Saturday - back into my Big Apple lifestyle

It is Saturday afternoon in The Big Apple. It is gloomy out and the Gators really kicked Kentucky’s butt, winning their Homecoming game by a score of 63-5. Bring it on Bulldogs - we will kick your butt too next Saturday!!

I have finished all of the delayed Paris Adventure postings and will now bring everyone up-to-date, so, starting with the trip from Paris back to JFK --

Wednesday - it was dark and dreary when I got up, finished packing, had my last Parisian breakfast of a croissant and coffee and was ready to head out at 9:00am. David did indeed come with me. We took the bus to the bus terminal at Gare l’Est and then walked the few short blocks to the mammoth train terminal Gare Nord. David made sure I got on the proper train headed to Charles de Gaulle airport. It was a few minutes before 10:00am.

The ride out to CDG went fine. Was at terminal 2 at 10:30am and then began long long lines starting with the check-in process (wasn't able to get an exit row), then passport control and finally a snail-paced security check-point. At all 3 locations people were very upset.

When I got to my gate at 12:15pm I remembered I hadn't gotten the Paris T-shirt that my doorman Georgie had requested. Dammit. Luckily I was able to find a place and got one in the proper size for 13 euro.

We boarded at 12:40pm and my row was full, I had an aisle seat. Just before we pushed away a guy who had an exit row aisle seat asked me if I would like to change seats with him so he could be with his friends who were seated next to me. Of course I said yes. Awesome. Thank you HP!!

We pushed back at 1:30pm and were in the air at 1:45pm. The flight itself went OK and the meal was passable. I couldn't sleep and the choice of movies pretty much sucked, so I spent the time doing crosswords and playing solitaire on the iBook.

A very nice lady was seated to my left - in her 50s, Irish, married to a college professor, lives in Milan, works for some mega-big insurance company, and was coming to NYC to make a presentation to a group of executives of another insurance company that is considering a pending merger proposal. We had a nice ongoing chat and that helped pass the time.

Not sure what time we touched down. I do know that I had my duffle, cleared passport control and customs and was at the SuperShuttle station around 4:40pm NYC time, or 10:40pm on my body clock.

OMG!! - then The Norris Travel Curse made an unexpected appearance. I was picked up around 5:00pm and I was seated up front next to the driver. I thought I was the last pickup because the van looked full. Just before we departed the driver's cellphone rang and he got into a heated argument, in Spanish, with his dispatcher.

On our way out we stopped at the new Jet Blue terminal and picked up a young couple and that began the problem. Their destination was West 188th Street, which is at the very and I mean very tip of northern Manhattan. To make matters worse, it was rush hour and the traffic was horrible in every direction.

We finally made it up to their destination. Everyone else in the van lived in the Eastside between 51st (me) and 57th Sts. and it was obvious to me that the driver hadn't wanted to pick up the last couple for this reason. Everyone, except me, was really upset and were actually yelling at the driver after he dropped the young couple off and we started the long and snail-paced ride down and across Manhattan.

Much too long story short - it was 7:10pm when I opened the door to the apartment, yes, the ride from JFK had taken 2 hours, when it usually takes between 45 minutes and 1 hour, max. Oh well, at least I was home.

Immediately went to the grocery store for breakfast stuff and fruit and then to a pizza place for 2 slices and a sausage roll. Partially unpacked.

Settled in to watch the Rays/Phillies game, fixed the pizza, ate it (ummmmmmm, so good) and then promptly fell asleep and missed the final 3 innings of the game. As you know, The Rays lost.

Woke up after midnight and then didn't crash until 3:30am NYC time. It was a very lonnnnnnnnnnng day.

Thursday - can be summarized as getting settled back in, including finishing unpacking, going through the accumulated mail, going to the laundry, going to both grocery stores to stock up hot food for the weekend and spending time on the internet working on my weekend entertainment schedule and updating the Paris Adventure postings.

Oh, when I stepped on the scales this morning I wasn't surprised to see that I had lost 5 lbs. during my Paris Adventure. Just goes to show what reduced portions and lots of walking will do.

Went to an Off-Broadway show called Peep Show Male (complimentary ticket) - “a new musical comedy set in a gay New York City go-go boy bar, features an original book by Dave McCracken and musical gems mined from the heyday of Vaudeville and Burlesque. The bar is filled with a crazy collection of regulars that really let loose, derisively ripping into each other and anyone else who crosses their neon doorway, including a young shy guy just looking for a drink and a lost newlywed straight couple from Minnesota.”

Man, was this a God-awful mess. Thank God there was an intermission because I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there. I walked the 2+ miles back to the apartment while listening to the Rays/Phillies game - way to go Rays.

Friday - spent most of the day working on bringing the Paris blog up-to-date. In the evening I saw a show at Lincoln Center with a discounted TDF ticket - Saturn Returns - “The planet Saturn's orbital return to its position at the moment of a person's birth happens every thirty years. In Saturn Returns, playwright Noah Haidle uses this phenomenon to take a look at one man - Gustin (to be played at the three different stages of his life by Robert Eli, John McMartin and James Rebhorn) - during these pivotal moments as he confronts the three women in his life (all to be played by Rosie Benton).”

This was an excellent show with good writing and terrific performances by the actors and it was nice to get back into the theater groove.

Have a show tonight, of course, and then two shows tomorrow. Will detail about them later.

Go Gators and Go Rays!!

Billi Pod
wanjr@aol.com