As I ventured out for a morning walk, the icy cold morning air bit hard. Despite brilliant sunshine, the temperature has dropped, minus 6 Celsius this morning. Beautifully refreshing. I wandered around Times Square, there’s always something going on. The naked cowboy is strutting around with his guitar, there’s a series of life sized snow globes, some artistic seats and hawkers trying to sell CDs, tours and bus rides. I avoid the hawkers and take in the sights and sounds. The quiet strumming and humming of the naked cowboy, hawkers yelling as they thrust CDs into people’s hands, families with young kids accepting hugs from the myriad Disney characters.
I wander back to the hotel and Mardi is ready to go. Today we are heading down to Hudson yards for a look around and also go to a whiskey tasting event. We visit a new Sephora store in Times Square before walking down 45th Street across town to 11th Avenue. At 11th we turn downtown and head to 33rd and 32nd and spend some time around a new sculpture known as the vessel. There’s a 3D Warcraft display in the courtyard area and after wandering for a while we venture into the shops. The Hudson yards are a massive long term construction project, where dozens of high rise buildings are being built. These mostly blue glass structures are in varying stages of completion.
After a wander and rest we head further downtown to the event we’ve been working our way to. A whiskey festival. We are flattered as we enter, they ask us for our ID to prove our age. Cool. We then wander through the exhibits. Mardi is the designated driver (she’s not a fan of whiskey) but does a wonderful job finding the nice stuff. It’s an eclectic mix: whiskey, gin, bourbon, tequila, windows (yes house windows!), whiskey tea, Finnish ice liquor and good old moonshine. The first whiskey I try is a molecular science based whiskey – made in 24 hours to resemble 15 year old. Keep trying guys!
I then sample some Kentucky Whiskey, some Bourbon and a few others. Finally a rare French whiskey takes my fancy. We grab some details. We continue around the entire hall and sample a few other nice drop. Some Rye Whiskey, more Bourbon and a rough 21 year old advertised as smooth. After seeing everything we venture back up town, past the bottle shop to buy a bottle of the rare French whiskey.
We then walk back to our hotel. The round trip was around 10kms.
We settle into our room for some home delivery, Mexican, before heading out to a play, To Kill a Mockingbird.
We head out at around 7.30 and upon arrival at the theatre we both ask each other for our tickets. Whoops! Thankfully the Shubert Theatre is about 400 metres from our hotel. I rush back and grab the tickets and we are seated in plenty of time. Ed Harris plays the lead, he recently took on the role following Jeff Daniels, who played Atticus for 12 months. For the full cast check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird_(2018_play).
As the opening curtain raises I am immersed for the next two and a half hours. Aaron Sorkin wrote the script for the play, based on the Harper Lee novel. Fast paced, told by real time court room drama and through the juvenile eyes of Scout Finch, the play examines the racism of the time and the moral fibre people need to overcome it. It’s an excellent performance, and completely relevant today as we continue to battle the true values of societies the world over. As with most Sorkin writing, it’s an exhausting couple of hours. We depart the theatre and walk home.
