Thu 16 May - New York City, NY

We're off to Upper East Side today, to check out the Frick Collection on East 70th Street. We take the subway to Lexington and 63rd Street in peak hour as we are early as usual (the museum doesn't open until 10am). We wander back and forth on the cross streets a bit, looking for a coffee shop.

We pass many beautiful old buildings and there is clearly still a lot of old money in this area. Many of the dwellings have doormen, the streets are just a little bit cleaner here and some people just ooze of money. Lots of specialist doctor offices, including for plastic surgery and fertility clinics too.

We pass one building with lovely animal motifs carved into the stone.

We find a coffee shop called Joe on Lexington Avenue between 74th and 75th Streets after a fair bit of searching as there seem to be many more upmarket boutiques on Upper East Side than there are cafes. We sit for a while and watch the world go by - and the coffee is pretty good too.

Then we wander down to 70th Street and to the Frick Collection.

A self portrait outside the entrance with workmen delivering what we presumed is more items for exhibition.

Henry Clay Frick was a steel and coke magnate at the start of 1900's and was a millionaire by the time he was 30. Mr Frick's old residence was supposed to be nothing special according to himself, but it is truly magnificent. Only the ground floor out of 3 floors are open as a museum. There are artworks from masters like Rembrandt, Vanmeer and Turner and countless other pieces like furniture and vases. It is amazing to think that somebody could live like this, only 100 years ago and next to Central Park. And as noted, we only saw 1/3 of the building.

Strict rules again. No photos, no carrying jackets, no backpacks etc. The next 3 photos are lifted from Frick Collection's website.

The first is the "art gallery". Mr Frick always intended this huge room to display his art. The two large Veronese paintings at the end have hung here since about 1917.

This is the dining room that Di dubbed the "Gainsborough room" due to so many of his paintings hanging here.
The main lounge.
Yep, the place is fantastic and you can tell that the Frick's really lived with their art. Just Mr and Mrs Frick lived here, no one else from what we can tell, and when she died in 1931 it was bequeathed as a Museum. Wow - potential inheritors were probably a bit pissed...
After perhaps an 1 1/2 hour ooh-ing and aah-ing, we exit, cross 5th Avenue and wander into Central Park.
We were amazed about this guy who was scraping off old paint, just with a simple spatula or chisel, from this flagpole. What a job.

In The Mall of Central Park, there seem to be buskers and vendors and artists all the time. We sat for a while there on a bench and listened to these guys playing swing, including a new take on "Minnie the Moocher". We gave them a couple of dollars, they were good.

Self-portrait in Central Park looking southwest into midtown. One more time - we love this park!

We go back to the subway station at Lexington and 63rd and head back to home in Chinatown. We decided to have lunch at our little corner joint on East Broadway that does 2 types of chinese roast meat with rice for $5 (we were here on our very first night in New York City). Yummy and fantastic value. Tea is free.

We then swing by the New York Public Library further up the road to print our tickets for tonight's Broadway show that we will see. It is called "Orphans" and features Alec Baldwin.

Home for a break and around 5pm we are on our way again, refreshed and "dressed up". Well, as dressed up as we can be with our limited wardrobes.

Before the theatre, we are going for dinner. We have made a booking at a restaurant called Patzeria on 48th Street. But, as we are always early, we have time for drink before dinner next door in a Mexican bar. But, geez, it is expensive in the theatre district. We paid $20 for a margarita and a Corona, admittedly with $2+ tips that was supposed to arrive in change but somehow never did.

Anyway, at 6.15pm we are at Patzeria. Here is our table on the outside looking in as it was a nice and balmy evening.

Good food at Patzeria, as Di had veal and Hans had grilled salmon. The highlight though was probably the garlic bread which took the level of garlic to a new level. Very tasty of course but we had garlic breath for the rest of the night and into the following morning. Of note is that a 18% gratuity was already included in the check when it arrived. The infamous New York prices.

Next to our table sat 3 local ladies of various age. Between them they knew so many passers by that it became ridiculous. We chatted to them for a while and two of them said that they could see the aftermath of 9/11 from their windows. One lady was definitely not a fan of the George W Bush administration. Strong words there. Fun for us, but we then had to go.

Here is our theatre to the left called Schoenfeld Theatre on 45th Street, where there is theatre after theatre and very busy. Punters had formed long queues at outside at least 2 theaters. And no, we have no idea why. Bette Midlers one woman show "I'll eat you last" was on in the theatre next to ours, to the far left in the picture, but it was closed for tonight. We assume that Thursdays may be Bette's night off.

Again, early, so we walk across to Time Square which is 1/2 block away. A couple of pics...

Here we have taken our seats at the Schoenfeld Theatre waiting for "Orphans" to start.

High expectations...

The usher at the theatre below was a real character. Perhaps another wanna-be actor waiting to be discovered, this is "not his real job" etc.

A very funny movement with what looked like a Japanese young lady. She had gone through the entry door, had her ticket scanned, had gone up to the balcony and showed to her seat by this usher. Then another person arrived with... The same seat number. Well, this young lady was in the wrong theatre!!!???

Of course, the usher is making a big song and dance about it after she left, and we, the punters, are yelling out jokes to him... "Hey, check the theatre.."

Unfortunately, due to low light and the usher moving around all the time, the photo is a bit blurry.

Well, the play starts. Only 3 male actors, Alec Baldwin, Ben Foster and Tom Sturridge, in a play about 2 dead end kids in Philadelphia who kidnap a high rolling crim from Chicago. Guess which role Alec Baldwin played.

Quite a short play, we were out again by 10pm including intermission and a "mandatory" 10 minutes late start at 8.10pm. Pretty light hearted and unfortunately while the other two young actors were good, it looked like Alec Baldwin was running on autopilot. Lots of foul language as you would expect from a play like this.

"Orphans" was not one of the best plays that we have ever seen, but it was OK. Oh well, it was all part of the Broadway experience.

We take a few Times Square night shots as we wander to our nearest subway stop at 42nd Street / Bryant Park.

 

 

 

Empire State Building looks very patriotic at night.

A smooth trip home on the subway and even though we take some precautions walking home in the dark from East Broadway to 44 Henry Street, we haven't experienced any dodgy business so far. There seems to be some Chinese people working on something at all hours; loading and unloading, small hole in the wall eating places etc.

Long day, in bed by close to midnight. Good night.

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