New York City — day 2

Posted on May 28, 2011 by djnpub

After a great start to my trip to NYC, my second day was composed of a random walking exploration of midtown Manhattan. I began by walking up 5th Ave to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Then I went over to Rockefeller Center. I decided to go up to The Top of the Rock where I got a great panoramic view of Manhattan: Central Park to the north, and the Empire State Building to the south. It took a while to get used to the height (~66-68 floors up), but it was a great view. Being way up there on that tall building I got a new perspective on the destruction of the twin towers on 9/11. They were probably 50% taller than that building, which seemed extremely tall, and it made me have a more realistic sense of what it meant to have them collapse. I spent quite a bit of time up there, and took a lot of pictures.

After grabbing a quick bite of lunch, I decided to go to the United Nations. As I walked down there, I passed an area where they appeared to be closing streets for some sort of Turkish parade. When I finally reached the UN, it was fairly underwhelming. There were no flags up (I later learned they only fly when the general assembly is in session), and the building itself was kind of dirty and showing signs of reconstruction. I did come across a nice little plaza named for a long time director for UNICEF that provided a nice shady place to sit down and rest for a while. As I made my way back towards the hotel, I crossed a section of 3rd Ave that was closed for a street fair (or just a street market) that was kind of interesting. I bought myself a cheap NYC souvenir T-shirt.

After stopping back by the hotel, I went into the International Center of Photography, which had some interesting exhibits including some photographs from right after the dropping of the atomic bombs in Japan. After the gallery, I walked over to Bryant Park where I watched some people playing on the petanque court. There was also a guy on the street playing bucket drums … but he was way more amazing than many other people I’ve seen doing that.

I decided to grab some pizza for dinner at a place across from my hotel. I was hoping to experience a true NY pizza by having a slice. Maybe I did. It was good, but I still like by California style pizzas better than anything I’ve had out east. After dinner, I headed to the Music Box Theatre for another Broadway play that I’d gotten a ticket for at the last minute, Jerusalem, staring the noted English Shakespearean actor Mark Rylance. It was another amazing performance. My third play in three days. Making my way back to the hotel after the play I again passed through the throngs of people haning out in Times Square. Part of me wanted to hang out late into the night, but after a very full and satisfying day I went to bed and got some rest.

To be continued …

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How to Succeed

Posted on May 27, 2011 by djnpub

Following a pleasant train ride, and an enjoyable Italian meal, I spent my first evening in New York by attending my first Broadway musical on Broadway. I went to How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying starring Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette. It was at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre just on the other side of Times Square from my Hotel. It was great!

There was singing and dancing aplenty. I had seen the movie version decades ago, so I remembered the basic story. Dan Radcliffe was more than up to the task. While his voice wasn’t the strongest, he did a good job of singing and a great job of dancing. The staging and direction was very good and the whole show was a lot of fun. I have now experienced a show stopping theater moment. The best number of the show is the song near the end “The Brotherhood of Man.” It has the catchiest tune, and great dancing, and just builds with an infectious enthusiasm that made the audience erupt with applause. It just left you optimistic and happy. A great first play in New York.

As the show let out around 11:00 we poured out onto sidewalks which were unbelievably packed with people. I made my way thorough Times Square which was filled with people and throbbing despite the late hour. NY lived up to the “city that never sleeps” moniker.

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New York City — day 1

Posted on May 27, 2011 by djnpub

Making some last minute plans, I finally made my way to New York City for the long holiday weekend. It turned out to be a great vacation. Following a somewhat late night of theater in DC at the Folger Shakespeare Library, I took the Amtrak train up to Penn Station in midtown Manhattan. In doing so, I passed through Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and finally to New York, a number of which were states I’d never been in before. It was an enjoyable way to travel. Reaching my destination I made my way on foot to my hotel, which was about 2 1/2 blocks from Times Square, and a similar distance from Rockefeller Center. Even though it was a Friday afternoon the sidewalks were teeming with people. New York pedestrians seem hell bent on jaywalking, and New York drivers love their horns. The hotel was interesting, 45 stories tall, with only about 8 rooms on each floor. The room was fairly tiny, but nice; and best of all it was centrally located for my interests.

Before leaving DC I had purchased a ticket to a Broadway play for my first night, so after getting settled in and catching my breath I identified a nearby restaurant for dinner. Following a nice Italian dinner, I headed across Times Square to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre to see How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Around Times square, the sidewalks were teeming with people … so many you could hardly cross the streets because there was nowhere to get to when you got to the other side. It’s hard to imagine so many people always around this area. I eventually made it to the crowds to the theatre. It was my first Broadway musical, and I saw in on Broadway … and it was wonderful. I got out of the play around 11:00, and Times Square was even more crowded than before … absolutely packed. I went back to my hotel for some rest after a long, but very enjoyable day.

To be continued …

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Cyrano

Posted on May 26, 2011 by djnpub

Tonight I attended my last play at the Folger Theatre, Cyrano. This was sort of the first of a bunch of lasts as my time in DC is quickly drawing to a close. The play was well acted with a relatively small cast, several of them who played multiple roles. It was pretty much a basic telling of the Cyrano de Bergerac story, so no major surprises. While the time period of the play was traditional, the language of the play contained lots of American idioms, which I felt kind of took away from it. One mildly interesting aspect was in the opening scene, which takes place in a theater, cast members were spread around the audience, and the audience was lit, so it made it seem like the audience was part of the audience in the play. An entertaining evening of theater, but I wasn’t blown away.

On my walk home, I was able to take some nice night shots of the capitol as I had brought my camera along. Today was the first bad summer-type day of heat an humidity. On my walk home after 10 pm it was still 80° and 60% humidity. Yuck. Still a great scenic walk after an evening of theater.

