Well, tomorrow's the big day. We leave at 8:15 in the morn to go over the hill and rent a car in Paso Robles, then we drive east on Highway 46 to I-5 and head for Ontario first to take a look at some theatre seats that have been donated to the Pewter Plough Playhouse. Jim needs to give the okay, if they're suitable. So, that's the first stop. I'm hoping the weather cools down tomorrow somewhat in that neck of the woods because it can really be hot and sultry in the L.A. area. IT'S EVEN TOO HOT HERE ON THE CENTRAL COAST!!!! In the 90s today. Give me some cool weather, please!
After Ontario Jim wants to go downtown L.A. and see the Disney Center, that great big metal, stone, wood and stucco work of what’s art. My son Barry works for the company who built it. Last time we saw the new L. A. Cathedral, which was certainly impressive; the Disney Center was still under construction. Soooooooo, after being L.A. tourists for the afternoon, we'll head to our hotel in beautiful downtown El Segundo (The Hacienda) and discover what we've forgotten.
Wednesday we leave for New York City, HOORAY!!!! Then Zurich for a few days, on to Salzburg for a few, then to Vienna, then 10 days in Russia - St. Petersburg and Moscow. Total of 33 days traveling. Exciting trip, huh?
April 27
The theatre seats were all in a pile, huge pile, some of the backs were connected, some seats connected, but not to each other. They were red and pale gold, metal framed, with white plastic arms. Not encouraging. Jim wasn't impressed to say the least, but he's thinking about it. Hasn't made a final decision. If he were to take them, we'd have to arrange a U-Haul rental, then assemble them, clean them, cover the arms with fabric, etc. Quite a chore. But, they're free. So, who knows.We may be bringing a sample back with us, have made arrangements to do so if that's the case when we return to the States, if Jim wants to bother. Up to him, of course.
Ontario was quite surprising. We both felt the same. Beautiful residential areas, roses in abundance, shrubbery, trees, unbelievable actually, in spite of being so close to all the crud. The older houses in the downtown area, where the theatre was, were charming, and the theatre was quite a surprise. Huge. We had to climb down a very dark, steep flight of concrete stairs into the bowels of the theatre . . . a very old building with a high ceiling-ed basement. I was expecting the Phantom of the Opera to jump out at us any moment. Oh by the way . . . took us almost seven hours to get there. I made the mistake of taking the route suggested over the phone by the guy in Ontario . . . and got lost out in the middle of the God-forsaken desert. Took 138 East to the 15 south to the 10 West to Ontario. At least that was the plan. Best laid plans . . . saw Palmdale, though, and Lancaster and some other lost-in-the-wilderness type towns. Out where the Manson family had lived was fun! Lost in the desert in the heat is the worst punishment ever. Okay, God, that's enough! I get it!
May 1
Our second night in New York City.Tonite we went to the show "20th Century" starring Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche. Well, of course it was wonderful to see Baldwin and Heche in person, but it was such a slap-stick sort of comedy, we really didn't enjoy it and left at the intermission. The set was wonderful, however, interior cars of a train, beautifully done. And my gosh, when they slammed the doors the doors would actually stay shut, wouldn't bounce back . . . ha ha ha . . . we both noticed that (unlike our PPP sets). Boy, Alec is a bit of a portly guy . . . and sweats profusely; his shirt sleeves were wet down to his elbows. Anne is skinny as a rail, still not wearing bras.
Then we walked all up and down Time Square, spent about 45 minutes viewing all the gigantic electronic signs and video on the buildings, after which we hired a bicycle buggy guy to take us to 38th Street to Keen's Chop House (steak and chops). In the old days, Jim's pipe (he used to smoke pipes) was among the hundreds of pipes on the ceiling of Keen's. They were numbered then, and one could always retrieve his pipe, but it's changed now. It's only for decoration and they're not numbered anymore. But, the ceiling is quite unique . . . solid rows of pipes. Food was fine, it was okay, maybe not as good as expected. Everything changes. We all know that. And the area was a bit run-down, but, all in all it was a fun evening. Different.
