First Impressions Can Be Deceiving

The Princeton Area Walkers offer four Volksmarches in New York City – today, we did the one closest to our hotel, Midtown Manhattan.

The walk started at Bryant Park with a glorious view of the Empire State Building in the distance.

Bryant Park itself was well-supplied with flowers, especially tulips.

Even though the New York Public Library wasn’t on the walk route, we couldn’t resist visiting Patience and Fortitude (not seen in this picture).

And how could we resist visiting the Treasures of the New York Public Library exhibit?

The exhibit covered a wide range of topics – such as a poster advertising Houdini, the first printing of the Declaration of Independence, and a nice photo of the Moon taken just a few miles from home (using the 36-inch telescope at the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton – I don’t think my camera can compete).

I really liked the exhibits on “Belief” including an original King James Bible and a good bit of Judaica, like this Megillah (for Purim), 18th Century Haggadah from Munich (for Passover), and the 1946 “Survivors’ Haggadah” used in the Displaced Persons camps, also around Munich.

By the time we left the library, we’d been “walking” for over an hour and hadn’t even gotten to the second step in the instructions! It was time to pick up the pace, but on our way to the next stop (Grand Central Terminal), I got a nice view of the Chrysler Building.

We’d taken a walk through Grand Central on Tuesday, so we made short work of it today, with only the briefest of stops to admire the Apple Store…oops, I meant the view from the Apple Store!

The walk took us back to 42nd Street and on to the UN. Trees were in bloom all around the complex – which seemed appropriate on Earth Day.

We had lunch at the Morning Star Cafe on 2nd Avenue; I had fond memories of the place (under a different name) from my 10 weeks in New York for IBM Systems Research Institute in 1980. I’ll try somewhere else next time.

We walked up 50th Street to Rockefeller Center, getting a nice view of St. Patrick’s glowing in the sun.

The skating rink at Rockefeller Center used to be a winter-only facility, but that’s changed.

The plaza was ringed with flags for Earth Month, and there was an explanation at the entry to 30 Rock, our next stop.

The route took us past the St. Regis, giving us a chance to dump our jackets, and then on to Central Park and Columbus Circle before reaching its northernmost point, Lincoln Center.

We walked Broadway south to 42nd Street and turned on 8th Avenue for what might have been the most exciting spot on the route – the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

The rest of the walk passed in a blur – to Macy’s, through Penn Station and up 7th Avenue (slightly off the official route) before we returned to our hotel.

Dinner tonight was at Bengal Tiger. It’s a small Indian restaurant on the 2nd floor of a nondescript building. The place was packed when we got there just before 7, but we only had to wait about 15 minutes. They offered a three course $25 prix fixe, including dessert. And that brought back memories.

When Diane and I went on our honeymoon, we picked Toronto. There were many reasons, but one was that I’d been there a year or so previously and I really liked an Indian restaurant I’d eaten at. Of course we went there and enjoyed a great meal – until it came time for dessert. I’d ordered Gulab Jamun, based on the menu’s description of it as “Indian rosewater-flavored ice cream”. I didn’t like it at all, and didn’t do a good job of hiding my reaction – the restaurant offered me something else, but I’d been unwilling to have Gulab Jamun again.

Tonight, though, I felt brave and gave it another try – and this time, I liked it! It was warm (not at all like ice cream!) and pleasantly sweet. I guess I just needed to give it some time.

Shabbat Shalom!

Walking and Music

We did another Volksmarch today. This one was billed as the High Line Park, Greenwich Village, China Town, Little Italy Walk and it lived up to its description.

The walk started in front of Macy’s; we decided the event would give us plenty of walking, so we took the subway. It was very nice to be able to pay with a tap instead of having to guess how much to put on a MetroCard.

I was slightly alarmed by the first train that pulled up.

Our train arrived a minute or two later; it was quieter and far less crowded than I remember being typical on previous visits. We got off at Macy’s and headed West to enter the High Line at the northern end, 34th Street at 11th Avenue, only to find out that part of the walkway was closed and we’d have to walk down to 30th Street.

On our way, we got to see “The Vessel” outside Hudson Yards.

And then it was finally time to explore the High Line. I liked the way they’d put rails by the trail as a reminder of the history and had used them as an element in the garden design.

There are some George Rickey mobiles at 27th Street; they’re not the Chrinitoid from RPI, but I liked them anyway.

