"SIX" in Manila!: Welcome to the Histo-Remix!

- October 8, 2024, Tuesday.

- "Listen up let me tell you a story! A story that you think you've heard before!" And I hope you heard that the musical "Six" is currently in Manila for around a two-week run at Solaire Resort! "Six" is a narration of the lives of King Henry VIII's six (ex-)wives, or should I say the six queens. The musical is in the form of a concert, with the six queens - Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr - reimagined as modern-day divas.

- I was happy to finally figure out my schedule and get a nice (semi-last-minute) ticket at the orchestra section, as a birthday gift to myself (and other recent achievements in life). On the day of my show, I intentionally went really really early to have the photo spots at the theater lobby all to myself. I was already there around 4pm for for my 8pm show. Because I was very early, some of the photo spots did not have the lights turned on yet, but the lobby was lit enough to not make too much of a difference. But since a nice staff saw me, and perhaps my determination to get nice photos, she offered to turn on the lights for me. (Thank you!)

"Survived."

Dare I say, I can be King Henry VIII. Hahahaha.

Of course I had to wear my royal regalia, brought my own crown too. I wore my ruff (actually a baby's tutu), as a reference to "Haus of Holbein", one of my favorite numbers in the musical.

Six....or Hamilton? HAHA.

- More people started coming maybe an hour after I arrived. I spent the rest of the time going around the lobby and having an early dinner at the Theater Cafe just beside the lobby. I took more photos because by this time, the theater staff had brought out the six color-coded tiaras (based on the costumes of the six wives) which guests can use as a prop for photos.

Taking as many photos as I can because I have so much time to kill before the show.

They finally brought the tiaras out!

Bought my own Six merch!! The tiara might be a bit expensive but this is the only thing I think I'll most likely use haha.

- I thoroughly enjoyed the whole musical, and I wondered how the six queens were able to keep their energy up the whole show, considering it was one act and did not have intermissions. I was mesmerized by the costumes and engrossed in each queen's story, even though I had seen bootleg versions of it online. I've been a fan of the musical for around a year now after discovering it accidentally on Youtube. The thing I was happiest about was when the queens asked the audience to stand up and let us take out our phones to take photos or videos of the "Megasix" number, which serves as the musical's "encore" as in a concert.

Divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived.

Fancy seeing you guys here! -- We didn't just see each other; we're seatmates!!

One of a kind, no category!!

Free to take their crowning glory!!

It really feels like a concert!!

I can listen to them all day! Now if only my history classes were like this!!

Thank you for the show queens!!

I'm super proud of my little crown which I got from Toy Kingdom some years back. It was for ages three and up. HAHA.

- Apart from the whole musical, the best part about the whole experience was seeing good friends - theater friends no less - during the show. I had loads of fun catching up and taking photos with everyone afterwards!

You can tell how much we miss performing!!

I miss you guys very much huhu.

We're Four!!

Fancy seeing you here too!!!!

- Watching "Six" was truly a fantastic way to celebrate my life so far, especially since I wasn't able to do anything "interesting" on the exact day of my birthday. I would've watched "Six" even if it wasn't for my birthday, but the timing just made watching the musical even more special! 

Amerigo Vespucci: "The Most Beautiful Ship"' Docks in Manila!

- September 17, 2024, Wednesday.

- My friends know that I am neither not fond of the sea nor cruises, but one thing that fascinates me is historical ships. There is just an unusual feeling of stepping on to a ship that has braved the waves and the wind for years. One such ship, a true beauty, is the Amerigo Vespucci. It went on a world tour recently, and it had a three-day visit to Manila. Part of the visit was opening its gates to curious Filipinos who could secure a visit through a registration link. I almost did not get my slot because of my schedule, but I finally got to register anyway. It docked in Manila's harbor.

HERE I AM.

It really....is a beauty.

I know it's not practical given that they were docked, but I would have loved to see all the sails wide open!! (I saw photos online and boy did they make the ship look like the ships from centuries ago!!)

Front of the ship.

That golden figurehead is Amerigo Vespucci himself!

- The Amerigo Vespucci is an Italian navy training ship, and was named after the 17th-century Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci (and yes, "America" was named after him.) As for the ship, it was built in 1931, and made in the style of 18th-century ships. It was dubbed by the USS Independence (a US navy ship) as "the most beautiful ship in the world" because the Amerigo Vespucci's physical appearance.

- I don't know why I was surprised to see a big group of visitors, when I also knew that all slots (around 600+ per day) were filled up. But I was also happy to see that many people were interested to check out this historical ship. We were all welcomed by navy trainees (is that what you call them), who were Italian. They entertained questions from people about their lives on board, and places that they visited or will visit as part of the ship's world tour. I know it visited countries like Spain, France, the USA, Ecuador, Argentina,  Brazil, Japan, Australia; it will visit more countries in Southeast Asia and West Asia before going back to Italy.

So many stirring wheels!! (And I was told they were operated manually.)

All that exploring-the-new-world feels.

Just to prove that I'm on board.

With some nice navy trainees who welcomed us. Grazie mille!

Again I'm not very good with ship terminology but I sure do like looking at ships.

"It is not who begins, but the one who perseveres."

Buongiorno!

I would like to thank the random kind people who took my photos for me since it was hard to set up my tripod on board.

Of course I had to were my (made-in-China haha) Versace on board.

Thank you random photographer for making me look like the ship's poster boy.

Everrryyyy nightttt in my dreamsssss, I see youuuuu, I feeeel youuuuu....

- I didn't stay long in the ship because we could only go through the more open parts of the ship. Still I saw quite a bit. It would have been nicer to get to talk to more navy trainees but everyone just wanted to talk to all of them! I did try a bit of my Italian on them which of course them off guard. (But yay for me because it is a language I don't use often). I'm really glad I got to have a last minute visit to the Amerigo Vespucci, and it is surprise events like that that keep me going in my everyday life.