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| At The Metropolitan Opera |
DAY 1, Jan 6
Driving in from New Haven, we checked into the Garden Sonesta Hotel on East 64th St. It's a great room with ample seating and a kitchenette. The staff is gracious, happy and helpful. Since we had been sitting in the car all day, we decided to walk to Lincoln Center, about 2 miles. What we thought would be a green and easy stroll on an slow street through Central Park turned out to be a route on a fast busy street with tunnels (the dreaded Central Park tunnels that are in every murder tv series). But we arrived without incident, took a quick look at the Met's Marc Chagall murals, then headed for dinner. The Lincoln Restaurant is in Lincoln Center. Our waitress was funny. The food was outstanding (smoked short ribs with pearl faro). The show this evening was Mozart's The Magic Flute. And, it was magical. The engineering for the set simply awed me. It was a complexity of moving, turning structures, giant, giant puppets of flying birds, polar bears, serpent, and more. The Queen of the night simply shimmered with giant wings of light also controlled by puppeteers. But her voice out shown all. Five Stars!!! We did take a taxi back. LOL
DAY 2, Jan 7
We had the Pirates of Penzance at 2pm in the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College presented by the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players. The Playhouse was only a few blocks from our hotel. We decided to walk there and find breakfast along the way. Well, it was Saturday in NYC and every spot to eat had a line blocks long. That was good news for restaurants, bad news for the LaGues. Not having the patience of the Gen Y and Gen Z crowd out for brunch, we walked and walked. We did finally find a quite decent patisserie where we scoffed down 4 croissants. The play was delightful as are all the G&S. Then we made yet another country bumpkin decision to order dinner in at the hotel. Warning! Do not order from Tony's Di Napoli's Family Style restaurant.
DAY 3, Jan 8
This was my favorite day. We took a taxi to the Ganesvoort St. High Line entrance and walked the 1.1 miles down to the Whitney Museum of American Art. The High Line is a raised rail line reinvented into a beautiful, wide, art and flora filled walk way. Today we had an excellent brunch at Pastis. We dined outside and were entertained by a very well-behaved Golden Retriever (of some sort) who sat in the booth like a gentleman. I had reserved ticket at the Whitney to see the Edward Hopper show. He's been a favorite of mine and a big influence on my work since college. This show was curated to represent Hopper's focus on NYC streets and interiors. There were pieces I had not seen in person. The crowd was small enough to see each piece without disturbance.
That evening we made reservations at downtown at Fine and Rare, advertised as fine food, rare spirits and live entertainment. We were looking for live entertainment. Our choice was Cafe Carlyle where John Pizzarelli was playing. However, they were closed on Sunday. So, off we taxied to F&R where there are hundreds of spirits lining the walls. The spirits menu is a small book. Behind us were private (and viewable) lockers called "Bottle Keep". One can purchase a favorite bottle, enjoy it, tag and store it. The wine was ridiculously overpriced. The risotto was bland and the red snapper dry. The music was so very loud that we could not talk. Two different tables asked to be moved to a quieter spot after holding their ears and laughing. It was an interesting experience not to be repeated.
Photos of the trip.
