The #Manhattan Project: 10 days and counting

Map of Downtown Manhattan

I spent a few minutes transferring to my iPod the audio files of the New Amsterdam tour produced by the NYC Parks Department. I listened to the first of 10 modules while completing the task. Now I’m jumping out of my skin with anticipation. The free tour that can be downloaded from the Parks Department website is museum quality. Have you used a self-guided museum tour wand? Then you’ll know exactly what I mean: narration read by a trained voice; interviews with experts; sound effects and great instructions for following the route. If that weren’t enough the audio comes with a pamphlet that you can print.

Penchant for Pretension

During daylight hours, my trip to Manhattan is focused on the Statue of Liberty end of the island, everything south of the East Village, on the map above. I find it impossible to visit the city without investing time in the Arts, in particular the theatre. I’m a theatre snob: There is more to live performance than song and dance.  So my love for Broadway musicals is a guilty pleasure. I cannot reconcile my penchant for the pretentious with my like of the accessible.

Day 1, I have a ticket for The Velocity of Autumn, starring Estelle Parsons. April 1 is the first night of previews, for a play that is opening on Broadway for the first time. The play debuted in Washington, DC to critical reviews. Day 2, I have a ticket for a preview performance of Cabaret, with Alan Cumming as the MC and Michelle Williams as Sally Bowles. This Roundabout Theatre production is staged in Studio 54 in authentic cabaret seating. I’ve chosen a banquette seat with an obstructed view, because my budget and my inclination to be the heroine of my own drama dictated it.

Open Table

When travelling, I don’t mind making it up as I go along. But I learned long ago that if you only have 3 days, to make the most of them, plan ahead. Especially in Manhattan, where lone diners are looked on with pity at worst and indifference at worst.  To alleviate the discomfort of walking through a restaurant door on impulse, I have used Open Table to make reservations. It is the restaurant equivalent of grindr/tindr: Is there a table for one in the neighbourhood? I booked online through my PC, then booked via my tablet. Both methods worked well.

#Manhattan Project: Solo on a shoe string

Porter has a seat sale from Toronto that made a getaway to Manhattan irresistible. Now that the seat is booked, my goal is to explore Manhattan on a shoe string budget. Almost.

Hotel prices in April are twice as high as in January. Because I’ve stayed in iffy places in the city before, I won’t do it again. That is false economy. So I’ve invested in a hotel room that includes an American breakfast and WiFi. Manhattan hotel hot breakfast prices are steep. So is WiFi. The two can add as much as $40 a day to a hotel room.

Don’t eat at the hotel; Try an Internet cafe

At least one of you is thinking that breakfast at a New York deli would be cheaper and authentic. Someone else is suggesting I save bucks by using the WiFi at an Internet cafe.  Yes, they are options. But not for me. Nothing says holiday like a hotel breakfast, especially one that lets me go back up to my room for ablutions prior to exploring the city. I don’t want to cart my larger devices around all day, that’s just asking for trouble and a sore shoulder. WiFi in my room makes posting safer, faster and just plain more comfortable.

So what is a shoe string budget?

Free and appropriate for my getaway theme – In the steps of my ancestors. One branch of my family tree settled in New York when it was still known as New Amsterdam. There are records of court cases and multiple marriages in the New York Public Library’s genealogy records. The library and the records are free, if I spend the time researching. One knot in my shoe string is tied.

Research, Research, Research

When I googled “walking tour of New Amsterdam” the last thing I expected to find is a free tour. But I did! The New York Harbor Parks has four free self-guided tours, complete with soundtrack and a map that you can download here. All I have to do is transfer the audio to my iPod. Researching a destination prior to departure can uncover a wealth of inexpensive, if not free, activities.

Because my theme means I’ll be spending a great deal of time on the southern tip of Manhattan, I’m staying at a hotel in the Wall Street District.  There is another advantage: Porter flies into Newark. That airport has bus and train shuttle service to Manhattan. The train arrives at Penn Station and the bus at Union Station. Convenient. But the advantage I appreciated the most is that my hotel choice gave me value-added for the price of a hotel near Times Square.

