Over 30 miles of neglected updates

 Well we promised our tiny readership updates and we fell down on the job. Let us make up for it with a mega update. 

Sunday started with a bang and a trip to Brooklyn. We shopped, ate and strolled for miles. 









After miles of exploring, we headed back to the apartment before long naps before our first musical, Kim Akimbo, a musical about a teenager who prematurely ages.

Monday brought intense wind storms, making walking at street level challenging at times and shutting down airports in the area.  It didn’t stop us from having an action-packed day  we started at the USS Intrepid  


The sailors painted all over the ship when it was in use. We w joyed the samples of the art that had been preserved. 



Kamikaze pilots caused devastating damage and death aboard the USS Intrepid. The pilots ready room was near the top deck, threatened in combat. They relocated their ready room deeper into the ship so it took a long time for pilots to get from the room to their planes. This escalator was retrofitted into the ship well ahead of its time. 

After the intrepid, we took a trek across the city to Chelsea.  We had planned on taking the High Line, but it was shut due to high winds.  Truly it was that windy.  


After arriving in Chelsea markets, we found a 3D AI art installation. It moved all around us in the room.  After watching for awhile, we all felt disoriented when we got up to walk out. 


On Mondays, Broadway shuts down productions so we watched a movie ant home instead.  We did a little late night shopping, but it was cold enough to snow, so we headed back in.

As cold and windy Monday was, Tuesday was a day of perfect weather that didn’t require jackets.  After a breakfast of free croissants we were given in a coffee shop yesterday (right place right time), we ventured out to the lower east side.  We started the morning in NYC Manhattan Municipal Court.  First we went to see folks get arraigned.  After that got boring, we headed to an attempted murder trial.  The female judge was an absolute terror.  She gave us a passing glance a couple of times after we entered but didn’t call us out.  The trial was fascinating.  The guy had obviously shot the woman, and there was plenty of evidence for that including video and on his cell phone.  But in a surprise twist, the investigating detective had been forced to retire recently after decades in the NYPD service.  He apparently has tested positive for cocaine.  The prosecution was going over every single detail of the investigation process to prove to the jury he hadn’t fouled it up despite the cocaine. It was obvious to everyone and the prosecution that the defense was going to roast this detective to sow doubt.  We popped out of the courtroom before the conclusion.  There were days to go before the trial was to be concluded.  We were just proud to get out of there without getting yelled at by the judge, because everyone else did (lawyers, police, and detective included).

Post courtroom pic (it’s not allowed to use a phone in a courtroom).  


We wandered Chinatown for some hours before heading to the Tenament Museum, showing how ordinary people lived in turn of the century NYC.  The museum had found an unrestored tenament in 1988 that had been abandoned. They furnished different rooms as they would have appeared in different time periods. It was a fascinating tour and story, and although pictures were allowed, we were too rapt to remember to take them.  

Chinatown outdoor seafood sales (kinda sketchy)


Snacks at Eataly. 



We stopped to shop at Jane’s two favorite clothing stores. She found jeans and shirts. 

After our full day, we had tickets to a play called Brooklyn Laundry. Jane was excited to discover that Cecily Strong (from Saturday Night Live) was the star in this production. It’s a brand new play, but it had powerfully positive reviews. The production blew us away!  I was excited about it, but this vastly exceeded any expectations I could have had. Jane put it best when she described after that she went through all of the emotions with the characters during that play: laughed, cried, hoped, and despaired. Man, Cecily Strong is a real actress, not just a comedian. I was very literally perched at the edge of my seat leaning forward for the entire production. We can’t imagine we are going to see anything better than Brooklyn Laundry this week, but we are still looking forward to our Broadway agenda.


After our show, we did some shopping at MiniSo, a Japanese store that carries lots of good with Hello Kitty characters that Jane enjoys. 

Joel and Jane: Hello Kitty treasure hunters. 


We headed back to the apartment to make our late dinner and to watch the Hobbit. 

Dinner: Salad, turkey meatballs, and gnocchi. 

And that catches you all up!  We aim to have more timely updates tomorrow. 





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