I realized that I made a mistake in the last email. I referred to the Intrepid Museum, but it is really called the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. I also referred to it as a battleship when in fact it is an aircraft carrier. Note that our neighbor Ralph, who has been so helpful during our trip, caught my error as well and let us know by mail on Friday. The Intrepid had a whole bunch of aircraft on display on its deck including a Harrier (the airplane that takes off like a helicopter, but flies like plane), an Israeli fighter jet, various US fighter jets, and various helicopters. They also restored one of the massive elevators that moved the jets from the hangar on to the deck and we had the opportunity to ride on it during our visit. It was really cool.
Now on to this week. While some of our visits are to what could only be described as minor museums and attractions, it is incredible what you will learn at these places. I am still blown away by the Panorama that I described in the last email. So on Monday we went to the New York City Police Museum. It was housed in the original First Precinct Station house, just like you see on television, sergeant's desk at the front and all. This museum hit home because of the anti-terrorism exhibit. Now Felice and I were big fans of Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland) and his role on 24 and we replaced it this year with a show called Person of Interest. The premise of this show is that a guy developed a computer system for the government that through surveillance in New York City helps thwarts terrorist activities. It also helps the protagonists prevent non-terrorism future crimes. Well, we like the premise of the show, but figured that the kind of surveillance that they claimed in the show was so much like George Orwell's 1984 that it couldn't be possible. In fact, the New York City Police Department has such technology and the degree that they can follow someone on a real time basis based on facial recognition, what they are wearing or other characteristics is on one hand very appealing as they are protecting us from terrorists, but on the other hand very scary as it could easily be abused. I encourage anyone who is interested to watch the 60 Minutes report on New York City terrorism prevention. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7382308n It is very enlightening. The excitement of this museum caused me to feel it was very appropriate to go to the New York City Fire Department Museum to give it equal time. It was funny because none of the tourist magazines mentioned it, but still we went. We found out why no mentions as there really wasn't that much there. Even its portrayal of 911 was somewhat limited and frankly not as good as the Police Museum's coverage of 911. If you like seeing old fire trucks and equipment, it is the place to go. One thing that was moving was a stained glass window created by kids at an Oklahoma high school to commemorate 911, using different symbols and colors to remind and inspire. There were also a small scale model of downtown New York before 911, after 911 and as it is expected to be rebuilt. We walked 2 3/4 miles on a cool rainy day, but managed to stay drive.
Tuesday was also a rainy day, but when we left, it was not raining. Unfortunately, when we got out of the subway, it was pouring. By the time we walked the 10 blocks to the Morgan Library and Museum, we were sopping wet as we had not taken our umbrella. The Morgan Library and Museum had a very interesting exhibition of Dan Flavin, an artist who is known for his "sculptures" with fluorescent tubes. This exhibition included many of his sketches and letters. What was more impressive was the facility itself. Pierpont Morgan and his son J. Pierpont Morgan accumulated great wealth and had no problem spending it on their house and library. The buildings had spectacular domes with ornate murals and paintings. The multiple library rooms had three stories of books and all of the books collected were leather bound. In one area, they must have had 100 different bibles, not the least of which included not one, but three Gutenberg Bibles. It took us two hours to go through it and also to dry off. Of course, we went out and there was no rain so we got home nice and dry. We did get to see our first taxi cab accident. It was typical as the cabbie cutoff a driver and when she hit him, he came out of his cab screaming and gesticulating. Only in New York can you drive like a maniac and blame someone else. Well, not really; I guess that happens everywhere, but in New York it happens with such flair. After dinner at home, we went back to the subway, this time with umbrella in hand, and went to see Jesus Christ Superstar. This is not a typo, as we did see JCS last week, but Lauren was able to get us tickets so that we could see it again. This time we were front row, center of the mezzanine, which is just about 8 rows back from the stage. We saw a few things we missed the first time like Jesus's clothes being vacuumed off his body right before the whipping scene, the blood appliques showing the affect of his whippings and bagels in the production. The show was just as great as the first time, but our location and ability to watch for nuances and listen more closely to the lyrics, made this a very special evening. Thank you Lauren. After leaving the theater, I was that guy who had to fight the crowd upstream to get back to the seat and retrieve the umbrella (which we never used) and went home. Our total mileage was 3 miles.
Wednesday morning got started with a text from our East Valley friends LaVerne and Kim, who indicated that they were taking a train down from their vacation rental in Connecticut and would love to see us for lunch. We met them at Grand Central Terminal and gave them a quick mini-tour before taking the subway to the Carnegie Deli for Jewish delicacies. We had corned beef or corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, potato knishes and meat knishes. Of course we generated lots of leftovers, but had a great time eating what we could. From there, we walked around the Rockefeller Center area and Felice remembered that the public was allowed to go into Christie's Auction House even if they weren't bidding. So we toured the auction house and then went to their 20th floor museum and saw the work of an artist named Steve Young. From there we stopped at stores including the Lego's Store, a very expensive chocolate store (as in $4.50 for a mini-bar of chocolate) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Store. We then ambled down Fifth Avenue (between 57th Street and 42nd Street)and over to Grand Central Terminal to deliver them to their train. Along the way, in front of Emigrant Savings Bank, one block away from GCT we came upon a huge statue and poem dedicated to firefighters. Although commissioned before 911, the Bank and others felt it was important to keep the statue in NYC and it is the only 911 memorial in mid-town Manhattan. We headed home and we had walked 5 1/4 miles on a warm and humid day. Of course we had to finish our leftovers from the Carnegie Deli and a little babka. Well, we didn't have to finish the leftovers, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, but there is something to the concept of too much of a good thing.
On Thursday we took a subway and then a bus across Central Park to go to the Whitney Museum. It is focused on modern-contemporary art for the most part with a biennial celebration of about 50 new artists. I did find my moment of total joy though when we found a Jaspar Johns flag picture just sitting on a wall all alone. It was 3 layer picture with 3 separate/overlapping US flags and it was so accessible. It is called Three Flags. http://whitney.org/Collection/JasperJohns We then walked to the Frick Collection which was the personal collection of an industrialist partner/competitor of Andrew Carnegie. He decided to build a home in New York City which would house his art with the ultimate secret plan to turn it into a museum at the time of his death. The building was built in the early 1900's and is spectacular. Upon his death there were major renovations to add a garden and more gallery space. His collection was anything but modern and included Renoir, Rembrandt (self portrait), Turner (many ocean/boat scenes), Gainsborough (many portraits), Van Dyke, Manet, Monet and Whistler. All of the art is situated on the walls and tables like it was during his life and it is all very accessible. From there we walked up 5th Avenue on what was a glorious day of 70 degrees and a light breeze. We wandered into Central Park near the front of the zoo. We then walked into the Plaza Hotel, where my mother has told me she honeymooned. We looked around and for an instant we considered attending High Tea, but with pricing starting at $50 per person, we quickly made other plans. We walked across 58th Street and Felice found a real diamond in the rough when she spotted a special apartment building amongst the other apartment buildings. It is called Alwyn Court and it is a 12-story building with incredibly detailed finishing on the outside. http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID093.htm We took the subway home and rested up. Then we took the subway to 86th Street and walked over to Amsterdam Avenue looking for Chinese food. We wound up a Flor de Mayo which is a Peruvian, Chinese and Mexican food restaurant and the food was pretty good. After we subwayed and walked back we found we had tallied 5 miles.
On Friday we took the subway up to Harlem to go to the Cloisters Museum. Unfortunately the travel instructions were not clear enough for me and I was not aware that when we arrived at the 190th Street Subway Station, that we were supposed to take an elevator up to the top of a tall hill. Instead, we took a ramp to a street at the base of the hill and wound up climbing it. It was rigorous, and I am lobbying Felice to count that mileage double due to the steep grade we encountered. The Museum is an old monastery built in the style of monasteries from the years 1000 to 1150. The architecture, gardens and views of the Hudson River are spectacular. The art is medieval and religious. There was a lot of stained glass and tapestries. We did not walk back to the subway, but rather took a bus as we were told that the more direct way back to the subway was uphill. From there, we went to NYU and hung out at Washington Square near the arch. It was fun to listen to the various 2 and 3 person groups make music in exchange for tips. We walked to Max Brenner's for a snack as this is a place Lauren introduced us to years ago. The concept is that wherever possible, they use chocolate in their recipes and have lots of chocolate dishes. I think it would be a great franchise idea. Susan and Jim, we need to work on that one. We then walked to Union Square for their open air market, but there were no bagels or foods that we were interested in. It was a beautiful day so we ambled up Fifth Avenue (between 18th Street and 34th Street) and then took 34th Street across to the Empire State Building so we could see it up close and personal. There was no need to go to the observation deck as we have done that before and we did go to the Rockefeller Center Observation Deck this visit. Note that during our stay, the Empire State Building lost its claim as the tallest building in the City as the World Trade Center building surpassed it on its way to 1776 feet. The area around the Empire State Building was a zoo as there was a bunch of tourists. In New York City, where ever there are tourists there are sure to be Tour Hawkers. These tend to be new immigrants who hold a sign in your face and try to get you to take the tour they are selling. Well there were a bunch of them as well. From there we walked to the subway to head home, but not before seeing a female wearing a University of Arizona sweatshirt. That is the 2nd encounter with a person wearing such a shirt in the City during our trip. So there are at least 3 of us running around in UofA attire. While that does not sound like a lot, I have not seen one other non-New York school represented on the streets of New York, so it made me feel good to see another Wildcat. Bear Down! After dinner at home, we took the subway to see another round of Our Time student's shows (this time the pre-teen students), including one performance that Lauren directed. It was great to see the kids perform and develop confidence. We walked 6 1/3 miles today, at least 1 1/2 miles of which were uphill.