We walked the rest of the High Line, emerging in the Meatpacking District at Gansevoort Avenue, and continuing through the Village. We were getting hungry, and I found a likely-looking spot just before we reached 7th Avenue: Snack Taverna. As I was looking them up on Yelp, the manager came out and told us that they were Greek (I’d figured that out) and had been in business for 19 years. Normally, I’m unlikely to go into a restaurant where they come out to sell it, but we were hungry, Yelp had mostly favorable reviews, and we like Greek food. It was a good choice – I had lamb triangles and Diane had chicken boureki, both of which were very good. We chatted with the manager about the Volksmarch we were on and about The Music Man – he’d seen it twice and liked it both times, which was encouraging.

We left satisfied and continued the walk into SoHo, Chinatown, and Little Italy. The directions for the walk suggested stopping at La Bella Ferrara Bakery for a delicious treat, so we did.

And then it was onward to Bleecker Street, MacDougal Street, and Washington Square Park. Washington Square Park had everything – chess players, tulips, an Extinction Rebellion demonstration, the Arch, and bathrooms we were happy to find and even happier to survive.

We walked up Broadway to Union Square for some more statues and flowers.


And then we continued until we reached 34th Street and hopped on the subway to return to the hotel before walking over to the Winter Garden to see The Music Man.

We’d splurged on the tickets – E107 and E108 – and luckily, the people in front of us were not so tall as to block the view. Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster were great – they nearly broke each other during the second act – and there were no slouches in the rest of the cast, either. It’s “Broadway Cares” month, and after the show, they auctioned off the gloves that the leads wore tonight – autographed, of course – and raised $11,000 in the process.

And so ends another day in the Big Apple.

Only in New York

We had breakfast in the Plaza Court here in the St. Regis; I’m glad I’m have Titanium status or it would have been really expensive!

After breakfast, we walked down to Radio City Music Hall to start the Central Park Volksmarch.

The first instruction took us right back 6th Avenue to the park; en route, we saw one of many street corner Covid testing places. This one looked more respectable than most of them did.

Soon enough, we were in the park at the General Sherman statue at Grand Army Plaza.

Diane and I had both attended IBM’s Systems Research Institute in the early ’80s; it was a ten-week session in Manhattan, so there were ample opportunities to explore the city. But neither of us did much exploring of Central Park – it was not considered terribly safe territory. Things have changed for the better!

There was a temporary statue of Diane Arbus at the entrance to the park.

The route took us through the Central Park Zoo. We didn’t have time to go see the animals, but we did enjoy the Delacorte Clock’s performance.

There were, of course, flowers, like this wild daffodil we saw en route to the next landmark, the statue of Balto the sled dog.

We continued on, passing the Boathouse and the model boat pond, as well as the first robin of spring and some tulips.

We walked past the Alice in Wonderland statue and the back side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art before reaching Cleopatra’s Needle.

Cherry trees were in bloom, too.

We walked around most of the Reservoir, enjoying the views of the city.

We left the park to walk down Central Park West to the Dakota by way of the American Museum of Natural History and the New-York Historical Society.

Then back into the park to see Strawberry Fields and the Imagine Mosaic.

Our last stop was the Bethesda Fountain.

We picked up sandwiches from Le Pain Quotidien and ate them in our room in the short time before we had to leave for The Ed Sullivan Theatre and a taping of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

We had priority tickets, so we were guaranteed seating as long as we arrived by 4pm. We got there at 3.

A few minutes later, we’d had our tickets and Covid vaccinations checked and received the wristbands that would let us into the theatre.

Once they started letting people in, the line moved quickly.

We stayed in the outer waiting area for what seemed like an hour (but was probably only 30 minutes).

After a first and only chance to go to the bathroom, they let us into the theatre – but we had to turn off our cellphones, so I have no photos. We were warmed up by Paul Mecurio, then instructed on how to be an energetic audience by Mark, the stage manager. And then the real fun started, with Jon Batiste and Stay Human doing a short set, then Stephen came out and did some audience Q&A until it was time to roll tape.

We saw the cold open, heard the credits, and Stephen ran out on stage and the show proper began. It’s live on tape – so there were a couple of re-dos when something went wrong, but nothing major. Alexander Skarsgård was the first guest; they shot the interview in one continuous segment, then they recorded the intro and outro for the commercial break during the interview. Jack White was next – they recorded the interview, then “Maybe Dropping Soon” (which will air some other time, not tonight).

