Tag: NYC

2023 Africa: Sacramento to Johannesburg via NYC

I left my house in Sacramento at 6:30pm Pacific time on Saturday and made it to Johannesburg at 6:30pm in that time zone on Monday evening. Minus the 9-hour time change that’s 39 hours, but a 14-hour layover in New York City made it all worthwhile.

I had a quick hop from Sacramento to SFO, a short layover, and then a direct flight to Newark. After collecting my bag and getting to the hotel shuttle, I made it to the Renaissance Hotel at the Newark airport where I met up with Ash by about 9:30am. This was the first time we’d seen each other since April 16. He’d been in Paris for 4 weeks – just hanging out with friends – and then in DC for the week before. #Zeusthetinylab was with him the whole time but will stay with friends in DC while we’re in Africa.

The hotel buffet was still open, so we got a little something to eat, I showered, we dropped our luggage at the front desk and made our way into NYC via Lyft.

We were meeting friends for brunch at a diner in Hell’s Kitchen. Traffic was gross and we told our Lyft driver to just pull over and we walked the last couple of blocks much faster. Turns out there was a street market happening which may have caused some of that traffic – a few blocks of 9th Ave starting at 42nd Street were closed for it.

This is Jonthan on the right, his spouse DeWayne on the left. If you’ve been following for a while, you met them in each of our last two NYC blogs, we make a point to connect with them whenever we’re in the city. Jonathan and I met at a conference in 2019 and have stayed friends ever since. They picked the spot, Westway Diner on 9th Ave between 43rd and 44th. This is an old school diner that serves it up just as you’d expect.

Photos of each couple that we took of each other while sitting there, above and below.

Ash had his standard, lox and bagel.

I had corned beef eggs benedict which was really good. The quality of the meat was just what I’d expect in a classic NYC diner.

The requisite photo of myself and Jonathan which DeWayne took…

…and snapped a selfie of him and Ash while he was at it.

We stopped by a CVS then said our goodbyes, each couple having a 3pm show to catch.

Ash and I were seeing Kimberly Akimbo at the Booth Theater on 45th Street between 7th and 8th Aves. We’d always regretted not seeing it on the January trip so were happy to make up for it. We bought tickets just before it was nominated for 8 Tony awards so also glad we got them cheaper than they are now! We were in the last top row, but as often occurs at these Broadway theaters, they’re so small that there really isn’t a bad seat in the house. The show is about a 16 year old girl with that rare aging disorder which has a left expectancy of 15-20 years. Original, thought-provoking, very funny with fun music and lyrics, we really enjoyed it and definitely recommend.

After the show we took an Uber back to the hotel to grab our luggage, and had the driver wait to then drop us at the airport. We had a little trouble checking me in because I’ve updated my passport since we got married – we took each other’s last names as middle names – but we made these plane reservations before that even and my ticket was in the old name. I had both passports with me – anticipating some trouble – so it all worked out was just a teeny bit stressful in the process. We made it to the lounge around 7pm and had time to grab something to eat before boarding for our 9pm flight to Johannesburg.

For a 15-hour flight in economy-plus, it was pretty comfortable and completely uneventful. We were both able to sleep some, me about 6 hours and Ash maybe 7 or 8. We landed around 6:30pm Johannesburg time.

The season here in the southern hemisphere is Fall with the cooler temps to prove it. It was 57 when we landed, is 46 degrees right now Tuesday morning. We leave on Friday so if the forecast holds it won’t get above 70 while we are here.

This was at the airport – I think after customs but before luggage. Printed on the platforms which the elephants are standing on were words encouraging photos so we couldn’t pass it up!

We got our luggage and our car, a Hyundai small SUV, without any problems.

I was initially surprised at first about the car having the steering wheel on the right side, until I remembered the history of British colonization here. It’s a manual transmission as well which Ash loves. Me not so much. Guess he’ll get to do all the driving. Darn.

We decided to use our Chase points for this trip and are staying at The Four Seasons. This is also an anniversary of sorts for us – 2 years – which I’ll talk more about later on the trip. And Ash had arranged for a special surprise around that. Yes, those are actual rose petals on the bed.

And on the coffee table along with a framed photo of us at our favorite coffee shop in Sacramento.

A bottle of wine which of course we won’t drink, but with a yummy tray of macaroons and other sweets with “Happy Anniversary” written on it in chocolate. We skipped dessert at dinner knowing we had this to come back to!

Sparking water, fresh fruit, and a hand-written card welcoming and congratulating “Mr. Gupta and Mr. Gupta”. Yet when I texted them with a question about Wi-Fi, they knew it was “Mr. Haas” somehow.

More rose petals all over the floor – it was the first thing I noticed when I walked in – even in the bathroom, and some in the tub, too! An impressive welcome for sure.

Being very tired at this point we just had dinner at the hotel restaurant. We sat indoor….

…but it has really nice outdoor seating as well.

A breadbasket to start, with a hummus and carrot spread, and a butter spread that was salted and included some kind of herb I couldn’t place but tasted great.

I had my first “when in Rome” dish of the trip: Springbok carpaccio. Spingbok is from the antelope family. This was a beautiful red meat that had a flavor all its own. If I had to pick its taste was closer to beef than deer but wasn’t gamey at all. Served with fresh greens, red sprouts that were spicy, a couple of types of baby mushrooms, and parmesan crisps. Every bite was super flavorful. A great start to the trip!

Ash had a grilled shrimp dish with an avocado salad.

Ash had sea bass for him main.

I had a rib-eye from locally grown grass-fed cows. This was one of the best pieces of beef I’ve had in a long time, perfectly cooked. But the star of the plate were those potatoes – what looks like a cube. Many thin layers of cooked potatoes somehow put together and fried crispy on the outside while remaining soft on the inside.

We were back to the room by about 9:30pm – a very late dinner for us – and in bed by 10:30pm probably.

We have 3 full days in Johannesburg before leaving for our safari and not a single thing on the calendar. So rare and so lovely to have such unstructured time. Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa with about 15 million people so I’m guessing there’s one or two things to do. We just haven’t looked into it much yet. Will see what we come up with!

May 22, 2023
2022 NYC: Day 8 – Russian Tea Room, “Come From Away” and Final Thoughts

I woke up about 2am on Saturday after just 4 hours of sleep. If I’m going to go back to sleep it will happen fast, so when I was still awake at 2:30 I gave up and put some coffee on. I got Friday’s blog up and just relaxed until Ash got up about 6:30am. Actually, I re-read a lot of entries from prior trips. I always say I’m my biggest fan! I’m sure no one else reads an entry more than once! It’s fun to read about things I’d forgotten about. Which on some level is one of the reasons I do this: this is my souvenir.

We stopped by Starbucks first because I was starving at this point, and I got a breakfast sandwich. Then made our way over to Central Park for my last visit this trip.

The pond that’s along Central Park South. Still frozen.

I’d found my own headband which Ash somehow had packed in his bag. I don’t like stuff on my head but my ears get cold. As shown below, it was 15 degrees at this point and wouldn’t get up to even 30 this day.

This tiny waterfall had frozen while spilling.

Many if not most of the dogs we encountered were off leash, maybe because we were near an official dog park over towards Central Park West where that was OK. Paul romped around the open spaces like a puppy despite his 11 years.