Tomorrow we have lunch with some of Jim's family here at the Hudson Hotel, and then we go to see "Hairspray" tomorrow night with our friends Dinah and Chris, who are here from Laguna Beach. They're here displaying their line for "Fashion Week", being the clothing designers that they are.
Oh yes . . . we also went to Ground Zero today. We had been on top of the World Trade Center when we were here in 2000, the year before the tragedy. So today was quite confusing, shocking, and sad, to see nothing but girders stacked and what looked like a construction site. It was difficult to imagine the WTC as it was. In 2000 I had taken great photos of the tall buildings and we have pictures of us on top of one of the buildings. So tragic. Then we went to The Battery. I was thinking we might take a boat out to the Statue of Liberty, but we got there as the last boat left. So we stood and walked and then sat in the sweltering heat (yes, it's still too damn hot), and I get a bit crabby when I'm hot. So when it and I cooled off a bit, we took a cab to 42nd street where we bought the tickets for tonite's performance.
This hotel (The Hudson) is so fun, just a block from Columbus Circle, right off Central Park. The hotel is very unusual, very artsy, very contemporary. A boutique hotel, actually, and trendy. It has quite a young nite-life clientele. Last night we hung around people-watching in the lounge bar, but it's really too much for us. Loud music, lots of hip yuppies and under. One night was enough. I must be getting old.
May 2
It's 6 a.m. on Sunday, can't sleep.On Friday, we had a delightful lunch here at the Hudson with Jim's sister Marie (from Vermont), his neice Barbara (who is a runner by the way, was in a New York Marathon on Saturday) and her daughter Jessica (who is still in school). Marie's grandson Jerry joined us for a short while too, which added to the interest. He is a marketing maniac (that's what his card says) for an incredible Teddy Bear company. The Vermont Teddy Bear. Check out the web site. Nice New York family and very pleasant/fun visit.
Then later on Friday we saw "Hairspray" at the Neil Simon theatre. Wow, what a show! Dinah, Christopher and I thought it was fabulous, ranking up there with the best, but Jim wasn't so easily impressed, thought it was silly. Oh well. To each his own. But, it was soooooo full of energy and color with such talented singers and dancers, and I bet no one dozed off during that show. Dynamite performances, and Harvey Fierstein (spelling?) was fantabulous! He'll be difficult to replace, supposedly this is his last weekend, so I hear. We sat on the second row, came out with crooked necks, but it was worth it, no complaints.
Yesterday, Saturday, we took a short walk to the Brooklyn Diner for lunch, interesting place on 57th and 8th (?), and then took a cab to Radio City Music Hall, hoping to see a performance, but the Rockettes aren't there until November. A bit early in the day anyway. A Raggae group is playing there now. We’ll pass on that one. Jim didn't want to take the one-hour tour without seeing the Rockettes performing, so we'll leave that to next time. After that we walked down to Rockefeller Plaza and hung around there for awhile, rested and took a few pics. A Ferrari display was the item of the day throughout the plaza, along with droves of people. Jim spent the rest of the afternoon browsing Saks Fifth Avenue (nostalgic for him, he did their window display way back when), but not me, I walked back to the hotel, via Central Park, took a nap and then read till he returned at 6 pm. I don’t know where that man gets his energy. You’d think at his age (92) he’d be prone.
Last night we met with his neice Tina and her fella Tim at “Shelly's”, a wonderful jazz restaurant on 57th and 6th/7th. I found this one. Chris and Dinah joined us also, and we had a great time. Now I was in my element.
I have to say it's been good getting to know Jim's niece Tina and her Tim, as it was the day before becoming more acquainted with the Vinall branch of the family and Jim's sister and grandson. Tina works for Schumacher fabrics and wallpaper, by the way, is a designer, and is Jim's brother Bill's only daughter. She leaves for Italy on Monday, for a week - a working trip visiting fabric mills and archives, so Tim will stay home in Manhattan. Tim is part of the film industry, has worked on many major movie productions as a grip, and is Gene Kelly's son, looks like him too. They are such a beautiful couple, and I'm hoping to see more of them, hoping they come to Calif to visit as Barbara and hubby may be doing next year, also.
