Friday, September 4th was LaDawn's birthday and when I asked her what she wanted, at first she didn't really know and then it occurred to her that perhaps we could go to a Broadway play currently showing in Manila. Singing' in the Rain! So we researched tickets and snagged a couple (it wasn't sold out) and began to make our plans. Meanwhile, LaDawn got to know Carol Jensen from church a bit and invited her to come along with her husband. Because of Jonathan's work schedule we weren't sure how it would work out, but in the end, everything, including traffic, cooperated and we had a great evening. Raffy (our driver) and LaDawn picked me up at the office at 4:45 pm and then we went over to Glorietta 5 where the Convergys offices are and picked up Jonathan and Carol (she had made her way their earlier). So by about 5:10 pm we were headed to Solaire Resort and Casino (and Theatre) directly on Manila Bay. On the way there, I called and made reservations at the Finestra Italian Restaurant there in the Resort.
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| The Finestra Restaurant at Solaire Resort at sunset |
You can see by the picture, that we were the only ones there. That was because they really don't open the restaurant until 6:30 pm (the time of our reservations), but because we got there early, they saw us outside the door and opened it up and let us start. I think the bar in the restaurant opens at 6 pm, so they were going to open the doors anyway. In any case, as we were coming into the restaurant the sun was setting over the bay behind where we were sitting. You could not have asked for a more beautiful scene.
As if that wasn't enough (light traffic, golden sunset, wonderful new friends), we then had just an absolutely outstanding meal!
All of us had pasta. LaDawn had the Carbanara with linguini noodles and I had the Tartufati with Penne noodles. Carol also had the Tartufati, but with Gnocchi. Jonathan had a pasta dish with Italian Sausage in it. I have to say that this was some of the best pasta I have ever eaten in my entire life. The portions were perfect. We all had a Ceasar Salad to start off with. I enjoyed a bottle of Pellegrino sparkling water.
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| In front of the stage of Singin' in the Rain |
Around 7:35 pm we left the restaurant and made our way to the Theatre to watch Singin' in the Rain. I don't ever really remember seeing the whole thing before, but clearly I remembered a part here and a part there. It was really well done for the most part. There was one dance scene that I thought was unnecessary and a bit suggestive - other than that it was excellent. Here is a picture we took at the end of the show before leaving the theatre.
On our way out I was having some fun sort of "singin' in the rain", and I mentioned all we needed was a little rain to go along with my antics. Well little did I know that at about that time, the heavens opened outside and the rain poured down. LaDawn reminded me I needed to be more careful about what I wished for!
Right before we left the building I turned and took a couple of pictures. The first is the stairway being reflected in the mirrors and the second is a B&W picture of the fountains near the entrance.
Raffy drove the Jensen's to their place and then we returned to BGC and our home there. Overall, it was a wonderful evening of food, friends and fun!
-Tom