The flight is booked, the hotel reservation made, and the tour downloaded. For the next six weeks, I’ll be researching discounted theatre tickets and meal deals. The thrill of the hunt is mine to enjoy.

I’ll be posting from Manhattan, reporting on the success – or not – of my solo shoe string getaway. Follow me, and you’ll get my updates delivered to your inbox….for free. Virtual travel qualifies as travel on a shoe string!

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,400 times in 2013. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

 

Sandy vs Hazel: Superstorm Lessons

Lawrence Avenue crossing the Humber River, connecting Weston Road and Scarlett Road. The water level had been completely over the bridge as a result of Hurricane Hazel. By the time this picture was taken, the main river was in its course, but was flowing very fast, so that it was banked up against the curve of the bluff, and there was a standing wave head-high above the level of the bank on this side of the river. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

In 1954, Hurricane Hazel hit Toronto and the city was never the same. I was 2. The only memory I have of the event are family legends:

 

1. Father was an invalid, unable to work, recovering from a life-threatening illness.
2. Brother was 10, he bailed water, because the sump pump couldn’t keep up with the surge.
3. Mother donned her mack and wellies to face the rain and wind en route to the only source of income for our family.

 

In response to the disaster the city changed the building codes, no building on flood plains. We have Hazel to thank for the riverside park system that we take for granted today. Watch this CBC report about the impact of the storm.

 

Sandy will make her presence known late this evening, with the peak hitting us Thursday morning. I am wagering she’ll be downgraded to a tropical storm by then. I’m not dismissing the possibility of a disastrous impact. By I’m calm, like the Nonagenarian. The city is prepared. We have advance warning. The cupboard is full, and bottled water is on hand.

 

OK – I do hope the plumbing holds up!

 

Sherlock Holmes and New Year’s Eve

Image via Wikipedia

I blame Charlie Rose. He has a marvelous series – Why Shakespeare? – running right now. Jude Law was one of the guests, with an ulterior motive – promoting the second Guy Ritchie directed Sherlock Holmes film. Law plays Watson. I really didn’t like the first film. But Law talked about how much he, Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey Jr. had learned on the first and how that had improved the second. So when I arrived at the cinema yesterday and found that the film I came to watch would not start until later in the day, I purchased a ticket to Sherlock Holmes and hoped that Law spoke the truth.

He did. I only looked at my watch once, and I laughed, out loud, more than once. A vast improvement on the first film. Still stylish. Still influenced by Asian fight films. The second Guy Ritchie directed Sherlock Holmes film had sass, a soundtrack and Stephen – Frye that is. Oh yes, and Jared Harris – the best performance of a villain that I’ve seen in  years. [Yes, better than Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort.]

I only looked at my watch once during the entire film, because the pacing was tighter than the first. SPOILER ALERT – The opening exposition was a delicious bit of choreography, and in true SH style, what appears to be true might not be.

Garry Marshall‘s New Year’s Eve was the film that had drawn me to the theatre. What better film to watch on the last day of the year? As it turned out, none better. That ensemble comedy turned out to be a three-hanky tear-jerker albeit with laughs. I loved this movie.

The multiple plots were deftly handled. There wasn’t one that I didn’t want to know how it unfolded. The cast was huge, and often surprising. That might have been the only drawback, because some times a bit part had a name player in it, and that pulled me out of the moment – but just for a moment.

The big star of the film was New York City during the holidays. The year that Brokeback Mountain came out, I arrived in Manhattan on the 1st of January. Confetti still lay on the street in Times Square. FAO Schwartz was dressed for Christmas and the Rockefeller Center tree was still alight. The magic I felt as I walked the streets then was captured in this film.

I am adding New Year’s Eve to my list of favourite contemporary holiday films.