This is our mid-trip report, but first, here is the answer to the trivia question: The Brooklyn Dodgers name came because the residents of Brooklyn were called "Trolley Dodgers" due to their keen ability to avoid the many Trolleys in Brooklyn. Over a period of time, the name was just shortened to "Dodgers". Adam Miller is the first to answer that question correctly.
Wednesday was a cold and rainy day and I had a Law Review Committee Conference call that lasted for hours. Felice did laundry and then we grabbed some pizza and did some grocery shopping. We went to the Great White Way and saw Jesus Christ Superstar and it was absolutely wonderful. We were especially pleased as this was a show produced by Lauren's company and she participated in its production from the very beginning. The show was comfortable like a well-worn pair of shoes, but added certain staging, visuals and sound that made it spectacular. We walked a mere 2 1/2 miles.
Thursday was also a day of cooler conditions. We went down to the South Street Seaport Museum and they had 3 floors of exhibits. They were enlightening and focused on the seaport area as well as the natural conditions of Manhattan Island. We also walked over to a special exhibition related to the Titanic which was also good and then boarded a lighthouse boat and toured it. From there we walked to the Museum of American Finance. It was interesting and the overriding theme I found was that the market was unpredictable and not for the faint of heart. We then took the subway to Times Square and hung out at our familiar haunt, The Westin Hotel Lobby, where we people watched and I did puzzles. We walked to a cute little restaurant called Nizza for dinner with Lauren and saw the play Magic Bird. While a play about the two of them and their relationship was a good idea, it just had too much fluff and little substance. The non-basketball players of the three of us (Felice and Lauren) were a bit bored. We walked 4 miles and it was my first babka free day. I need to cut out that special treat as it is counteracting the benefits of all of the walking.
Friday was a beautiful weather day. We took the subway to the World Trade Center Preview Center to pick up our pre-reserved tickets and then walked over to the Memorial. It turned out to be a 15 minute walk and then there was the infamous snake lines like Disneyland. (I think in the writing game they call a comment like that, foreshadowing). We snaked along for close to a half hour with the line first being outside, then inside where we could go through a metal detector after taking all of the metal off of our person and then again more lines outside. They must have looked at our ticket 5 different times. When we got to the Memorial, it was a bit anticlimactic. Don't get me wrong, the Memorial is quite fitting and its enormity impressive. It was just that all I remember is people talking about Ground Zero like it was hallowed ground, much like the Battlefield at Gettysburg. This was much more like a tourist attraction. I was expecting something solemn like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC and I was disappointed. They say that once the World Trade Center is fully built out, the Museum open and barricades come down, that there will not be any tickets needed and entry to the Memorial will be open. I expect that it will have a much different feel to it then. We then took the subway to what was billed as a street fair. It turned out to be food (like the food you get off the food carts) and cheap jewelry. We did dine there though and walked 4 miles today.
So at the halfway point, we have walked 103 1/4 miles and have seen 10 shows. I estimate that we have been on more than 75 subway cars or buses. So far the trip has exceeded our expectations and we are so looking forward to our second half.
Gary and Felice
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