New York City and Surrounds: November 7-15, 2018

View of the Hudson River from the High Line

We took a short trip to New York City to catch up with friends and family. We arrived to beautiful, fall weather for strolling the High Line.

Between arriving and departing, we went to plays, shopped, ate at great restaurants, we visited with friends and Dan's daughter Tara.

We left Sacramento on the red eye arriving at the Hyatt Centric Hotel (Times Square) around 8:30am on Nov 7. Fortunately, our hotel allowed us to check in permitting us to get a few hours sleep before the absorbing matinee performance of "Mother of the Maid" with Glenn Close at Public Theater in Greenwich Village. Not only was the play wonderful, but this was the first time for me to be so close to a truly famous person since I was 16 and saw Manolito from the High Chaparral TV show ride his horse in the Rose Parade. Not the best comparison but that's all I've got.

On one evening we met up with our friend and Dan's former co-worker Medo (real name Medea) whom we met in Tbilisi, Georgia. Medo is presently working on her masters in law. Dinner was at a Georgian restaurant (Oda House at 76 Avenue B), where we savored some of our favorite Georgian specialties like khachapuri and khinkali.

Friday night we attended the musical "Once on This Island" with Tara and her significant other George. This wasn't my favorite play. Even though it has won lots of awards, I thought the music was too loud to hear the words that were being sung making it difficult to follow the storyline.

Saturday, we met George and Tara in Queens for lunch at a Nepali restaurant, HimalayanYak (72-20 Roosevelt Ave, Jackson Heights) and then she drove us to Connecticut for a weekend visit with Dan's cousin Gary Golding.

Another of Dan's cousins, Lance Golding, made a last minute trip to Connecticut so he could jam with Tara and George. Saturday night and Sunday morning, Gary and Jani's house was filled with music and wonderful food.

from l-r Lance, Tara, George

Also there Saturday evening were Gary and Jani's son Austin, his wife Sara, and their two boys. 

Sunday afternoon Tara and George dropped us at the train station for the trip back to NYC.

Monday we visited and lunched with our friend Ann whom Dan met many years ago when he worked for the ICC. She has made NYC her home since September 2001 and she is a great source of what's going on in the city. At her suggestion, we booked the early (7:30 pm) jazz show at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at Columbus Circle. We sat at the bar, had dinner, and thoroughly enjoyed MELANIE CHARLES AND MAKE JAZZ TRILL AGAIN: THE DIASPORA. Something to remember for our next trip east.

Tuesday after a late lunch at Wolfgang's Steakhouse, we saw The Ferryman with our friends Lou and Cathi. The play was great, humorous, engrossing, and in the final scene, shocking. I'm so glad we were able to see this play.

Wednesday we trained to White Plains to meet Lou and Cathi at their friend Tony's restaurant for another wonderful meal. That evening back in the city, Dan and I saw the play Come From Away. It is a true story about the town of Gander in Newfoundland and how the population of 10,000 dealt with the sudden arrival of planes ordered to land at the nearest airport on September 11, 2001. A total of 38 planes carrying 6,579 passengers and crew landed in Gander. It is a heart warming story of Gander's generosity toward 6,579 bewildered strangers and the animals carried as cargo in those 38 planes. And, it is a musical. Another play that I'm so glad we had a chance to experience.

Between all the plays and visits with friends and family, Dan and I strolled through museums and galleries. My favorite stops were the International Center for Photography Museum in the Bowery where we saw the wonderful Eugene Richards show. Another interesting stop was Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea to see the Kyle Meyer show called Interwoven. Mr. Meyer photographed gay men in Swaziland where one third of the population is HIV positive and homosexuality is illegal. He asked each man to select a fabric to wear as a headdress for his portrait. Once back at his NY studio, Mr. Meyer weaved the textiles into the photographs to create his large format images.

The "city view" from our room at the Hyatt Centric.

While having our lunch at Pepe Giallo in Chelsea, winter suddenly arrived.

Chelsea neighborhood on Thursday afternoon outside of restaurant Pepe Giallo

Walkers on the High Line Nov 15, 2018

Despite the snow, we walked the High Line from Chelsea to the 34th St exit. When we got to 34th St, the gates to the High Line were being locked possibly because it was quite slippery up there. It was nice walking in the snow until it wasn't so nice. By the time we got back to our hotel, the accumulated snow sticking to us had soaked our gloves and everything else that wasn't waterproof.

We took the subway back to JFK for our Jet Blue flight home. Unfortunately, the snow, the first snow of the season, put a kink in our plans. Our flight was delayed twice and then canceled. We retrieved our checked bag and stood in line to check on alternatives. The only alternative was a 9:00 pm flight to San Francisco that finally took off around 1:30 am Friday morning. Fortunately, Jet Blue has free gate to gate Wifi so I booked a rental car and a motel room near SFO. We didn't get much sleep either on the plane or during our 3 hours or so at the motel. We waited for commute traffic to clear, headed east, dropped the rental car off, and retrieved our car at the Sacramento Airport. Home, finally around 3:30 pm Friday.

As usual, it's fun to go, but always good to return home.