#52 Boston - Attack of the Dust Particles June 2, 2005

My friend Lisa Miller got viciously attacked by some filthy dust particles in the New York subway, her shoes melted and apparently I was in a bar fight that I do not remember anything about - I simply woke up with a disfiguring gash on my head. Bottomline: we had fun in the Big Apple!!! One-eyed Lisa eventually recovered from her ocular ailment, while I still sport the laceration on my forehead. What is a trip without battle scars, eh?

NYC welcomed us with spectacular weekend weather, temps in the upper 70s and lower 80s - after three weeks of pretty much constant rain and tenebrous skies in Boston, it was a well-deserved change. New York was, as always, amazing, dazzling, like a shot of adrenaline - jam-packed with tourists, and some folks who actually live there.

I met up with Mrs Miller this past Friday to spend a few nice days in her family's apartment on the Upper East Side (Thanks Roger and Susan!!) - we pretty much wasted no time and immediately zipped down to Rockefeller Plaza (http://www.nyctourist.com/rock_center1.htm), where we decided to take a tour of the NBC studios. I was very impressed with 30 Rock (as the NBC staff calls it) - in particular the set of "Saturday Night Live" (http://www.saturday-night-live.com/). It actually features stadium seating which was given to a cash-strapped Lorne Michaels by none other than George Steinbrenner. Apparently Michaels did not have enough pesos to support "his little show" and Steinbrenner, in a rare fit of munificence, decided to "lend" him a few rows of Yankee stadium seats. Little did he know that the "little show" would go on for more than 30 years!! Of course, the SNL family now considers the seats a good luck charm and they are never replaced (fixed, yes). Gotta keep the good juju!! After pictures were taken of us as NBC newscasters on the set of Dateline NBC, we hightailed it out of there, back to the Upper East Side, to meet up with my German friends Marion and Ulli (both teach in NYC) for a delectable meal at Lentini's, which was quite a treat.

Saturday morning, and every morning thereafter, started out with a trip to the corner-deli-cafe-gourmet-grocery-shop "Agata" - one of the lovely typical New York East Coast deli style places, where everyone who lives in the neighborhood stops in for their morning coffee and probably for their lunch as well. Agata's did welcome us every day with a primo selection of breakfast foods, even if the staff seemed to reside on Planet Spacey at times, and could only handle one coffee order at the time.

We hopped on the subway and were prepared to get into the dreadful lines for TKTS half-price tickets at Times Square (http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/) - generally the wait is at least one hour, and I recommend bringing a folding chair, and a picnic basket, maybe some wine. However, we did discover a secret that I am going to spill now to everyone in the entire universe: you only need to be in the bloody line if you want musical tickets!! (I wished someone would have told me that last year!!!) For plays, you simply go to the cash registers/exits, line up behind the one or two people there at Register 6 (Plays Only) and get your ticket. 5 Minutes, wham, bam - you are done!! Six million thank yous go out to the kind soul in line who told us this!!
This opened up our schedule big time (no kidding), so we trekked toward downtown and my favorite place in New York, the Saturday Union Square Farmers Market - you can buy anything from NY rooftop honey, "mango-on-a-stick", freshly baked pretzels, strange herbs and bad art.

The off-Broadway play "The Paris Letter", performed at the Roundabout Theater on West 46th Street, was impressive - the story of a successful Wall Street power broker, whose life and personal happiness eventually succumbs to the lie he has been living and to the desires he had repressed for decades. Tony award winners Ron Rifkin, John Glover and Michele Frank headed the remarkable cast that also included Daniel Eric Gold and Jason Butler Harner.

On Sunday, we decided to follow a recommendation from my friend Linda and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge (http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/bbridge/bbridge.html). What a wonderful thing to do!! Opened on May 24, 1883, it is truly a marvel of engineering, with its wooden caissons, a terrific view of the Manhattan Bridge to one side, and Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty to the other. And of course you have to stop by the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory located at the foot of the bridge. Just four flavors (vanilla, vanilla choc chunk, chocolate and chocolate-chocolate chunk) - but the most excellent ice cream!! We stopped for lunch in the artsy-loft district, before heading back over the bridge and then cruised through the entire length of Manhattan.

A walk through Manhattan affords a glimpse -and some stops- in many of the city's engaging neighborhoods - we passed by Tribeca, made a pit stop in trendy Soho (check out Dos Caminos - dynamite Latin food, spectacular Guacamole bar, and Ceviche to die for!!!), looked for the Olsen twins around NYU (absolute gem: Washington Mews between 5th Avenue and University Place in the Village -http://www.forgotten-ny.com/Alleys/GREENWICH%20VILLAGE/green.html - was originally used for stables servicing the expensive homes facing Washington Park; it still retains its original cobble stones, and looks as if it was plucked right out of 19th century Europe), and finally rested our weary feet in Central Park (not before stopping at Trump Tower, and Tiffany's, of course!!). http://www.centralpark.org/

All in all, a most enjoyable weekend, and of course I have to end it with a few little unusual tidbits about New York:

- When you pay for the subway's Metrocard, it asks you to "dip your credit card"
- Street Signs tell you to "curb your dog"
- Winning restaurant names include (our old favorite) "Senor Swanky's" and (new on the list) "Nancy Lee's Pig Heaven" (wonder how the pigs feel about it)
- Favorite New York Moment: Dinner at Empire Wok on Second Avenue, with a table facing the street, and within five minutes we had a sailor throwing us a rose, a dog performing tricks on command and a pretty hammered drunk trying to do the same. Gotta love it.

Back in Boston - after some more joyless weather, spring has finally forced itself onto us, and I was able to have my first nice-weather jog along the Charles River.

On the social front, I was invited to another movie preview screening, this time an absolutely phenomenal flick called "Capote" with Philip Seymour Hoffman portraying Truman Capote so vividly and to the point, that he should get two Oscars! The audience (myself included) was so absorbed by the movie that there was total silence afterward, and the discussion with director Bennett Miller went on for quite some time. The movie will come out sometime this year, so stay tuned.

OK, folks, gotta go! It is nice out, and I want to get a little walk in before it gets dark. Tomorrow is my 1-year anniversary in Boston - a year ago this Friday, I arrived at Logan airport, tired, with three monstrous suitcases and a frightened little bird.

All my love to you - miss you, please keep in touch.

pet:)