2008 New York

1-31-08

We have been trying for several months to get to NYC. We had an eleven day trip planned for Xmas, but the leasor plans changed and we lost the apartment. We were going to pay about $90 per day.

The sublet we got for this trip went up on Craig's list on a Tuesday and we agreed to rent the aparmtent the following Thursday night, sight unseen. The renter wanted the $1850 rent on Friday as she was leaving town the following Tuesday. The rental is for the month of February. This was the first time I had ever gotten a legal sublet. By which I mean, with the landlord's knowledge and permission. He wanted all the things that a landlord would want, but we could not give him.
1. He wanted to check our credit, but we have our credit reports "blocked". We sent him a page of our investment account to prove we actually have money in the bank.
2. He wanted proof of our ID. We sent him a copy of our passports and driver's licenses.
3. He wanted references. We sent him the email address for our past two NYC sublets.

We tried to pay quick. Western Union wanted to charge $120 for the transaction. PAYPAL was to charge about $90. I ended up sending a bank wire at no cost to me and $10 to the renter.

We did the contract by FAX. She mailed us the keys.

We are using a one way rental car again-HERTZ-$125 going and $150 coming back. With tolls and gas, it will cost a little more than flying.

Hey, we carry a lot of stuff. sheets, blankets, pillows, weighing scales, food scales, extra TV with all the hookups. But, we like to make our sublets as much like home as possible.

It is a third floor walkup on West 48th and 6th. The plan is to set Nancy and all of the stuff on the sidewalk, turn in the car, walk back, and carry all the stuff up stairs while NKO stands by. We are hoping for no rain or snow on 2-1-08. However, the forecast is calling for rain.

2/1/08. We got to NYC on Friday around 5:30 p.m. and were able to park right in front of the apartment while Doug took our bags upstairs. He then returned the rental car to Hertz a few blocks away.

On Saturday, we went to the Union Square Farmers Market, which has all kinds wonderful fresh food from NY State. We also shopped at Trader Joes and Whole Foods, our favorite places, wherever we travel. We went to the ballet in the afternoon. A wonderful performance that combined ballet with modern dance, with music by Irving Berlin and another 1930's composer.

On Sunday, we went to the play "The Homecoming" by Harold Pinter. Ian McShane, a very good British actor who was in "Deadwood" on HBO and played "Lovejoy" on the BBC series of the same name was one of the main characters in the play. It was an excellent play, but a bit quirky. After the play, on the street, someone asked us if we wanted to be in the audience the next morning for the "Mike and Julie Show" on Fox Network. It is a Fox morning show that competes with the "Today" show.

The next morning we got up early and went to the live broadcast of "Mike and Julie." They fed us a free breakfast and coffee. That made Doug happy! They had some unusual dogs from the Westminister Dog Show on as well as a young woman who was a transgender and now lives her life as a boy. Her mother was on the show as well-very interesting. After we got back to the apartment, Doug got word his brother had died in NC. We knew it would be soon as he was very sick, but it is always unexpected when it happens. Doug rented a car and drove back to NC. I stayed in NYC as there was little I could do back home.

Our NYC apartment is in a very good location-48th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenue. We are close to everything, including the subway. We have two small bedrooms and one bath and a small kitchen, and a nice size living room. We face the back and the apartment is quiet.

On Monday morning, I got up and went to see about stand-by tickets to the TV show "The View." I got into the show and had a good time. The show tapes live at 11:00 a.m. Sheryl Crow, the singer, was on the show and I got a free copy of her latest CD as a member of the audience. It was fun to be right there as Whoppi Goldberg, Joy Baher, Elizabeth Hasselbeck and Sherry Shepard dished about politics. Barbara Walters was in LA and not on the show that day.

On Wednesday, I went to see the play "August-Osage County." It is one of the best plays I have seen-so powerful and dramatic. A huge cast from the Steppenwolf Theatre Company out of Chicago and every cast member was terrific. The play is 3 1/2 hours long and I was entranced the whole time and did not want it to end!

On Thursday morning, I got up early (6:30 a.m.) and went 1/2 block away to watch the "Today" show at Rockefeller Center. I got right up to where the cameras were and it was not very crowded. When Al Roker came out to see all of us waiting in the cold, he came around and shook our hands. He really is a nice guy! I don't know if I actually got on camera, but it was fun to be there. I actually hope I didn't get on camera as I looked pretty bad at that hour of the morning as I didn't take much time to make myself look pretty!

