NYC 2025-Day 3

Editor's note: As is the difficult part of being an adult...holding many emotions in my heart today. I'm holding a place in my heart for Babs as she begins radiation. If you could please send up a prayer and loving thoughts for her that the radiation helps her pain and that she feels comforted and loved as she goes through this treatment. And I'm also holding the gratitude and appreciation at being in this city that Buds and I are growing to love as we spend this time together.

Oh, and...miss you, kids. 😘

Back to our trip:

On Sunday morning we packed up, then headed out for breakfast before we had to check out. Buds had an excited surprise for me, and was disappointed to discover the vegan cafe he had planned for our breakfast was closed, despite their promise of being open for 24 hours a day.

As is the way with serendipity, we ended up at the Yemeni coffee bar next door, and loved the experience.

Neither of us had had Yemeni coffee before, and though I ordered chai, and though we still could not tell you what sets Yemeni coffee apart from other coffees, this was an excellent beginning to the sunny, crisp day as we prepared to leave Williamsburg and move to a different section of Brooklyn.

Through confusion on our part, or translation difficulties, we ordered two pots of drinks instead of two drinks. It felt decadent and relaxing and gave us permission to take our time in this place.

We were up early enough on this Sunday to see the sun's lights slowly waking the city.

We made one last stop at Buddie's Coffee to buy a t-shirt, because, duh. Though they were out of the correct size, Buds had one last coffee from them while I read the NYT Business section article about them for a couple days ago.

For a few minutes when it was just us in the shop, I got to ask Taylor about the experience of this fantastic write-up in the paper. He told us his mom only does Wordle online, and they hadn't told her about the story coming out. She happened to scroll past their picture as she was getting to Wordle and was so excited to call and tell him how shocked and thrilled she was when she saw their picture. A Mom's joyful pride.

I also got to text our kids of an "I Spy" book they had in the shop to ask if they remembered the hours poured over these books when they were little.

We were meeting Harold, our roommate for the next three days, at his apartment to drop off our bags and heavy coats. It was an easy bus ride to get to our new location.

Goodbye Pod and your intimate little space, hello DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass).

After dropping off our bags and feeling so light and free, we made a plan. We would grab some lunch, subway over to the Intrepid Museum, one of Buddie's Christmas presents from his Secret Santa, and while away the afternoon enjoying a destroyer and submarine.

We found a little deli/grocery store that made us a delicious lunch.

We sat at a table outside, which was slightly too cold, but laughter kept us warm.

We boarded at Prince Station, and were intrigued by the tiny vignettes someone had pasted up on the walls on both sides.

What a joy to live in the internet age where I can learn all about the artist and the meaning behind the art.

The installation is called "Carrying On" by Janet Zweig in collaboration with Edward del Rosario. From the website"

"The frieze at the Prince Street subway station celebrates the individuality of New Yorkers. Spanning the 1200 foot length of the two platforms, it depicts 194 silhouetted people and the many things they carry as they walk along the street above the station. The figures are taken from photographs of New Yorkers in all their variety. The collection of figures as a whole conveys the range of New York's distinctive population."

After we got off the subway, where I was able to give a homeless man the remaining half of my breakfast sandwich, and headed toward the Intrepid, we walked by the The Ambassador Theatre, 219 West 49th Street, where Chicago has been playing since 2003. (The musical has been in production since 1996, making it the longest-running American Broadway musical and revival in history. It's also the second-longest running Broadway production overall. Phantom of the Opera was in production longer, but closed in 2023.)

Broadway history lesson over; when we walked by the theater we said, "Let's just see if they have any rush tickets for the matinee."

They did! So, our plans quickly changed to seeing Chicago at 2 p.m. We had an hour before we could get into the theater so we continued down to see where we would be going to see the Intrepid on a different day, then stopped to get coffee. Or, more accurately, we stopped to find a coffee shop with great coffee, and also a public restroom. It is no joke to be stuck in Manhattan not able to find a place to go potty!

From here we headed back to the theater to join the line for entry.

There was a little confusion with the usher about our correct row, but we eventually got settled in our proper seats; close to the stage, but able to see people's feet this time, unlike when we saw The Great Gatsby.

The show was great; even better than Gatsby. We were impressed to learn the lead role of Roxie was played by a woman who had played the role since 2002! We loved it even more after that because it felt so skilled and finely honed.

We had left our big puffy coats at the apartment so when we came out of the theater close to sundown, the fleecy jackets we were wearing did not seem like enough. We quickly abandoned the vision of walking home over the Brooklyn Bridge at this time, and hopped on the subway.

After refreshing and unpacking in our new home, we walked out to Juliana's pizza for dinner.

On our way to Juliana's we made a good faith effort at using a feature on Buddie's phone where you can splice together two photos to ensure everyone gets in the picture.

Buddie took my picture:

Then we swapped and I took his, and google created a seamless photo from it.

The photos taken by a kind passerby were much better.

She did a whole mini photoshoot, lots of angles, counting down. I got to return the favor for her and tried to live up to her example.

We walked through Time Out Market on our way back. We had gone through the one in Lisbon, and not been too keen on it, but this one may well be a place we return to for a meal. It was worth walking through here for both the public restroom and to see cotton candy artists at work.

A lovely end to a rich, busy day.