Forever city-walking

When you're on your third visit to a city, you start running out of ideas for things to see. No, scratch that. You've checked off all the main things to see, scratched the surface, and begin digging deeper for more in-depth experiences to have, more intimate moments with the location. Our day began with one goal: reach the TKTS booth at Lincoln Center and  acquire tickets for a Broadway performance. Which one? Who knows! Matinee or evening performance? Doesn't matter. If we accomplished only this one task today, we would be happy. Anything else was bonus - and thus began our day of small bonuses!

We love staying at the Quality Inn Meadowlands, as it is easy to get to, has ample parking and  comfortable rooms, located relatively close to the city. In fact, after indulging in a rather generous and varied breakfast, included with our stay, all we have to do is head outside to the street corner, where all the 190-something buses pass, and catch one for a smooth 15-minute ride to Port Authority bus terminal, a block away from Times Square. It's so handy, and takes all the guesswork out of travelling into the city!

We trek to the Upper West Side, a slightly more posh side of town, walking along 9th through Hell's Kitchen. It feels a lot more "real" compared to 8th or Broadway, and there are significantly less tourists here. The street is lined with so many restaurants, we ponder how any one of them can stand out from the crowd and make enough noise to garner a following, and what they must do in such a saturated market to survive past their first 6 months. We then muse on what the average turnaround might be for fledgling establishment on this street, and begin a game of guessing the ages of all the eateries.

We realize we are too quick in arriving for Broadway tickets, as the TKTS branch is still closed until noon, so we make our way along the scorching pavement of 65th street into Central Park, seeking out the cool shade of the trees, and maybe a patch of grass on which to sit. We swing by a familiar haunt, Au Pain Quotidien, for cold-brew coffee, and break for a moment on one of the many benches of the Mall, people-watching and listening to the buskers.

Back at TKTS, while waiting in line, we discover that many people are getting tickets refunded - turns out that there was a major blackout yesterday, with all but FOUR theatres on Broadway having no electricity and having to cancel their performances. We read up on the news of the blackout, and related tales of how people coped, research the shows we might have a chance to see, and exit with tickets in hand, to attend a new show called "Be More Chill".

After a lunch of the tastiest burgers ever at Shake Shack(as usual), we cross through the cacophony of Times Square to the Lyceum Theatre. Taking our seats, we are surrounded by a musical score that draws from computer sound effects, and catch sight of a musician on stage playing a Theremin, and we know we are in for a hell of a show(a Theremin is the electronic wave instrument that Sheldon plays in "Big Bang Theory"). What follows is the story of an unpopular high schooler who ingests a microscopic super-computer pill, with the promise that the resulting AI will teach him how to be cool(It's from Japan!). It's fantastical, it's crazy, it's a happy mix of an episode of Glee with a dash of the Matrix mixed in, complete with Keanu Reeves impressions, and a splash of Mountain Dew for good measure. It's a lot of fun - though this being a Sunday matinee, some of the main roles are being played by their understudies rather than the star actors, so some of the performances are ever-so-slightly less impressive. But still good - I leave the theatre humming the songs, and taking to heart the moral of the story: If you really love somebody, you put on your pants.

Exiting the theatre, we get hit with a wave of heat, and the sun glares down at us - it's still daytime, after all, and it seems too early to hang up our touring hats and call it a day. We continue on down from Broadway, along the Hudson River to the High Line, hoping to enjoy it in the golden hues of the setting sun. We curled around the Hudson Rail Yards, under hundreds of flags flapping in the wind, part of an art installment, between tall glass-like building and through paths of wild grasses. As we path each cross-street on our elevated walkway, we glimpse the sun sinking lower and lower in the sky, each scene a deeper shade of golden glow, a more burnt version of orange. Just past the Chelsea Market, we shed our footwear, soaking aching feet into the cooling waters of the low-profile river alongside the path. The day has been long, and we feel it now.

One last walk back to Port Authority, picking up delicious thin-crust cheese pizza on our way, from a place where the line is long and the clients are all local. We board the bus back to hotel, glad to finally be off our feet, but not before we miss our stop, and only realize it 3 stops later, adding an extra 30 minutes to our walk home. Boo.