So we are up to 167 miles walking and 13 shows with 2 more (Newsies and Jersey Boys) to come.
Have a great weekend.
Felice and Gary
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Mother's Day Greetings
On Thursday May 10, 2012 we went to the Queens Museum of Art which is at the site of the 1964/1965 World's Fair (as well as the 1939/1940 World's Fair) in Flushing, Queens. Both Felice and I had a chance to go to the World's Fair way back when and it was a source of many happy memories. Walking to the Museum, we passed the Unisphere and the helipads, which caused the memories to come rushing back. The Museum had some very interesting exhibits, but we particularly enjoyed the exhibit that had black and white pictures taken on the streets of New York in the 1940's and 1950's. They were very cool. From there we went to what the Museum calls The Panorama. The Panorama is a scale model of New York City that was constructed for the first World's Fair and the plan was for the City of New York to use it for city planning purposes. It was updated in 1992 so it is relatively current. Oh, and when I say it is a model, it is a very large model that covers almost 10,000 square feet (think about one-quarter acre) and takes up one very large room. There are over 25,000 buildings that are built to scale. It was created from maps, helicopter pictures, tax records, etc. as they didn't have Google Earth back then. What is neat is that you view the model from above and it is almost like you are in a helicopter hovering over the City, and by City, I mean all 5 Boroughs. This exhibit is a must for anyone who wants to get a birds-eye view of the City. From there we walked to the New York Hall of Science where we saw the Rockets that were placed on the premises by NASA for the World's Fair. We then went to dinner at Five Napkin Burger and went to a piano bar called Don't Tell Mama where we watched Seth Rudetsky of SiriusXM record his interview show called Chatterbox. His guest was Tony Award Nominee Laura Osnes and besides interviewing her, she sang two songs on which Seth accompanied her. We accomplished 4 3/4 miles of walking.
Friday was our day to go to the Intrepid Museum, which is a decommissioned World War II battleship. It is an immense ship and has quite a history, surviving three or four kamikaze attacks. As part of the complex, they have the US Submarine Growler, which we got to tour as well. It was fascinating to be in a nuclear arms submarine. Also on the premises is the Concorde supersonic transport that regularly made the trip between New York City and Europe. This airplane set the record for the shortest trip between the two locations. In July, the space shuttle will be in the complex, also available for tours. From there we went to Peter's Since 1969, a comfort food restaurant that is like a Boston Market, only run as a family restaurant, not a chain. We walked for about an hour in Central Park and accumulated 5 1/4 miles during the day.
Saturday I met Lauren at the Paley Center for Media where we saw the world premier of the documentary The Standbys, which told the story of three actors who's primary jobs to sit around and wait to see if a principal actor is unable to perform. Each day they come back day and wait again. After this very enlightening and well conceived documentary, there was a talk-back with the three stars of the movie, the producer and other actors. Felice met us afterwards and we went to the Italian Restaurant Mia Pia. We had a good meal and then walked to the 52nd Street Stages to see the kids of Our Time perform in six mini plays that they wrote and acted in. There was a lot of singing and dancing and it was so impressive that the kids were developing inner confidence in dealing with their stuttering challenges. We again learned that weekends are a time when the subways are messed up due to limited schedules or construction/maintenance. We walked 4 1/4 miles on Saturday.
Now to Mother's Day. Felice and I met Lauren in Times Square at the Blue Fin for brunch. We had a wonderful time as it was the first time we have been with Lauren for Mother's Day in five years. After brunch, we split with Felice and Lauren going for a little shopping, seeing a documentary film and manicures/pedicures. The film was about ballet dancing and was called First Position. I went to West Chelsea to the West Chelsea Artists festival where I toured through about 2 dozen studios. I did have a chance encounter with a Tucson lawyer at a gallery when I heard him complaining to an artist about Tucson. He was a former New Yorker (38 years ago) and is still not ecstatic about living in Tucson, but I stood up for Tucson. Of course, he would have realized my allegiance as I was wearing my customary red University of Arizona polo shirt. Felice and I met up at the apartment where we both realized that we had become very dehydrated. I guess the combination of heat, humidity and limited water consumption was tough on us and took us each a couple hours to get over the dehydration and related headache. We walked about 4 miles today and this brings our total walking up to 144 1/2 miles.
We are relaxing this Mother's Day evening, having enjoyed a Mother's Day with a daughter, which we know will be an infrequent occurrence. We also wish all of the mothers on the email list a happy Mother's Day and hope yours was as joyous as ours was today.
Gary and Felice
Friday was our day to go to the Intrepid Museum, which is a decommissioned World War II battleship. It is an immense ship and has quite a history, surviving three or four kamikaze attacks. As part of the complex, they have the US Submarine Growler, which we got to tour as well. It was fascinating to be in a nuclear arms submarine. Also on the premises is the Concorde supersonic transport that regularly made the trip between New York City and Europe. This airplane set the record for the shortest trip between the two locations. In July, the space shuttle will be in the complex, also available for tours. From there we went to Peter's Since 1969, a comfort food restaurant that is like a Boston Market, only run as a family restaurant, not a chain. We walked for about an hour in Central Park and accumulated 5 1/4 miles during the day.
Saturday I met Lauren at the Paley Center for Media where we saw the world premier of the documentary The Standbys, which told the story of three actors who's primary jobs to sit around and wait to see if a principal actor is unable to perform. Each day they come back day and wait again. After this very enlightening and well conceived documentary, there was a talk-back with the three stars of the movie, the producer and other actors. Felice met us afterwards and we went to the Italian Restaurant Mia Pia. We had a good meal and then walked to the 52nd Street Stages to see the kids of Our Time perform in six mini plays that they wrote and acted in. There was a lot of singing and dancing and it was so impressive that the kids were developing inner confidence in dealing with their stuttering challenges. We again learned that weekends are a time when the subways are messed up due to limited schedules or construction/maintenance. We walked 4 1/4 miles on Saturday.
Now to Mother's Day. Felice and I met Lauren in Times Square at the Blue Fin for brunch. We had a wonderful time as it was the first time we have been with Lauren for Mother's Day in five years. After brunch, we split with Felice and Lauren going for a little shopping, seeing a documentary film and manicures/pedicures. The film was about ballet dancing and was called First Position. I went to West Chelsea to the West Chelsea Artists festival where I toured through about 2 dozen studios. I did have a chance encounter with a Tucson lawyer at a gallery when I heard him complaining to an artist about Tucson. He was a former New Yorker (38 years ago) and is still not ecstatic about living in Tucson, but I stood up for Tucson. Of course, he would have realized my allegiance as I was wearing my customary red University of Arizona polo shirt. Felice and I met up at the apartment where we both realized that we had become very dehydrated. I guess the combination of heat, humidity and limited water consumption was tough on us and took us each a couple hours to get over the dehydration and related headache. We walked about 4 miles today and this brings our total walking up to 144 1/2 miles.
We are relaxing this Mother's Day evening, having enjoyed a Mother's Day with a daughter, which we know will be an infrequent occurrence. We also wish all of the mothers on the email list a happy Mother's Day and hope yours was as joyous as ours was today.
Gary and Felice
Three Weeks Left
As we assess where we have been in the first half of the trip, it has become clear that it is important that we just don't leave anything out that we will regret in the future. After all, if we do so, we might just have to come back.
On Saturday, we went down to the Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn has become quite the focal point for young artists in New York City so we were interested to see what the borough's museum had to offer. We were not disappointed as it was a beautiful building and a comprehensive museum. It covered many culture's art and the space was majestic. The main draw for us was that most of the top floor was devoted to a very well known New York street artist named Keith Haring. Though we did not know him by name, we quickly figured out that we had seen his work for many years. I encourage you to do a Google search of images on "Keith Haring art" and you immediately recognize his work. To New Yorkers, his work is iconic, like Warhol, Lichtenstein, Pollack, etc. Perhaps more iconic, because this guy was a street artist who painted (frequently illegally) in the subway and on random walls. Many New Yorkers actually saw him working on a regular basis. We then took a subway to Chinatown and found a restaurant called Wo Hop that seemed to be very well regarded. It was great, but they hid some onions on me and I paid the price that night. We then took a subway back to the Upper East Side (UES) and a cross town bus to the Upper West Side (UWS) and we were home. After relaxing, we went to an off-Broadway theater of about 300 seats and saw a very interesting play called Lonely I'm Not. It was thought-provoking and starred Topher Grace. We took a subway home and walked about 4 miles.
Sunday was a Lauren day, which we so enjoy. Lauren and Ella (our grand-dog) came to the apartment early and after playing for awhile, the three of us took a subway and then a private bus to the Frieze Art Fair on Randall's Island. The Frieze Art Fair is in its first year in the US, but has about a decade in the UK. It is a very upscale art show, with major galleries from all over the world displaying. Hence it required a tent that was about three times the length of a football field and a $40 per person entry fee. Believe me that the art was priced way above our ability to buy. We enjoyed an outside lunch and went back to try to finish the fair. It was a total sell out and was close to wall-to-wall by the time we came back from lunch so we gave up and headed home. Upon arriving at the apartment, we took Ella for a walk in Central Park for about an hour and then I dog sat while the ladies went grocery shopping and did some cooking for the week. After dinner, Lauren and Ella left and we found that we had walked 5 1/2 miles, mostly at the art fair.
