Tucson

It’s nice to be back home, but I am already thinking about the next cruise (or two) . . .

Sunday, 26 May 2013 
New York City

My cousin Helen claims that I always bring good weather when I visit New York City—and today is bright and beautiful with the clouds and rain of last night only a dim memory.

After a quiet morning Will and I head out next door to help celebrate the 100^th anniversary year of Grand Central Station.   There are no special festivities today, but the magnificent Central Hall has been spiffed up with a new coat of paint and the food court downstairs and fresh food market on the main floor are open for inspection and drooling (too bad we are on our way to lunch).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch is typical New York fare at Junior’s Deli on Shubert Alley.  Rather than join the long line of tourists waiting for a table, we head for some empty seats at the counter and enjoy fast service, good food (pastrami for me and hamburger for Will), and friendly New York conversation from Daniel, our waiter, who hails from Brooklyn.  Daniel and I reminisce about growing up in the city and in return for our conversation Will and I get the prize of extra pickles and coleslaw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This afternoon we join Helen for a matinee performance of the new musical, Far from Heaven, at Playwrights Horizons, the prestigious off-Broadway company on West 42^nd Street.  The production is still in previews and hoping to reach Broadway in the future.  The pedigree is certainly strong, with music and lyrics by the men who created the prize-winning Grey Gardens musical, and lead performances by two of the top actors of the younger theater generation, Kelli O’Hara and Steve Pasquale.  It is based on the film of the same name in which Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid play a 1950s Connecticut couple whose “ideal” suburban life is shattered by the reality of his suppressed homosexuality and her choice of turning to a Black gardener for comfort and support.  Some of the music is quite lovely, but the play itself suffers from too much dignity and taste.  The character of the husband is made particularly unpleasant and we don’t care much about the struggle he goes through and the choices he makes.  O’Hara is a spectacular singer but has to repress her natural high spirits to fit the authors’ conception of the character.  There is very little to like about the characters and the worlds they try to negotiate.  The end effect is of much honest effort but very little spirit or energy.  I’ll have to check the review in the NY Times next week to see what the experts have to say.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The after-theatre plan is ride two NYC buses across 42^nd Street and down 5^th Avenue to a small Italian restaurant near Helen’s apartment.  But this is a holiday weekend and we discover the restaurant is closed and instead head to Chat and Chew (that really is its name), owned by the same folks who own Steak Frites, a popular French Steak and Fries restaurant across the street that I have enjoyed on a previous visit to the city.

Monday, 27 May 2013 
New York City

It’s another beautiful morning in New York, so Will and I start on a walk up Madison Avenue from 42^nd to 57^th Street, admiring the expensive clothes in all the fancy boutiques on the way.  I am especially enamored of a pair of blue suede shoes in a store window (they would match perfectly my new eyeglass frames and Bulova watch).  But instead of buying, we head for Bloomingdale’s at Lexington and 49^th Street, which hasn’t changed at all since the decade or two ago when I used to haunt its precincts on all my New York visits.

 

For lunch meet Will’s nephew and his wife, Scott and Michelle, at Sarabeth’s on Park Avenue South.  Sarabeth began making strawberry jam from her mother’s old recipe in her Brooklyn apartment and then selling it at street and craft fairs.  She now has four very popular restaurants in Manhattan (including one inside Lord & Taylor’s Department Store), as well as a wide selection of home-made jams and preserves.  Dinner is a traditional New York pizza delivered to Helen’s apartment, along with salad and then chocolate babka for dessert.

It’s a good thing we took some time earlier in the day to pack up our stuff at the hotel since we have to leave at 6am to make our train to Virginia from Penn Station.