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| Lots of tickets to get to and from Portland to NY |
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| Mural on corner of my Brooklyn hotel |
Ryley and I got up early enough to be at the Portland Amtrak
station at 7:30am—unfortunately so were a zillion other people who were on
their way to school break destinations including the Boston Marathon and,
apparently, a Red Sox game and a Bruins game in Boston. So, the parking lot was
already full. The station had cleverly pre-planned for this and they had men in
little orange aprons around directing folks to distant lots. We departed very
on time.
The first train was super-packed but we were on the quiet car. We had to take a subway
from North Station to South Station in Boston and we caught our second train at the Back Bay station. Ryley and I took turns pretending we were asleep and going to the café car. Ryley
finished his SAT-math homework; I finished the pita chips. Becky was waiting for
us at Penn Station.
Before our NYC sojourn, I needed to stop in the restroom at the station. From my stall I
could hear a baby, on a likely cold changing table, crying loudly. I also heard
someone in a nearby stall say, “No crying babies.” Welcome to NYC. Becky was all pre-prepared for us and got us each our own Metro cards. I kept calling it a T or the subway (like in Boston) but Becky calls it the train. We took the train to our Union Hotel. The
hotel was a tiny European-like hostel in the midst of a little bit near nowhere neighborhood. Our room was about 8 inches bigger than the double
bed and we had to shut the bathroom door to physically turn around. Ryley might
have had more room if he’d slept in the armoire.
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| The Promenade very near the Brooklyn Bridge's bottom |
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| Doggie day care |
Becky walked us around her neighborhood so we could see where her
school was. We checked out The Promenade, a walking trail near the waterfront. A highlight was a bike-pack with a little doggie in it. We took up time until we were hungry for dinner by doing some
shopping along the streets. Becky was excited that we actually got a seat without
a wait on a Saturday night at her favorite Sushi restaurant: Ki Sushi. She likes sushi but doesn’t eat
fish. There are still California, avocado and cucumber rolls. Ryley must have learned to eat
sushi secretly somewhere. I can only recall having sushi once with him. I never knew sake
comes in a darling tiny, warm carafe but it does.
After dinner, we met Pike, Becky's plastic-eating
cat. The neighborhoods in Brooklyn have a corner store on almost every corner.
The little entrance-ways by stairs have to encompass the building’s trash cans,
trash that won’t fit in the cans (like ironing boards and mattresses) and any
wee garden of a few shrubs or flowers. The tulips and lilacs were in full
season. Becky told us the rule about mattresses left on the street for the
garbage men--they have to be wrapped in plastic because of bed bugs. We saw a few mattresses NOT wrapped. Does that mean they’re assured to NOT have bed bugs?
Becky walked us half way back to the hotel, up to the big phallic bank (I
forgot the name.) Our hotel is about a 20 minute walk from her apartment. We
fell pretty much straight asleep after we found a place to plug in all our
electronics (which involved UN-plugging the clock that was 30 minutes off anyway….we
figured it was the New York time change.)
April 15 – Sunday
Our room included free breakfast, at the corner restaurant,
so we walked down two blocks to the Union Café for coffee and to meet Becky.
The waitress kept bringing me coffee and Ryley kept appreciating the orange
juice. Steve, the owner, asked where we were from and was surprised to hear we were from Maine. I had overheard him
tell someone they looked Greek, I surmised he was Greek. I was right. So I got
to practice my hello, please and thank-you-s (Yassou, Tekanis and Efarasto) in
Greek. Steve also told Ryley how to go visit Greece someday. “Go to party all night. You
can sleep on the plane.”
Becky took us to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens where the
cherry blossoms were famously in bloom. We walked through garden after garden of
flowering trees and other spring plants. Becky’s Dad, who grew up in Brooklyn,
walked through the very same gardens on school field trips when he was a little
boy. The lilacs were so heavy and sweet scented we thought we were intoxicated
like Dorothy and the Lion. |
| Sunning turtles at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens |
We took another train to mid-town and got to walk around on
our way to the show. We bought make-your-own salads and New York cheesecake and
ate in the park behind the public library for a picnic. We stopped at a
Japanese store which sold all manner of magazines and books in Japanese but
also all the cutesy paper/stationary products, toys and gifts—stuff you would
never find in Augusta, maybe a trendy Portland shop, but never in Augusta. I
had stashed Ryley’s half finished fizzy red drink in my shoulder bag so we
wouldn’t damage any paper goods. Unfortunately, I detected a little
splash/puddle of red near the counter and cautioned Becky not to step in someone
else’s mess, when I realized it was my mess.
The only thing I ruined was Ryley’s white go-to-Book-of-Mormon shirt. Not entirely ruined. Just pink, sticky
spotted ruined. I had enough tissues in my bag to mop up the floor before
anyone caught us and threw us out. There
was a spacious/single bathroom where I could dilute most of the red spots from
the shirt.
We found the Eugene O’Neil Theater in time for Ryley to
change into his wet Mormon garb, complete with black tie and white socks. He turned some heads when people thought he
was a real Mormon. As I had bought the CD last Christmas when I bought us the
Broadway tickets, Ryley had already memorized all the words/songs. He was
almost more fun to watch than the show as he expectantly, held his hand to his
mouth, anticipating the next 4-letter word/lyric. The show was the best way to
learn Mormon stories AND fun and witty. The live music and costume and set changes are the miracle that is
Broadway.
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| Ryley doesn't know why I'm taking his pic on the subway |
While wandering around Times Square, Becky mentioned she had
never been to a Hard Rock Café. We,
Elder Thompson and I, took her. By now Ryley had changed into his new Book of
Mormon t-shirt “God’s favorite musical.” The Café took a rocking great picture of us holding
guitars (Ryley as the lead singer) but when I went to negotiate a price and
told the guy “we’re good,” he took that to mean we were good without the
photos. We left without photos but with funny memories and our souvenir
hurricane glasses instead.
We went back to Becky’s apartment and Ryley watched an
episode of Dr. Who while I couldn’t stay awake. Ryley and I walked back to the hotel and we were fast asleep
before 10pm. Need to get ready for Day 3 and 4....
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