Sunday, October 11, 2009

So getting to the apartment in 'the Big Apple' was a bit of a strain, but once we were there - New York is sensory overload no matter what you do. Even that first night's grocery shopping seemed like an adventure.
We began our stay with a quick bus ride downtown to catch a 3-hour Circle Line boat tour of the island and bridges, taking in Statten Island, the Statue of Liberty, a mini Sydney Harbour Bridge called the Hellgate Bridge and many others. The boat cruise gave us wonderful views of many of the city buildings and landmarks, and sold really tasty hot dogs (one NY icon down and about a million to go). Back to the apartment for a quick shower & bite to eat before putting on the glad-rags and taking a big yellow cab to the Met where we saw 'The Marriage of Figaro'. The building is magnificent, and I had booked my favourite seats (front of the balcony) so we could truly appreciate the interior of the opera house whilst waiting for the curtain to go up. I am sure we should expect brilliant performances at the Met & certainly weren't disappointed. The signts and sounds danced through our heads on the way home and for days afterwards.
Thursday we decided on a walk through central park to the Guggenheim - around 2 miles - which was delightful, and almost assuaged our disappointment at finding the museum closed! A lovely Brazilian couple we met at the entrance were more disappointed as they were leaving that night, and gave us their tickets to use another day. Making the best of the day, we went down to the MoMA and had a lovely couple of hours wandering the paintings, and enjoyed a tasty lunch at the cafe inside. Another quick shower and change back at the apartment before tripping downtown to Dizzy Gillespie's 'Club CocaCola'. Glamour and style to the max in this lovely intimate room looking out onto Columbus Circle, the Manhatten skyline and a full moon - perfect setting for an evening of hot jazz. We stayed for 2 sets, firstly vocal diva Karrin Allyson, then an Aussie sax player Lisa Parrott and her ensemble. Good food and cocktails, and the company of a charming Michigan chap called Ted, whom we met in line, made this a faboulous night, and we wandered home around 1am.

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