Winter Fun in Rochester!

I’m moving in to the George Eastman House. Never mind the fact that it’s a museum now; it’s happening. I went for the first time with some friends on Saturday afternoon, and it was all decorated for Christmas and really pretty. The selling point for me, however, was the beautiful gardens outside. I’m in love. The George Eastman House is where Eastman himself used to live, and it is now an international museum of film and photography. Many of the rooms are still ornately decorated and set up as they were when he lived there. Apparently George was a hunter, because there were a lot of animal-skin blankets, animal heads hanging on the walls, and even an ashtray made out of some kind of hoof—maybe I’ll get rid of that one when I move in. After wandering around the house, we also looked at some of the exhibits on display, including “The Unseen Eye”—a room full of photographs of covered eyes—and my personal favorite, gingerbread houses made by local community groups and organizations. The gingerbread houses were spread throughout the museum and were so fun and festive! There was also a giant Christmas tree and a ton of wreaths, which definitely put me in the holiday spirit.  🙂

A few nights before, my friend Julia and I went to the Park Avenue Holiday Open House. Park Avenue is one of the main streets in downtown Rochester and has a bunch of restaurants and shops. The whole street was decorated for Christmas, there were carolers and horse-drawn carriages, and Santa was there! We ate dinner at Sinbad’s, a Mediterranean restaurant that was delicious and not too expensive—my pita was $6! Afterwards we went to a cafe and got crème brûlée gelato. It was SO GOOD.

I love how the red-line bus makes it so easy to get places—I took it to both the Eastman House and Park Ave! The bus system is one of my favorite parts about U of R, because it wasn’t nearly as easy to get off campus at my old school. I love exploring the Rochester area with friends, especially when Christmas is involved!