Day 4: Adolfo!

Saturday was our final day in Madison and I had big plans to hit all the spots on my list that we hadn't found yet. We started with lunch on State Street, desperate to find some Greek food. We had tried to get Greek food the past couple of days, but the restaurants were always closed. There was some terrible fast food gyro place called The Parthenon, but we weren't that desperate yet. Luckily, it turned out that the Greek restaurants just kept weird hours. When we arrived for the lunch rush, The Mediterranean Cafe was in full swing. By the time we had finished ordering and filling out a check (again, no love for the debit card) our food was ready and waiting for us at a small table in the corner. It was the best food I've ever eaten. Falafel, Greek taboule salad, hummus and rice. We finished it off with baklava for dessert and were more than ready to love Madison again. I didn't take pictures of our food here because the restaurant was crazy cramped. I was too afraid of other people getting angry that they were in the picture, so I just kept my head down.

After that we found the bookstore that Steven had been waiting for. Avol's Books at Canterbury is a massive used bookstore. The back has a great children's section with princesses and magical forests painted on the walls and is built like a castle. I would've loved going to a place like that when I was little. I still remember the Goodnight Moon exhibit that was set up in the Salina mall one Christmas when I was 6 or 7. It held such magic for me for so many years. Later, when we went back to the mall during some Debate trip, I was shocked to find that it was just an average mall. Nothing exciting. No magical special stores or displays. Just a Gap and a kitchen store. I think it's important for stores to have something unique for kids - especially bookstores. It just adds so much to the experience, and in my case, that memory is still with me. Steven did not find what he was looking for - an old english version of Beowulf - but I found lots of things that I could not afford to get. I also found several used copies of Who Will Run the Frog Hospital, and was again confronted with the dilemma of buying multiple copies (though different editions) of Moore's books. I opted against it, but I was a little peeved that I had purchased it for full price from the feminist bookstore. Live and learn. Steven picked up a copy of Berryman's poems and we got a collection of new short stories discovered in MFA programs around the country. I also got a copy of Susan Minot's Lust, which is one of my favorite collections, much to Steven's dismay. Apparently it is also his high school girlfriend's favorite collection, which happens more often than you'd think. I have scared Steven more than once with similarities to Hallie - once with a letter from Pratt School of Design about their Library Science Program (Hallie goes there.) And then again when I put an Aimee Mann song on a mix for him. The same one that she listened to ad nauseum while they were together. I could tell him about all the times he does or says or listens to things that Karson did, but I keep that to myself. In some ways, we all date the same person over and over and over. Either that, or everyone is less unique than they care to admit. Either way, I'm still a Minot fan.

I dragged Steven out of the store so that we could get to the Overture Center in time for our matinee production of The Drowsy Chaperone. When I was searching for concerts and plays in Madison that weekend, this show came up on my radar and I had heard nothing about it. After doing a quick wikipedia search, I discovered that it had been popularized by Sutton Foster. This, clearly, was fate. I have been to New York once, and saw four shows. None of them made a lasting impression on me except for Thoroughly Modern Millie. I bought the soundtrack, I played it constantly and memorized all the nuances. I practiced "Gimme, Gimme" and fantasized about using it in my audition for AMDA. It's still my favorite roadtrip music. And the lead in this musical, was Sutton Foster. I loooove her. Anything she touches is gold, and even though she was no longer traveling with the show (she's currently starring in Shrek the Musical) I knew it would be wonderful. So Steven bought the super expensive tickets in the balcony and we headed in, with no idea of what to expect.

It was fantastic. The story takes place in a rundown New York City apartment. The narrator, a young, depressed man who likes to escape into his showtune records for the afternoon, guides us through the completely ridiculous plot of The Drowsy Chaperone. It is light, silly and full of wonderful music and just the right amount of tap dancing. And the female lead, while not Sutton, still sang like her, so a worthwhile substitute. Steven liked it even more than I did, fully solidifying his role as best boyfriend ever. We celebrated the success of the show with yet another trip to Jamba Juice.

For the afternoon we visited a few more shops downtown, but were disappointed by most. Saturday afternoon is not a good time to go shopping in small boutiques. You can't get anywhere or see anything. It was a mad house. We finally left State for the comforts of deserted thrift stores and antique shops. Unfortunately the antique shops were a little too deserted. Who closes at 5pm on a Saturday? Apparently the entire antique shop industry. We tried at our luck at St. Vincent de Paul thrift store - the Madison equivalent of the Salvation Army - and found a couple of bargains. Steven begged and pleaded for a VHS copy of Sister Act and I found an orange skirt from Express for 3 bucks. Score! I also found an adorable dress but it was still 33 dollars. Seriously? I was tempted to boycott the whole story based on that price tag, but Steven really wanted the movie.

For dinner that night we tried to eat in our neck of the woods. We found a Thai place and were seated very promptly. Then we were completely ignored for twenty minutes. We got our menus, but nothing else, and never saw anyone again. When we got up to leave, the hostess thanked us, though there was a little bit of confusion in her voice. We took the opportunity to check out Willy St - the proclaimed "alternative" area of Madison. We found the Thai place on our list and got water AND menus before being ignored for twenty minutes. Small victories. I think it must just be something about Thai restaurants. By the time we ordered, we were starving, which caused us to mistakenly order two of the world's largest and unappetizing spring rolls in the history of the world.


I got halfway through mine and was more full than I had been on the entire trip. Which was a shame, because then my pad thai came and it was about 8 million times yummier than the spring rolls and I had no room to eat it. We tried to save it and bring it home with us, but unfortunately, the cooler was not enough to preserve it and the stench was unbearable by the time we got back to Manhattan.

If only I had known!


We spent our last evening in Madison watching Family Guy on Hulu and drinking frosty Dr. Pepper from the hotel fridge. It had been a wonderful trip, and I was really dreading the 10 hour drive back to Manhattan, work, school, laundry and facing up to my post-vacation bank statement. Steven and I have made official plans to spend the summer after Grad school backpacking through Europe, so at least the dream of that keeps me going.

How do adults survive life without a Spring Break?