Back in the bright lights in New York City
The city is big, busy and a little confusing at first. But when you look older, friendly and like you’re from Iowa, complete strangers step up to help you.
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Tourism officials here say there are about 1.3 million people visiting New York City every week this fall. The city is well on the way to setting an all-time record of 69+ million visitors for a year. Last week, we RicheBurgers were two of them.
It was the best of a half-dozen trips I’ve made to New York since my first one in 1978. I think my wife Mary Riche enjoyed it as much as I did, which is good since it was my present to her for this past Christmas.
What she most wanted to do here was attend three of the most popular shows on Broadway this fall, and we did, seeing “Suffs,” “Left on Tenth” and “The Roommate.” Mary has written a review of those plays, along with delightfully explaining her lifelong interest in theater, and you can read that on our website Offenburger.com by clicking right here.
Iowans know that earlier this year, our basketball superstar Caitlin Clark made it on to one of the colorful, electronic billboards surrounding Times Square in New York City. Well, we RicheBurgers made it on one of them last week! The digital communications company T-Mobile was considering “selfie” photos that passersby would shoot and submit. Ours flashed on and off for several seconds for, oh, a couple minutes.
Most of you know that Mary and I have traveled a lot in our two years of marriage. Interestingly, this trip was the first one when I felt like we were being treated kindly because of our ages, 77 (me) and 76 (her). A middle-aged man got up from his seat on the subway on Friday and insisted we take it. Similar kindnesses were shown us at our elegant 120-year-old James Hotel “NoMad” (it’s on 29th at North Madison), also at restaurants and on the sidewalks.
I liked that!
We were welcomed to New York City by my Vanderbilt University classmate Henry Hecht and his wife Sally Wasserman with a fabulous dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, Union Square Café near their East Village apartment in lower Manhattan. Henry, a retired New York sportswriter and now a writing coach, and Sally, an attorney working in her family’s property management company, have long given me a window on life in New York.
The four of us opened another window on life here during our dinner, when our waitress was Alyssa Melder. She is living a classic story of waiting tables at a fine New York restaurant while she pursues her first love – acting in live theater both in New York City and around the country. She’s been doing that since she was in fifth grade in her hometown of Billings, Montana. It was fascinating hearing how she balances her acting opportunities, travel and commitments at the restaurant. We hope to be following her career in years to come.
Dinner with our friends Henry Hecht and Sally Wasserman.
Henry and Sally were preparing to spend the second half of their week with their extended family celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which starts the High Holy Days. We two visiting Christians felt like we had a better understanding of the many Jews we saw later in the week going to and coming from their services.
Other things we learned about New York City:
--Early October is a perfect time to visit here. The weather was very mild. We never needed more than a light sweater or jacket.
--I can’t imagine how fun this current week is going to be in the city, with both the New York Yankees and the New York Mets playing in Major League Baseball’s playoffs.
--If you push me to identify any one thing that impressed me the most during our visit, it was something that was absolutely free – we walked the mile across the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Quick research tells me 32,000 people do that every day, and they come from around the world to do so. Seeing the Manhattan skyline as you approach it is thrilling. I’d rate the Brooklyn Bridge experience right up with riding my bicycle across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, riding my bicycle up Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, and being in the grandstand twice when my alma mater Vanderbilt University’s baseball stadium won national titles in the College World Series in Omaha.
Starting across the Brooklyn Btidge toward Manhattan.
Mary Riche stopped on our walk across the Brooklyn Bridge for a chat with these two congenial New York City police officers.
--Mia Farrow is 79 years old! How did that happen? Mary Riche, in her column that I’ve linked you to, tells us more about one of the great actresses of our time and the show in which we saw her in a starring role.
--The $8 billion redevelopment of historic LaGuardia Airport in Queens is not quite complete, but I can already tell you it’s fabulous. As busy as it is, the new areas of LaGuardia – like the Terminal B we were using – has great services, is very comfortable while you’re waiting, and surely has the cleanest public restrooms in any airport anywhere.
--In the heart of Terminal B is a water feature 25 feet tall and 10 feet wide which features a continuous “Aquatique Show” that uses water, lights, computer-generated graphics and music. It runs about 10 minutes long, then repeats.
The amazing water feature at LaGuardia Airport.
--One big change I noticed in New York is that it seems no one seems to be reading a newspaper anymore. Related to that, I’m sure, there is a higher percentage of people carrying and using cell phones in New York than I’ve ever seen anywhere. Everybody’s got one.
--Plant news: We were delighted to see that all over Manhattan, or so it seemed, there are sidewalk mini-gardens planted with flowering kale. It is now legal for people over 21 years old to possess and share up to three ounces of marijuana. And you can smell it lots of places, especially the parks.
--The chief theatrical critic for the New York Times is Jesse Green. I do not think he is related to my Iowa State Senator Jesse Green.
--The most serene place in New York City must be the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 52 acres of beauty, near-silence and inspiration.
--We spent two hours touring The Metropolitan Museum of Art, were stunned at the variety and quality of one of the best art collections in the world and were frustrated at how little we could see on our limited timetable. When we were leaving, I quipped to a guard that I felt like I’d seen so little of The Met’s 2 million works of art. “Keep coming back,” the guard answered with a big grin. “You could be here a whole week and not see everything!”
Outside The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
--We had a lovely stroll around the 86th floor viewing deck of the Empire State Building, with a bird’s view of all the fantastic buildings. Though we’ve both been there before, those views never get old.
--The best bargain in New York City must be the MTA subway system. For a $3 ticket, you can get on board, make free transfers at other stations, and ride the underground trains all over the city all day long. The system is a little confusing at first, but when you look old, friendly and like you’re from Iowa, complete strangers step up to help you.
We RicheBurgers at the “Unity” sculpture in downtown Brooklyn. It’s a 25-foot-tall bronze rendering of an arm holding up one finger symbolizing unity, as a nearby plaque reports.
It’s a stunning view no matter which direction you look from the 86th floor viewing deck of the Empire State Building. This view is to the west, and that’s Macy’s Department Store in the foreground with a red sign. There’s also a viewing deck on the 102nd floor of the historic building, but tickets to that level were sold out on the afternoon we visited.
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Have you been to Grant's Tomb? The library? Central Park?
There's nothing quite like NYC in the fall!!💖🍁✨️