Today was another day where Audrey and I each went our own way for a while. Audrey went to take a tour of Lincoln Center and to see the Musuem of Modern Art (MoMA).
Audrey's view in the lobby of the Lincoln Center
I headed to a new part of Manhattan called Washington Heights. Ever since Audrey took me to see my first real musical, In the Heights, last December, I’ve been really excited about visiting the part of New York where it’s set. There’s a part in the opening song where the narrator gives directions of how to get there:
“You must take the “A” train/ Even farther than Harlem and maintain/ Get off at 181st and take the escalator”
(I promise it sounds cooler when Lin Manuel Miranda is rapping it.) Anyway, Washington Heights is a largely immigrant community, predominantly Spanish-speaking. I wanted to go, soak in the culture, enjoy the food, speak a little Spanish, and get to see where the musical that I’ve enjoyed so much is set. Even following the directions from the song, it took me a little longer than I anticipated to find the area that I was looking for, but when I did, I plopped myself down inn a little diner and ordered myself a plate of maduro(fried ripe plantains). As they cooked, I listened to the old men chattering in Spanish at the counter, the waitresses fending off their playful flirtations, the old guy crooning along to the Spanish song playing on the jukebox, and just enjoyed so many of the memories and good times that I’ve experienced in the time that I’ve been fortunate enough to be abroad. Such great memories.
A different view from Washington Heights
For lunch, I’d arranged to meet up with another friend, Luis, who was involved in Agape and graduated in May, like Jon. We went to eat at an Ecuadorian restaurant, pretty close to his office. It was so nice to catch up, just enjoying sharing what’s been happening in our lives, future plans, what we like about where we each are right now and doing a little reminiscing about things that have happened in the past couple of years as well.
After leaving Luis back in his office with the mountains of maduro that I had left over from Washington Heights, I made my way to the Empire State Building, hoping to catch a good view of the city during the day. Unfortunately, the drizzly cold from a couple days ago still hasn’t cleared up and I didn’t get to see anything because of the lack of visibility. I did, however, get to check out the New York Skyride, a hyper cheesy movie-crossed-with-motion experience flying around the city narrated by the one and only Kevin Bacon. Don’t ask.
One of many colorful walls of M&Ms in M&M World which we also visited
The lobby of the Empire State Building
I met Audrey at MoMA and we found our way down to the South Seaport area again, this time to get tickets for Dialog in the Dark to see tomorrow. We tried to lotto to see Wicked, but again the odds weren’t in our favor. We ended up getting tickets to see Other Desert Cities for tonight just a couple of minutes before it started. If Seminar last night didn’t convince me that theater could be amazing, ODCdefinitely got the job done. This one was about the conflict emerging in a family when the daughter announces that she’s planning on publishing a book about the things they’ve been through. I wish I could put into words the excellence of this experience. The writing was terrific. The set was great. The actors were incredible. A really really realllllly exceptional show.
Not sure what face to make for ODC
Since it was one of our last nights in NYC and our last night with our New York Passes, we decided to use our free game of bowling at a fancy bowling alley on Times Square. When we got there though, they told us that they can’t use our NY Passes on Thursday because of another special deal they have going on. Since we didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg to bowl, we thanked them and turned to go. But the people behind the desk started asking us where we were from and how long we were here, etc. When they found out that we were from out of town and that this was the last night we would come, they felt sooo bad (a lot worse than we did, for sure). They found us a free lane, gave us shoes, and invited us to stay. So instead of the one free game we were hoping for, we ended up getting to play six!! We had a great time (I might have enjoyed myself more than Audrey) hangin gout, refining our “technique” and laughing at each other and ourselves when we did just as poorly as usual. A fun “bonus” on our adventure. (Just for the fun of it, we totaled up our costs and expenditures on the NY Pass- we paid $130 for $258 worth of activities. Go us.) We got back to our hotel tonight a little after one and crashed.
Bowling night!