Tag: East Coast 2022

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!