Kids practicing spins and other things on the ice skating rink.

You can’t quite see the building we had dinner in the night before, but it’s over there in that corner.

Earlier in the week, Ash asked what shows were safe to see without me after I left and his friend, Erick, joined him for the last couple of days of his stay. I paused for a moment to think about it. Then he asked, “what about ‘Come From Away’”? I choked down a tiny irritation and said “that would be fine” because I didn’t want to seem petty. But this show had been on my list since my 2019 trip. I learned of it then and was fascinated by the premise: On 9/11, 38 planes were diverted to Gander, a small town in Newfoundland. It has a large airport despite being a town of only about 9000 then because it was where trans-Atlantic flights used to refuel before they developed the capacity to not have to. So, an additional 7000 people, “the plane people”, were stranded in this town for 5 days. I remember hearing about planes being diverted when it was all happening but never stopped to think about those passengers all that much. This tells that story.

Ash decided instead on Dear Evan Hansen, since he’s only see the movie. I saw it on Broadway in 2019 and again in Sacramento early 2020 so it was safe territory. We made our way to the theater to get rush tickets. We were 2nd in line, and as we’re standing there, I look out the French doors of the theater and what’s across the street? Come From Away. I’d asked Ash to get tickets for it if The Music Man didn’t work out, and of course I’m glad that did. But it was still high on my list. Ash said, “Are you OK with just hanging out after brunch with me and Erick and being lazy in the afternoon?” I responded: “Or, y’all can be lazy and I’ll catch that matinee before I have to leave”, pointing across the street.

Ash calls Erick, who’s driving into NYC from DC and would arrive in another 40 minutes or so. “Are you up for seeing 2 shows today if we can work in a matinee?” Without even asking what it was, Erick says “yes.”

After getting their evening tickets for DEH, we walked across the street and got these shown above: Row AA for $38, which, in this theater, is front row.

We walked back to the apartment after to meet up with Erick, but Ash wanted a final Times Square selfie, so thereyago.

Meet Erick, a friend of Ash’s from college at the University of Maryland who he’s kept up with all these years. We’d made reservations for Noon but confirmed we could arrive early and did so around 11:15am. The Russian Tea Room was about 2 blocks away from us. It was founded in 1927 by members of the Russian Imperial Ballet. Madonna worked here as a coat-checker in 1979! Now you know :)

The decor is beautifully done in art deco style. This was my view across the table. They sat us at a long booth and literally pulled the table out of it so we could seat ourselves comfortably, then pushed the table back in. They did the same thing when we left.

Erick and a bit more of the restaurant.

I’m not much of a tea drinker but it seemed fitting given where we were, so I got what they called Prince Vladimir, which was vanilla with other spices and citrus. It was very nice. The dish with the red is black cherries in a natural syrup to use as sweetener, a very nice touch since I love cherries.

We got the caviar tasting option, which was salmon, trout and sturgeon. They were all good, but we agreed the salmon was our favorite. they were served on tiny pancakes. In between is sour cream, chopped boiled egg, red onion and parsley.

Ash had what was essentially a salmon wellington – protein cooked in a pastry – but they called it something else. It was very tasty.

I had just been saying the night before how I really enjoy getting burgers in nice places, so this was the last opportunity for that. It came with blue cheese and onions grilled in balsamic vinegar, with twice fried sweet potatoes. Definitely hit the spot.

A cherry and cheese blintz with a scoop of vanilla for dessert.

We went back to the apartment, and I packed while Ash and Erick took Paul out, then made our way to the theater around 1:20pm.

This has been running here, the Schoenfeld Theater on 45th, since it opened March 12, 2017.

The synopsis in 3 small signs: 38 Diverted Planes, 7000 Stranded Passengers, 1 Small Town.

It seemed clear to me when we got to our seats that this row was not originally planned because it was ridiculously close to the stage. In some theaters row AA is after row Z, not before it. But we were happy to be there and didn’t care that we wouldn’t be able to see their feet! We could certainly see the actors and it made for a very intimate experience, especially when they made eye contact with you.

Overall, the size seemed pretty typical.

The staging and presentation of this show was like nothing I’d ever seen. A run time of 1:46 with no intermission, it went very fast as their transitions from scene to scene were minimal. Each actor played multiple roles, one each as passenger or town person for sure, and sometimes multiples of those. In the Playbill it would say, for example “Kevin, and others” for each one. The simple set was re-arranged for each scene to be seats on a plane, a local diner or bar, etc. Everything moved really fast. There was no orchestra, just a great 8-person band, who came out from their places way in the back (you can see one on their left there) in a bar room scene to also be the band playing live at that venue.

This show gave you a lot to think about, from the perspective of the townspeople and of “the plane people” and the impact of being stranded for 5 days against the background of a horrible tragedy. It was surprisingly funny and joyful despite the deep explorations as they portrayed examples of humanity stepping up in the midst crisis.

I’m often disappointed when I have high expectations of a show but in this case I was not. And I think the rest of the audience agreed, with a loud and long standing ovation at the end.

When we got back to the apartment, I said goodbye as Ash & Erick took Paul out and I made my way to the airport after a quick shower. I had an easy an uneventful direct flight back, landing early even, and got home before 10:30pm.

Final Thoughts

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had a fascination with New York City and always said I wanted to live here at some point for at least a year, long before I’d visited for the first time in 2011. This trip was the closest I’ve gotten to that. I didn’t enjoy the weird dynamic of working in a time zone 3 hours earlier than everyone else, but beyond that it was a great way to see what it would be like. Especially having the apartment in an amazing location and eating in a fair amount.

It was great being as social as we were, we both really enjoyed our visits with everyone we spent time with. And of course, the shows. We have other friends who have done “Broadway trips” where that is the whole point, but this was my first time. I’d never seen one until 2011 on my first trip – Book of Mormon Original Cast was my very first experience, shortly after it had one 9 Tony awards – but I definitely appreciate how shows here are so often just “that” much better than shows that tour, for a myriad of reasons. And there’s nothing like the energy of the Theater District, which includes Times Square as obnoxious as it is, and it’s always fun to be out in that. Somehow you feel like you’re a part of something special. Seeing shows with big names – Patti Lupone and Hugh Jackman – was also incredible. I’ll be thinking about that Hugh Jackman performance for a long time.

Ash made arrangements to have this apartment again in August so he will be back for sure and I will be here for some of it. Will just have to see how it all works out. In the meantime, I’m returning to Puerto Vallarta for a few days in March, we’ll be in France in May, and Ashland in July for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Lots of good stuff coming! We enjoyed having you along as always and look forward to seeing you next time!

January 23, 2022
2022 NYC: Day 7 – Dinner with friends

I had a very full day of work on Friday but managed to shut down just after 5pm, which was the earliest I’d stopped working all week. Ash had a day of Paul walks, the gym, and online bridge – typical for him. One of these days!

We were having dinner with friends and reservations were for 6pm at Robert, a restaurant in Columbus Circle which was an 8-minute walk from our place. It was 21 degrees out so the thermal decision this time was Yes. No regrets.

Robert is on the 9th floor of the Museum of Arts and Design building. It had great views on two sides, the one above showing 8th Ave, or what is Central Park West at that point, running north with Central Park on the right.

