Thursday==>OK my loyal and faithful readers and followers, let’s get started with an update on the status of my out-of-town friends Polly Mounts and her son Matthew, from West Palm Beach, FL, and their Big Apple Adventure ...
I am more than happy to report that yesterday they arrived at JFK basically on-time and were able to secure a taxi into the City and the driver didn’t take them on a "scenic tour" around Queens, The Bronx and Brooklyn.
By the time they got to their hotel, The Marriott Marquis @ Broadway and 45th Street, the snow had stopped but it was majorly, and I mean majorly, nasty outside. The sidewalks and crosswalks were covered in accumulated snow that was quickly turning into ice and slush.
After they got settled in I met them at their hotel and then we carefully walked back to PHC so we could do some catching up and planning and Matt could take in the view(s) of my Hell’s Kitchen ‘hood from my 41st floor apartment.
As I said, we did some much needed catching up and then began a planning session for the rest of their time in The Big Apple. They will be here until Sunday morning.
We then carefully walked over to The Port Authority Bus Terminal where we took the E train down to The World Trade Center area for a brief walk and wander session at and around Ground Zero and the under-construction Memorial Site.
When that was over we subwayed back to 42nd Street and split. It was around 5:00pm. They, frankly, needed a bit of rejuvenating time since they had been up since around 4:00am.
At 8:00pm we gathered at one of my favorite Theater District restaurants, Joe Allen, on West 46th Street on Restaurant Row, where we had an awesome “Welcome To The Big Apple” dinner.
The pre-theatre crowd was gone so the noise level was tolerable and that was good because we still had a lot of catching up and planning to do.
It was a great ending to a very interesting day.
Now, about today ...
First of all ... it is still very cold out but it is also bright and sunny. At 11:30am it is 26º, wind chill 19º.
During the morning and early afternoon Polly and Matt will do one of those hop-on/hop-off bus tours around Manhattan. Since this is Matt’s first visit to “The City That Doesn’t Sleep” this will give him a good overview. They will do this on their own.
Then at 3:00pm I will meet up with them at their hotel and we will begin the next part of their adventure.
We will rather leisurely (and carefully) walk down to 42nd Street and then East of 42nd Street to Grand Central Station, perhaps stopping along the way for a quick visit to the New York Public Library @ 42nd and 5th Avenue. The library is on Matt’s “to-see” agenda.
After we do a tour of Grand Central Station (also on Matt’s list) we will subway downtown to The East Village for the second part of the adventure.
First we will have an early dinner at a very upscale and trendy pizza-themed restaurant, Nicoletta, at 10th Street and 2nd Avenue.
I have eaten there several times and the food and atmosphere is great.
Then, it will be time for the climax of the day, and the reason Polly and Matt are in the Big Apple ...
The Off Broadway show ...
8:00==>BLIND ANGELS - “A news reporter is taken prisoner by a group of cosmopolitan, integrated, successful, secular Muslims who are embarking on a terrorist attack. He has long relationships with two of his three ‘hosts’--one of them is his ex-fiancee and the other was his college roommate.” (Off Broadway - full price ticket)
The playwright is our mutual friend Dick Brukenfeld, a former reporter for the Boston Globe and Lowell Sun who was also a theater critic for the Village Voice for six years.
This is the Opening Night and the World Premiere. Polly and I saw a reading of the play here in NYC back on September 14, 2012, and we liked it a lot and thought it really had potential.
It is playing at the Theatre for the New City in The East Village, has a running time for 1:30, with intermission, and runs through March 2nd.
I feel rather certain Dick and his wife Mimi will ask us to join them for the after-party.
So ... my loyal and faithful readers and followers, I hope you will agree with me that this looks like a pretty AWESOME Day Two for Polly and Matt.
STAY WARM EVERYONE!!
Yesterday’s Pedometer mileage==>5.76 miles (or, 12,599 steps)
Total mileage for 2014==>103.24 miles (average 2.87 miles per day)
Billi Pod
“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”
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