New York City - Part 3 ... there’s no place like it. Like it? I do!
Written by: Janet Pope Photography by: Donald
Janet revisits her New York City roots from the perspective of a tourist.
On Sunday, we slept later than we had planned but we were happy that breakfast on the weekends is served until 11 a.m. at our hotel. After filling up, we headed off again by foot. We attended services at St. Patrick's Cathedral, watched fellow tourists around Rockefeller Center and shopped in a few museum stores in the area. The Intrepid beckoned, so we hopped a cross-town bus and decided to check out the Air and Sea Museum. The ships were in town and Fleet Week was in full swing. There were sailors visiting New York from all around the world. Like the American Museum of Natural History, we soon found out that you can spend a full day here too. The museum was put together in 1982 and it comprises not only the aircraft carrier Intrepid, but also a submarine, visiting boats and numerous military exhibits, memorials and plenty of hands-on instruction. We saw the Imax film "Enduring Freedom" and we learned that the Intrepid held 6,000 on board and was literally a floating city. The average age of the men serving on board was 19 and the ship duty deployment lasted from 6 months to 18 months at a time.
It was a rainy spring day in New York that dampened the atmosphere, but not the sprit or the enthusiasm of the crowds. The word "Intrepid" means unafraid, bold and fearless. I felt a little like that on this trip to New York City.
As Don and I made our way around the city, we felt like fearless explorers. Like old pros, we hopped a bus to Times Square and found our dinner destination. At first I thought there was a typo in our itinerary. The address we were given for the SQ Cafe was the same address for a large multiplex movie theatre. "Oh no!" I thought, "Nachos and Cheese for dinner?" perhaps a frankfurter?
We were pleasantly surprised to find a delightful cafe on the 2nd floor of the AMC movie theater. What a wonderful concept - a real dinner and a movie - the perfect date all at the same location. The menu was an equal surprise. There are appetizers, salads, panninis, pastas and of course desserts, for those guests who want just a cup of coffee after the movie. The owner of Cafe' Mozart owns this restaurant and he wanted to establish a bit of elegance, thus a varied menu. I had the Tuscan Onion Soup, a house salad Chicken Gabriella, a stuffed chicken breast with angel hair pasta, a far cry from the menu I thought I'd be having.. Don had the Minestrone Soup and the Linguini with Seafood. As we dined a flautist/vocalist, Thaddeus MacGregor entertained us. As we listened to the sweet sounds of the flute, and enjoyed our dinner, it was hard to believe we were in a movie theater. In fact, we learned later that the restaurant was not in a movie theater ,but really in an old time vaudeville stage theater. The movie theater was a recent construction to the back of the theater and the people actually enter the theater section, walk through what was once the orchestra pit, and take an elevator up to the various movie theaters. Cool!
Times Square Cafe
Tempted once again by a devilish waiter, we succumbed and ordered the Dessert Extravaganza.- a plate filled with an assortment of pastries, pies, ice cream and whipped cream topped with sparklers for effect!. A great dish to share!
We were on a tight schedule since we had tickets to a show but with so many movies to choose from, we found one that fit into our schedule. Talk about cutting it close, the movie got out at 7:55 p.m. and we ran across the street to catch the Yakov Smirnoff show at 8 p.m. With a little juggling, one could have a full theatre day in Manhattan. A movie, a dinner and a play. Safe, secure and a short walk.
If you’ve never heard of Yakov Smirnoff he's a Russian comedian who came here as a young man with his family to find the American Dream. In his act, he basically tells you about his journey from Russia to his trials as a stand up comedian, and all of his foibles and mishaps in between. The show is only 90 minutes with no intermission and when we left we were happy to have laughed for 90 minutes, and proud to be Americans as Yakoff reminded us over and over again of our blessings in this country.
We gathered up our luggage from our hotel, got on a bus and headed to Penn Station. We were snug in our bed by 11 p.m. What a great weekend! I went home feeling like I had conquered the city and felt not only proud to be an American, but proud to be a New Yorker.