We were meeting Jonathan, next to Ash, and his husband, DeWayne. I met Jonathan when I was here in 2019 at the Gay & Sober Men’s conference. We met at one of the Friday afternoon workshops then went to dinner that night on the way to the speaker meeting. We stayed in touch throughout the week and met up again the following Monday for a meeting and dinner after. We’ve stayed in touch ever since, but this is the first time we were seeing each other again in person. This is the first time I got to meet DeWayne. And of course, the first time they met Ash. They’ve been together 16 years. They made these reservations and secured a table in this intimate corner of the restaurant which made for a lovely visit over the next 2 hours with great views all around us.

This was a main dish that Ash and I split as a starter. It was Spaguettini Squash, with zucchini, heirloom carrots, pinenuts, Périgord black truffle (which I could smell as soon as they put the plate down!) with a pepperoncini emulsion (the green stuff). This was very tasty, despite me not being a big truffle fan, and was a nice, light way to start the meal.

Jonathan got the Garden Market Greens; the orange stuff at the bottom is roasted butternut squash. DeWayne passed on a starter.

Jonathan and I both got Lobster Tagliatelle for our main dish, a pasta and lobster dish in a sort of tomato bisque. Rich and very satisfying, especially on a cold night.

Ash got the Chilean sea bass….

…and DeWayne had the fillet mignon.

Out that window is Broadway running northwest. Columbus Circle is essentially a big turnabout – with a huge statue of Christopher Columbus in the center – that manages traffic converging from 59th Street, 8th Ave, and Broadway, at the southwest (or bottom left) corner of Central Park.

If you read Thursday’s entry, you may recall my mention that we picked up dessert for the next evening. We left the restaurant a little after 8pm and came back to the apartment for some chocolate mousse cheesecake from Junior’s (where else?).

I put on coffee while Ash took Paul out and we visited for at least another hour over dessert after Ash returned.

We really enjoyed our visit with Jonathan and DeWayne and made plans to connect again when we return in August.

We were in bed by 10pm which was the earliest for several nights running and felt great.

Not much planned today except for brunch at the Russian Team Room which is just a few blocks from us. I go home this evening; Ash has another friend joining him from Washington, DC, for his last couple of days here.

January 22, 2022
2022 NYC: Day 6 – Hugh Jackman in “The Music Man”

Thursday went much like the prior two days: an easy blog posting since we aren’t doing a bunch and start work around 7:30/8am. I’ve enjoyed working in the mornings where I have a few hours without the interruptions of new emails and chats and have gotten decent work done. It’s a little wonky to manage lunch and shutting down 2-3 hours before everyone else back in Sacramento, but it’s worked out OK. I appreciate being able to get away and see some shows without having to take time off.

As you can see in the above and below photos it was snowing, and for most of the morning. Ash ventured out around 8:30am as he’d promised to do on Sunday and see if he could get rush tickets for The Music Man for that evening. He did. More on that later.

I quit working around 5:30pm. Ash made a chicken pasta dish for dinner. He took Paul out for his last walk while I cleaned up the kitchen and showered.

It was about 35 degrees, getting down to 30 later for our walk back. The question is always: thermal underwear, or no? If it was 15 degrees there’s no question. But in this case, I decided to be maybe uncomfortable for 40 minutes of walking (back and forth) than 3 hours in the theater if I got too warm. That was the right decision.

I had taken this photo Monday night. We were walking along 50th Street on our way back from dinner at Toloache and I snapped this in anticipation of needing it later. And here we are.

When we arrived, we couldn’t get a decent shot of the marquee because of all the people and I’d forgotten I had that photo above this one, so decided this would have to do.

I happened across this again like I had in Company – an empty control booth. Maybe this is my new tradition?

We were in Row K (11th), for $49. This show hasn’t officially opened yet; previews can last 2-5 weeks depending on the show. The preview price for this seat was $249. I checked dates in February after it officially opens, and it runs for $599. So, Ash did good braving the elements that morning!

Winter Garden is on Broadway just above 50th Street. It was built in 1911 and is a decent size, as you can see below, but not huge. We were super happy with our seats.

When Ash first mentioned the idea of maybe seeing The Music Man a few weeks ago, I admit I wasn’t enthused about it. From the little I knew about the show, the word that came to mind was “hokey” and that didn’t excite me, despite the lure of Hugh Jackman. And hokey it was for sure, but so much more.

Hugh Jackman plays “Professor” Harold Hill, aka Greg, a con man descending upon the small fictional town of River City, Iowa, to sell music instruments to the parents of children on the premise of teaching them all how to play and forming a band. The problem being he can’t read a note and skips town with the money before he has to deliver. The music teacher/librarian, Marian, is played by Sutton Foster. I’d never heard of her, but the audience certainly knew who she was based on the applause at her first appearance. She’s done a little work outside Broadway but has won 2 Tony’s so that’s why these folks know her. Marian is at first suspicious of Harold but then later falls in love with him – despite having discovered the truth – because of the positive impact he’s had on her young brother who up to this point had been very shy and withdrawn because of his lisp.

This is set in 1912 so the costumes are everything and very well done. It’s a huge cast and the dance scenes are incredible. As always, it’s the small things that get me and make me wonder about difficult rehearsals, in this case a library scene where Jackman is throwing books across the stage to various people, each of whom catches them perfectly. Maybe it’s just my inability to catch or throw anything but it was one of those simple things that you know is actually difficult to execute and it was perfection.

Overall, the performances were spectacular. The children were amazing as was Sutton, and every move and facial expression of Hugh Jackman was breathtaking. I knew he’d gotten his start in Broadway but honestly could not appreciate how ridiculously talented that man is until now. This is not Wolverine.

At some point during the show, I found myself getting choked up for reasons I can’t quite explain, and by the end I was full on crying. As I said, hokey for sure, but also wholesome, funny, and full of so much love, joy, and talent you couldn’t help but be delighted with it. It’s such a respite from, well, everything going on in the world right now. It was the perfect little escape, and exactly the antidote I needed to wash off the darkness of Rigoletto from the night before.

We are meeting friends for dinner tonight and having them back to the apartment for dessert, so we stopped at Junior’s on our way out to get something for that. And a slice of blueberry cheesecake which we shared and agreed it was the best we’ve had all week.

And that was our Thursday. See you tomorrow!

January 21, 2022
2022 NYC: Day 5 – Lunch with a friend; “Rigoletto” at the Metropolitan Opera

I slept until 6:20am which is pretty late for me. The blog went up quickly since there were only a few photos and I started working around 8am.

After much thought, I decided to bring both laptops – work and personal. I like keeping things separate and they’re both pretty light. It’s worked out well and I’m glad I did it. This is my setup while I’m here. I sit in the chair on the right, always, and switch laptops based on time of day: personal (on the left) early mornings and evenings, work from 8-5.

Ash getting ready for our lunch date. Only he could pull this outfit off.

We met my friend Meher for lunch. Meher and I met in 2012 when she had moved from NYC to Columbus, OH, and I hired her at Nationwide. She moved back to NYC at some point after I left Nationwide, and we met up on my last two visits in 2018 and 2019.

Meher made reservations at a French bistro, Benoit, just 3 blocks away on 55th St so it was an easy walk for us.