On Friday, I went to see the play "Crimes of the Heart," at the Roundabout Theatre, a revival directed by the famous actress, Kathleen Turner. Not as good as the other plays I've seen, but for $21.50 for the ticket and a good orchestra seat, I'm not complaining.

2/10/08. Doug returned from Beulaville. He came back with a cold, but slept well his first night back and rested up after a busy week with family. On Monday, we went to a couple of art galleries that were showcasing "dog" paintings. With the Westminister Dog Show in town for the week, there are lots of dog enthusiasts in the city. We didn't even know there are several renowned dog painters! The gallery exhibits were interesting. On Monday evening, we attended a gala at Lincoln Center for the ballet. There was a roster of famous ballet performers, mostly from Russia, that appeared in several different dance sequences. It was so interesting and beautiful. The Bolshoi Ballet Company and dancers from Kiev, Vienna, Munnich, and other European cities were represented. A big Russian bank financed the gala and it is held every year in different cities, including NY.

2/14/08. We have had a nice week. We went to the NYC Ballet again last night. A new program that included dances and music by Leonard Bernstein (West Side Story), Jerome Robbins (Irving Berlin music) and George Balanchine (Charles Ives music). There was even singing in the various dance sequences. We went to Carnegie Hall a couple of nights ago to listen to students from the Curtis Institute of Music conducted by the new director the NY Philharmonic, beginning in 2009. He is a very young man, a native New Yorker and a graduate of Curtis Institute. His mother plays violin for the NY Philharmonic so he will be conducting his own mother when he takes on his new role next year. We tried to get cheap tickets to a matinee (play) yesterday, but were not able to. I went shopping at Macy's. I have found some good deals on clothes. Everything is drastically marked down-75% off. We had dinner at Whole Foods tonight for our Valentines dinner.

2/17/08. We have had a busy weekend. Friday night we went to Carnegie Hall to hear a multimedia event concert by the St. Louis Symphony. The program was music by a French composer named Olivier Messiaen. We didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be very modern music, the kind we don't like. The sounds from the orchestra were short, shrill, screeching, sounds. There was a lecture before the the symphony was to begin and we got an education about Messiaen and his music. He was trying to marry music and color, however, that is done! It was good we didn't have to sit through the entire 80 minute symphony because the 30 minute introduction to the music was quite enough for us. We stopped by a neat little restaurant on the way home tucked inside the Meridien Hotel. It is called the Burger Joint. The only thing on the menu is hamburgers and french fries. They were very good!

We took the subway to Astoria-Queens to eat at a Greek diner. This area is known for good Greek food. We had a great lunch at the Neptune Diner. We also shopped at a Greek grocery store.

On Saturday afternoon, I went to see "Come Back Little Sheba" with S. Epatha Merkerson (from Law & Order on TV). It is a revival of the original play done in the 1950's with Shirley Booth in the lead. It was a very good play. After the play, they had a Q&A with a couple of the actors. S. Epatha was one of them and since she has the lead in the play, there were lots of questions directed to her. Those of us who wanted to stay for the Q&A moved right up front in the orchestra section and had the opportunity to have direct contact with the actors. I even asked Epatha a question. She was very nice and answered the question directly to me as I was sitting right in front of her in the second row. Doug went to see "August-Osage County, which I saw and mentioned in this post previously.

Saturday night we decided to go to a jazz concert with Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center, or so we thought. We got to Lincoln Center and found out the performance was about 10 blocks away at the Time Warner Building. We hopped into a cab (first ride in a long time) and went there. We then found out the tickets were $60 instead of the $20 we thought we saw in the paper. We then took a bus back to Lincoln Center to see if we could get ballet tickets for the evening. They were sold out, even for standing tickets. We then tried to get tickets for the opera Carmen and it was sold out. All of this was done in about 20 minutes time prior to 8:00 p.m. performances. We are definitely running/walking off some pounds and enjoying some good food!

