Many Times On This Island

Regardless of the number of times we've been to New York City, and I've long since lost count of that number, we always manage to discover something new.  This is, of course, not surprising in a city as diverse and populated as this one is.  Nevertheless, it's heartening each time we're able to balance our desire to experience those aspects of the city that make it a family favorite year after year (though Daniel did seem, truth be told, a bit less enthusiastic during this visit to the M&M store) with new adventures.

One of the things Dana and I, in particular, truly love is when we get a chance to learn more about places we've know for years, which was just what we did this morning during a walking tour of midtown, which started in Bryant Park and ended up at Rockefeller Plaza, with stops at the New York Public Library, Grand Central Station, and St. Patrick's Cathedral, along the way.

After the completely satisfying Billy Joel concert on Saturday night, the plan for Sunday was to sleep a bit later (for our jet lagged girl, especially, but we were all a bit exhausted after our early start and full day the day before), head to Broadway and see what tickets we could get.  Since Maddie turned us on to the notion of entering lotteries several years ago, we all dutifully do so each time we come to NY, and, typically, lose.  This time, I actually "won" the lottery for Escape to Margaritaville, which meant I could claim two tickets to that show for much less than the typical price.  Since Daniel was hell bent on seeing it ever since he saw an engaging Jimmy Buffet hype it on one of the late night talk shows, I volunteered to draw the short straw and be his partner in mediocre musical crime.  This left Dana and Maddie to stake out the TKTS line in hopes of landing tickets to a show they expected to enjoy more - they opted for Bernadette Peters in Hello, Dolly!

While we all enjoyed each other's company, and our musicals certainly had entertaining moments, when we reunited for dinner and music at 6:00 at the brand new Opry City Stage - an awesome addition to the Broadway scene, we didn't have to work to spare each other's feelings regarding the musical that had been missed.   Still, some jaunty country music tunes later, we cheerfully headed back to our hotel for the night, where we watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  Daniel is convinced Butch and Sundance survived to see another day, and I was newly impressed by George Roy Hill's direction of a film I had last seen probably 35 years ago.

Yesterday we wanted to get out of the city, so I found what promised to be a wonderful brunch spot in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, and off we set.  An aborted subway ride, two cancelled lyft rides, and two changes of plans later, we finally wound up in a lyft to Brooklyn, hoping that things would start working out more smoothly once we arrived.  Luckily, that's just what happened.  The ride in was quick and lovely, and we passed Peter Luger's on the way, an institution we'd long since heard about from Mom and Dad, and one Dana immediately fixated upon for dinner.

We have spent some time in Brooklyn before, but never in this neighborhood.  First, we wandered deep into the Hassidic part of town, which made for some endlessly fascinating people watching.  Then we turned around (back to the 21st century, Dana quipped) and deep into hipsterville.

We shopped in eclectic shops, had an afternoon iced tea break in a charming coffee shop, and enjoyed the much ballyhooed street art and views of the Manhattan skyline from an unassuming park on the Bushwick/Williamsburg border.  Then we capped off the day with a delicious meal at Peter Luger's, where we all (but especially Daniel and me) fell in love with our waiter.   With Padawan powers, he determined for us what we would eat, what wine I would drink, and so forth.  He was spot on with every "suggestion."

Getting comfy after hours of walking 

The album cover search continues...

one of the many intriguing "shops" (what exactly are they selling?)

So... a full day in Brooklyn it was, until we headed back to Broadway for our 8:00 performance of the Tony nominated Once On This Island, the antidote, we hoped, for our previous day's theater choices.

Once On This Island was spectacularly rendered, though the story line left us a bit perplexed.  Were we supposed to be uplifted by the fact that our beautiful, wise, brave protagonist died for love and was turned into a tree? Hmmm.... not sure I could get on board for that one.  Still, what a show - this is the second show we saw in the Circle in the Square theater, and there is something incredibly intimate and immediate about that space.

Today we toured midtown, learned lots of cool facts about the city (such as the tallest building competition that led our beloved Chrysler building to sneakily add its famed spire and the fact that the ceiling of Grand Central is backwards, leading the shocked and dismayed owners to say that it was intentional and was supposed to be God's view of the night sky).   After the tour and before our TKTS wait for Spongebob Squarepants tickets (the possibility of which I initially fought mightily until it was nominated for 12 Tony awards, with a good chance of winning a couple), we had lunch at the newest location of Junior's, a family favorite we discovered has now opened a location in Boca Raton!!

Now we're back in the hotel for a mini-siesta before heading out for our final evening in the city.  Tomorrow we head to Atlantic City and then to Deale, NJ to spend Dana's birthday and the next couple of days at Ron's place.

Each new visit to our favorite city always leaves us with deeper admiration and love, as well as with plans for our inevitable next visit.   Dana is already anticipating the two hour walking tour of Grand Central Station he wants to take next time we're in town, and we definitely want to head back to Brooklyn for further exploration, including a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge at night.