The bread course: a puff pastry on the right (2 of them gone already!) and warm bread with salted butter.

French onion soup is one of my favorite things, especially in winter, and I love how in a French restaurant it’s just “onion soup.” This was amazing.

Meher and Ash both had the escargot for starters.

I had the cassoulet, which I don’t believe I’ve ever had before. First of all: so much food! I was stuffed after eating only half of it, so will have the rest for lunch today. It’s a casserole traditionally cooked in an earthenware pot, which this was. The meat was duck and pork sausage, with white beans which is also traditional. It was really good, and I forward to finishing it today.

Meher had the octopus salad.

Ash had the salmon with béarnaise sauce.

Lovely Meher. These two hit it off like old friends from the start. We sat and talked for nearly 2 hours about relationships, travel, and work until Meher and I both somewhat reluctantly realized we needed to get back to work ourselves.

The waiter took some group photos of us but none of them came out, although this selfie I took is only marginally better!

We got back to the apartment around 3pm. Ash took Paul out and I went back to work. He took this shot on that outing. This is Central Park again (notice the Chess & Checkers House sign on the left). Paul is going to be spoiled. Capitol Park is his favorite at home but it’s hard to compete with Central Park!

We were still so full from lunch we didn’t make dinner plans, just nibbled on various things we had in the apartment. We’d planned to dress a little for our night at the opera so brought the right clothes just in case. But decided to go with jeans instead of slacks but still the dress shirt and sport coat. It was only 47 degrees when we left, and 45 on our way back, so we didn’t even bundle up. It was nice to not have to wear so much.

Our destination was The Metropolitan Opera. It is in the Lincoln Center, also home to the New York Philharmonic and New York City Ballet. It’s on Broadway around 63rd St so an easy walk for us in less than 20 minutes. This was the first time either of us had been here.

There were people sitting all around the fountain so I couldn’t get a good, centered shot of it but it’s still pretty!

Ash was being silly posing for these, and this was the best of the group :)

We got our vax cards checked – The Met required that you have your booster if eligible, which we are and had – picked up our tickets at Will Call, a quick security check, and were finally at the main entrance.

These were not our first seats, which were maybe 10 rows back. They weren’t bad, just behind the balcony overhead, so no view obstruction at all. But there were plenty of empty seats in front of us so at intermission we moved up.

This photo was taken from our original seats. I loved that the libretto was on the seat in front of you. Made for really easy reading. Opera’s default language is Italian. Some say they are able to understand what’s happening just by watching and listening; I’m not one of those people and doubt I will ever be.

As the screen says, we were seeing Rigoletto. I’m going to cheat and use Wikipidia’s synopsis since it quite succinctly captures the story: “The work, Verdi’s sixteenth in the genre, is widely considered to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi’s middle-to-late career. Its tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda. The opera’s original title, La maledizione (The Curse), refers to a curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by a courtier whose daughter the Duke has seduced with Rigoletto’s encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda falls in love with the Duke and sacrifices her life to save him from the assassin hired by her father.”

Five balconies. Wow.

A beautiful ceiling.

The show is in 3 acts, with one intermission between the first and second. The last two acts go pretty fast. This is Ash’s 3rd or 4th time seeing this show. It was the first opera he’d seen, in Madrid in 2015, and sparked his passion for opera in general. This is my 4th opera total, but just 3rd classic one since the Paris opera was very modern and not a single story. Of the 3 I’ve seen this was my least favorite story. As I said to Ash on our walk home: there were no redeeming characters; they were all stupid, evil, or both. The only character with any standards was the assassin! I will add that this story is based on a play written by Victor Hugo, who also wrote Les Misérables – one of my all-time favorites. This is not that.

That said, it was beautifully done. The singing was top notch, with Rigoletto played by Quinn Kelsey, the guy above with his arms outstretched. He is one of the best baritones in the world, making his debut here in 2008. As you can see, the sets were stunning. That palace motif was part of a huge block that turned on the stage, each side being a different set. And of course, the music was terrific. It contains one of the most famous pieces of all operas, which you can hear here, and I bet you will recognize it immediately. (And that song, by the way, is where Gilda finds out just what a cad the Duke is – “all women are fickle” – who had proclaimed his love to her yet is now visiting a prostitute and making fun of how stupid all women are – yet she still sacrifices herself for him. Just no.)

I appreciate all of the talent that goes into a production like this, I just didn’t care for this particular story.

We stopped at a 24-hour market on 57th and picked up a bite to eat – a roast beef wrap for me and tortellini salad for Ash – and went home. Ash took Paul out and I uploaded the photos for the blog. We were in bed around midnight.

What are we doing today? I’m working of course. Ash will head out about 8:30am to see if he can get rush tickets for Music Man, which we’d attempted on Sunday. So that will determine what we do tonight. You’ll have to come back to see how that goes…

January 20, 2022
2022 NYC: Day 4 – “Company”

Tuesday, I went back to work. I don’t remember what time I woke up, but it was early enough to get Monday’s blog up then start work around 7:30am. Ash made some eggs with salmon for breakfast, then him and Kevin left about 9am. They spent their day walking about just enjoying the city, no particular agenda. I got decent work done with the quiet and no meetings until Noon since I’m 3 hours ahead. Then I was back-to-back for several hours and quit working around 5:30pm.

For lunch, I went across the street to the little market we’d visited earlier and got a hot Rueben sandwich. Pastrami is one of those things that’s generally just better in NYC and this held up.

Ash and Kevin got home around 3pm. I kept working while they took showers and Ash made dinner.

Ash had gone shopping the day before for this, a Thai yellow curry dish with chicken, potatoes, broccoli, and carrots over rice. It was delicious as it always is and this hit the spot on a cold day.

We have been so bundled up in all of our photos I asked Kevin to take this before we left.

We left around 6:20pm to go to the theater. “Company” was playing at 7pm at the Bernard Jacobs Theater on 45th Street between 7th and 8th Aves. I hadn’t been wearing my mask while walking and my glasses fogged up pretty bad as soon as I put it on! It’s about 33 degrees at this point.

This is a revival of a Stephen Sondheim play from the 70’s, with some updates that included a switch of the main character from male to female, Robert to Bobbie. She is turning 35 and the story is a string of vignettes with her 5 coupled friends, plus 3 current boyfriends, all of which explore the ups and downs of love and marriage. In this version, one of the couples is gay. It’s a musical comedy with intricate staging from a people perspective. The sets were relatively simple, but the way the 11 main actors in the ensemble interacted with them and each other was complicated, often in very small spaces, and we talked on the way home about how precise those rehearsals had to be. It was funny and modern. I didn’t recognize any of the songs, but Ash did, in particular “Ladies who Lunch” which I got a chuckle out of. (See yesterday’s blog…)

A fun shot of the empty control booth as we were walking to our seats.

Patti Lupone played the wife in the older couple of the ensemble, and she was a joy to see. Her role in the first act was mostly just another player in the group, but in the second had she was the main actor in a pretty long scene with just her husband and the lead, which of course had an amazing solo in it. This is the first show I’ve seen where one of the actors was famous outside of Broadway circles.

