Day 7 - Friday, June 25 -
Retrospective comment: This was a damn long day for me.
I bought a breakfast sandwich at a corner store on 8th. With ham and coffee it came to about $4.50. The Big Apple wasn't breaking MY budget.
Renate will meet Myron today to lunch at Ollies, 411 W. 42nd St, between 9th and 10th Avenues.
$$$
Cuisine:
She enjoyed their, scallion pancakes.
Here's a part of their menu. the cold dishes:
...wonder if the ox tongue and soup is better here than at McDonalds....
And here are some "New Wave Sichuan Dishes:"
...Tough deciding between Pig kidney and Tofu w Intestine. I didn't know Tofu HAD intestines!
While Renate savored such far eastern concoctions, I had 3 errands for the day. First, I needed to find a way to wire the 40% down-payment that Sue tells me must be sent to secure the Ethiopian tour we'll take in September. Google maps showed me a branch of my bank, Wachovia, existed on Broad Street, just past the NY Stock Exchange.
There were closer Wachovias, but I had another errand in that direction so I took the 2 (or 3) from 42nd St to Wall Street. I had called first to make sure that a "normal" person could go there to do banking. The Stock Exchange still drapes a large flag - probably to hide the windows!
If you haven't been to Wall Street in awhile, traffic is now limited. You can see luncheon tables set out in half the street.
I was fascinated with concrete barriers in the middle of Broad Street. They are set on 20 foot diameter turntables that are built into the road.
"Originally invented by Rogers Marvel Architects, the TVB was developed as a collaboration between the Macton Corporation and Rock12 Security Architecture"
After security inspection, the turntables rotate to allow appropriate vehicles in and out.
The turntables are paired (red arrows) like sets of doors in a prison. After one lets you in, you can't proceed until the other rotates.
Looking up towards Wall Street is Federal Hall where in 1789, famously, Washington was sworn in. A camera crew lights an area on the top steps. They're probably always there:
So, I get to my bank address. It's essentially a foyer with a bank machine! I need a person! I walk next door up to a security desk to be told, no, no teller banking here. Gotta go up to 17th St and 7th Ave. Later, Google showed me a closer branch, but it didn't matter.
Yes, continued the security guard, it happens all the time. People are directed here on phone by Wachovia's employees.
So, no wire transfers yet. Errand #1 must wait.
Errand #2: Hunt up tickets for a Saturday (next day) matinee. I wanted Billy Elliot or La Cage aux Folles. Debbie's friend was an assistant director of La Cage. With earlier warning we could have gotten great seats.
Tickets are half-price at the South Sea Port Tkts booth, and are sold the day before.
South Sea Port is a redeveloped touristy area, restaurants, some shops, and also real ships and a performance area. Not far from Wall Street.
From the internet:
The TKTS office is the left hand corner of the building at left.
South Sea Port in lower foreground, viewed from the East River
Tkts opened at 11:00, but a 35 minute-line was already formed at 10:30, and it doubled in length while I waited.
I ended up with 2 tickets for Billy Elliot. 2nd Row mezzanine. I thought - OK, elevator or escalator to mezzanine, then up one step. Renate can do that.
Now I resumed the quest to wire the 40% down-payment my September Ethiopian tour. On my way to a subway stop, I bought touristy Obama playing cards as a gift.
I took the A or C to 14th and 9th and walked to the Wachovia at 17th and 7th.
Should have taken the 2 or 3 "7th Avenue" to 18th St. What a tourist! But I honestly enjoy the walking. The bank was friendly, fast, and performed my unusual (for me) transaction: Wire money to some tour place in Ethiopia.
All right. $ wired. Billy Elliot tickets. Errands #1 and #2 complete.
Errand #3:
- Go to Penn station, to the Long Island Railroad
- Take the Port Washington Branch to Little Neck.
- Add a memory chip to Debbie's computer (that I had mailed to her as a birthday gift),
- Get back to "the city",
- Freshen up at the Edison
- Be ready for dinner at City Hall Restaurant with Renate, Steve, Mark, and Steffi.
I ran half of the the 17 blocks to Penn Station.
I phoned Debbie before buying tickets. Severe storms and possible tornadoes had crossed the country and caused her to lose power. Not good for diagnosing computer problems!
It came on just before my call and she gave me the thumbs-up. I fumbled figuring out how to buy a ticket from the machine. I failed. I bought TWO round-trips! (became Debbie's gain).
With the train leaving at 2:09 PM, I decided I had time to eat and HONESTLY ENJOYED the KFC lunch inside of Penn Station.
I felt like such a New Yorker, calmly heading for my 2:09 train at 2:05. Debbie had even explained to me which car to sit it.
In Little Neck, I bought post card stamps (never used them) b/c Post Office was right there. I also took photos of car in the station's commuter lot.
It's front was smashed by a fallen tree the day before. Tornado?
Four blocks away in front of Debbie's apartment building a small tree had been snapped.
Snapped tree already sawed into smaller pieces
Quicker than expected, I installed the memory chip. It made the computer questionably faster. (She tells me weeks later that it helped).
I described my Billy Elliot seating. I underestimate her computer savvy: she quickly found the theater's seating and logistics: NO ELEVATOR! MANY STEPS!
She encouraged me to rush back to the city and try the Imperial Theater box office. I ran back to the Little Neck station.
Although I felt relief at beating the city-bound train, I also felt alone and tried to understand the garbly announcement about regular Track A train being at Track B. No signs indicated "A" and "B." Some people on the opposite platform recognized my confusion and shouted for me to come over... and where were the damn stairs to do that???
I made it. The train was late because it had to share the outward-bound track due to storm damage the day before.
Penn Station. Run up to 45th to the Imperial. Yes, they had a single "partially obstructed" seat in the orchestra. I purchased it, then called Debbie to report my success. I offered to give her the extra ticket I now possessed in the mezzanine.
Fortuitously, she was coming into the city Saturday night for a date. Instead, she'd come earlier for Billy Elliot matinee. Her 3rd time seeing the show! She insisted on paying for the ticket. We settled at half-price.
I think I used a gym before showering, before dinner.
Uh, and maybe I did neither.
Anyway, I was in time to accompany Renate down to the street where Mark and Steffi picked us up for the drive to City Hall Restaurant on Duane St above Chambers.
It's pricey, but beautiful.
Waiting a few minutes in the car - until 6:00 pm allowed street parking - we watched Steve pass by, arriving by foot from work.
We passed the bar on the way to our table, which the on-line photo below features.
I was not impressed with my entree, and even Steve was unhappy with the food.
This flew in the face of his previous dinings here and he attributes it to a particular manager being out that day.
Who cares! When the Bananas Foster that Renate and I shared was so perfect. How good can caramelized bananas get? With ice cream? We think we know.
Much reminiscing of old friends, quartets, and especially of Helene. It's nigh impossible for Steve to go anywhere in this city, and in many others, without her ghost gently tugging on him.
Steve - as is his fashion - took the train home to Queens while Renate, Steffi, and I were whisked to our abodes by the constant chauffeur, Mark.
I was not really prepared to unload a car and I had shoes and pants and computer stuff and what-not loose in the back seat and trunk! I was so thrilled (after Lincoln tunnel and city) to be out of car, I couldn't imagine beginning to look for cheaper parking. 