Jon Batiste and the band performed entire songs during each break – they were the highlight of the afternoon.

They set up the stage for Jack White’s first song, recorded it, and then had to reset for the second song (which is in support of a different album, so I expect it’ll air in a couple of months). Stephen took more audience Q&A while they were setting up for the second song – which had to be recorded again due to technical difficulties.

And that was it – everyone left.

I was happy to see a drawing of Ed Sullivan as we left.

I’m looking forward to seeing tonight’s show – not to see myself on TV (we were seated in an area that doesn’t get much love from the cameras), but so I can hear the whole show. Often Stephen and his guest kept talking while the audience was still laughing, and we couldn’t hear the first couple of sentences!

If you can attend a taping, it’s a lot of fun – but it’s a long process!

What city has two names twice?

Our flight from Richmond to New York uneventful, as we like it. Probably the most noteworthy aspect of the flight was that most of the time between “departure” and “arrival” was on the ground, not in the air: 20 minutes from pushback to takeoff, 51 minutes in the air, and 35 minutes waiting to get to the gate. We even saw Jeff briefly at the airport – we emerged from security about a minute before he boarded his flight to Boston.

As we descended into New York, we saw supply chain issues at work – a bunch of container ships (and others) offshore in their own holding patterns.

We’re at the St. Regis on this trip (I decided to burn a lot of Marriott points before yet another devaluation); the room is very nice and has LOTS of storage space (some hotels don’t seem to understand that their guests need places for clothing, toiletries, and suitcases). There’s no view, but we do have a butler!

One of the attractions of the hotel is the King Cole Bar with its Maxwell Parish mural, so we went there to have a drink before dinner. The bar claims to be the home of the Bloody Mary (originally the “Red Snapper”), but neither of us is a fan, so Diane had an Expresso Martini and I had a Charlie Chaplin. And we enjoyed those so much we had dinner at the bar, too, though the menu was pretty limited.

After dinner, we took a short walk down Fifth Avenue to 34th Street, stopping at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

The Empire State Building was lit in support of Ukraine.

We returned along Park Avenue with a brief stop at Grand Central Terminal; the Apple Store was already closed for the night, so we had to content ourselves with a quick photo on the concourse.

Into every life…

There’s a saying in Norway, Iceland, and probably elsewhere: “There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing.” Today was a very rainy day (1.32 inches at my brother’s house so far), and we definitely had brought inappropriate clothing – no rain gear of any kind. My sister-in-law lent us an umbrella and some ponchos (still in their package) and off we went!

Our first stop was Greenwood Cemetery to say ‘hi’ to my mother. We had problems finding her grave the last time we visited, so I was careful to make a note of the location; unfortunately, I only noted the section, which was insufficient to find her. As I was going to the office to get help and remembered that I’d also created a waypoint in the GPS app – and that got us to the right place. I’ve now added an additional line to my note saying that she’s near the “Simon Family Bench”, so I have great hopes of needing to search less next visit.

We grabbed lunch at a Greek restaurant named “Greek Cuisine”; Jeff and I liked it but Diane was not impressed. And then it was off to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts – Jeff wanted to see the mummy and other ancient art, and Diane and I wanted to see the Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France which had opened on Saturday. We had a little over an hour, which was just about enough time for the exhibit – I wouldn’t mind seeing it again, but I don’t think I missed much.

Our niece wanted to show us her apartment, so that was our next stop; it’s very nicely furnished and she was a gracious host – but she only was able to take an hour out of her work day before telling us “goodbye”.

And then it was time to say “goodbye” to Jeff; he’s flying out early tomorrow and wanted to see a Tulane friend who lives in Richmond, so we crossed the James and dropped him off before returning to my brother’s house to dry off and pack. Our feet were wet, but we seem to have survived.

Tomorrow, we are off to New York City for the next phase of our trip.

All paintings from Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts through July 31, 2022. In order:

  • The Ten Cent Breakfast – Willard Leroy Metcalf
  • The Sketchers, 1913 – John Singer Sargent
  • Lighthouse at St. Malo – Maurice Pendergast
  • The Birthday Party – John Singer Sargent
  • Le Pont des Arts, 1907 – Edward Hopper
  • The Young Sabot Maker, 1895 – Henry Ossawa Tanner
  • L'Apertif – William J. Glackens