Quick NYC Triplet!

Mom and I took a triplet - three days sort of - to NYC - sort of. Here's the scoop for those interested.

We headed out Monday afternoon, driving to Kingston. That is, according to my GPS, a 3.5 hour drive. Unfortunately, the whole trip down was in the rain - with occasional dry patches. And in the dark - even though we got out at 2 pm, the sky was almost as dark as night. Not fun.

"Why Kingston?", a few of you may ask. My brother and sister-in-law live there. We arrived in time to glimpse said sister-in-law as she went off to rehearse for a concert (she plays cello). Dinner was yummy beef stew, biscuits and salad. Yay!

Poor mom did not have a comfortable night. She poked her head into the room where I was staying at 10 in the morning saying that she had frozen all night. Sadly she didn't wake me when she first discovered her chilled state. I am sure we could have rectified it. I got up and eventually helped my brother with stringing some festive Christmas lights in a magnolia tree in the front yard. This entailed climbing ladders and flinging lights! Yay light flinging!

We had a small repast of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before mom and I hit the road to go into NYC. The GPS said 1.5 hours, but I was banking on 2 hours. We only hit a small bottle neck of traffic on the journey, where the highway turned into a road with stoplights and narrowed to one lane briefly. Not to terrible for getting into NY. I was a little taken aback that it cost $13 to drive through the tunnel! Eeek! Next mission, find the theatre where Kristen was performing. And find it we did, actually circling around the area a few times, looking for it and looking for parking. I was vainly hoping for free, street parking, but that didn't happen. We ended up in a parking lot that had elevators for the cars. Scary!

The parking place was about a block from the theatre, which we visited briefly. I was a smidge concerned about how tickets worked, since all I had was a receipt from my online purchase. Turned out I didn't even need that - just my last name, which I keep with me most of the time. Phew! Mom and I spent a few minutes looking at the gift shop of a museum which is currently homeless - Dahesh? A Lebonese man's collection that was spirited out of Lebanon back in the 70s. We didn't end up buying anything. Yay! One card there cost $7!

It was 3:30 pm and the show wasn't until 8. Mom doesn't really like to walk much, which in NYC makes life a bit challenging. At one point she actually admitted that she could no longer imagine living in NYC. Sad moment. We did walk into Greenwich Village looking for someplace to hang out for a couple of hours. It turned out that Kristen's cast had been called in for a pre-show rehearsal, so I hoped for a get together with her before the performance. I scanned our vicinity both with my eyes and with my GPS - I had forgotten where to find the bars/pubs listing - turns out it was under entertainment not restaurants. Eye balls won - finding the Broome Street Bar.

Nice place! A corner bar, very comfortable inside, though the chairs are not made for multi-hour use according to mom. The host/manager was an older, long haired gentleman. Our server was quick and attentive. The owner, who we did not get to see, is a 92 year old man who has been the only owner so far! He still works two shifts a week. Anyway, we ordered some chili nachos to eat. Not bad but not great. And I ordered a pint of Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA. Does anyone want to guess how much that cost? Anyone? I was dismayed to see that it cost $8.50! Wowser! They also sold wine for the same price per glass. Something is not right with this picture. Anyway, we spent a couple of hours just hanging there. I could spend hours watching the world pass buy in NYC. Apparently the current style for women is leggings, mid to high boots and a very short skirt. Just sayin'.

Eventually we made our way out of the bar and hooked up with Kristen. She didn't have the full time to spend with us, as she had other people to hang out with who were also attending the show. She did have time to dine with us, though! We went to Reuben's Empanadas - less than a block from Broome Street Bar. Trying to keep the walking to a minimum. I guess it can be done in NYC as long as one is amenable to what is available. An empanada is an Argentinian dish that is like a calzone or pasty turnover. This place had a list of maybe 20 different kinds. Kristen had a chicken and a broccoli - mom and I shared a spinach. I wasn't very hungry, mom later didn't remember eating hers. I liked mine and will have to empanada again one day. Kristen left for her other assignation and mom and I headed to the lounge at the theatre.

I thought the lounge was pleasant. Mom sat on the sofa - in the exact middle. I guess she didn't want me joining her. Whatever. I got her a lemon tea, since I was trying to avoid caffeinating her so late. And we each got some dessert. I didn't finish my red velvet brownie. Time did pass pretty quickly while we waited for the doors to the theatre to open.

When they did, mom and I went in and chose to sit in the front row. That was there would be no one sitting in front of us, something that mom does not enjoy.

The theatre was a black box theatre, set up in a proscenium sort of way. Very small, maybe 20 feet across and maybe 12 feet deep. Most of the stage was dominated by a fake trailer as one might find in a trailer park. To the left of the stage (from the house) there were a lot of empty beer cans. Apparently when they first opened the production, the beer was free. Sadly, not the case that evening. As one review suggested, the beer might have made the show more palatable. Not that it was a bad show. Just not as awesome as it could have been. 8 dancers and Chris March in drag as Clara. I didn't know who Chris March was before learning about this production from my niece. He was on project runway and is known for his outlandish costumes. That wouldn't have been apparent to me from just seeing the show.

Kristen was our reason for going to see the show. And she got a workout! Although the choreography was not all that exciting, there was a lot of it. Dancing Spam Cans, bowling pins, Hasidic Jews etc. I guess my main problem was that there was so much potential and yet no rhyme nor reason. If they had done a more direct spoof of The Nutcracker that would have been one thing. But there were also bits tossed in from ads and from other Christmas "traditions" like from The Christmas Story (not a piece of my Christmas tradition). It was fun, just not great.

After the show, we drove Kristen uptown to her abode, letting mom see some of the Christmas lights in NY as we drove. After dropping her - and much to my and mom's chagrin, not waiting for her to get into her building (a car was looming behind us I felt) we drove back to Kingston for the night.

The next morning, I got mom up and out in a reasonable time and we toodled back to Geneva! Yay! A quick, fairly painless and somewhat fun trip! Huzzah! Pictures to follow.