And a funny side note. I decided to make my way to the restroom at intermission and Kevin said, “no way, there’s way too many men in this theater.” And boy was that right. The line snaked around in a long lobby 4x while the women were just walking right in. Eventually the woman in charge let the few women still in that room know “the men are coming in, it’s all stalls, no worries” and they opened it up to get people out before the show started. At one point a guy asked her what time intermission ends. “When I say it does.” Well, alrighty then. Needless to say, I made it back to my seat before the show started again. Between folks playing tribute to Sondheim given his recent death, and Patti Lupone, this show attracted a score of gay men.

We all really enjoyed the show. As we were leaving the theater, Ash got a call from an Airbnb guest who was trying to get to our house in Sacramento but was lost. He handed the phone to me since I know Sac better. She’d somehow managed to get herself on the other side of McKinley Park, well over a mile away. I directed her and stayed on the phone with her until she got there.

We went to Junior’s after. I got the raspberry swirl cheesecake, above; Ash got a banana nut pound cake, below. Kevin got some chicken fingers that came later, which we all had bites out of, but I neglected to take a photo!

We were home after 11pm and in bed before midnight. And that was the day.

Today is more work for me, not sure what Ash is going to do. We will meet a friend for lunch and tonight is opera night!

January 19, 2022
2022 NYC: Day 3 – Central Park

I slept until almost 6am which, at almost 8 hours of sleep, was both unusual and welcomed. I made coffee and finished the blog about the time Ash got up about 7:30am. Kevin was out late and we figured he’d be asleep for a while. We took Paul out for his first walk early, then another when the sun came out briefly. We got back after 11am and made a late breakfast.

Today was intended to be the lazy day. The only thing we had on the agenda was a walk in Central Park and dinner with friends in the evening.

I finally noticed the American Utopia poster that Taylor, the guy who lives here, has in his bedroom just over the side table on my side of the bed. (Read yesterday’s blog if you don’t get that!) It’s signed by David Byrne. Taylor is a photographer and there’s all kinds of press passes and other memorabilia all over the apartment.

Kevin and Ash at the beginning of the mall that leads to Bethesda Terrace.

Ash and me at the same spot.

Ash and me at Bethesda Terrace.

Bethesda Fountain

This body of water is just known as Central Park Lake. It’s on the west side near the lower 70’s. Central Park starts at 59th Street. We are staying at 58th St.

This is a closeup of the photo above it. The point of it is to see the ducks standing on the lake. Yes, standing.

This is called Ladies Pavilion. Ash always jokes about being “a lady who lunches and plays bridge” so a photo here was necessary.

Beyond the pavilion were these huge rocks at the edge of the lake. Above and below are Ash and Kevin climbing to the top. I’m not nearly as surefooted and passed.

Ash making his way down with a great view of Central Park South in the background. On our first walk that morning we looked up the tallest buildings in NYC. The tallest one in this photo on the right is Central Park Tower at 225 W 57th St, at 1550 feet it’s #2 after the Word Trade Center. And the one in the center is #3 at 1428 feet, 111 W 57th St. It’s also known as the Steinway Tower and is the world’s most slender skyscraper.

Belvedere Castle, built in 1872 as an observation point.

To the left of the photo above it. Beyond that pavilion is an outdoor stage and seats but it didn’t photograph well through the trees.

Looking northwest from that balcony.

Kevin’s photo of me taking the photo above it.

This is my 4th or 5th time to Central Park and the first time I made it to The Ramble, a woodsy area of the park that’s also pretty hilly. I’m sure it looks quite different when the trees are full of leaves. When did I get so gray?

We walked through the park some more, eventually made our way back to 5th Ave and found a place to stop for coffee. Then we walked over to Madison Ave at about 89th and window-shopped all the way back.

58th St. at Madison Ave. There’s the Steinway Tower again, you can see how it gets even more slender as it goes up.

We had done that walk without Paul so we could move faster, so Ash took him out as soon as we got back around 3:45pm. Then we took our time getting ready for friends to arrive at 5:30pm.

In the center is Sarah who you met the night before, Kevin’s traveling nurse friend. And on the left is Yian, our friend from San Francisco who grew up in Astoria (Queens) and is staying with her mother for a few months.

Dinner was in the theater district, so we made our way over a little after 6pm. This was at 6th Ave and 50th St, where we took a right.

The restaurant was Toloache, a Mexican place next to the Gershwin Theater on 50th, where I saw Wicked in 2019. Ellen, who I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, had introduced Ash to this. It was “the only Mexican food that excited her” Jim said last night in a text when Ash told him we came here in her honor.

It’s a beautiful 2 story place that was pretty crowded when we got there for our 6:30pm reservations.

Chips, salsa, guacamole, and a queso I could have made a meal out of. Flour tortillas were brought, too, so Ash and I started with the perfection of a simple quesadilla. I could have just eaten that all night.

Above: Ash got a jicama salad with grilled shrimp. Below: I got chicken enchiladas which some agreed was the best dish of the evening. Ash and I ate each halfway through then switched plates. Sorry for the bad photos, I completely forgot to take any when the food was served!

Kevin was obsessed with getting banana pudding at Magnolia Bakery. There are several throughout NYC. This was in Rockefeller Center at 6th Ave and 49th St. And they were out of banana pudding! Long story short: Kevin and Ash went ahead to another store at 59th and 8th in Columbus Circle, and we all met back at the apartment. I must’ve been really tired because I forgot to take photos again. Was the banana pudding excursion worth it? Yep.

Today I work. Ash and Kevin will be out and about most of the day. Ash is fixing dinner tonight and then we see Company.

January 17, 2022
2022 NYC: Day 2 – David Byrne’s “American Utopia” and a little snow in Times Square

I slept almost 7 hours, getting up a little before 5am. Before I had coffee made, Paul decided he needed to eat and go out. Ash of course was still asleep, so I took care of that and by 5:35am I was settled in with some coffee to finish Saturday’s blog.

Ash got up a bit before 7am just after I’d posted it. When he checked his phone, we learned that Ellen passed that night. Some of you who have been to the house we bought in October have heard the story about how much of the furniture came from Ash’s godparents, Jim & Ellen, who went to live in a skilled nursing facility after Ellen’s stroke in March. They sold their house and had to empty it. Ellen had been moved to hospice in the last week. Her death was completely expected but sad nonetheless, we talked about it a bit before Kevin arrived. Jim will come live with us for a time once he’s settled things. The friend we were going to have brunch with was Ellen’s daughter, who is now on her way to San Francisco, so that was cancelled.

We just sort of lolly-gagged, knowing our friend, Kevin, would be joining us shortly, as he was on the same flight we’d been on the night before. He showed up right on time just before 8am. With no other plans now, Ash fixed breakfast while Kevin and I took Paul out for a little walk in Central Park.

That pond is frozen. It was 12 degrees. One of my favorite things about this park is the way some of it is framed by tall buildings. An oasis in the concrete jungle.

This made me laugh harder than it should have. It’s that thing about signs telling you how stupid people are. Like the “No U Turn” sign on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Did the presence of the ducks and their activity keep this part of the pond from freezing?

We got back around 9:30 maybe and Ash made a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheese and mushrooms, potatoes, and toast.

