Sunday/Monday – Day 6/7
Posted on 1st January 2014
Sunday I woke up to an email letting me know that unfortunately my piano antics hadn’t gone unnoticed and the neighbors had been woken up in the middle of the night. Major oops. I immediately emailed them to apologize and wanted to take round a box of chocolates but felt guilty for the rest of the day.
First on today’s agenda was to pick up my stuff from Dovi’s apartment. After sorting out the piano mess I headed up on the subway and stayed to chat for a good while before schlepping my stuff back to the apartment.
In the afternoon I was due to meet with Yoni Wieder from Penn to go ice-skating with him Ariella and Tova. After a bit of a delay we met up at Grand Central Station and then headed off for the rink. When we arrived at the station uptown, it was pouring with rain outside. Yoni and I headed to the pharmacy to pick up umbrellas and a snack before walking to the rink. We both got a little wet but a few minutes later were safe inside. The rink however was closing for resurfacing and a staff break, and so we were left with a dilemma. Wait near the rink for Ariella and Tova or go walk to a coffee shop for the meanwhile. I favored the walk, and so we set back out in the rain. Only now it was bucketing down.
Forty-five minutes later when we reached the Starbucks, Yoni and I were soaked and drenched. We were both laughed at by the girls as we stepped inside but soon I was happily dripping with a hot chocolate in hand. We stayed inside for two hours as the rain hammered out outside, and only when it finally stopped did we head back to the rink.
Ice skating was definitely not my forte, but by the end of the two hours I was off the rails and even gliding a little. My ankles though, didn’t thank me as I was later to discover quite a few injuries that left my gait slightly off for the next few days.
After ice skating we all got dinner together in Manhattan, where I had a somewhat average pasta dish, nothing to write home about, before I headed back to the apartment.
Monday also began early, with a visit to the Box Office for a show titled ‘After Midnight’, a revue covering musical and dance styles from the Harlem Neighborhood and featuring much music from Duke Ellington. Steph, Paul and I each bought a ticket and then walked to the supermarket to buy a cheaper lunch to eat back at Paul’s. After that we walked back to the theatre for the show. It was highly enjoyable particularly because of the fantastic band with an excellent brass section.
After the show was meant to meet Ariana for dinner but unfortunately she couldn’t make it in. So with nothing planned for my evening I decided to walk around the neighborhood and explore. This proved to be an excellent idea with my discovery of some excellent felafel. On my walk back from dinner I came across ‘Grove St’, a familiar location from last time I was in NYC. Grove St as I remembered was home to the famous ‘Marie’s Crisis Cafe’, a gay and theatre nightspot. Though it was early in the evening I knew I had to go in to sing a few show tunes and enjoy the musicianship of the pianist there. What I had intended on being a short jaunt inside ended up being an entire evening of singing. By the end of the night, the bar was packed and I was one of the lucky few seated directly next to the piano. The company was good, the music was fantastic and at the end of the night I met someone who was going to become a wonderful new friend.