Monday found us taking the Stage Tour at Radio City where we actually got to meet a real, live Rockette and see the theater including the backstage. It was very impressive as you rarely see a 6,000 person movie theater that is now exclusively a performing arts theater. It is beautiful. We then took a subway to Lincoln Center for a tour of that complex. We almost missed that tour as Felice and I got to talking and actually missed our stop. So it was off the train, climb the stairs and go to the other tracks to go back where we should have been. The theaters there, and the grounds were nothing short of spectacular and these two tours were very worthwhile. We then walked up to The Shake Shack, a fast food hamburger place that is the hot spot in town. It has a following like In and Out Burger and the only way we could get in was to have lunch at 4:00. It was good, but not as good as our beloved Giant Hamburger in Mesa. We went home and did a little work for our businesses and then caught a show on Broadway. Now on Mondays, most theaters are dark, but this show, Peter and the Starcatcher, runs on Mondays. So Mondays are a night that actors from other shows can come and see the Monday shows. So we were lucky enough to see the show along with John Lithgow and Stephanie J. Block in the audience. This was a quirky show, that was a little slap sticky and cute starring Christian Borle, who many of you may know from Smash. It received many Tony nominations and I think it might just win a few. We walked 4 1/2 miles and it was an exhausting, but productive day.
Tuesday was an interesting day. I thought I would surprise Felice and take her to the Society of Illustrators as they have an exhibition of Al Hirschfield's drawings. When Felice was growing up, she and her dad used to look at the Hirschfield's and find the hidden "Nina"s that Al Hirschfield would hide in the caricatures. We found that the Society was not much to look at and the Hirschfield's were actually in their restaurant, so we ambled around as people were eating looking for "Nina"s in each drawing. From there we went to the NY Historical Society and took the docent led tour. Then we saw a movie on the history of NYC which was very interesting. After dinner at home, we went to Broadway for a revival of Anything Goes. This edition starred Stephanie J. Block and Joel Grey. I hate to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but they don't make musicals like that any more. Singing, dancing, tap dancing, humor. There were no less than 5 memorable songs from that Cole Porter show and we left humming them. Yes, we enjoyed it, and it was made that much sweeter knowing that just 24 hours earlier, I was standing next to the star, Stephanie J. Block, in line. A mere 3 1/4 miles of walking as we got off easy on Tuesday.
Wednesday was a humid day. We took the subway to the Anne Frank Center; however the MTA (NY's mass transit authority) map was never updated for their move of a year ago and we wound up walking about a mile and a half in the humidity before we found it rather than the 1/4 we should have. It is a small museum, but effective. Surprisingly, they had no other visitors during our 2 hours there. From there, we took the subway to the Skyscraper Museum, which was likely financed by the NY Times, the New York Daily News and other newspapers as half of the presentations spoke of how newspapers were published. I think their involvement came because in the early days of skyscrapers, the newspapers in town all competed to have the tallest or biggest buildings. We of course were drawn to the area that showed models and told the story of The World Trade Center and the replacement buildings under construction. There were models and pictures of before, after and now. It was interesting how the dirt dug out of the ground to originally build it was used to create Battery Park and there is much more land there now than there was before. We took a long walk back to find the subway and then a long ride back to Broadway and 86th Street. We then had dinner at a restaurant called, Good Enough to Eat and ate at a table on the street. It was what you might call a comfort food restaurant and we particularly enjoyed watching the Upper West Sider's walking their kids home from school, getting home on the bus or beginning their evenings. We walked home and totalled 4 3/4 miles.
As of today we have walked over 126 miles and seen 13 shows. We also finished using our 30-day Metro Pass. Being the accountant that I am, I was curious how cost effective it was to pay $104 for 30 days of Metro travel versus paying $2.25 per ride. Basically, for it to be beneficial, we would have to use it at least 46 times and we probably used it double that. So it was a good buy. Since we have less than 30 days to go of our trip, we will be buying 7 day passes for $29. This will require 13 trips in a week to be cost effective. I am sure we will use the Metro more than twice a day so it will be a good buy.
There is still a long list of things we can possibly do so we are carefully assessing each option, the day of the week and the expected weather. Wish us luck that the last three weeks that we have here will be productive ones.
Gary and Felice
On Saturday, we went down to the Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn has become quite the focal point for young artists in New York City so we were interested to see what the borough's museum had to offer. We were not disappointed as it was a beautiful building and a comprehensive museum. It covered many culture's art and the space was majestic. The main draw for us was that most of the top floor was devoted to a very well known New York street artist named Keith Haring. Though we did not know him by name, we quickly figured out that we had seen his work for many years. I encourage you to do a Google search of images on "Keith Haring art" and you immediately recognize his work. To New Yorkers, his work is iconic, like Warhol, Lichtenstein, Pollack, etc. Perhaps more iconic, because this guy was a street artist who painted (frequently illegally) in the subway and on random walls. Many New Yorkers actually saw him working on a regular basis. We then took a subway to Chinatown and found a restaurant called Wo Hop that seemed to be very well regarded. It was great, but they hid some onions on me and I paid the price that night. We then took a subway back to the Upper East Side (UES) and a cross town bus to the Upper West Side (UWS) and we were home. After relaxing, we went to an off-Broadway theater of about 300 seats and saw a very interesting play called Lonely I'm Not. It was thought-provoking and starred Topher Grace. We took a subway home and walked about 4 miles.
Sunday was a Lauren day, which we so enjoy. Lauren and Ella (our grand-dog) came to the apartment early and after playing for awhile, the three of us took a subway and then a private bus to the Frieze Art Fair on Randall's Island. The Frieze Art Fair is in its first year in the US, but has about a decade in the UK. It is a very upscale art show, with major galleries from all over the world displaying. Hence it required a tent that was about three times the length of a football field and a $40 per person entry fee. Believe me that the art was priced way above our ability to buy. We enjoyed an outside lunch and went back to try to finish the fair. It was a total sell out and was close to wall-to-wall by the time we came back from lunch so we gave up and headed home. Upon arriving at the apartment, we took Ella for a walk in Central Park for about an hour and then I dog sat while the ladies went grocery shopping and did some cooking for the week. After dinner, Lauren and Ella left and we found that we had walked 5 1/2 miles, mostly at the art fair.
Monday found us taking the Stage Tour at Radio City where we actually got to meet a real, live Rockette and see the theater including the backstage. It was very impressive as you rarely see a 6,000 person movie theater that is now exclusively a performing arts theater. It is beautiful. We then took a subway to Lincoln Center for a tour of that complex. We almost missed that tour as Felice and I got to talking and actually missed our stop. So it was off the train, climb the stairs and go to the other tracks to go back where we should have been. The theaters there, and the grounds were nothing short of spectacular and these two tours were very worthwhile. We then walked up to The Shake Shack, a fast food hamburger place that is the hot spot in town. It has a following like In and Out Burger and the only way we could get in was to have lunch at 4:00. It was good, but not as good as our beloved Giant Hamburger in Mesa. We went home and did a little work for our businesses and then caught a show on Broadway. Now on Mondays, most theaters are dark, but this show, Peter and the Starcatcher, runs on Mondays. So Mondays are a night that actors from other shows can come and see the Monday shows. So we were lucky enough to see the show along with John Lithgow and Stephanie J. Block in the audience. This was a quirky show, that was a little slap sticky and cute starring Christian Borle, who many of you may know from Smash. It received many Tony nominations and I think it might just win a few. We walked 4 1/2 miles and it was an exhausting, but productive day.
Tuesday was an interesting day. I thought I would surprise Felice and take her to the Society of Illustrators as they have an exhibition of Al Hirschfield's drawings. When Felice was growing up, she and her dad used to look at the Hirschfield's and find the hidden "Nina"s that Al Hirschfield would hide in the caricatures. We found that the Society was not much to look at and the Hirschfield's were actually in their restaurant, so we ambled around as people were eating looking for "Nina"s in each drawing. From there we went to the NY Historical Society and took the docent led tour. Then we saw a movie on the history of NYC which was very interesting. After dinner at home, we went to Broadway for a revival of Anything Goes. This edition starred Stephanie J. Block and Joel Grey. I hate to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but they don't make musicals like that any more. Singing, dancing, tap dancing, humor. There were no less than 5 memorable songs from that Cole Porter show and we left humming them. Yes, we enjoyed it, and it was made that much sweeter knowing that just 24 hours earlier, I was standing next to the star, Stephanie J. Block, in line. A mere 3 1/4 miles of walking as we got off easy on Tuesday.
Wednesday was a humid day. We took the subway to the Anne Frank Center; however the MTA (NY's mass transit authority) map was never updated for their move of a year ago and we wound up walking about a mile and a half in the humidity before we found it rather than the 1/4 we should have. It is a small museum, but effective. Surprisingly, they had no other visitors during our 2 hours there. From there, we took the subway to the Skyscraper Museum, which was likely financed by the NY Times, the New York Daily News and other newspapers as half of the presentations spoke of how newspapers were published. I think their involvement came because in the early days of skyscrapers, the newspapers in town all competed to have the tallest or biggest buildings. We of course were drawn to the area that showed models and told the story of The World Trade Center and the replacement buildings under construction. There were models and pictures of before, after and now. It was interesting how the dirt dug out of the ground to originally build it was used to create Battery Park and there is much more land there now than there was before. We took a long walk back to find the subway and then a long ride back to Broadway and 86th Street. We then had dinner at a restaurant called, Good Enough to Eat and ate at a table on the street. It was what you might call a comfort food restaurant and we particularly enjoyed watching the Upper West Sider's walking their kids home from school, getting home on the bus or beginning their evenings. We walked home and totalled 4 3/4 miles.