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More unexpected fun

Posted on May 22, 2011 by djnpub

Saturday turned out to be filled with unexpected fun. After spending the morning doing some chores, I noticed some interesting clouds forming out east that looked like a good photographic opportunity. By the time I finished my laundry and got out to the mall, the clouds had moved a bit, but I still got a few photos. In walking about, I discovered that they had closed off a section of Pennsylvania Ave for a street fair celebrating Asian heritage. After checking that out for a bit I decided to head home.

Just as I was finishing taking some pictures at the navy memorial, I ran across Kathy who suggested meeting up later to tour around Old Town Alexandria. I took the metro over and we connected up for a stroll down King Street, which has a nice collection of shops and restaurants. We ended up down at the waterfront, and had a nice dinner overlooking the Potomac. After a nice dinner, and watching the prom night crowds, Kathy found a Scottish heritage store and picked up some presents. Then we stumbled across an Irish bar that had live music, so we went in and stayed through several sets of singer Pat Carroll. I didn’t get home till the wee hours, but it was an unexpectedly fun day that started out fairly plain.

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Embassy Row and the National Cathedral

Posted on April 30, 2011 by djnpub

Seeing the Washington National Cathedral has been on my list for a long time, and as time is getting short I decided to make the trek up there. Since the last time I’d been on embassy row, to an event at the British Embassy, I’d been shooed out by the police, I had pretty much avoided that part of town. But a year or so had passed, and without much planning I decided to adventure out. I walked from Dupont Circle about 2 1/4 miles up the gradual hill, past all the embassies, crossing over Rock Creek Park, past the Naval Observatory to the National Cathedral. I was a little surprised that without any pre-arrangements you could just go inside and look around. From the outside it is an impressive stone structure looking similar in style to Westminster Abbey. Inside is very beautiful with lots of high arches and stained glass. As I didn’t really plan ahead for a tour, I got there pretty late and spent less than half an hour inside. It is a very impressive church and I’m glad I got to visit it.

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Servathon 2011

Posted on April 16, 2011 by djnpub

Saturday morning I participated in Servathon 2011, a volunteer day in DC staged three times a year by Greater DC Cares. This is a major event throughout the city. Kathy had coordinated this and I was on her “team” which also included Maureen, Donna, and Tom. We ended up helping out with the Emergence Community Arts Collective (ECAC). We started by folding some fliers that some of the teams would be distributing to people’s houses, and then our team picked up trash along a one mile stretch of Georgia Ave. When Kathy picked an outside activity, she was thinking it was going to be a nice spring day. Unfortunately it was cold and rainy all morning so by the time we reached the end we were all like drowned dogs. Nevertheless, it was fun and we definitely made an improvement in the area by removing a lot of trash, all the way from Howard University up to the Metro station.

Afterward, we all went over to a restaurant by Dupont Circle and had some lunch (and tried to warm up). A fun and satisfying way to spend a Saturday, even if the weather didn’t cooperate.

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The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs

Posted on April 6, 2011 by djnpub

Tonight I saw another one-man play at Woolly Mammoth. WOW! Mike Daisey performed his play The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. For just under two hours he sat at a silver desk on a black stage with a background of linear computer-like light patterns. I really didn’t know what to expect. It started out as a humorous presentation from a techno-geek’s point of view of his (our) obsession with the latest gadgets (particularly Apple), that threaded some stories of Steve Jobs into it. The story then bounced back and forth between the tech-lover/Steve Jobs story to telling about his going to China to Shenzhen, a largely unknown city of a special economic zone, where most of the electronics in the world is produced today. He also talked about the huge Foxconn plant which employees 400,000 people and makes more than half of our electronic gadgets. It was quite moving to learn most of these things are actually hand made by workers, including some who are very young, who work long hours with very bad conditions and are basically treated like serfs. It was eye opening. I can’t recall being so moved by a piece of theater and being informed while at the same time being entertained. Woolly Mammoth has turned out to be a really great theater experience.

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An Ideal Husband

Posted on March 31, 2011 by djnpub

As the days in DC are too quickly rushing to an end, I attended another of my STC plays, Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband. The set design was beautiful, and the acting was as always superb. The main setting was almost like a elegant photograph or painting of a 19th century rich person’s hall, prominently backed by a beautiful sweeping staircase with flowers all around. The play was entertaining and well executed, but it didn’t blow me away — more the content of the play than the execution. I’d seen this once before with CalShakes, but I don’t exactly remember it. I’m going to miiss these when I can’t go to great plays 5 minutes from home.

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Live Band Karaoke

Posted on March 16, 2011 by djnpub

While crossing the mall on my way home from work tonight, I got a call from Kathy who was at the bar in Hill Country, a new Texas style restaurant in our block that just opened this week, who asked me to join her. After a drink we decided to get a table. I had how idea what to expect. It turned out to be a very fun evening. The food logistics is kind of different, where you go to various stations to pick out your food and it all gets marked on a menu card, then you go eat at your table. The big surprise was that they put us downstairs, where they have live music. Tonight, and apparently every Wednesday night, was Rock ‘n Twang Live Band Karaoke. It was just like it sounds, karaoke, except backed by this quite good live band that spanned country, to pop, to rock. There were plenty of volunteers from the crowd to keep it going for about three hours, who ranged from pretty good to bad. Then one of the restaurant staff, John, got up and did a version of Marvin Gaye’s “Lets Get It On” that was amazing. Great voice and dramatic presentation. He got a standing ovation from the crowd. I felt sorry for the guy who followed him who had done a song earlier, and was actually pretty decent, but paled in comparison. This was another one of those evenings of unexpected fun in DC. It was two day’s before Kathy’s birthday, so I got to get her started a little early.

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