Today, we went to church at Middle Collegiate Church on Second Avenue, the church we belonged to when we lived in NYC. It is such a great church with so much diversity. Instead of a sermon today, they had a dance performance and a reading accompanied by classical music. After church, we rushed around to see a few co-op open houses. We wanted to see what you can get for $500,000 these days in NYC and it is not a lot-maybe 600-700 sq.ft. At one point, we were getting ready to board a bus, but at the last minute Doug boarded a different bus and I didn't see him. I looked on the bus I was going to board and didn't see him so I didn't board and stood at the bus stop wondering what happened to him. He rode the bus he boarded one stop, got off, and walked back to me. You can truly get lost or lose someone very easily in NYC! We stopped at Zabars on the upper West Side this afternoon and got some good groceries. The weather is still cool here and overcast. Definitely not NC weather.

2/19/08. Today, we went to the Metropolitan Museum to see our favorite paintings. We had lunch at Junior's at Grand Central Station. Yesterday, we met with Doug's niece and her husband and child-Nancy, Duff, Nola. We met them at the Natural History Museum, which they toured. Doug and I went to the NYC Historical Museum, which had an exhibit of bird paintings by Audobon. They even had the sound the bird makes in front of each picture, which made it fun. We then took a bus to Rockefellar Center and watched the ice skaters. It was a rainy day and not great for ice skating. We had lunch at a deli in Rockefellar Center and enjoyed catching up with each other. Nancy, Duff and Nola live in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Tonight, we are going to a free music concert at Carnegie Hall. NYC does have a lot of entertainment and sometimes it is free!

2/20/08. We enjoyed the free concert at Carnegie Hall last night. Mannus College orchestra students played, as well as a famous Russian pianist who is a staff member at the school. When we got home around 10:00, one of our neighbors was in the hallway waiting for the fire department. He said his carbon monoxide alarm had gone off. A few minutes later, the firemen arrived and went to each apartment with a carbon monoxide reader to determine if there was a problem. They said they thought there had been a problem with the boiler in the building. They told us the reading was a little high and to open a window. It was freezing cold out, but we complied. They apparently turned off the boiler because we had no heat in our radiators throughout the night. But, by 9:00 a.m. this morning, the heat was on and everything seemed to be back to normal. We would hate to have a fire in our building as all the windows have grates on them and there is not a fire escape that would be handy for us to use as we face into a deep hole outside where the air ducts for the building are located. We would have to run quickly down two flights of stairs to get out. Apartment living in Manhattan is always unique, but worth it to be in the best city in the world! We had lunch at our favorite Japanest restaurant called Sapporo on 49th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue. We like the chicken curry dish with rice and miso soup. We had hoped to see a matinee today on Broadway, but the musical we wanted to see did not have a matinee. Doug went to a movie and I went shopping at Zabars and Whole Foods for some goodies for our frig. A favorite actor of ours, Eddie Izzard (he stars in a show on FX called "The Richs") is doing a comedy routine every night this month at a small theatre in the East Village. We hope to go see him one of these nights. His performance is at 10:30 p.m. Maybe tonight.

2/21/08. Last night we went to see a play called "Passing Strange." It is a new musical written and performed by a guy called "Stew." It is primarily an African American cast and is the story of Stew's journey on becoming a rock and roll artist. He grew up in a middle class family in LA, then moved to Amsterdam and Berlin. It is in previews and opens next week. The show was good, but the music was very loud with numerous loudspeakers situated throughout the theatre. Today, I went to see a free preview showing of the movie "Bonneville" with Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, and Joan Allen. It is a road trip movie taken by three older women who have a good time in an old bonneville convertible car.

2/23/08. We went to see Eddie Izzard, the comedian and actor (The Rich's on FX channel) on Thursday evening. He does a stand up comedy routine that is quite interesting, but way too long. He is British and enjoys directing humor at Americans. But, he has a rambling style that wears thin after about an hour. However, he entertained us for two hours. The show started at 10:30 and was not over until 12:15 a.m. The younger people at the show seemed to be into it, but us old folks were ready to go home about 11:00 p.m.! Last night, we went to the NY City Ballet at Lincoln Center. It was classical dances by George Ballenchine and beautiful to watch. We had snow yesterday, the third time since we have been here that we have had snow. It turned to slush overnight, although there is still some snow in Central Park.

