I’d like to speak to the manager!!!
Day 3:
The best part of being on vacation is getting to sleep late. We typically have such late nights that we rarely start the day early. It felt nice at 8:30 to turn over and go back to sleep.
We finally got our day started at 11:30. We had a 1:00 lunch reservation so we needed to get up, to have time to stop for coffee and club soda. There is a Starbucks and a McDonald’s about 20 feet from our hotel. What more could a person want.
We got our morning libations and headed south in a cab to SOHO to have lunch at Balthazar. Balthazar is the restaurant Adam and I ever went to that wasn’t a diner in our neighborhood. One that first trip, we got chicken liver mousse, and steak tartare. Both are part of our restaurant favorites whenever we eat out. We also have them at home occasionally when Adam is feeling adventurous when he cooks. His version of both are great.
Balthazar is great, but the tables are SUPER close together. The kind where you have to pull your table out so that one of us can go in. I always sit on the outside, since I usually don’t fit in the tight space and I get super claustrophobic. We got lucky today, we were on the outside table, next to the window. However, it was still tight. Tight enough to admire the gentleman’s Rolex next to us. I love watches, and I have to admit, it was very pretty. And the table that replaced them one of the girls had an engagement ring the size of Texas. The tables were also so close that I felt like I was getting intimate with the super cute server, who kept reaching around me to pour water and wine.
Lunch consisted of chicken liver mousse, shrimp cocktail, frisée salad, and French onion soup for me. We then split a chicken club with fries for our entrée. I have to admit, that by the time the club came, I was stuffed so I picked at the fries and enjoyed the last of the wine.
After lunch we walked across to Hudson Street. It was a perfect day in NYC. Bright blue sky, and warm, but not hot. Not quite perhaps warm enough for shorts, but you definitely didn’t need a jacket.
We took our time walking as my right knee is in the throws of needing surgery. It’s not quite there yet, but the time is fast approaching. I have to take it slow, and not push it. I’d like to keep away from the doctor for at least another year.
When we got to Hudson, we hailed a cab and headed up town to the Whitney Museum of American Art. Neither Adam, nor myself had ever been and we thought it would be a great way to spend the afternoon. We started on the top floor with, as we were instructed to do, with a stop at the coffee shop, for a soda water. We grabbed a table outside on the patio to enjoy the view of the city scape.
We were sitting there, when we were approached to take a photo of a man with a very big, very expensive camera. I stood up to do and he kept speaking to me in a very thick German accent. I had no idea what he was saying. After he handed the camera back to me, he back to talk to us. I could only make out about every third word, but I did understand that before he retired he worked as a gas man installing pipes. He was concerned about the fact that NYC infrastructure is over 100 years old. He then perched his leg up on the railing so his crotch was somewhat in Adam’s face and begin to talk about how you need to have big hands if you want work with pipes.
I was sitting there watching the interaction Adam and the old man (probably in his mid 70’s) and I could see Adam getting more and more uncomfortable. I kind of found of funny, because Adam hates talking to strangers. When the man left to grab his glasses Adam turned to me and tersely said, “Save me.” I laughed and stood up. And we told the man to have a great afternoon and we started our tour of the museum.
It’s a wide variety of modern American Art, with Warhol, Jasper Johns, Edward Hopper, Basquiat, Georgia O’Keefe, moving to really modern art with artists who were born in the 50’s that I do not know. I have to admit that I like the older stuff more than the more modern stuff, but it was amazing to see the political overtones about race, war, etc. in the creation of the different pieces.
After the Whitney, we walked The High Line. For those of you not familiar, NYC took an old elevated railway line on the west side of the city and turned it a park, that wanders up the west side. It’s full of plants and art, and many times you are walking by buildings that you can see into. There are places to sit and in the summer, people sell wares and food etc along the way. It’s a great way to get from The Village north through Chelsea.
When we got to 23rd Street, we grabbed another cab to go up to Times Square.
In Times Square, we went to The View in the Marriot Marquis. It’s the revolving restaurant and bar on the top floor. We’ve been before and what it lacks in quality it makes up for in scenery.
We took the elevator up to the 47th floor and got seated at a nice table next to the window.
Do you remember how I mentioned that Adam doesn’t like to chat with strangers. Our server was a chatty Kathy. She asked about his tattoo. She asked where we were from. She would not stop talking. Even when we were ready to order.
Finally, we ordered, and she disappeared. Adam went to wash his hands and she delivered our drinks while he was gone. Thus began a conversation about our drink choices, whether he was a chef, and what brought us to New York. We also learned that she lived in California, Las Vegas, Boston, where she would drive up to Vermont.
Finally, we were on our own to enjoy the view and look at our phones. At which point I asked Adam if he would order a club soda, since she’d conveniently forgotten the one I ordered with my drink. He did and she brought it.
15 minutes later she reappeared to ask if we wanted another drink. We ordered and at which point she cleared our empty glasses. Including the soda water she’d brought that I’d take one sip from. I was soda waterless again.
It really makes me laugh when the soda water shenanigans start.
We finally paid our check, said thank you and left to go thte theater.
Tonight was Titanique. An amazing show about Celine Dion actually being on the Titanic when it sank. It’s a laugh riot. We saw it Off Broadway three or four years ago, and it’s bigger and better on Broadway. Once again, the audience was involved right from the beginning and they never stopped laughing or engaging till curtain call.
After the show, we grabbed a cab, headed back to our hotel and now Adam is watching TV and looking at his phone and I’m about to post this and take a shower.
Tomorrow is another two show day.
I'd Like to Speak to the Manager!!! 