As of today we have walked over 126 miles and seen 13 shows. We also finished using our 30-day Metro Pass. Being the accountant that I am, I was curious how cost effective it was to pay $104 for 30 days of Metro travel versus paying $2.25 per ride. Basically, for it to be beneficial, we would have to use it at least 46 times and we probably used it double that. So it was a good buy. Since we have less than 30 days to go of our trip, we will be buying 7 day passes for $29. This will require 13 trips in a week to be cost effective. I am sure we will use the Metro more than twice a day so it will be a good buy.
There is still a long list of things we can possibly do so we are carefully assessing each option, the day of the week and the expected weather. Wish us luck that the last three weeks that we have here will be productive ones.
Gary and Felice
We are halfway through our trip
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
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
What do you say to a naked lady?
A funny (weird) thing happened to us on Sunday. While we were waiting for subway train home from 59th Street/Columbus Circle, an older lady approached us. As she approached, she looked distinctly familiar to us. It seems that on Saturday, when we were coming up from the subway platform to go to Hester Street (Lower East Side) a lady who appeared to be a couple bubbles off of plumb approached us. She looked us in the eye and asked for spare change, we ignored her and then she said something to the effect that we were going to be beaten and killed by a specific ethnic group. Of course she used a very distinctive a racial epithet. At that time, we just turned and walked away. Now, here, way uptown, this same lady started talking to us again and this time she made a very vulgar crude remark to Felice that was sexual in content. As the lady turned to walk away, Felice, in her best New York City attitude told her in the crudest of fashions to have sex with herself. Yes, we are being changed. We frequently feel like the non-tourist and more like a native. We often bemoan those damn tourists who while walking down the street suddenly just stop, and block the sidewalk, causing others to have to take evasive action.
Anyway, on Sunday, we took the subway to 59th Avenue and Columbus Circle and walked over to 5th Avenue for a stroll down one of the most famous streets in the world. We learned very quickly that Sunday is not the day to do this, as we were besieged by those damn tourists. At least on the way, we found out how to get to Carnegie Hall, and it is not, "Practice, Practice, Practice." You actually find it on 57th Street and 7th Avenue. After almost a mile of fighting through the crowds, we went down 42nd Street and hung out at Bryant Park. It is a cool little place and we watched some guys playing boccie in a boccie pit. Interestingly, those damn tourists were at it again as at some point, a large group of teens were led by their adult chaperones into the boccie pit to have their group picture taken, which disrupted the game in progress. We then went to the St. James Theater where we met Lauren and saw the show, Leap of Faith, starring Raul Esparza. It was okay as musicals go and was based on the Steve Martin movie of the same name. We then had dinner with Lauren at a restaurant called, The Eatery, which was excellent. We walked Lauren to the theater where her company's musical, Fat Camp was opening that night and having their big opening party. Then we went home, having the opportunity to see our vulgar friend, as described above. We walked 4 1/2 miles on Sunday.
On Monday, we took a crosstown bus to 5th Avenue and walked over to the City of New York Museum. It is a quaint museum, but had some interesting facets to it. On one floor, they had pictures from New York that were taken by a photographer who I would describe as a performance artist. For example, he had one set of moving pictures focusing on people and how they look when they emerge from the subway. Another were pictures of business owners opening their grate in the morning. Another contained pictures of people getting on a bus and other similar stuff. Another photographer displayed still pictures taken of police during ride-alongs. The museum had a nice half hour motion picture on the history of the city. There was also an exhibit showing in detail how the Manhattan grid came about. From there we took a bus back crosstown and then a subway to Central Park to see Strawberry Fields, the area of the Park dedicated to John Lennon and walked over to the Dakota Building, right across the street, where Lennon was shot. Total miles walked on Monday was a mere 2 3/4.
On Tuesday, we headed to Queens (our 4th borough) to the Museum of the Moving Image. On the first subway line we took, we were about 3 stops into it, when a female left our train car and totally "stopped traffic." She was naked from the waste up (except for a handlebar mustache drawn on her face). Apparently that was bizarre enough to register even with New Yorkers as the whole train car "shared a group moment" upon her departure. After changing to a 2nd subway line we arrived in Queens and walked to the Museum. This museum too had a bizarre area, with weird interpretations of art using video games, videos of people destroying technological equipment, and other things that we quickly bypassed. The heart of the museum was a history of the moving image focusing on equipment and science. There were lots of cameras, microphones, pictures, scripts, etc., as well as videos with memorable moments. For me the most fun were the hands on exhibits where I could dub my words in certain movies, add certain sound effects and add certain music to set the mood. The one thing that was most memorable about the museum was that the first and second floors were entirely white. It was very weird like an optical illusion. From there we took the subway to pick up theater tickets for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and then home for dinner before returning to the theater. The show is a great show and this production was pretty good. Nick Jonas had the Robert Morse lead, which was well played, while Beau Bridges was at best weak. Felice was excited to identify one of the minor leads as an actor who we determined was on Ugly Betty.
As an aside, today was the big day that the Tony Nominations were announced. Lauren and her company were thrilled as their production, Jesus Christ Superstar was nominated for two Tony's including Best Featured Actor in a Musical and Best Musical Revival. (We are seeing JCS tomorrow night).They were very excited for the nominations and we are thrilled for Lauren and Dodger Productions. This brings to mind a trivia question, the answer to which we learned last week. Without checking Google or Wikipedia, why are the Brooklyn Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers) called "Dodgers?"
We have attached a little video about an artist who has a picture displayed in the subway. In the video, you get some flavor for the subway and get to see this picture. Her name is Sophia Blackall. http://missedconnectionsny.blogspot.com/2012/02/etsy-video.html
Be well and we will write again soon.
Gary and Felice
Anyway, on Sunday, we took the subway to 59th Avenue and Columbus Circle and walked over to 5th Avenue for a stroll down one of the most famous streets in the world. We learned very quickly that Sunday is not the day to do this, as we were besieged by those damn tourists. At least on the way, we found out how to get to Carnegie Hall, and it is not, "Practice, Practice, Practice." You actually find it on 57th Street and 7th Avenue. After almost a mile of fighting through the crowds, we went down 42nd Street and hung out at Bryant Park. It is a cool little place and we watched some guys playing boccie in a boccie pit. Interestingly, those damn tourists were at it again as at some point, a large group of teens were led by their adult chaperones into the boccie pit to have their group picture taken, which disrupted the game in progress. We then went to the St. James Theater where we met Lauren and saw the show, Leap of Faith, starring Raul Esparza. It was okay as musicals go and was based on the Steve Martin movie of the same name. We then had dinner with Lauren at a restaurant called, The Eatery, which was excellent. We walked Lauren to the theater where her company's musical, Fat Camp was opening that night and having their big opening party. Then we went home, having the opportunity to see our vulgar friend, as described above. We walked 4 1/2 miles on Sunday.
On Monday, we took a crosstown bus to 5th Avenue and walked over to the City of New York Museum. It is a quaint museum, but had some interesting facets to it. On one floor, they had pictures from New York that were taken by a photographer who I would describe as a performance artist. For example, he had one set of moving pictures focusing on people and how they look when they emerge from the subway. Another were pictures of business owners opening their grate in the morning. Another contained pictures of people getting on a bus and other similar stuff. Another photographer displayed still pictures taken of police during ride-alongs. The museum had a nice half hour motion picture on the history of the city. There was also an exhibit showing in detail how the Manhattan grid came about. From there we took a bus back crosstown and then a subway to Central Park to see Strawberry Fields, the area of the Park dedicated to John Lennon and walked over to the Dakota Building, right across the street, where Lennon was shot. Total miles walked on Monday was a mere 2 3/4.
On Tuesday, we headed to Queens (our 4th borough) to the Museum of the Moving Image. On the first subway line we took, we were about 3 stops into it, when a female left our train car and totally "stopped traffic." She was naked from the waste up (except for a handlebar mustache drawn on her face). Apparently that was bizarre enough to register even with New Yorkers as the whole train car "shared a group moment" upon her departure. After changing to a 2nd subway line we arrived in Queens and walked to the Museum. This museum too had a bizarre area, with weird interpretations of art using video games, videos of people destroying technological equipment, and other things that we quickly bypassed. The heart of the museum was a history of the moving image focusing on equipment and science. There were lots of cameras, microphones, pictures, scripts, etc., as well as videos with memorable moments. For me the most fun were the hands on exhibits where I could dub my words in certain movies, add certain sound effects and add certain music to set the mood. The one thing that was most memorable about the museum was that the first and second floors were entirely white. It was very weird like an optical illusion. From there we took the subway to pick up theater tickets for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and then home for dinner before returning to the theater. The show is a great show and this production was pretty good. Nick Jonas had the Robert Morse lead, which was well played, while Beau Bridges was at best weak. Felice was excited to identify one of the minor leads as an actor who we determined was on Ugly Betty.
