NYC: What Is It About You?

So yesterday was my big trip to New York.  I'd been planning it a while, and Friday sat down with a couple of BuzzFeed Lists to put the finishing touches on the culinary portion of my little tour.  Initially my plan was to go to the Strand Bookstore (http://www.strandbooks.com) and get lost for an entire day in the stacks.  Then I heard, and I don't know how I missed this but I did, that Pippin had been revived on Broadway.  Pippin is, without question, my all time favorite musical.  So I knew I had to go see that.  Then I got thinking about other NY things I hadn't done, and one of them was going to the top of the Empire State Building.  So I tossed that on the list, and my plans for the day were complete.

I spent Friday night at Melissa's, as she was watching Leah for the day so I could go on my trip.  It was her usual monthly time to get Leah anyway, so I just planned to go then anyway.  I had a hard time sleeping--I was REALLY excited, so I woke up at 1, sure I'd missed the alarm and and again at 3:30.  At 3:30 I stayed awake.  When the alarm went off at 4, I got up and quickly got dressed, then headed to Union Station.  I got there about 4:45 and the train left at 5:25, so I didn't have to wait too long.

When I took Penny to NY back in the day, we discovered The Quiet Car.  There is no talking, no cell phone use, nothing in The Quiet Car.  I got into a car that wasn't the quiet car at first, and there were a couple of people behind me talking and laughing, so when the train stopped at BWI, I got up and moved ahead one car, and lo and behold, I found the quiet car.  By Baltimore, I was sound asleep, and I didn't wake up again till the conductor came through to tell us that we were in Newark and only one stop to go.  I caught my first glimpse of the new Freedom Tower and the NY skyline.

I have to be honest and say that my first few minutes in NYC were minutes of disorientation.  I had to leave Penn Station to go find the N/R lines (aka the Never and the Rarely), and when I first came out into the sunlight, I couldn't quite make out north/south and east/west.  So I went half a block in the wrong direction before heading the correct way.  I had no trouble finding the train, and since I had a vague idea of where the Strand was, I ignored the directions I had once I got to the correct subway stop, and followed my instincts.  Sure enough, there was the Strand, dead ahead!

It was almost 10, so I stopped in at a Pret a Manger just to grab a quick croissant and bottle of water.  I sat there, right across from The Strand and stared at it.  I wasn't quite ready to go in yet.  But let's face it, a croissant only last so long, so I left and went across the street and stepped inside.  The angels sang, a rainbow shone in the window, and pixies danced in a circle at my feet.

Ok, maybe not.  The main floor of the Strand looks like any other bookstore, only larger.  There were a LOT of people on that floor, and it was almost difficult to navigate.  Everything is crammed very tightly together, the width between shelves is just enough for one person.  But I saw signs for the basement, the basement where bargains live, and I rolled on down.  It was like a wonderful labyrinth of bookshelves.  You could turn down one aisle and 5 more aisles stretched out in front of you, or you could turn into one and find a dead end.  It would be impossible to look at every title--the shelves seemed 10 feet high, and books were crammed on tables and racks and shelves and every available surface.  Before too long, I had an armload, and I went to the first floor for a cart.  I traipsed around there a while, as well as the second floor, and then went up to the third floor where they have rare books.  I had to leave my bag and cart with a minder and I sat and looked through a book about apartheid, as well as some movie books and other old, fascinating books.  They were just beautiful, let me tell you.

It was after noon and I was getting hungry.  I didn't really want to carry a huge pile of books around NYC all day, but the Strand will hold your books for you and you can come back for them.  You don't even have to pay for them till you come back.  So I elected to do that.  My lunch of choice was Peanut Butter and Company.  I have long loved their peanut butter and all the different flavors they have, and I decided I would walk down there for lunch.  "just a few blocks" my directions said, but sure enough, nearly 45 minutes later, I found the place.

This is the exterior and it looks pretty good sized from outside.  Unfortunately looks are deceiving.  A good half of that space is the kitchen and front counter area. Another good bit is a small display area.  There are maybe 6 tables crammed into a very small space indeed, and if someone is sitting at one table it is practically impossible for anyone to sit behind them at the next table, to say nothing of navigating between.  There was a guy and his girlfriend at one table, and behind him was a little girl sitting with her mom, and you couldn't have gotten a piece of paper between them.

So I chose to get my lunch to go.  I didn't know where exactly I would go, but after my sandwich was wrapped and packed, I took it and walked over to a nearby building.  I thought I'd sit on the stairs, but there were benches and it turned out it was the NYU law school.  So I opened up my "Cookie Dough Surprise" sandwich and took a bite.

