The Big Apple
It is play time in NYC before the World Affairs Council national conference in D.C. I friend came with me to New York and is going on to D.C. with me. She has been on the Alaska World Affairs Council board for several years.
We were to leave at the 1:15 a.m. Alaska Air flight on Thursday to Seattle but they cancelled our flight and put us on the 2:30 a.m. to make one full airplane instead of two half empties. Of course I had to give up a great window seat and received a dreaded middle seat as a replacement. However, more importantly the long flight from Seattle to Newark was a great flight with a forward window seat and an empty middle seat. When we arrived Thursday evening we simply settled in, ate in the hotel, took a short walk (windy and bitterly cold), and went off to bed.
Friday breakfast was actually lunch followed by a hike to the American Folk Museum, MOMA, and
the American Craft Museum gift shop. (Actually, Sunday afternoon I would like to go back and visit their Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting exhibit.) Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and the opera.
We had dinner at the Grand Tier Restraurant before the performance. It was as elegant as when Daughter and I ate there.
The opera was Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci. Cavalleria Rusticana did not do much for me, but Pagliacci was marvelous.
Today, Saturday we had a late breakfast/early lunch in the AOL Time Warner Center. It is a huge improvement over the inner city-type structure that was there several years ago, but their shops are not exactly bustling with business. We arrived at the opera house for the 1:30 performance of La Traviata. Hei-Kyung Hong improved with each act and by the third act she was a great Violetta. Her last gasp was dramatically executed.
The day ended with a nice dinner out, great conversation, and back to our hotel room for catching up with email, etc.
We are staying at the Park Central Hotel. This is my first time staying here. It is a good location---within walking distance by oneself after the opera in case it is impossible to get a cab in snowy and rainy weather (been there, done that). It is nothing super fantastic, but is certainly adequate for our opera/shopping/museum stay. And their internet connection works, even though it seems a bit pricy.
4:55:21 PM 
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