As an aside, today was the big day that the Tony Nominations were announced. Lauren and her company were thrilled as their production, Jesus Christ Superstar was nominated for two Tony's including Best Featured Actor in a Musical and Best Musical Revival. (We are seeing JCS tomorrow night).They were very excited for the nominations and we are thrilled for Lauren and Dodger Productions. This brings to mind a trivia question, the answer to which we learned last week. Without checking Google or Wikipedia, why are the Brooklyn Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers) called "Dodgers?"
We have attached a little video about an artist who has a picture displayed in the subway. In the video, you get some flavor for the subway and get to see this picture. Her name is Sophia Blackall. http://missedconnectionsny.blogspot.com/2012/02/etsy-video.html
Be well and we will write again soon.
Gary and Felice
A cold and windy (sometimes rainy) week
While we chose April and May for our trip due to the historically good weather, this week has been cold and windy, with periodic rain. The weather has been bearable, and we have had a chance to wear our scarves and see the benefit of layering our clothing. Even with the wind and cold, we were able to get around fairly easily.
On Tuesday we went back down to the Lower East Side to the Eldridge Street Synagogue which was founded and built in 1887. http://www.eldridgestreet.org/ The tour guide made a point that the immigrants who built it were the first immigrants to the US who had no place to go back to as a lot of their homeland had been taken over by other countries or the pograms had forced them away from their homeland. It was a spectacular building and we enjoyed to tour. We found that they were a poor congregation (like most) and a lot of the walls which look like marble were actually painted to look like marble. We then walked to the Essex Street Market, http://www.essexstreetmarket.com/ a market with a large grocery area and lots of small independent retail stores. It has been around for many years. We then looked for an old furniture market called Ridley's Furniture Market, but it was gone. We then went to the Nah Wah Tea Parlor http://nomwah.com/ on recommendation from Uncle Stu and the dim sum was very good. We did our laundry and took a nice walk in Central Park to cap our day. We walked about 4.75 miles, mostly in the Lower East Side where I continue to look for my roots.
Wednesday was a day for going to art galleries on 57th Street, which we did by simply taking a subway to 59th Street and Columbus Circle and heading cross town to 1st Avenue. This may be the first trip Felice and I do that we don't come back with a piece of art because the things we like are about 4 times the price we are accustom to. We will see. After walking to 1st Avenue, we went up the other side of the street. In one art gallery we actually worked our way up 5 floors with a saleswoman who pulled stock from the back showing us everything from Calder to Miro. Yes the Freeds could buy a Miro. Ah, no we can't. We took the subway to the Broadway District to pick up tickets to a show and then took another subway home to relax. After dinner in the apartment, we met up with Lauren and went to Clybourne Park, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clybourne_Park a straight play which starts where A Raisin in the Sun ends. It dealt with race issues and was very thought provoking. I heartily recommend it. After that, Lauren, Felice and I grabbed a snack in Times Square with about a million of our best friends and then home for the night. We totalled 5.5 miles of walking today.
Thursday got us to our third borough of New York, Brooklyn. We took a subway to the New York Transit Museum. http://www.mta.info/mta/museum/ As we were walking there after a long subway ride, I said to Felice that it would be neat if the entry to the museum was through subway steps. Sure enough, it was. It was very interesting, starting with the construction of the whole system. Imagine the enormity of the system and how hard it was to tunnel as deep as 300 feet in certain places or into areas that were waterlogged. Then we learned about the use of electricity and the third rail. Then there were samples of various buses to climb aboard or be the driver (yes I sat in the driver's seat and played Ralph Kramden) and there were samples of turnstiles and fare boxes over the years. We then went down to the 2nd floor, which was an entire subway platform, which is very, very long. On the tracks (both sides) were different models of subway cars with an explanation of the years of production and use. While you can see the modernization, in reality, the cars really changed very little. From there we took a subway to Grand Central Terminal and took a one-hour audio tour of the whole place. http://www.grandcentralterminal.com/info/walkingtour.cfm It is a spectacular place and we have Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to thank for its preservation as a historic site. There is so much to see in the old buildings in New York, it is incredible. We did a little grocery shopping and had a quiet evening at home after walking 3.5 miles.
Friday was a day we got to play grandparents to our grand-dog, Ella. We met Lauren at her office and picked up Ella and then we were off and running. First we went to Union Square to hit the local Bed, Bath and Beyond and then we walked around the green market at Union Square. It was cold so mostly we carried Ella, but she did get a little exercise. Then we made our regular pilgrimage to Zabar's (and Fairway Market) on Broadway by subway. Once done, it was our intention to take the 1-line subway uptown to 96th Street and walk crosstown to Central Park West. So we got into the subway station only to find that we went into the station that was for downtown only. Since our Metro Cards don't allow multiple entries in a short period of time, we couldn't go out and go to the other (uptown) station. So we took the train downtown and stopped at the 59th Street station, changed subway lines to the B-line and actually got home with no extra walking. So here was a case where a subway mistake worked to our benefit and saved us a walk in the cold windy atmosphere. We relaxed and napped after playing with Ella. She actually napped more than we did as she was plain tuckered out. After dinner, Lauren and her co-worker Andrew came by to pick up Ella and drop off our tickets to the straight-play, Seminar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminar_(play) It starred Jeff Goldblum, Jerry O'Connell and Justin Long and was thought provoking, intense and funny at times. Home to rest up for our most ambitious day after walking 4.5 miles.
Saturday had been reserved for the opening day of the Hester Street Fair http://www.hesterstreetfair.com/ which we so looked forward to. We have been looking for street fairs like the Mill Avenue Street Festival (Tempe), 4th Avenue Street Fair (Tucson), Laguna Saw Dust Festival, etc. Up to this point, we found that most street festivals/art fairs were just swap meets. From the publicity, we came to expect a huge fair. Au contrare. It was two aisles long, was wall-to-wall people and had about 40 vendors. That was a major downer. On a good side, normally to get to this area of the Lower East Side, we would have had to change from a C-line train to an F-line train, but due to construction, our C-line train, started running on the F-line tracks, so no line changes. After our disappointment on Hester Street, we decided to go find Little Italy. We headed up through Chinatown on Mulberry Street and found that Chinatown suddenly ends at Holt Street and becomes Little Italy. What a difference one block makes. The streets of both areas were filled with people. Chinatown had lots of open air markets with foods and vegetables we were not acquainted with like dragon fruit, for example. In Little Italy, we were implored to have lunch at dozens of restaurants, after all they said that they had been waiting for us. We wound up on Grand Street, which we took to Canal Street. On Canal Street there were so many people and so many offers of watches, purses and other knock-offs. It was close, almost like hand-to-hand combat. We finally got to 6th Avenue, where we took a 1-line train to the NYU area. We walked to Washington Square Park and saw the arch, thinking of Corrine and her NYU days. We were in for a treat as Saturday was the semi-annual Dachshund Days at Washington Square Park. http://washingtonsquareparkblog.com/2011/10/03/annual-dachshund-day-happened-saturday/ There were hundreds of them, guiding there owners all over. Some were dressed, had shoes on, hats, and so much more. There was music and we even witnessed a flash mob. After a snack, we walked to a C-line train and back home to rest. After recharging our batteries, we went back to the C-line train to 59th Street and changed to a 1-line train to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond at Lincoln Center to return our purchase from the prior day. We figured we would walk uptown to Shake Shack, http://shakeshack.com/ a burger place that has a cult-like following like In and Out Burger. It was before 5:00 and the line was out the door and down the street so we decided that we would have to find a better day and time to eat there. We wandered up Columbus Avenue and actually found a nice area that had a street fair on it. http://craftsoncolumbus.com/ It was much nicer than Hester Street and allowed us to amble up the avenue for awhile longer. We finally found an organic restaurant called Spring Natural Kitchen http://springnaturalkitchen.com/ and had a lovely dinner. We walked home with stops at drugstores and found we had walked 6.25 miles. No wonder we are so tired.
We are up to about 82 miles walked and have seen 6 plays or musicals so far with tickets in hand for 5 more. I feel like a kid in a candy store as those remaining tickets only bring us to May 5th. We are looking forward to Tuesday's announcement of the Tony Award nominees which will not only create a buzz in the theater community, but might cause certain shows that are not Tony-nominated to have their tickets discounted, thus making them more affordable.
Have a great week and we will keep in touch.
Gary and Felice
On Tuesday we went back down to the Lower East Side to the Eldridge Street Synagogue which was founded and built in 1887. http://www.eldridgestreet.org/ The tour guide made a point that the immigrants who built it were the first immigrants to the US who had no place to go back to as a lot of their homeland had been taken over by other countries or the pograms had forced them away from their homeland. It was a spectacular building and we enjoyed to tour. We found that they were a poor congregation (like most) and a lot of the walls which look like marble were actually painted to look like marble. We then walked to the Essex Street Market, http://www.essexstreetmarket.com/ a market with a large grocery area and lots of small independent retail stores. It has been around for many years. We then looked for an old furniture market called Ridley's Furniture Market, but it was gone. We then went to the Nah Wah Tea Parlor http://nomwah.com/ on recommendation from Uncle Stu and the dim sum was very good. We did our laundry and took a nice walk in Central Park to cap our day. We walked about 4.75 miles, mostly in the Lower East Side where I continue to look for my roots.