Kevin kept saying “I’m surprised I’m not tired at all” and then right after breakfast he crashed. Kevin is a traveling nurse and we met him when he had a gig in San Francisco last year and stayed in one of Ash’s units for 4 months. He’s now living in my old house, having rented my unit when I moved into the new house with Ash. And he lived here in this apartment for 3 months at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. So that’s how we knew about this place.

Ash and I decided to go see about getting tickets for a matinee somewhere but stopped for coffee first. It was about 11am at this point. This was on 6th Ave as we headed towards the theater district.

Ash just had regular coffee, I had a latte and an apple turnover. It wasn’t that great, we wouldn’t return.

We went to the Winter Garden theater on Broadway between 50th and 51st to see if we could get “rush” tickets for The Music Man with Hugh Jackman. It’s still in previews, doesn’t officially open until February sometime. I hadn’t heard the term before this trip, but rush tickets are the leftovers for that particular day that you can get for pretty cheap directly from the box office. As you can see, LOTS of people had the same idea for the 3pm show, the only one happening today. We got here about 11:45, the box office opened at Noon, and by 12:45 when there was just about 10 people in front of us we were told the rush tickets were gone, but they still had tickets available for $200. We noped out of there. Ash is committed to coming early on Thursday and getting them for that night’s performance. Stay tuned.

So we went then to the 2nd show on our list, American Utopia at the St. James on 44th between 7th and 8th Aves. We got two Orchestra seats, Row H, for $40 each. Ash said the normal price for these seats was $249. Score.

There are free COVID testing places all over Midtown. Since we’ve been here, we’ve learned that 2 friends at home have tested positive, both of whom we’ve seen relatively recently. We stopped to get tested just to see. And were thankfully both negative. We will probably test again on Tuesday.

We went back to the apartment to take Paul out again and Kevin came with us. Kevin brought another headband that he let me wear which helped a lot. I don’t like things on the top of my head, but my ears get cold so it’s a good solution. We walked around a bit then Ash and I made our way to our 3pm show and Kevin took Paul back home.

This show had been recommended to us by the guy who lives in the apartment we’re staying at and has been highly acclaimed by critics. David Byrnes was the front man for Talking Heads, a new wave band who got their first record contract in 1976. He won an Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Score for “The Last Emperor” in 1988 and has won a Grammy and a “special Tony” for this show which opened in New York in 2018. He is 69 years old.

The folks behind us offered to take this and we were grateful for that. My glasses are still fogged up, a problem I’ve had a lot on this trip!

We never did quite figure out what the names of all the small towns represent. Your first thought is places they’ve toured but with such small towns I have a hard time imagining that. But a big part of the show’s message focused on the idea that what people enjoy most of all is observing other people. So, the images may connect to that theme. He did say they have toured the world with this show, so maybe they really did go to Frogville, OK.

It was a typically sized theater for these parts and pretty packed. As always, vax proof and masks required.

We didn’t get a program so took a photo of the couple’s sitting next to us.

We talked about the show a lot when it was over. Ash proclaimed it to be the best concert he’s ever attended. He recognized several songs in the first half of the show, then the tone changed and what came after was new and more thought provoking. David would narrate in between to explain the connections from one song to the next. I’d been really paying attention to the simplicity of it all. The stage looked exactly the same the entire time with the exception of some lighting changes, and rarely too dramatic until the end. No other images or props of any kind. It was him, 2 backup singers/dancers, and 9 musicians – 3 playing electronic instruments and the rest various kinds of percussion. The sound that came from this group was amazing. There were times I would have sworn there were horns but that was coming from the electronic instruments. Everything was wireless; they were all able to move around the stage freely, so the musicians were part of the dancing as well. And they were all wearing exactly the same thing: a gray shirt under a gray suit, and barefoot.

Just about the time I was realizing that all there was to focus on was the people – the words, the vocals, the music, the dancing – David explained that was the point. That connection is what matters and they’d very consciously stripped everything else away to help get that point across.

He’d said at the beginning you could take photos at any time, and at the same time discouraged it by saying “we think it’s better not to live life through your camera lens.” This was towards the end and was the only number where color lighting had been used.

That’s David on the far left with the red guitar. He wasn’t playing an instrument for most of the show. This was during “Burning Down the House”, the only song I recognized. It was the Talking Heads biggest hit in North America, 1983, and he saved it to almost the very end.

A short video clip of that song.

The final number they did was a cappella and was my favorite of the whole show. It really helped drive home the point that it really is just all about the people.

We went in search of dinner after. Ash had remembered passing this on 46th on the way to Becco the day before so we decided to try it. Notice the “soft opening” sign.

The first thing we noticed was that all of the staff and most of the customers – it was actually pretty full – were all Chinese. Which is typically a good sign. The wait staff was super green and either didn’t know the menu very well or didn’t know English very well, or both. Above is shrimp dumplings. They were decent but could’ve used a dipping sauce.

This was a mushroom soup which also had some shrimp in it. It was nicely done and went down well on a cold night.

See, it’s pretty crowded. That’s Ash at the second table up on the left.

I’m a big fan of clean, simple flavors and thought this was really well done. Chicken, shrimp, cucumber – had never had it served warm before – and garlic in a simple white sauce.

This was our least favorite thing and too bad since it was the most expensive! Whole fish cooked in brown sauce with potato pancakes. We could never quite understand what the fish was – couldn’t understand what the waiter said when he told us (and he had to ask someone else) and couldn’t identify it when we ate it. Without going into a lot of detail, we’ll just say this dish had tons of potential but just didn’t work.

Braised bok choy with mushrooms, garlic and ginger. It was just OK.

Shortly after we left the restaurant it started snowing!

We just wanted to capture a few seconds of it snowing at Times Square. It picked up the pace as we made our way home and there was quite a bit of snow on the ground by the time we got back.

Oddly, this was the warmest it had been all day.

I don’t remember this from when I was here in 2019, but we noticed it the night before. We decided to stop here for dessert. Krispy Kreme is the only donut I consider a worthy dessert choice! It was packed and they were, thankfully, monitoring the number of people inside at one time so didn’t let us right in. But it wasn’t too long of a wait as the line moved pretty quickly.

Notice “hot” in the neon sign. If you’ve never had a fresh Krispy Kreme donut served still warm, I’d recommend it. We both have before and asked specifically that they pull the warm ones for our order, as opposed to the ones that had been sitting in the case.

Like in most stores, you can watch them being made.

A classic memory of the trip for us will be walking up 7th Ave eating warm donuts in the snow.

We made it back to the apartment about 7:30pm. Kevin had a friend, Sarah, over before they went out for a late dinner. There is never a situation Kevin has met that doesn’t warrant a selfie. You can sort of see that it’s still snowing out.

After Kevin and Sarah left, I got the photos uploaded for this and started writing. We were in bed before 10pm. Today the temperature will be the warmest we’ve had yet with a high of 46 predicted, with rain in the morning but then windy after that. We have no real plans other than we’d hoped for a long walk in Central Park, so will see how all that goes.

January 16, 2022
2022 NYC: Day 1 – Arrival, “Slave Play”

Beyond a quick weekend in Texas after Thanksgiving, this is our first trip since Paris & Switzerland in September, and we are happy to be back on the road again. Ash has a friend in San Francisco who is from NYC and is here for a few months to be with her mother. Ash wanted to come visit and help them some so that was the initial idea for the trip. I of course don’t need an excuse to get to New York but didn’t want to take vacation time, so we picked this week to come since I have Monday off, and then I will work from here Tuesday through Friday.

