Winter in Manhattan Odyssey: Weekend Three

 "Many People will walk inand out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints on your heart"

                                                                                                                                                            Eleanor Roosevelt

               

from lightwerk on Flickr

         Trains, planes, and automobiles, literally to begin weekend three. I had almost decided to not go down to New York for the weekend as yet another snowstorm had hit the East coast Thursday through Friday morning.  But the storm was gone by midday, so I decided to go.  I was able to get me a seat again on a JetBlue flight and I’m beginning to like a jet-setter.  I worked til 3 on Friday afternoon, jumped on the MBTA ($2) to get to the airport.  As my office is in Copley Square, I had to take the Green line to the Red line to the Silver line, about an hour.  Headed to the gate to see that the flight was delayed about an hour.  Easy quick flight when finally enroute.  Then a bus from JFK to Grand Central (should have been $7, but when booked online came to $20 as forced to buy a roundtrip, I used the second portion another time).  I had planned on taking the MTA to the apartment but it was truly freezing so I splurged on a cab, $15.  So, $37 and 7 and a half hours to get to NYC this night.

                Greeted warmly by Everyone, and of course the puppies.  Enjoyed a glass of wine and some chat before hitting the hay at around 12:30 a.m. while Everybody else was still up.  No wonder the city never sleeps, as it seems that Everybody who lives there never does either!  No alarms set as I knew I’d never do the Central Park Health Walk as it was expected to be a frigid weekend. It proved to be true.

Original Million Dollar Quartet:
Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash, from the web

But, I did get rolling and ready, and headed out the door for the day at about 11 a.m. as I wasn’t going to waste my time on my Odyssey.  On a wicked winter weekend at home I may not have ever gotten dressed, and while those weekends are like gifts to myself as well, it felt good not to be a lazy bum wasting my precious free time.  I jumped in a cab, again, decided to splurge for the weekend on this luxury due to the cold, and headed to the Nederland Theatre on 41^st Street to enter the lottery for $30 seats to “The Million Dollar Quartet.”  Won!  Actually, Everyone in line won that day, pays to brave the cold!  It was fun chatting with the others in line, helped to take our minds off how cold we were.

Bar @ Esca, from their website

              Had a couple of hours before the show, so decided to treat myself to a good lunch.  Off to Esca (9^th Ave and 43 St), hadn’t been there since K left.  New faces, but a few friends left, the Sommelier, and Chef K.  As always, I had a tremendous meal.  Chef Dave Pasternak is a true genius when it comes to food.   I started with a lovely glass of Prosseco and the crudo of the day (Italian style sushi).  I had never had pasta at Esca, and it’s homemade so I had the daily special with shellfish along with a great red wine.  An awesome, if not exactly cheap, lunch.

                Back to theatre, and I was lead to the front row, where I was greeted with the familiar faces of the people who had been in the lottery line with me.  Definitely worth braving the cold, front row center literally!  While this is not something to cherish in a movie theatre, I had had this experience one other time in my life.  Years ago when I brought my Girls to their first Broadway production, Les Miserables in Boston, we sat front row center.  At the end of Les Miz that day, my “Baby” turned to me and announced that was what she was going to do when she grew up.  She has never veered from that dream. 

After the show was over, I headed over to the W Hotel in Times Square.  My dear friend (who came into my life initially as a patient!) was down with a couple of Ladies to move her daughter home from Fordham.  Unfortunately, it is simply too expensive, so she had one great semester, and will finish in Boston.  (Don’t even get me started on the “generosity” of the Jesuits….).  We had a glass of wine in the oh so foo-foo cocktail lounge, where the college daughter met us.  Went up to their tiny, expensive foo-foo room so they could freshen up.



Mussels and Frites @ Flea Market Cafe
(on Tuesday nights, it's all you can eat of these!)

 Then off we went, in an SUV we could all fit in, to the East Village, to my favorite, Flea Market Cafe (Ave A between St Marks' and 9th). My landlord/roommate/now friend met us.  We had a wonderful dinner, as always, and were treated likes queens.  Had one more nightcap in Times Square with the “Girls”.

Brunch bread basket with Sarbeth's jam @ Cafe Joul

  K and I met for brunch at Café Joule (1^st Avenue between 58 and 59^th ) Sunday morning, so literally around the corner from my NYC home.   Went back to K’s place for awhile, then “home” to gather up my things, to jump in a cab to take me to 9th and 31^St to get my 6:10 pm. Megabus home.  So, trip home was 30 minutes in the cab, plus 4 and a half hours on the bus, to picked up by at South Station, total of  5 hours, and $25 (cab was $12, bus was $13).  Jury is out on what is the easiest way to travel to NYC.

These are the sites I use for tickets, etc: http://www.broadwaybox.com/; www.theatremania.com; and www.nytix.com .  (NYTix also gives great information and tips on how the different plays have lotteries, etc.  That’s how I found about the great seat I scored for “Million Dollar Quartet”.)