Wednesday was a day for going to art galleries on 57th Street, which we did by simply taking a subway to 59th Street and Columbus Circle and heading cross town to 1st Avenue. This may be the first trip Felice and I do that we don't come back with a piece of art because the things we like are about 4 times the price we are accustom to. We will see. After walking to 1st Avenue, we went up the other side of the street. In one art gallery we actually worked our way up 5 floors with a saleswoman who pulled stock from the back showing us everything from Calder to Miro. Yes the Freeds could buy a Miro. Ah, no we can't. We took the subway to the Broadway District to pick up tickets to a show and then took another subway home to relax. After dinner in the apartment, we met up with Lauren and went to Clybourne Park, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clybourne_Park a straight play which starts where A Raisin in the Sun ends. It dealt with race issues and was very thought provoking. I heartily recommend it. After that, Lauren, Felice and I grabbed a snack in Times Square with about a million of our best friends and then home for the night. We totalled 5.5 miles of walking today.
Thursday got us to our third borough of New York, Brooklyn. We took a subway to the New York Transit Museum. http://www.mta.info/mta/museum/ As we were walking there after a long subway ride, I said to Felice that it would be neat if the entry to the museum was through subway steps. Sure enough, it was. It was very interesting, starting with the construction of the whole system. Imagine the enormity of the system and how hard it was to tunnel as deep as 300 feet in certain places or into areas that were waterlogged. Then we learned about the use of electricity and the third rail. Then there were samples of various buses to climb aboard or be the driver (yes I sat in the driver's seat and played Ralph Kramden) and there were samples of turnstiles and fare boxes over the years. We then went down to the 2nd floor, which was an entire subway platform, which is very, very long. On the tracks (both sides) were different models of subway cars with an explanation of the years of production and use. While you can see the modernization, in reality, the cars really changed very little. From there we took a subway to Grand Central Terminal and took a one-hour audio tour of the whole place. http://www.grandcentralterminal.com/info/walkingtour.cfm It is a spectacular place and we have Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to thank for its preservation as a historic site. There is so much to see in the old buildings in New York, it is incredible. We did a little grocery shopping and had a quiet evening at home after walking 3.5 miles.
Friday was a day we got to play grandparents to our grand-dog, Ella. We met Lauren at her office and picked up Ella and then we were off and running. First we went to Union Square to hit the local Bed, Bath and Beyond and then we walked around the green market at Union Square. It was cold so mostly we carried Ella, but she did get a little exercise. Then we made our regular pilgrimage to Zabar's (and Fairway Market) on Broadway by subway. Once done, it was our intention to take the 1-line subway uptown to 96th Street and walk crosstown to Central Park West. So we got into the subway station only to find that we went into the station that was for downtown only. Since our Metro Cards don't allow multiple entries in a short period of time, we couldn't go out and go to the other (uptown) station. So we took the train downtown and stopped at the 59th Street station, changed subway lines to the B-line and actually got home with no extra walking. So here was a case where a subway mistake worked to our benefit and saved us a walk in the cold windy atmosphere. We relaxed and napped after playing with Ella. She actually napped more than we did as she was plain tuckered out. After dinner, Lauren and her co-worker Andrew came by to pick up Ella and drop off our tickets to the straight-play, Seminar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminar_(play) It starred Jeff Goldblum, Jerry O'Connell and Justin Long and was thought provoking, intense and funny at times. Home to rest up for our most ambitious day after walking 4.5 miles.
Saturday had been reserved for the opening day of the Hester Street Fair http://www.hesterstreetfair.com/ which we so looked forward to. We have been looking for street fairs like the Mill Avenue Street Festival (Tempe), 4th Avenue Street Fair (Tucson), Laguna Saw Dust Festival, etc. Up to this point, we found that most street festivals/art fairs were just swap meets. From the publicity, we came to expect a huge fair. Au contrare. It was two aisles long, was wall-to-wall people and had about 40 vendors. That was a major downer. On a good side, normally to get to this area of the Lower East Side, we would have had to change from a C-line train to an F-line train, but due to construction, our C-line train, started running on the F-line tracks, so no line changes. After our disappointment on Hester Street, we decided to go find Little Italy. We headed up through Chinatown on Mulberry Street and found that Chinatown suddenly ends at Holt Street and becomes Little Italy. What a difference one block makes. The streets of both areas were filled with people. Chinatown had lots of open air markets with foods and vegetables we were not acquainted with like dragon fruit, for example. In Little Italy, we were implored to have lunch at dozens of restaurants, after all they said that they had been waiting for us. We wound up on Grand Street, which we took to Canal Street. On Canal Street there were so many people and so many offers of watches, purses and other knock-offs. It was close, almost like hand-to-hand combat. We finally got to 6th Avenue, where we took a 1-line train to the NYU area. We walked to Washington Square Park and saw the arch, thinking of Corrine and her NYU days. We were in for a treat as Saturday was the semi-annual Dachshund Days at Washington Square Park. http://washingtonsquareparkblog.com/2011/10/03/annual-dachshund-day-happened-saturday/ There were hundreds of them, guiding there owners all over. Some were dressed, had shoes on, hats, and so much more. There was music and we even witnessed a flash mob. After a snack, we walked to a C-line train and back home to rest. After recharging our batteries, we went back to the C-line train to 59th Street and changed to a 1-line train to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond at Lincoln Center to return our purchase from the prior day. We figured we would walk uptown to Shake Shack, http://shakeshack.com/ a burger place that has a cult-like following like In and Out Burger. It was before 5:00 and the line was out the door and down the street so we decided that we would have to find a better day and time to eat there. We wandered up Columbus Avenue and actually found a nice area that had a street fair on it. http://craftsoncolumbus.com/ It was much nicer than Hester Street and allowed us to amble up the avenue for awhile longer. We finally found an organic restaurant called Spring Natural Kitchen http://springnaturalkitchen.com/ and had a lovely dinner. We walked home with stops at drugstores and found we had walked 6.25 miles. No wonder we are so tired.
We are up to about 82 miles walked and have seen 6 plays or musicals so far with tickets in hand for 5 more. I feel like a kid in a candy store as those remaining tickets only bring us to May 5th. We are looking forward to Tuesday's announcement of the Tony Award nominees which will not only create a buzz in the theater community, but might cause certain shows that are not Tony-nominated to have their tickets discounted, thus making them more affordable.
Have a great week and we will keep in touch.
Gary and Felice
Settling In
Hi all, here is our blog for the last week. A bit of a long email so get a cold one, put your feet up and enjoy.
Tuesday brought us to Rockefeller Center where we intended to take the guided tour and then go to dinner. Because of their logistical problems, they offered our group the opportunity to go to the Observation Deck as well. The views were spectacular and we took particular joy in seeing and photographing Lauren's apartment building and the Ernst & Young building (as we do for Eric in every city we are in). Here is a picture of the E&Y Building.
And here is a picture that includes Lauren's apartment.
The walking tour was fun and educational. We had no idea that the Rockefeller family got stuck with the property at the height of the Depression and decided to build something. It was explained that they did so to make a statement of optimism and put people to work. In reality we were told that they had to do something with the property because they had very large lease payments due to Columbia University, the land owner. The art deco architecture was beautiful and the individual stories about each piece of art were very interesting. The funny thing is that most New Yorkers are too busy rushing about to see the jewel they have right there. We learned an awful lot about the annual Christmas Tree and Diego Rivera's mural, but it was well worth the time and walking. From their we went to the Carnegie Deli and it was as good as we had been promised. Much better than Katz's Delicatessen in the Lower East Side. The waitress pretty much told us what would be way too much food for us versus what would be just too much food for us. She was acting in a somewhat grandmotherly way to us. In a nice way, of course.
We got another subway lesson afterwards as we got on our regular B-Train and after one stop, it all of a sudden became an express train and skipped about 7 stops before finally letting us (and a whole bunch of pissed off riders) off a mile and a half down the line. All we could do was get off at that stop and take a subway train back towards downtown and hope that it didn't become an express. It is clear that you never master the City of New York. The day concluded eating some dessert at home that we had purchased on our walk to the subway. Our total walking was 3 miles and our cumulative walking is around 40 miles for the trip.
Wednesday took us back to the Museum of Natural History to complete the floors we missed and go to the Planetarium. The Museum was less crowded and we moved with more ease, although there were still a lot of folks there. The Planetarium show was about the creation of stars and the galaxies. From their we took another subway and worked our way to Broadway with the sole purpose of another shot at Zabar's, but for a non-Saturday visit. We purchased bread (bagels, flagels and rye bread) at Fairway Market because we found that the best bagel in the world at H & H Bagels was no more due to their closure. Then to Zabar's for some cheese and what is touted as the best babka in the world. We purchased chocolate ruggalah, chocolate babka, chocolate coffee cake and chocolate croissants there for later consumption. (See a trend in our purchases?) Then a cross town bus and a subway trip and we were home. We rested up and then it was back to the subway for a trip on two different lines to Gramercy Park for dinner at a restaurant called, Friend of a Farmer. It was very good American food with good old fashion comfort food and best of all we were joined by Lauren and her co-worker, Andrew, who almost feels like a family member now after there 3 years. Felice, Lauren and I then went to an off-Broadway show called, Now. Here. This, which was set in all places, the Museum of Natural History and seemed to cover a lot of what we saw at the Planetarium and in the Museum. The actors were the same 4 that wrote/performed, Title of Show on Broadway. We had a great time as it was funny and touching all in one. It was all about living in the moment, not regretting one's actions, but correcting them in the future for the better. We went back on two different subway lines and walked a total of 4 1/2 miles today. We are tired and our ankle/knee issues are doing okay.