So, it will be a different kind of blog from that perspective: each day won’t be packed with stuff we’re doing. And since Ash used to live here and this is my 6th time here it definitely won’t be a typical tourist trip. We plan on spending time with friends and see what shows we can work in while we are here. We only booked tickets for three things coming into it and will see what we pick up along the way. It’s still weird to travel – there’s a pandemic going on if you hadn’t heard – since you’re never quite sure what will be open. Things close at the last minute often with this most recent highly contagious variant because staff is sick. The whole week is a bit of a crap shoot but we’re super happy to be here.

We had an 11:15pm flight out of Sacramento Friday night. Paul is with us and sat at our feet the whole flight. It was nearly impossible to sleep with some turbulence and an infant behind us crying (loudly) over half the trip, but otherwise uneventful. Everything was on time, and we arrived safely with all of our luggage around 7:30am.

Brrr. This is pretty much what we have to look forward to all week. At least there’s just one rainy day in the forecast so we shouldn’t have too much wet in addition to the cold. This was when we landed, it never got above 20 degrees today.

We landed in Newark and took a Lyft to our place. Through a friend we were able to get an amazing deal on an apartment at the top of Midtown, on 58th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. It’s a typical NYC apartment building with a door man and the whole bit.

We are on the 32nd floor. The guy who lives here is “snowbirding” for the winter (we’re not clear on exactly where he is but it doesn’t matter!) so we get his place exactly as he left it. With full closets and everything so we’ll be living out of our suitcases because there’s no room to unpack anywhere. Oh well, it’s a pretty comfortable place, the price was ridiculous, and the location is superb.

A teeny kitchen. He told Ash he cooks all the time but the pots and knives literally have dust on them so we’re thinking not. We’ll see how much cooking we do here.

A pretty comfortable bed.

We were starving at this point, about 9am, and there’s a Pret A Manger around the corner. It’s a chain but not one we have access to at home so we’re not breaking the rules by going. It’s pretty decent food, I’ve eaten at them here and in London, and Ash and I stopped at one in Paris last August.

Breakfast sandwiches, juice and coffee. We just needed a little something in our stomach before a nap.

This was our view while sitting there. That’s 59th Street with the start of Central Park across the street. I’m sure we’ll make it over there a few times on this trip which I’m looking forward to.

After breakfast we went back to the apartment and set an alarm for Noon to take naps. We got up and took Paul out and went to a nearby pet store to get him food for the week. This is on 57th Street on the walk back to the apartment. I just love all the tall, skinny buildings in this part of Midtown.

We left about 1:20pm to walk to our 2pm matinee on 52nd Street between 7th & 8th Aves. There are people out but nothing like when I was here in the summer of 2019. Probably a combo of cold and pandemic.

Speaking of the pandemic: NYC was the epicenter in this country back when this all started. What I noticed right away is people take their mask-wearing very seriously. Easily 95% of everyone is wearing them outside, and probably 75% or more are the more recommended masks – N95 or surgical as opposed to cloth. It was good to see, as was “being carded” for vaccinations everywhere we went.

We’d just bought these tickets the day before, for Slave Play. When it originally ran on Broadway in 2018 it was nominated for 12 Tonys, although it didn’t win any. It’s a complicated and controversial story line, with warnings of nudity, sexual violence, racial slurs, etc.

The story centers around 3 interracial couples in a group therapy setting, exploring the meaning and impact of race in their relationships. And it took me Much Longer than it Should Have to realize that “slave play” is used like “puppy play.” (And if you don’t understand that, you can read up on it here…)

That’s a cantaloupe on the playbill. You kinda had to be there to get it. If you must know, feel free to ask….

The staging was great. All those mirrors are also doors so props and furniture slide in and out from behind them quite a bit. We only paid $39 for these tickets and originally were in the last row, which were still decent seats because, like most venues in this theater district, it’s actually fairly small so there aren’t really any bad seats. But there were lots of empty seats, so right before the show started the usher came and got us and put us in 4th row mezzanine, which were $119 seats. Not bad.

My friend Del’Esa, who moved here from Sacramento in 2017, met us for the show! If you’ve been a long-time reader, you met her when I was here in 2018 and 2019.

After the show we made our way to an early dinner about 7 blocks away walking through the heart of Times Square. I know it’s gauche, but I really never get tired of it.

Random group selfie stop. I didn’t notice the marquee for Book of Mormon behind us until I was writing this. I saw that there on my first trip in 2011 and again in 2019.

We went to Becco on 46th Street between 8th & 9th Aves. I came here twice on my 2019 trip and was happy to see it’s still around. The main attraction – which we all got – is the daily pasta special: 3 pastas served tableside, all you can eat. The waiters just roam around with these big pans and dish it up as you want more. The hit of today’s collection was a seafood risotto with lobster, crab, and shrimp that was heavenly. The others were a pesto rigatoni which was good, and a spaghetti with tomato sauce that was surprisingly good in its simplicity. There were also shareable starters which was an antipasto plate and Ceasar salad.

I couldn’t decide which of these I liked best….

….so you’re getting both. Del’Esa doesn’t get down here very much – typical of folks who live here – and she was enjoying it as well.

We decided to skip dessert at the restaurant and head to Junior’s instead, a NYC institution for cheesecake. This was established in Brooklyn in 1950 but there are 3 of them in the theater district so it’s a traditional stop after a show.

Last Times Square photo I promise. For this day anyway!

Del’Esa got strawberry cheesecake at the top, Ash got the carrot cheesecake on the left. We’ve been getting Junior’s cheesecake at home because we discovered Costco sells it!, so I got a coconut lemon cake at the bottom. And yes, I forgot to take this on time, so everything is half eaten.

We said our goodbyes after this. Del’Esa lives in Brooklyn and headed home. We made our way back to the apartment but stopped at a market across the street first to get some things for breakfast.

The night view from the west window, looking a bit north. The dark flatness is Central Park.

Looking south from the living room.

Ash made some phone calls, I started working on this, and we were in bed by 10pm. I’m finishing this up the next morning, Sunday. We don’t have much planned today: brunch with a friend of Ash’s, and a friend from home joining us for a couple of nights. We’ll see what else we come up with. Have a great Sunday!

January 15, 2022
Day 16 in NYC: Museum of Jewish Heritage; Village wanderings

Friday, July 12. Thankfully the rain had passed overnight and there was no more in the forecast. I got the blog up around 9am and made my way out.

I took a bus to Journal Square PATH, only made a huge rookie mistake, and got on the bus from the wrong side of the street, therefore going in the wrong direction. And I wasn’t paying attention so didn’t figure it out until my only option was to enjoy the ride until it made the complete loop! Oh well, good thing I wasn’t on a tight schedule.

Good morning! The subway was pretty crowded still for being after 10:30am.

I love the hustle and bustle of people moving through public transportation centers

I was very excited that the World Trade Center line ended underneath Oculus (a major transportation hub which I’ve mentioned in prior entries).

