9/30/10 Just became a member of Theatre Mania Gold Club where for an initial fee you get lots of complimentary tickets (read that you just pay for the $4.50 service charge fee) to all kinds of plays and performances (music, comedy, special events) and discounts to a lot of the major Broadway shows (though the discounts aren't any better than what I am getting on Playbill.com, another discount website). We also got two free tickets (read that no charge at all) for the Broadway show Chicago just for joining. It's fun. I am hoping we take advantage of the complimentary opportunities to get a good survey of lots of different entertainment events for really cheap while we live here. Really want to make the most of our time here especially since we are living so centrally in Manhattan.
9/27/10 So much going on, it's hard to keep up with posting all that is happening. The New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx are exceptional. So vast with so many ecosystems represented. It was a really outstanding outing for both of us.
Taking advantage of the Morgan Stanley freebies is gonna be nice...........free admission to the NYBG instead of paying $20 bucks each admission. NYBG does offer free admission on Wednesdays and between 10am and noon on Saturdays so it's not totally elitist. MS has lots of free admissions to a host of NYC landmark museums and attractions........the best part is Bob can take others for free to alot of these places so when visitors come, they too can take advantage
9/21/10 I love it that I can walk out the back exit of my apartment building, step into the 7-11 convenience store right next door and do all my banking that I can't do electronically. It's crazy convenient, hardly ever any wait and it's open 24-7!!! We kept our Seattle Credit Union account because I so believe in WSECU and their mission and with so much done electronically, it's easy to do. And now with being able to deposit checks at the V-com kiosk and get photos of the deposits, it's pretty cool. There is also a post office station just across the street, another fabulous advantage to living urban in mid-town.
9/20/10 The West Village and Lower Chelsea are so very lovely...........we love walking around those neighborhoods.It feels so European and quaint. If we were to live elsewhere in the city, I think we would probably want to live there. It's not as conveniently located as where we are now but maybe in time that won't matter as much. It would be a nice cap to our time in NYC if we did live in the west village towards the end of our stay here..................
Another good example of how this city just pulls you is just how fun it is to walk down the streets and see the greatest mix of people living their lives...........so I am walking down 47th street at around 8pm trying to find this bakery I read about and on my walk, I pass by this group of Latino men with their table and chairs set up on the sidewalk playing some very serious dominos........they are all laughing and slamming dominos and having a great time on this balmy evening and then just further down the street is a mixed race gay couple sharing a very intimate kiss. It's all just there on the street mixing it up..........I love it.
I get out and walk so much more here, partly I obviously have so much more time now to get out and do things but mostly I know there will always be something really interesting to see and so it's more fun to be out than in.
9/16/10 Okay, so WOW, I had the most seducing experience on Wednesday evening thus far. I say thus far because I am just sure there is more to come. I decided to get out for a walk around 5pm-ish because I hadn't been out all day and Bob was going to be at hot yoga til early evening anyway. So I decide to take a walk along my new love--the Hudson River, and it did not disappointment me one bit. The evening weather was perfect, the sun was still warm and there was a gentle breeze blowing. I decided to walk north and the riverfront path winds around to these very sweet small parks with lawns, chairs, fishing stools, etc, that are strung along the riverfront. Eventually the path meets up with the South Riverside Park which is absolutely heaven on such an evening. I don't think tourists either know about this part of NYC or just aren't interested to get off the main drag to check it out. So here is the really fabulous outdoor venue and walk and it's not crazy crowded or loud like so much of Manhattan can be. The river is wide and beautiful here with lots of leisure crafts, kayaks, sail boats. The sun setting on it is so beautiful and serene. There is a great open air cafe with umbrellas and tables with a good affordable menu of food, desserts, and beverages. The cafe is the starting point for Pier 1 which goes way out and in the summer they have open air concerts there. NYC really likes to party in the summer with free music and cultural events everywhere. I am quite looking forward to next summer already.
After walking a leisurely two miles up to that point, I decided to take the steps up to 72nd street and come back by way of the upper west side. Bob and I had initially thought we wanted to live around this area and while it is definitely more architectally lovelier and cleaner, it does come across with a certain sterileness that is not as appealing, at least not yet anyway, of living in Mid-town which has lots more warts but also tons more character and diversity. We are really happy with our current location. The really fun thing about coming back the way I did was being able to stop by the Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts. This is where Fashion Week is finishing up and there was a lot of activity going on, more than usual, on the plaza near the big fountain. There were lots of camera people and fans hoping to get a glimpse of all the celebrities that attend that function. The buildings and surrounding area are very cool to check out and just hang out on the steps. Lots of students from the Julliard School for the performing arts tend to be there. It's so oozing with a great energy.
I will share a weird thing I saw that was quirky and therefore appealing to me...as I was walking past 51st street parallel to the West End Highway, I see Larry Flynt's Hustler nightclub (that's not the quirky or appealing part of this story). What is the quirky thing is that it's situated in kind of warehouse district and from the outside, mainly looks like one big giant warehouse, but on top of this warehouse structure is some very fancy and overdone Greek Panthenon like look building plopped right on top of it. The building is so out of context and so weird.........I decide to go online to see if there is anything written about it.....truly that is the only reason I would ever google Larry Flynt's website. Turns out that is where the really high rollers go for a good time. It's called the Dome Room. The other thing I found out by researching this, which is way cooler, is that Jon Stewart's The Daily Show is filmed just down the block from the Hustler Club. Supposedly, JS has a sign on the window of his studio that says "If you are looking for Larry Flynt's Hustler club, it's down the block." I am going to try to figure out how to get tickets to be in the live audience because I love Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
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