last weekend, mainly to see Sally's new digs. Her new duplex apartment is very nice, but what really blew us away was her new office setting.

She recently moved from one of UT's oldest buildings to its very newest. Her department is Statistics, but the buildings' main tenant is the Computer Science Dept., which accounts for the structure's two names: Gates and Dell. Both somewhat well-known in the computer field, I would say...

It is an impressive-enough building to have its naming rights shared!

Since Saturday there was a home football game, we couldn't park as close as we wanted to, but we had a nice stroll down Dean Keaton and Speedway from our parking spot. 

There are always interesting things to see on this monstrously large campus. Like the public sculpture above, or these neat decorative touches on the Molecular Biology Building...

...as well as other impressive architecture...

... and even a great look at the Main Tower occluding the sun...

But the real scenic treats awaited us inside the new building. What an airy feel for such a large structure!

looking up from the lobby

the statistician and her father taking a short tour break in the lobby

There were lots of interesting interior design features, like this colorful hallway...

.... and these unusual lamps and chairs in the lobby ...

Of course there still has to be an infrastructure, but I even thought that this set of pipes, in the stairway leading to Sally's 7th floor office, was photo-worthy:

It's only the last flight of stairs that are enclosed like this. The first 6 floors are reached by means of these fabulously cantilevered open steps. What great views they afford to tourists with cameras, all the way up!

Some samples:

looking down at the lobby floor

monumental sculpture outside the front door

the top landing's glass is tinted orange...for energy-saving, or just school spirit?

the Tower again, out a clear glass window

In fact, I was so taken by the stairs that I couldn't stop taking pictures of them, trying to capture their quirky beauty. I hope this sample of my shots will give you some idea of how neat they look:

What a great way to keep in shape, to climb up these stairs every day to work (although with her several-soccer-games-a-week-lifestyle Sally hardly needs more exercise). And along the way you get to admire this architectural gem! 

We're very proud of our little professor and thoroughly enjoyed seeing where she gets to work.

Wordless Wednesday: more tiles

The other westside lake

There are three small-ish Catholic universities in San Antonio: Incarnate Word, over on my side of town, founded by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word; and on the west side: St. Mary's, where I work (and which you've seen many pictures of through the years), founded by the Society of Mary; and Our Lady of the Lake, a bit south and east of St. Mary's, founded by the Sisters of Divine Providence. (Somewhat prideful note: St. Mary's is the oldest of the three!).

Whereas I see St. Mary's a lot, obviously, and at least occasionally drive by IWU (although not much lately, since it's in traffic-tie-up central due to a big drainage project), I hardly ever get to the OLLU campus.

So I was pleased to have the opportunity to do a little sight-seeing there prior to a meeting held in their handsome library last week. Not, that's not the library pictured above, but rather their incredibly beautiful main building and chapel. Victim of a devastating fire in the spring of 2008, it's been lovingly rebuilt, much to the delight of the west side neighborhood it graces, not to mention fans of monumental architecture everywhere.

The library is quite lovely, too, and although it has a completely different look, there's an echo of the older buildings' soaring loft in its entrance....

But it's hard to beat the older buildings for photo opps. Here are some individual shots of these imposing buildings:

In the nook behind them, you'll find this lovely parklike cloister...

Unfortunately, the chapel wasn't open (you can see photos of its interior, however, by following some of the links above) but I was able to check out the inside of the main building, and was so impressed with its decorative detail...

These old wooden stairs reminded me of a similar set at St. Mary's, that I've shown you in a previous post. Unfortunately, though, the flooring surrounding our old banisters looks positively shabby in comparison to the tiles running along the OLLU main hall. I was so taken by this lovely flooring that I had to take pictures of all the different patterns that we saw...

Aren't they all gorgeous!?

You might be wondering, however, about the "lake" reference in my title, as well as in the name of the school. There is a lake there, as you can see on this campus map, but I didn't have enough before my meeting to get pictures of it. Next time I have reason to visit this lovely campus, I'll have to be sure to allow time for this feature.

But why is it an "other" lake?

Because the westside lake I'm most familiar with, and that I've occasionally blogged about, is Woodlawn Lake, which I pass every day on my way to work.

Although the #90 bus doesn't skirt it quite as closely these days as it should. As I recently mentioned, there's a big drainage project (yes, another one!) that's closed several blocks of Woodlawn Avenue by the lake. The day of my meeting I transferred to the bus heading south to OLLU near one end of this monstrous construction site, and while waiting, was able to snap a few photos.

Here are samples of the types of pipes that are waiting to be installed. It looks like they've still got quite a bit of work to do, doesn't it? Even though some of the pipes (the large ones in the second photo) have been on site long enough to get tagged...

I think my bus will be detouring quite a while longer.