{"id":8022,"date":"2019-11-15T22:23:16","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T22:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.linke.com.au\/TB\/?p=8022"},"modified":"2021-11-18T11:29:55","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T01:29:55","slug":"day-01-blowing-a-fuse-tea-and-the-piano-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.linke.com.au\/TB\/2019-new-york\/day-01-blowing-a-fuse-tea-and-the-piano-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 01: Blowing a fuse, tea and the Piano Man"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After a great night sleep, we both slept like the dead, day\n01 of our trip got underway. Before we went to bed last night I blew a fuse in\nthe hotel room, literally.  All the\nlights ion our room were out. \nEngineering fixed it pretty quickly, but I fried a cord and so we headed\nout to find a replacement. We left our hotel and got a SIM card sorted out for\nour phone and then walked to 5th<\/sup> Avenue to call in on Best Buy for a\ncord. Cord and sim in hand, we head to Grand Central for some Granola for our\nroom and some breakfast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The air is cool and the sun is beaming overhead as we wend\nour way through the crowded streets. Traffic streams down the streets as we\nwander along 43rd<\/sup> towards the iconic Grand Central terminal. The\nskyline is dotted with well renowned buildings, the Empire State, the Chrysler\nBuilding, The Bryant Park Hotel.  At\nstreet level the New York Library looms large, the dazzling sun reflecting off\nthe glass towers opposite bathing the library in a series of bright\nsports.  The cold of Autumn has robbed\nthe trees bounding the library of their leaves and they stand like skeletons as\nthey reach for the sun.  They\u2019ll stand\nidle for four months before the sun breathes life into them again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We duck into Urbanspace for some brunch.  Urbanspace is a warehouse style food court,\nwith anything from lobster rolls, tacos and sushi to burgers, pizza and shakes.\nThe space is buzzing with people as we search for something to eat. I settle on\na spicy chicken taco and Mardi has a Margarita pizza. We manage to secure a\nseat, its tight as we rub shoulders with people next to us, two friends\nchatting about work at their office. A group on our right talk about the food\nhall and how busy it is.  We enjoy the\nspace, the throng of the crowd and the yummy food. We chat about a food tour we\ndid to this space a few years ago and plan the rest of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We leave and walk along 42nd<\/sup> street back to our\nhotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a short break and I check our charging devices, the\nnew cord does the trick and we can charge everything we need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then head down town, in search of our favourite place in\nthe city, Boise Tea Parlour. It has moved from its original location, so search\nis the operative word, we knew its old location very well. We decide to go to\nthe old location to see if anything has moved into the space, more out of\ncuriosity than anything. The shop is empty, brown paper covers the windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wander back to Bleecker St,  pop into David\u2019s Tea for some gifts and then\nmap our way to the new location for Boise, a ten minute walk. We find the new\nstore easily, its on a wide avenue in an old building.  We enter the space.  It\u2019s bigger than before, more commercial, but\nmaintains the charm and comfort of the original space. Jessica greets us,\nremembers us and we exchange hugs.  We\nchat about our trip and the new location. \nPainted brick walls, wooden tables and chairs, an original tin ceiling\nand elegant lights adorn the space.  The\nsame music plays, an eclectic style of jazz, blues and soft classical. A\nrefined menu, but the tea service, our favourite, has changed, with a new and\ninteresting selection of sandwiches and other sweet delights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We order and sit back and take in the space for the next\ncouple of hours. Couples and groups chat, the staff buzz about and like us,\nother regulars visit.  The new space is a\nhit and everyone is in a good mood.During our stay we chat it\u2019s Jessica and\nexplore the expanded menu, which now offers dinner and lunch. We might try\ndinner there one day, but it will remain our afternoon space I think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We eventually drag ourselves away and bid farewell to\nJessica, promising to return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We catch the F train back to Bryant Park after a short walk along west Houston Street. The sun is setting and a beautiful pink sky is in the distance.  Mardi points out the Chrysler Building in the distance.  We are some 30 blocks downtown from it, but looking back up Broadway it looms large over the busy street as day starts to turn into night.  We board the train and within minutes are back at Midtown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We take a break for an hour or so before heading to Madison\nSquare Garden.  Bill Joel is on tonight\nand as we enter the venue security is tight as a stream of 20,000 people pile\ninto this famous venue. As we walk along the long curving walkways, one of the\noriginal untouched since 1968, posters of the day adorn the walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We make it to our seats and settle in for a good night out\nwith one of our generation\u2019s great song writers. We crowd watch for a while:\npeople taking photos, chatting, buying popcorn, searching for their seats, some\ndetermined for their seat, others look a little lost. At around 8.30 the lights\ngo down and the show starts with a bang. \u201cWe Didn\u2019t Start the Fire\u201d is the\nopening track with the video screens showing images of each person\/event\nmentioned in the song:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHarry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray<\/p>

South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio<\/p>

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television<\/p>

North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe\u201d<\/p>Bily Joel<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For the next two and half hours he belts out 24 more songs,\na veritable greatest hits show.  A full\nseat list is here: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.setlist.fm\/setlist\/billy-joel\/2019\/madison-square-garden-new-york-ny-3b9a9864.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the show we both notice stream of people walking\naround, up and down aisles, seemingly uninterested in the performance happening\nright in front of them. The couple next to me are huddled around two phones\nchatting to each other and the lady on Mardi\u2019s right is seemingly reading a\nblog fo some type.  She stops every now\nand then and takes a photo, barely looking up, and gets back to her blog\nreading!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lady in front of me stands for most of the show filming it\non her iPhone. A group of five people in front of us are up at least five times\nto go out and get a drink or something to eat.They sure aren\u2019t watching the\nshow!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have we become so distracted as humans that sitting for a\ncouple of hours enjoying a performance is now impossible for us? We have a need\nto share instantly with others, refuse to disconnect for a couple of hours, or\nsimply cant sit still.  That\u2019s aside, we\nhave a ball, stand for the entire encore and sing and clap along despite the\nunrest around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the lights come up, we exit and walk down the never\nending stair case, before being poured out onto 8th<\/sup> Avenue as the\ncrowd dispersing in every direction.  We\nwalk home, its about 13 blocks from 41st<\/sup> back to our hotel.  It\u2019s cool, but otherwise a perfect\nevening.  There crowd thins as we venture\nup town, crossing from 8th<\/sup>, to 7th<\/sup> to Broadway as we zig\nzag uptown from 31st<\/sup> to 44th<\/sup>. We stop in at Starbucks for\na late night hot chocolate and hot dog from a street corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its after midnight when we get home and we sit for a while to unwind after a busy first day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n