2/26/08. Saturday afternoon, we went shopping on the upper West Side at Zabars, one of our favorite grocery stores. Doug went to another ballet. Saturday night, we went to a classical concert at Carnegie Hall, in a small venue connected to Carnegie Hall called Weill Hall that holds about 450 people. It is a nice place to listen to music. An Associate Violin professor from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC coordinates a concert each year at Carnegie Hall with some other musicians he plays with throughout the year. In fact, they even do concerts in some small Eastern NC cities not too far from Beulaville. The music was wondferful as well as the caliber of the pianist, violinists and cello players. We didn't see anyone from NC, other than the ECU professor, but we had fun!

On Sunday, we met Caroline, Doug's cousin Martha's daughter for lunch and a play. Caroline lives in Brooklyn and works for Martha Stewart's company as a designer. We had lunch at a favorite restaurant in the East Village called Veselka. They have the best mushroom/barley soup and grilled cheese sandwich with tomato on challah bread. We went to see "In the Heights," about Latinos who live in Washington Heights, a section of NYC where they actually live. It is a musical and the dance and music were primarily rap and hip/hop. It was like watching a modern day "West Side Story." It is slated to become the next "Rent," a muscial about young folks who live on the lower east side. "Rent" is closing on Broadway very soon. Caroline had never been to a Broadway play and she enjoyed it a lot. It is a very good play and we were able to get tickets for only $21.50. Of course, our seats were "in the heights" in the balcony, but we had no trouble seeing the play and it was nice to see it from above.

On Monday, we had lunch in the Bronx at our favorite Italian restaurant, Dominicks, on Arthur Avenue. This section of the Bronx is very Italian and is where Dion and the Belmonts (for those old enough to remember this singing group), got their start singing on street corners. Nancy's friend, Maureen, who lives in Connecticut, went with us and we had a good time. We stopped in a good Italian bakery for dessert before heading back to Manhattan via bus and subway.

On Tuesday, we went to Chinatown for "dim sum" for lunch at a local restaurant. When you eat "dim sum," the waitresses come around with carts which have different kinds of Asian dishes, like boiled shrimp dumplings, mussels in a sauce, fried seseme balls, tofu and other things we may not be familiar with. You stop the cart if you see something you like and the waitress serves it to you and adds it to your bill. When you are finished, a waiter adds up your bill and you pay. You really don't know how much you have spent as you go along, but it is fun to try so many different things. Our bill was only $26, not bad for a good lunch. Also, you sit at a big table with other folks. We were the only non-Asians in the restaurant and it was a huge restaurant. We sat with four women who only spoke Chinese or some othe dialect, but they were real nice and we had a good time. Also, there were big screen TV's with Asian soap operas playing, which were fun to watch. We walked back through Little Italy, which has pretty much been taken over by Asians. In fact, all of Manhattan seems to be taken over by Europeans and Asians. With the US dollar so weak against other currencies, foreigners can better afford Manhattan than Americans! After lunch , we stopped at our favorite coffee shop for dessert and coffee, Cafe Roma, in Little Italy. They make the best cannoli's and Italian cheesecake. We have been enjoying the food in NYC, but we also have been doing a LOT of walking so we are at least maintaining our weight, if not losing some pounds.

Doug went to the opera tonight to see Othello. He had tried to see it last week, but it was sold out. I tried to see a play that was sold out. I think we have been to most of the plays we want to see before heading home. However, Doug has one more opera to see on Thursday evening, a new one that opens Thursday night, called Peter Grimes. Stay tuned for the exciting finale to our NYC trip.

The finale of our trip came on Wednesday 2/27. We decided to head home as we had seen most all the plays, opera and music concerts we wanted to see. We got up early and took the subway to Zabars grocery store to get some goodies to bring home. Then, we went to the Metropolitan Museum to see a Corbet exhibit. It was wonderful. Then, we headed back to the apartment and Doug went to get our rental car. We packed up the car with more bags than we came with and drove to North Carolina. We had a great time in NYC and will miss the hustle and bustle of the city and all there is to do. But, we'll be back.

Notes on the costs:

Groceries and eating out only cost 2 or 3 hundred dollars more the at home.

For all of the above events, we only spent about $700 in admissions.

The place was only $1,850 including utilities for the month.

Round trip by rental car to NYC including tolls and gas is about $200.

The METRO pass for the subways and buses for a month is $76.00.

In total, we spent about $3,500 more than a month at home.


We are now planning to drive to Las Vegas in April and spend a couple of months there. Check the blog site next month for our adventures in LV.