While I was sleeping my way through Orlando, my friend Amanda called me and asked when I was coming to New York! New York is the city where I feel exhilarated and at home, and I love Amanda and she has a spare bedroom. I booked a red-eye, arriving the Sunday of Labor Day weekend and made a reservation for brunch. I made my way to Amanda’s apartment and took a nap until 10am, we took the train down Harlem to Soloman and Sons– the Caribbean restaurant where I had made a reservation. The doors were chained shut and the guy sweeping the floors inside said they would open in half an hour. I love New York. We went to the place across the street and had a great bottomless brunch with no reservation. We met up with Anne and her husband and her baby who was just a twinkle in their eye last time I saw them. On Labor Day Amanda made me some killer French toast and then we met up with Amanda’s long time friend and my more recent friend, Micah who lives down the street.
Amanda knows the best restaurants, and once again she found a dazzling piece of New York I hadn’t been to. On Tuesday she took me to K-town (Korea town– a couple of blocks in Manhattan) and we went for an incredible dinner with an even more incredible view.
I didn’t know how there would be such a great view of the skyline from the middle of Manhattan but here it was!
Later in the week I took the advice of a blogger I follow, Adventurous Kate, and went exploring in the top of Central Park.
And while I was in the neighborhood, I stopped in at the Museum of New York City which had various exhibits about the progressiveness of my favorite city. My favorite part was a movie they played about how New York City grew– from the dutch explorers to present day.
On Friday, Amanda flew to Denver for a birthday party, but she had seen Hercules, a Disney show put on by the Public Theater in Central Park. It was raining, so we thought maybe we would have a better chance. The weather might deter the not-so-serious lottery players. Micah and I went to play our hand at the lottery. As they called out the ticket numbers I relived in my imagination what it felt like to win the Hamilton Lottery. They called numbers that were just 1 or 3 digits away from ours. I focused my attention on how I felt when I saw the Golden Princess show up as my next assignment on the Crew Self Service website, how I felt combing through the itinerary, and then they called my number! I inappropriately whooped.
This is a unique show only playing for eight days in the open air theater in Central Park. It’s a community project so all the tickets were free. It was put on as a partnership between Disney (a company with very precise persona) and the Public Theater (known for taking risks and doing experimental theater. The Public developed Hamilton before it went to Broadway; I also saw my favorite book come to life, Tiny Beautiful Things at the Public, as well as a weird interpretation of a Shakespearian play).
The leads were played by Broadway Actors (including my buddy, Roger Bart, who I met backstage when I saw The Producers in 2001) and groups from the community. I basked in the joy of seeing this combination of talent. The choreography had been simplified so everyone on stage looked good (even the kids who had bodies that were still trying to do what their brains were telling them to do). The music was Disney inspiring and the monster puppets were cool. I can’t wait to see if this production gets developed further.
While I was in the neighborhood, I took a bus up to Boston to visit my family there. I watched a very important tennis game with my Aunt Marta, and the next couple of days I spent some quality time with my Uncle Michael. We visited a quaint little seaside town called Rockport.
For a touristy town, I enjoyed walking around the shops despite my inundation of touristy ports in the Caribbean.
We picked up some lunch and had a picnic on the seaside.
The next morning we had a great time at the Aquarium before I hopped a plane back to California. I’m really grateful for the time and conversations I was able to share with my uncle.