Thursday was a day to stay in bed for awhile and then we went to midtown for the William S. Paley Museum, formerly the Radio and Television Museum. The Museum was partially closed so all we could do was go to their library of programs and watch programs for and hour and a half. I was in my glory as I got to watch the pilot of Cop Rock, a Steven Bochco cop show where each episode contained 5 musical numbers along with choreography. The show lasted 7 episodes and I thought it was great. This show was back in 1990 long before Glee and Smash. I then watched the news reports on the JFK & RFK assassinations, MLK's march on Washington, the moon landing, the 1st episode of The Twilight Zone and the 1st episode of The Simpson's. From there, we walked to Lincoln Center to look at the buildings. They are spectacular. Then we ran to the bank and post office. Dinner was leftovers from the Carnegie Deli, which demonstrates that we got 2 meals from our visit there. A walk for an hour in Central Park and a quick stop at the grocery store ended our day. We trudged around for about 4 1/2 miles and had 3 different subway trips.
Friday was an early day as Felice and I both had some work stuff to do. Then it was a subway ride and a bus trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is a spectacular place, very cool and immense. We saw so many artists that I love, including Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, George Segal, Andy Warhol and vanGogh. We saw so many Picasso's, Monet's and so much more. I thought about my early visits to large institutions and how hard it was to be engaged and how now it is just so much fun. I have my buddy Mark Rubin to thank for Museum Appreciation. We did another bus trip and subway ride back home for a light dinner. Then we took the subway to a small, hidden theater where one of Lauren's company's musicals is in previews. It is called Fat Camp and it was very cute, in many ways reminding me of the Broadway musical, 13, which I love. The story line, which is aptly described by the title, relates to a camp where fat kids are sent to lose weight and get healthy habits. It will be fun to see how this show grows and if it gets to Broadway. It is so neat that Lauren's company has so much going on not the least of which are about a half dozen companies of Jersey Boys all over the world, including one on Broadway and Jesus Christ Superstar, on Broadway. She is in the middle of so much and we are so proud of how she has progressed so quickly. We walked 3 1/2 miles this day.
Saturday was a very long day. As previously mentioned, Lauren is a volunteer for Our Time, a theater group that works with stuttering kids, the parents had a volunteer and staff appreciation event in the lower west side on Saturday. Lauren asked us to attend, which we were excited to do. Of course, we left the apartment early so we could get there by noon, but again we (mostly I) misunderstood the subway and suffice it to say we had to do some improvising and some very fast walking to get there almost in time. It was great to hear the kids and their parents speak out about how Our Time changed their lives. It was also neat to see Lauren relating to the kids, who just adore her. From there, we walked to the Chelsea Market where we saw all the different food offerings. You really must go there some time as it is not a kind of place you normally see. Every thing from vegan food, cheese, baked goods, seafood and so much more. Where do you see someone go to a food stand and walk away with a whole lobster, for example? We then ate our food on the High Line, an elevated train route that was converted from a freight train track line to a public park. Once done eating, we wandered around. It was unique as there was a mix of tourists and locals. In fact, in one place they had lounge chairs attached to the old track, and some of them moved along the track. Lauren had to go to work for awhile, so Felice and I wandered up 10th Avenue from about 10th Street to 43rd Street, walking into the galleries along the way and stopping at a fair. This was almost more of a swap meet, with higher class stuff. There were some really bizarre galleries and I am not sure who would pay those prices for that, but someone must because they are in business. Felice and I then found the hotel lobby at the Westin where we took a load off and waited to meet up with Lauren. Felice is very practical in NYC and she knows all the hotel lobbies for us to unwind in. After Lauren met us, we out for a fancy dinner at Marseilles and then to the Broadway Show, Don't Dress for Dinner. This was a British-type farce from the same author who did Boeing, Boeing and one of the stars was Jennifer Tilley, who was dressed the way you always picture her. The first act was good, but the second lacked punch and it will be interesting whether this show (also in previews) will last. We parted company with Lauren and headed for the subway, finishing with almost 6 miles logged. My ankle sprain is almost healed and Felice's knee is fairly stable at this point.
Sunday was a cold, rainy, windy day in New York. So while the city of Phoenix was over 100 degrees we were less than half of that. We decided to hang around the apartment and mid afternoon we went to the grocery store to do a major shopping. Now a major shopping for us in Mesa is about 6 to 8 bags, while here is is 3 bags. We forgot to use our scarves and the umbrella was not of much using going to the store, so we abandoned its use coming back and just walked very quickly. One of the things we picked up while we were at the store was a box of electrical fuses. Now while I was born in New York and left at a young age, I know what a fuse is. I will admit that I am much more accustomed to circuit breakers. So when we were making breakfast and the power went out in the kitchen, we looked for the circuit breakers only to find the fuse box. Our first thought was, "Now what?" So Felice went to the doorman and caught up with a maintenance worker who said he would come up and put in a new fuse, which he did. He said he would charge us $5 for the fuse, or he would let us just return a new fuse to him. So for $4.50, plus tax we bought 3 fuses, and now have 2 left. Anyone who needs 20 amp fuses should drop us a line and we will likely have 2 or 3 left at the end of our trip. Lauren and her dog, Ella came over for dinner and we had a splendid evening. Besides dinner, I got to play with Ella, while Felice and Lauren prepared food for the following week. Lauren also helped us with the difficulties we were having loading some music to iTunes and we set up our plans for shows for the next 2 weeks. We are scheduled for about 5 shows in the next 2 weeks, and I feel like a kid in a candy shop with all of the shows to see in New York. There is Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway and there is so much variety that it is easy to want to see everything. I almost feel like a theater critic, watching these shows and immediately comparing them. When Lauren was ready to go, we decided to take the subway with her to 42nd Street to help her get to where she needed to change train lines. It was 11:00 at night, but it might as well have been 11:00 in the daytime as there were a lot of people in the subway. Lauren's has about 3 subway stops to her apartment from 42nd Street while we have about 5 stops, so she even beat us home. We were happy she and Ella were home safe and we had fun with her. We walked about a mile and half on Sunday.
Monday was another New York City lesson. I have learned many life lessons that I live by such as, "Don't eat mystery meat on getaway day," so today's lesson will be equally helpful. You see, we went to the Museum of Modern Art on an overcast, cold and windy Monday. It was packed and in fact, while we were in line, they stopped selling tickets for awhile as they had exceeded their maximum occupancy level. You see, Monday is the day that all major museums in New York City close except for MOMA. The MOMA employee explained that tourists like to do inside things when the weather is inclement and since all of the major museums except MOMA were closed, they all had the great idea to go there. We could have easily found other things to do if we were aware of this phenomenon, but we weren't, so we fought the crowds there. MOMA is a spectacular place. The building is beautiful, with 6 floors of art. They are well sectioned off, so you can go to one floor for one period's work and then another for a different period or genre. There were well known works there that everyone had to see like vanGogh's Starry Night http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starryindex.html, Rousseau's Gypsy Asleep http://www.gallerywalk.org/PM_Rousseau.html and Dali's The Persistence of Memory http://www.allposters.com/-sp/The-Persistence-of-Memory-c-1931-Posters_i7143317_.htm, There was so much more by these well known artists and others that are my personal favorites like Lichtenstein, Segal, Johns and Monet. I have developed a new favorite in Georges Seurat as he paints with dots or dabs and on one hand they are blurry and on the other they create a very clear picture. http://www.georgesseurat.org/. We grabbed a slice on the way home. (Like that, grabbed a slice?), bought some baked goods and then home for a relaxing evening. We walked about 2 3/4 miles today.
This communication comes at the point that we are about 30% through our trip and have walked about 63 miles so perhaps we will walk a couple hundred miles in less than 8 weeks. We are hopeful we will continue to have mostly good weather and are looking forward to our upcoming shows, seeing some of the more obscure sights and Eric and Lindsey coming out for 5 days towards the end of the trip. Hope you are all well.
Gary and Felice
Tuesday brought us to Rockefeller Center where we intended to take the guided tour and then go to dinner. Because of their logistical problems, they offered our group the opportunity to go to the Observation Deck as well. The views were spectacular and we took particular joy in seeing and photographing Lauren's apartment building and the Ernst & Young building (as we do for Eric in every city we are in). Here is a picture of the E&Y Building.
And here is a picture that includes Lauren's apartment.
The walking tour was fun and educational. We had no idea that the Rockefeller family got stuck with the property at the height of the Depression and decided to build something. It was explained that they did so to make a statement of optimism and put people to work. In reality we were told that they had to do something with the property because they had very large lease payments due to Columbia University, the land owner. The art deco architecture was beautiful and the individual stories about each piece of art were very interesting. The funny thing is that most New Yorkers are too busy rushing about to see the jewel they have right there. We learned an awful lot about the annual Christmas Tree and Diego Rivera's mural, but it was well worth the time and walking. From their we went to the Carnegie Deli and it was as good as we had been promised. Much better than Katz's Delicatessen in the Lower East Side. The waitress pretty much told us what would be way too much food for us versus what would be just too much food for us. She was acting in a somewhat grandmotherly way to us. In a nice way, of course. We got another subway lesson afterwards as we got on our regular B-Train and after one stop, it all of a sudden became an express train and skipped about 7 stops before finally letting us (and a whole bunch of pissed off riders) off a mile and a half down the line. All we could do was get off at that stop and take a subway train back towards downtown and hope that it didn't become an express. It is clear that you never master the City of New York. The day concluded eating some dessert at home that we had purchased on our walk to the subway. Our total walking was 3 miles and our cumulative walking is around 40 miles for the trip.
