Summer In The City

There hasn’t been anything too exciting to report in the last week or so, at least little to involve a posting. To prove my point I will bring you up to date day by day.

A week ago Sunday we went to the MoMA to see the newest exhibit, Matisse: Radical Invention 1913-1917. This was the final day of the private preview before it opens to the public. The rest of the exhibit has timed ticketing.

The next day was the Cowsills’ show as reported in my previous post.

Tuesday was the grand reopening of the Soup Kitchen International, renamed The Soup Man. This is the original soup take-out place that inspired the famous Seinfeld episode. They had closed this original location five years ago and for some reason it remained vacant until now. It is just around the corner and a beautiful day so I thought I would go over and observe. To my surprise there were only five or six people in line even though this had garnered tons of news coverage for the week prior. As it was nearly lunch time I thought I would go ahead and get some soup and surprise Toni. I took my spot and almost immediately a big line formed behind me. Then a few minutes later the media showed up in droves practically outnumbering the customers. Reggie Jackson was there acting as emcee for the opening and Meredith Vieira was spotted here and there. I was even interviewed by a radio station and a newspaper but to my knowledge none of my quotes surfaced anywhere. The storefront is just a counter about as wide as three people. There is no entrance, you essentially order from the street, pay, pick up and go. I got an extra large Turkey Chili and headed home. The soup’s reputation is totally deserved.

Wednesday we simply took a short walk through Central Park. We went as far as Bethesda Fountain and back, about a mile each way.

Thursday we went out for dinner at the French restaurant across the street, Maison. It was a beautiful evening so went for the sidewalk seating. We got our drinks and placed our orders and then we felt a couple of sprinkles and saw lightning. We didn’t feel like pushing our luck and ducked inside. As soon as we were reseated the downpour came in earnest. I only found out the next day that we were under a tornado watch. The weather has been unusual for New York. They have recorded the warmest June and July on record and three tornadoes in the area. It still averages about ten degrees cooler than Kansas City and much lower humidity. I don’t think New Yorkers would be able to handle the weather back home.

Friday there was a free Sheryl Crow concert at Central Park. I was all set to go but there were storm clouds threatening and I bailed out.

Saturday was perhaps the hottest day we have had here coming in at 100 degrees. With that in mind we opted for an indoor activity, the King Tut exhibit at a rather new museum in Times Square. These are timed tickets but we took our chances and were able to walk right in. We didn’t have the same luck when we tried to see the exhibit when it came through Chicago in the 1970s and got shut out. We had intended to catch a bus to the Village afterwards but Times Square is so crowded the bus stops are sometimes skipped if there is too much traffic and no relief in site. Our stop was blocked by a couple of hop on/hop off tour buses and with the heat we thought better and headed back home instead.

Sunday we went to a street fair one block over and found a wall hanging for one of our bare walls. We have been slow to get wall décor. We were so quick picking out our rather generic furniture and kitchenware but there is something more personal about what you put on your walls.

Later in the evening we went to Times Square with our friend, Liz, for the season premiere of Mad Men. It was actually a nice setup and was a little island of relative calm in the middle of all the teaming masses. There were a few thousand people there and many of them were dressed as characters from the show. In fact we got there just as they were finishing up with a look alike contest. The actresses who play Betty Draper and Peggy Olson made an appearance and then we all settled in for the show an hour earlier than the regular broadcast. It was a little like being at a Saturday matinee when you are a kid with the audience clapping when a favorite actor first appears. We had everything but the boos and hisses for villains.

Monday afternoon Toni went down to the corner to buy some fruit for the week. When she got there a line had formed and she knew it would take awhile and considered going to another cart a block away. That is when she noticed a crowd forming on 53rd St and Broadway. This is the street where David Letterman does his outdoor stunts. When she got there she saw Biff Henderson scurrying around. She heard something about Albert Pujols. Indeed, Albert was a guest on the show as was Denis Leary. They wound up having a little batting clinic with Leary pitching first to Letterman and then to Pujols.




Well, looking back at it I guess there is more going on than I realized.