I do love this building

My continued fascination with this building

I’d read somewhere that this was designed to look like a bird taking flight, which I can see from this angle.

It was 11am, I’d been up since 5am and hadn’t eaten anything. I picked up a pretzel from a street vendor and ate it on my way to the museum, which was about a 12 minute walk from the train.

You had to buy tickets for specific times for the Museum of Jewish Heritage; now I was glad I had picked 11am! I would only be a few minutes late.

Entrance to the Museum of Jewish Heritage, a Living Memorial to the Holocaust

A train car from Auschwitz at the museum entrance

This museum was a late addition to my itinerary. One of the (many) guys I met at the Gay and Sober Men’s conference told me about it (I wish I could remember who now!), specifically that there was a special exhibit on Auschwitz. For those of you who have been around for the earlier Europe blogs (2013-15), you know I’ve sought out a lot of material on WW2, so I didn’t want to miss this opportunity while I was here.

It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere.” Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi

This was at the entrance to the exhibit.

Hmm.

The exhibit wasn’t just about Auschwitz, but the whole history of the Jewish struggle dating back to 70 CE. It also provided details of the creation of the Nazi party, starting after WW1 (which, as some of you have heard me say before, you can’t really talk about WW2 without talking about WW1). So it was an extensive, historical exhibit.

I decided early on not to take many photos. It was a crushing exhibit and I realized there was no way I could do it justice. If you have an opportunity, just go. What I did think about was how anyone can deny this happened in the face of overwhelming and soul sucking evidence.

Somehow these survived

This was one thing I wanted to remember for sure. These were photographs that people sent to Auschwitz had on them when they got there, even though everything else had been taken from them. These were somehow kept in administration files somewhere, and found years later when Auschwitz was being converted into a museum. It made me wonder: who kept them? A Nazi soldier who still had remnants of humanity left inside of him?

A patio from the 2nd level of the museum, Statue of Liberty in the background

I was there about 2 hours. It was more than enough. I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon wandering the Village (Greenwich and West) again so made my way there via subway.

I took a lot of photos of the World Trade Center that morning but decided to include just this one.

On my way to the subway.

Entrance to the Hugh Carey Tunnel from a pedestrian bridge

This used to be known as the Brooklyn-Battery bridge. It’s the longest span of underwater vehicular bridge in the country at just under two miles.

I got off the subway at 14th St and went in search of one last pizza stop for this trip.

Outside of Village Pizza

This was at 13th St and 8th Ave, in Google as a “small, nothing-fancy local pizzeria.” Perfect!

This was the whole place. 3 tables.

Pepperoni, bacon, ham. The pizza slice was $3. The diet coke was $3.75. That’s just wrong.

From here I really just wandered. I sort of made a point of going by every public park space I came across on the map as I did so.

Jackson Square, across 8th Ave from the pizza place

Entrance to the NYC LGBT Center on 13th St

I had walked by this before from the other direction sometime last week, but hadn’t noticed what it was until Jonathan took me here after the meeting on Monday. Note the tree is covered in a rainbow sweater. And that both the flag and the sweater include brown and black stripes, expanding the diversity representation of the flag.

Hibiscus iced tea and a fig coconut bar

This is an amazing center with over 20 different support groups meeting here each day. There’s also a nice coffee shop, with both indoor and outdoor seating. I didn’t feel comfortable taking photos of the inside or outside since there was so many people about and that might not go over well. That fig bar, by the way, was a thing of beauty.

Park at the center of NYC AIDS Memorial

This is a park in a triangle formed by 12th St, 7th Ave, and Greenwich Ave.

4 posters on the sidewalk outside of the memorial park: AIDS in the old LOVE format; Silence=Death; I have AIDS, please hug me; Stop AIDS

These run alongside the Greenwich Ave section of the Memorial.

A white sculptured canopy at the NYC AIDS Memorial

This is at the corner of Greenwich and 12th. This location was picked because it’s across from the old St. Vincent’s hospital, which was at the center of the early epidemic, as featured in “Angels in America”. That’s a lovely, soothing fountain in the middle. While not easy to see in this photo, the ground is fully inscribed with lines from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.”

Abingdon Square, surrounded by Hudson Street (which is 9th Ave a few blocks north), 12th St, 8th Ave. Bleecker St starts just below this.

This was erected in honor of those who died in “the world war.” Put up in 1921.

Bleecker Street starts just below Abingdon Square. Since I keep coming across it this trip, I decided to walk the whole thing. So glad I did. It might be the most interesting street I’ve come across in all of my travels. There was a wide variety of shops, many of them quirky, and incredible people watching opportunities as well. Just a few photos of the many I took.

This was in front of a jewelry store! So random.

This was a home decoration shop. Look closely at the writing on the right window.

In case you couldn’t make that out. I couldn’t resist.

On the window of a clothing store: Remember that you are a mother f#*%ing superstar.

Fountain in Father Demo Square

From nycgovparks.org: The popular West Village square is named for Father Antonio Demo, who was appointed the pastor of the nearby Our Lady of Pompeii church in 1900 and served the community for more than 30 years

I’d never seen so many restaurants on one block, anywhere. Possible exception of Amsterdam.

This is MacDougal street where it intersects Bleecker. I’d never seen so many different kinds of restaurants in one place before. In just one block you could have: burgers, Italian, Ethiopian, Indian, Egyptian, a Berlin Doner (which is really sort of Turkish), playa bowls (fresh fruit, smoothies, etc.), crepes, Mexican, Vietnamese, pizza, and Japanese. One block. And those were just the ones I noticed.

My favorite? Insomnia Cookies. “Warm, fresh cookies delivered until 3am.” You really can get just about anything you want at any time in NYC.

It was now about 5:30pm. I’d thought about doing a number of things – seeing another off Broadway show, going up to “the top of the Rock” at Rockefeller Center as examples. In the end I was more in the mood to wind down, and realized I’ve “lived” in Jersey City for 2 weeks and had never been downtown. So that’s where I headed.

I picked up the PATH train at 9th Street and got off at Grove St in Jersey City.

A street fair just outside the train station; the train exit was from under that green roof in the background.

A very lively scene in downtown Jersey City just as I exited the train station

That banner says “Groove on Grove” announcing a music event along Grove Street, which is filled with restaurants and bars, and is running across the intersection in this photo so you can’t really see it.

Pedestrian area of Jersey City

There were several blocks of “pedestrian plaza” which I always appreciate, filled with a wide variety of nightlife and food.

Rooftop lounge of Six 26

This is a gay focused restaurant/lounge on the rooftop of 128 Christopher Columbus Street, which intersects Grove at the center of downtown. It is named Six 26 in honor of June 26, 2015, when the US Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.

Small tables against glass wall at end of the rooftop with orange umbrellas, and rainbow flag draped over the outside of the glass

Fish and chips with cole slaw

Walking along Grove Street in Jersey City. Last selfie of the trip?

It was about 7:30pm and I was officially done. I took a Lyft back to the house because from this particular spot it would have taken 2 buses to get there. Luckily I had earned credits from prior Lyft rides and it only cost me the $2 tip!

I have to check out of here by Noon but my flight is at 6pm. What was I thinking? Good thing I will have lounge access. I will start – and hopefully finish! – my traditional “final thoughts” entry from there.

July 13, 2019

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