Wednesday took us back to the Museum of Natural History to complete the floors we missed and go to the Planetarium. The Museum was less crowded and we moved with more ease, although there were still a lot of folks there. The Planetarium show was about the creation of stars and the galaxies. From their we took another subway and worked our way to Broadway with the sole purpose of another shot at Zabar's, but for a non-Saturday visit. We purchased bread (bagels, flagels and rye bread) at Fairway Market because we found that the best bagel in the world at H & H Bagels was no more due to their closure. Then to Zabar's for some cheese and what is touted as the best babka in the world. We purchased chocolate ruggalah, chocolate babka, chocolate coffee cake and chocolate croissants there for later consumption. (See a trend in our purchases?) Then a cross town bus and a subway trip and we were home. We rested up and then it was back to the subway for a trip on two different lines to Gramercy Park for dinner at a restaurant called, Friend of a Farmer. It was very good American food with good old fashion comfort food and best of all we were joined by Lauren and her co-worker, Andrew, who almost feels like a family member now after there 3 years. Felice, Lauren and I then went to an off-Broadway show called, Now. Here. This, which was set in all places, the Museum of Natural History and seemed to cover a lot of what we saw at the Planetarium and in the Museum. The actors were the same 4 that wrote/performed, Title of Show on Broadway. We had a great time as it was funny and touching all in one. It was all about living in the moment, not regretting one's actions, but correcting them in the future for the better. We went back on two different subway lines and walked a total of 4 1/2 miles today. We are tired and our ankle/knee issues are doing okay.
Thursday was a day to stay in bed for awhile and then we went to midtown for the William S. Paley Museum, formerly the Radio and Television Museum. The Museum was partially closed so all we could do was go to their library of programs and watch programs for and hour and a half. I was in my glory as I got to watch the pilot of Cop Rock, a Steven Bochco cop show where each episode contained 5 musical numbers along with choreography. The show lasted 7 episodes and I thought it was great. This show was back in 1990 long before Glee and Smash. I then watched the news reports on the JFK & RFK assassinations, MLK's march on Washington, the moon landing, the 1st episode of The Twilight Zone and the 1st episode of The Simpson's. From there, we walked to Lincoln Center to look at the buildings. They are spectacular. Then we ran to the bank and post office. Dinner was leftovers from the Carnegie Deli, which demonstrates that we got 2 meals from our visit there. A walk for an hour in Central Park and a quick stop at the grocery store ended our day. We trudged around for about 4 1/2 miles and had 3 different subway trips.
Friday was an early day as Felice and I both had some work stuff to do. Then it was a subway ride and a bus trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is a spectacular place, very cool and immense. We saw so many artists that I love, including Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, George Segal, Andy Warhol and vanGogh. We saw so many Picasso's, Monet's and so much more. I thought about my early visits to large institutions and how hard it was to be engaged and how now it is just so much fun. I have my buddy Mark Rubin to thank for Museum Appreciation. We did another bus trip and subway ride back home for a light dinner. Then we took the subway to a small, hidden theater where one of Lauren's company's musicals is in previews. It is called Fat Camp and it was very cute, in many ways reminding me of the Broadway musical, 13, which I love. The story line, which is aptly described by the title, relates to a camp where fat kids are sent to lose weight and get healthy habits. It will be fun to see how this show grows and if it gets to Broadway. It is so neat that Lauren's company has so much going on not the least of which are about a half dozen companies of Jersey Boys all over the world, including one on Broadway and Jesus Christ Superstar, on Broadway. She is in the middle of so much and we are so proud of how she has progressed so quickly. We walked 3 1/2 miles this day.
Saturday was a very long day. As previously mentioned, Lauren is a volunteer for Our Time, a theater group that works with stuttering kids, the parents had a volunteer and staff appreciation event in the lower west side on Saturday. Lauren asked us to attend, which we were excited to do. Of course, we left the apartment early so we could get there by noon, but again we (mostly I) misunderstood the subway and suffice it to say we had to do some improvising and some very fast walking to get there almost in time. It was great to hear the kids and their parents speak out about how Our Time changed their lives. It was also neat to see Lauren relating to the kids, who just adore her. From there, we walked to the Chelsea Market where we saw all the different food offerings. You really must go there some time as it is not a kind of place you normally see. Every thing from vegan food, cheese, baked goods, seafood and so much more. Where do you see someone go to a food stand and walk away with a whole lobster, for example? We then ate our food on the High Line, an elevated train route that was converted from a freight train track line to a public park. Once done eating, we wandered around. It was unique as there was a mix of tourists and locals. In fact, in one place they had lounge chairs attached to the old track, and some of them moved along the track. Lauren had to go to work for awhile, so Felice and I wandered up 10th Avenue from about 10th Street to 43rd Street, walking into the galleries along the way and stopping at a fair. This was almost more of a swap meet, with higher class stuff. There were some really bizarre galleries and I am not sure who would pay those prices for that, but someone must because they are in business. Felice and I then found the hotel lobby at the Westin where we took a load off and waited to meet up with Lauren. Felice is very practical in NYC and she knows all the hotel lobbies for us to unwind in. After Lauren met us, we out for a fancy dinner at Marseilles and then to the Broadway Show, Don't Dress for Dinner. This was a British-type farce from the same author who did Boeing, Boeing and one of the stars was Jennifer Tilley, who was dressed the way you always picture her. The first act was good, but the second lacked punch and it will be interesting whether this show (also in previews) will last. We parted company with Lauren and headed for the subway, finishing with almost 6 miles logged. My ankle sprain is almost healed and Felice's knee is fairly stable at this point.
Sunday was a cold, rainy, windy day in New York. So while the city of Phoenix was over 100 degrees we were less than half of that. We decided to hang around the apartment and mid afternoon we went to the grocery store to do a major shopping. Now a major shopping for us in Mesa is about 6 to 8 bags, while here is is 3 bags. We forgot to use our scarves and the umbrella was not of much using going to the store, so we abandoned its use coming back and just walked very quickly. One of the things we picked up while we were at the store was a box of electrical fuses. Now while I was born in New York and left at a young age, I know what a fuse is. I will admit that I am much more accustomed to circuit breakers. So when we were making breakfast and the power went out in the kitchen, we looked for the circuit breakers only to find the fuse box. Our first thought was, "Now what?" So Felice went to the doorman and caught up with a maintenance worker who said he would come up and put in a new fuse, which he did. He said he would charge us $5 for the fuse, or he would let us just return a new fuse to him. So for $4.50, plus tax we bought 3 fuses, and now have 2 left. Anyone who needs 20 amp fuses should drop us a line and we will likely have 2 or 3 left at the end of our trip. Lauren and her dog, Ella came over for dinner and we had a splendid evening. Besides dinner, I got to play with Ella, while Felice and Lauren prepared food for the following week. Lauren also helped us with the difficulties we were having loading some music to iTunes and we set up our plans for shows for the next 2 weeks. We are scheduled for about 5 shows in the next 2 weeks, and I feel like a kid in a candy shop with all of the shows to see in New York. There is Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway and there is so much variety that it is easy to want to see everything. I almost feel like a theater critic, watching these shows and immediately comparing them. When Lauren was ready to go, we decided to take the subway with her to 42nd Street to help her get to where she needed to change train lines. It was 11:00 at night, but it might as well have been 11:00 in the daytime as there were a lot of people in the subway. Lauren's has about 3 subway stops to her apartment from 42nd Street while we have about 5 stops, so she even beat us home. We were happy she and Ella were home safe and we had fun with her. We walked about a mile and half on Sunday.
Monday was another New York City lesson. I have learned many life lessons that I live by such as, "Don't eat mystery meat on getaway day," so today's lesson will be equally helpful. You see, we went to the Museum of Modern Art on an overcast, cold and windy Monday. It was packed and in fact, while we were in line, they stopped selling tickets for awhile as they had exceeded their maximum occupancy level. You see, Monday is the day that all major museums in New York City close except for MOMA. The MOMA employee explained that tourists like to do inside things when the weather is inclement and since all of the major museums except MOMA were closed, they all had the great idea to go there. We could have easily found other things to do if we were aware of this phenomenon, but we weren't, so we fought the crowds there. MOMA is a spectacular place. The building is beautiful, with 6 floors of art. They are well sectioned off, so you can go to one floor for one period's work and then another for a different period or genre. There were well known works there that everyone had to see like vanGogh's Starry Night http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starryindex.html, Rousseau's Gypsy Asleep http://www.gallerywalk.org/PM_Rousseau.html and Dali's The Persistence of Memory http://www.allposters.com/-sp/The-Persistence-of-Memory-c-1931-Posters_i7143317_.htm, There was so much more by these well known artists and others that are my personal favorites like Lichtenstein, Segal, Johns and Monet. I have developed a new favorite in Georges Seurat as he paints with dots or dabs and on one hand they are blurry and on the other they create a very clear picture. http://www.georgesseurat.org/. We grabbed a slice on the way home. (Like that, grabbed a slice?), bought some baked goods and then home for a relaxing evening. We walked about 2 3/4 miles today.
This communication comes at the point that we are about 30% through our trip and have walked about 63 miles so perhaps we will walk a couple hundred miles in less than 8 weeks. We are hopeful we will continue to have mostly good weather and are looking forward to our upcoming shows, seeing some of the more obscure sights and Eric and Lindsey coming out for 5 days towards the end of the trip. Hope you are all well.
Gary and Felice
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