Day 23

You may have noticed Rosie has taken a back seat in our Journey. My plan is to resurrect her in a major revision of the story (adding the semi-fictional travel element) later this summer. The ride back to Sacramento starts this morning, so maybe to add some interest to the minimal stop drive through the great mid-west corn and wheat belt of America, she may offer commentary along the way, or maybe my revisionist memory will add her later. Who knows?

(End of Day 22)
So, last night we saw Kinky Boots, music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper.  This is a modern day morality play, updated for today’s culture. Morality Plays were popular in the 15th and early 16th centuries and  presented lessons about good conduct and character. Kinky Boots teaches tolerance, acceptance and love, all wonderful qualities. It is a reminder to always look at any situation from all points of view. Walk a while in others‘ shoes.

(Back to Day 23.)
Can a morning ritual be created in just 2 mornings? I could go into the space-time continuum proof of two points forming a straight line and if repeated with the same points the line has no slope and is constant, and is expected to be repeated ad infinitum, but I won’t. Again, I walked to 50th and 3rd for bagels from Ess-a-bagel. This morning however, I stopped at Irving Farms Coffee Roasters for my morning coffee. Ess-a-Bagel is ritual, coffee is impulsive and dependent on which shop is open early. NYC’s definition of early is somewhat different than mine, but eventually the shops open. I like that balance of repetition and wild spontaneity. Lou Reed also sang about NYC – Walk on The Wild Side. I say also, because this posts’ obscure segment title is from a Bob Dylan song about NYC.

After breakfast we walked down 6th to the subway station. The avenue was closed to traffic as vendors were setting up their food and wares stands for an all day festival.

We caught the D train (so many references regarding the D train) from Bryant Park to Yankee Stadium.  Fran commented that 95% of the fans were wearing Yankee clothing. I thought that was an underestimate.  We walked up the ramps to our excellent seats behind 1st base, thanks to Fran and her Stub Hub account. (Wisely, she doesn’t let me see the credit card with Stub Hub purchases.) Our tickets included access to the Jim Beam lounge which, when we arrived was nearly empty, at least only few people were waiting for tables. Later, people were waiting in line to just enter the lounge. Yankee Stadium (the 3rd iteration of Yankee Stadiums Fran has visited)
is noted for their food selection, but the food in the lounge was a significant step above. We had roast beast sandwiches from a carving station, Fran had unlimited refills of soda and I found the only non-IPA or non-Lite beer in the place, Blue Point Toasted Lager. Brewed on Long Island it is a well balanced amber lager with very subtle hop and malt flavors. Find some and drink some, you won’t be disappointed. Trust me on this.

Well, as you no doubt know from the headline news, front page banner, the Yankees lost, as they did when we saw them in Cleveland. Being baseball fans and not necessarily Yankee fans we didn’t care. Our main man, traded from the Miami Marlins, Giancarlo Stanton, pounded the old shillelagh out of the park, just as he did in Cleveland. We were happy.

Back on the D train to Bryant Oark, we walked through the festival buying gifts for Grace and Vivian, on our way to our hotel in time for a quick shower before we headed off to Becco’s for dinner. The place was packed, until 7:30, when most of the patrons left to attend Broadway shows. The number of restaurants, bars and nightclubs along 46th, west of 8th is amazing. We could have spent weeks there trying each and every one, but tomorrow we “open at the close” of our journey.

I forgot it was Saturday night and we were walking through Times Square. What a zoo! There was so much energy and excitement, both before and after dinner. It’s a wonderland well worth the jostling and noise.