I slept a bit over 7 hours, which was both nice and unusual for me, getting up just before 7am. Mind you that’s like sleeping 9pm – 4am Pacific time so really just like home. And might have kept sleeping if Zeus hadn’t woken me up to go out. Interesting that he knows to wake me up and not Ash. What’s that about?

Ash got up shortly after and we went out once I got the blog up, around 9am.

We started in Central Park, of course. We meandered through over to the west side and exited around 70th.

We went over to 9th Ave in search of breakfast, thinking it would be less touristy that far out and might find a place the locals go. We came across The Flame Diner at about 58th and it seemed to fit the bill.

Ash had a bagel and lox; I had a bacon/broccoli/cheddar omelet. This was just as good as what we had the day before at about half the price.

Very typical diner arrangement and Zeus got lots of attention from guests and staff. As always.

From there we made our way back over to Kimberly Akimbo on 45th to try again for rush tickets. We got there before 11am. I was the 9th person in line. It got much longer than this over the next hour.

Ash went in search of coffee and somehow ended up over in Bryant Park. About 45 minutes later, he returns with a latte for me and some pastries from a bakery he came across. No complaints.

Alas, Kimberly wasn’t going to happen. The only seats available when they got to us were not great and for $149 each. That would just go against the principles of this trip, so we passed. Instead, we walked over to TKTS to see if they had anything and scored two orchestra seats for half the price to The Collaboration. It was the 2pm show and it was now 12:25pm, so we booked it back to the apartment to get Zeus in, get a quick bite to eat, and head out again.

We just ate the leftover chicken from Friday (cooked in BBQ sauce) and the pastries Ash had just purchased.

We’d come across The Collaboration the day before scrolling through TodayTix and it looked interesting. It’s the story about Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat – two very different artists in the 80’s who had the same agent, who encouraged (tricked?) them into a collaboration that yielded many pieces of art that today auction for $50-100million. Although the relationship started out rocky, eventually they became good friends and that was reflected in the play.

It stars Paul Bettany as Warhol and Jeremey Pope as Basquiat. I’m a Bettany fan from way back and didn’t realize he did theater so that was fun to see. Pope seemed familiar but we couldn’t place him at the time so looked it up later: he played Bianca’s boyfriend in the final season of Pose.

As soon as you walked into the theater you knew you were in for something different. True to the 80’s vibe (Warhol was a regular at Studio 54), it felt and looked like a disco and people were dancing in their seats.

Requisite selfie. We often wore masks in theaters; this was the only time it was required.

A little video clip to give you a feel for the fun vibe.

Ash said this may have been his favorite show of the weekend. I’d seen a Warhol documentary recently that had given me some background on the relationship, so I knew what to expect and was very interested. Warhol died 2/22/87 from post-surgery complications (although lots of rumors it was AIDS) at age 58; Basquiat died 8/12/88 from a heroin overdose at the age of 27.

It’s a little hard to explain what it’s about but it was interesting, provocative and entertaining. Very similar to their lives in general.

We made it back to the apartment about 4:30pm. Ash took Zeus out and I started prepping photos for the blog and then ultimately wrote up until this point. It’s almost 6pm; we will head out for dinner in less than an hour.

Ash took a nice sunset photo in Central Park while he was out with Zeus.

Zeus has been great on this trip, but we really haven’t spent that much time with him. Especially Saturday when we saw 2 shows. I’m sure that will get corrected when they head to DC on Monday.

Before we headed out for dinner, Michelle sent us this photo of the girls ice skating a Rockefeller Center. Fun! They all started their morning at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, then a matinee of Harry Potter & The Cursed Child. Then skating and meeting us for dinner. A full day!

We met at Toloache, a Mexican place that’s a favorite of Ash’s. We came here last year, too. It’s on 50th St very close to where they are staying so it was convenient, too. We had a great meal with even better conversation, then over to Angelina’s on 52nd for dessert. Again, so wrapped up in visiting I was neglecting my blog photo duties but trust me – we ate well.

We were back a little after 9:30pm. Ash took Zeus out while I finished up here, but we were both in bed by 10pm.

It’s now Monday, January 16, and we go home today. Well, I do anyway. Ash has a 9am train to DC where he’s spending the rest of the week to visit college friends and will get home late Saturday. I have a 1:30pm flight from White Plains to Charlotte to Sac and get home about 10pm tonight.

This was a quick trip – just 3 days on the ground – but it felt longer, and in a good way. We packed a lot in, but it didn’t seem rushed or like it was too much. It was just to see shows and friends and we did that, and were thrilled that Michelle and family could join, that was a great aspect of it.

Next up is Puerto Vallarta the 2nd week of February. We look forward to seeing you there, stay warm and dry until then!