The angels sang, a rainbow shone in the window, and pixies danced in a circle at my feet.  Just kidding.  It was a plain ole peanut butter sandwich.  Absolutely nothing special about it at all.  I ate half of it and gave the other half to a homeless person.  It did absolutely nothing for me, and I was HUNGRY at this point.  (If I ever go back, which seems extremely unlikely, I try the PB and bacon sandwich.)  So I decided I would try BuzzFeed's recommendation for S'mac, which is only 3 blocks from the Strand.  I walked back that way via Washington Square park, where I had never been before.  I thought from the directions that it would be MAYBE a 3 minute walk from the Strand to S'mac, but in fact, it was 3 of the longest city blocks I've ever seen and it was after 1:00 by the time I got there.  I had show tickets for 2:30 and the people at S'mac were in no hurry to serve me or the people who walked in behind me, and it seemed like (and it's a good thing) they were making everything to order, and I couldn't get even an estimate of how long it would take to get a dish, so I chose to leave and head back to the train station to go back to Times Square.  (For not the first time, I was way happy not to be hauling books!)

I got up to Times Square around 2:00 and found Nuchas Empanadas, also a BuzzFeed pick.  They had a 3/$8 special, so I ordered an Argentinian, a spicy cheese, and a spinach/portabello.  I sat on a chair in a seating area they had set up and watched the newest Times Square phenomenon, cartoon characters.  They are EVERYWHERE, and they accost tourist for pictures and tips.  It was insane.

So I bit into the spicy cheese one first, I GUESS as I'm not even really sure what the heck it was, and it was ok, but not mind-blowing.  The portabello one I did not like at all.  And the Argentinian was ok too.  But I was hungry and out of time so I ate!  Then I navigated my way through the pedestrian traffic to get to the Music Box Theater.  I have no idea whatsoever if it was because it's Saturday, if it's because there are more cars, if it's because every sidewalk and building in the area seems to be under construction, if it's because of the people, but Times Square is an effing zoo.  People were literally falling off the sidewalks into the street to walk.  I was totally and completely miserable.  I HATE crowds, absolutely hate them.  I get panicky if people are pushed up around me, and sure enough it was packed.  And I don't know if it's the Bloomberg legacy, I don't know if I'm older and more tuned in, I don't know if it was spending time in Chicago where people are pretty darned nice, I don't know what it is, but it has gotten NASTY in NY.  People are outright mean and rude.  I mean, I know that's NY's reputation, but when I lived there I felt like it got better.  The city is back to being crowded, rude, pushy, dirty, the peep shows are back.  I was really kind of devastated about it.  It's not the NY I knew and loved, that's for sure.

So I got into the theater and had extremely low expectations for how the new Pippin could possibly be any good.  No Ben Vereen, I heard the words "Cirque du Soleil" whispered around me, a skinny Charlemagne, Pippin in boots, a female leading player?  Well, I fully intend to write a separate blog post about Pippin, because it blew me away.  I have been to a number of Broadway shows, a pile of national touring company productions in Boston and DC and other places, and Pippin is unlike anything I have ever seen.  I know the dialogue.  I know the songs word for word, beat for beat, and I was so entranced, I absolutely forgot to sing.  I connected with Katherine on a whole new level.  They made Granny sassier than she has ever been.  Patina Miller was nothing short of extraordinary, as was Michael James Thomas as Pippin, who fairly had sex with Corner of the Sky and sang it with a depth and intrigued that not only showed he made it his own, but also brought new meaning to what has always been my favorite song from the show. 

I am serious about organizing a trip back to NY to see Pippin for anyone who would like to go.  Drop me an email.  We can go up and back in a day, just let me know!  k a t e k o s i o r ( a t ) g m a i l ( d o t ) c o m.  A few Facebook people have indicated an interest, so I'm hopeful!

After the show, I just sat for a few minutes and then went outside and joined the autograph line.  My sister is apparently a massive Terrence Mann fan, although I had never heard of him, not being quite as much of a theater geek as she is.  Judging by the applause he received, I was in a vast minority on that one . Anyway, I wanted to get his autograph for her, but he chose not to come out.  In fact, only Pippin and Granny came out from the lead cast, and a fair number of the supporting cast came out.  So I got a few autographs and then decided to walk down to the Empire State Building for the last big deal of the day.

I've always been somewhat afraid of heights, I'll be honest.  I inherited this from my mother, who is petrified.  When I first met Mike, one of the things he told me was that there was an observatory at the top of the building where he worked, and we went up there to see Boston from 50 stories up.  It sparked something of an obsession with me.  When Penny was here, she was also terrified of heights, but I insisted she go up there.  She refused to go anywhere near the windows, screaming and laughing and I think half crying.  When I took her to NY, we went up to the top of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, but honestly she was scared there, and as the day went on and it got cloudy, we skipped the Empire State Building.  But as much as I don't like heights, I do love going up tall buildings.  This fall, I went to the top of the Hancock Tower in Chicago, which I think is 90 some stories up in the air, and for part of it you can walk outside.  So with Boston and Chicago under my belt, I figured it was time to conquer NY.  I knew from the movie Sleepless in Seattle that the observatory at the Empire State Building is outside, and I was feeling somewhat brave in that I liked being outdoors at the Hancock, so I battled my way through Times Square and managed to walk down to the ESB.  It was dark, and around 6pm, and it looked like it was pretty cloudy up there.  Sure enough when I got to the ticket desk, it said "Limited Visibility", but I didn't care, I just wanted to be up there.  

Let me tell you, going to that observatory requires just about a 5 mile hike around the building itself.  You have to go through so many cattle shoots, so many hallways and passages, it was ridiculous!  Then when you finally get to the elevator, if you're not a VIP, you have to wait for the VIP's.  And some Asian teenager gave me his camera and asked me to take a picture of him and his family, so I missed a second elevator doing a good deed, and then the ladies in front of me couldn't get their stroller folded, so I missed a third elevator to more VIP's on account of that!  AUGH!  So frustrating!!!  So I finally got up to the top around 7:00.  But oh it was worth it.  There was a pretty brisk wind up there, so the clouds had been blown away and the view was absolutely spectacular.  The noise and the dirt of the city that was so bothering me disappeared.  (The rude people remained, but I navigated them fairly easily.)  It was a gorgeous night and the sea of lights seemed to stretch forever.  I love natural beauty--oceans, trees, mountains--but I was totally in awe of that city.  It was just amazing.  I walked around quite a while, probably an hour, just gazing out, trying to orient myself.  Eventually I was able to spot the Statue of Liberty and other landmarks.  It was incredible.  All too soon, I figured I'd better get down, find some dinner, and get to the train station.

There used to be a bunch of pizza places around that area, and I did manage to find one tucked down a side street--nothing is where I seem to remember it being over there!  I tucked into some pizza.  It was lackluster by NY standards, but in comparison with all the other food I'd eaten and not enjoyed, it tasted pretty darned good.  I folded it like a pro, and ate it with grease dripping out the back, so it was pretty authentic.  But I did add that to my list of culinary disappointments on the day.  So I headed back to the train station, and on the way I found that they've added something called Broadway Bites to Greeley Square Park.  Basically it's a bunch of small little food stands crammed into this miniscule park, and you can go up and down and try trendy bites.  I paid a visit to Doughnuttery and got 6 mini Cacaoboy doughnuts, still piping hot, and a nice icy apple cider.  I sent my sister a text that read, "Fresh cider and donuts.  God bless NYC".  Not really what I associate with city food, but it was good.  I paid another visit to Red Hook Lobster Pound, and tried lobster mac n cheese (mainly because they were advertising a 1/4 pound lobster roll as a great bargain at $16--um what!?  you can get a whole lobster for that!), but it wasn't so great, and I ate the lobster and tossed the mac n cheese.  Le Sigh.

Made it back to Penn Station with about 30 minutes to spare, and had a bottle of water, discovered that my camera card was having issues (clearly not true given that you are looking at pictures and those of you on Facebook have seen all my pictures!), so I gave up.  I played Sudoku until they called the train, got on the Quiet car, and after a brief scuffle with a cell phone user in Trenton (well, actually the guy behind me told that guy to shut up so I didn't have to), I fell asleep and didn't wake up till BWI.  We got back to Union Station right on time at 12:29, which means I took 2 Amtrak trains without incident, something of a damned miracle!  

What about my books, you ask?

I made an executive decision to ditch the books.  First of all, I picked out nearly $150 in books, and I was paying for this trip out of money I made from selling my freezer this week, which was $160.  It seemed irresponsible.  But also, as I considered whether to go back to the Strand or go to the Empire State Building, I had a good hard think about what titles I had picked out, and I couldn't think of a single one.  Not one.  I could think of what a couple of them were about, but not what they were.  So it seemed that I probably didn't need them.  I felt badly that the Strand staff was holding them and would have to re-shelve them, but I have reasoned that this probably happens quite a bit.  So I didn't do it.  Instead, I bought my admission to the ESB and got a program from Pippin, plus I got a few souvenirs for Leah, who is presently obsessed with New York City, for reasons I can't quite understand, but whatever!

So I got back to the car and drove home, and was back by 1:30 this morning.  The cats could scarcely believe their eyes and curled up right next to me and we slept quite happily till 7:00 when they announced it was breakfast time.  So I got up, did some laundry, went to church, and now have my niece's birthday party and choir practice to attend.  In short, back to usual.  But what a lovely retreat it was, and how happy I am that I can tick that one off the list!!