Soooooooooo, today we leave Manhattan and move on to East Hampton for a couple of days to visit Jim’s brother Bill and his wife Linda.That's it for now . . . I can't believe this is only the start of our trip. I'm already exhausted.
May 3
Well, we ended up driving to East Hampton instead of riding the Long Island Railway. I was a bit concerned about the change of trains midway, about being able to make the train with all our damn luggage fast enough to catch it. I remember how difficult it was doing the south coast of England last summer when I traveled by train back and forth, jumping from one train to the other. It was hard enough by myself, without Jim. So, I felt it might not be the best thing to do, since that would have been the last train to East Hampton till late in the evening. At least in England when I missed one, another came along in 30 minutes or so. Not the case with Sunday trains to EH. So, it was a pleasant drive, I do well driving in Manhattan, it's just like L.A. No problems at all. And we made it to EH in 2.5 hours. A breeze.
Last night we had dinner at the Laundry. No, not a real laundry. It used to be one. Now it's a steak house . . . Jim had liver and onions, delicious stuff. It was what he'd remembered from the last time we were here, same chef. Bill and Linda are wonderful hosts. They're filling us with too much food, however. We had a lovely breakfast this morning, which we normally don't eat . . . an unusual, very tasty, oven pancake. I'm coming back with this recipe. It's an old family recipe that she's had for years. Very very nice.
Then when we returned from the post office, where I mailed two bundles of my clothing home, took it all out of my suitcase - yes, I brought too much once again . . . then, Linda made lunch. My god, we'd just eaten! But we ate again anyway. ha ha Beef and Turkey sandwiches. Now she's preparing food for tonite's soiree . . . she's invited guests in for a gathering. I have a feeling my plans to diet on this trip are all in vain. She said don't worry about it, I can make up for it in Russia. The food evidently is not good in Russia. We've heard that from several people now. That's okay, we aren't going there for the food, anyway.
It's been raining all day, which suits me just fine. It's cooler this way. And rain is nice. On our way to town earlier, down the street from here, we passed the Breyer's home - the ice cream guy - you know, Breyer's Ice Cream. And of course Eli and Anne Wallach live next door to Linda and Bill. I wish they were home, we'd go see them. We hung out with them a bit when we were on our cruise 3 years ago. They were part of the entertainment on the ship.
Okay, it's back to Manhattan tomorrow to dine with Ted Snowden, producer of the show we're going to see starring Isabelle Rosselini and Richard Thomas (the Walton's John Boy). I'm truly looking forward to that. Then we leave for Zurich on Wednesday.
PS . . . Jim must have had waaaaaaay too much food yesterday because during the night he was ill. I was concerned, as you might well suspect, because here we were in New York embarking on an extensive trip to Eastern Europe and Russia, and sick doesn’t work. Although we did purchase a health/emergency policy to cover Jim while we are out of the States, I wanted him to enjoy all the places to which we were heading. It must have been just a 24-hour bug, because he recuperated quickly. It wasn’t fun for him having to be near a toilet for 24 hours, though. No fun at all.
I must remember to add the drug store disagreement Jim and I had.)
May 4
Our last night in New York.Zurich, here we come! Yes, we leave for Switzerland tomorrow (Wednesday), will be leaving from NY Pennsylvania Station (across the street from us here at the hotel and Madison Square Garden) on Amtrak at 4 pm to Newark Int'l Airport, departing on a 10 pm flight. Yes, that’s lots of time hangin' out at the airport, but to make the connection we had to do it. I'm sure we'll find something to occupy our time.
Earlier tonite we saw 2 one-act plays with Richard Thomas and Isabella Rossellini called THE STENDHAL SYNDROME. Very very interesting plays by Terrence McNally. We met McNally afterwards which was a treat. Looks like a regular guy and acts like one, although he wore the classic artsy wool scarf around his neck. And I even had a brief conversation with Richard Thomas, who is absolutely one of the best actors you'll ever see, and didn’t wear an artsy wool scarf around his neck, thank god. He was in tennis shoes, jeans and a shirt. Nice guy. And he really put on a FINE performance. It was an avant garde play, one that certainly is out there on the ledge. A lot of sexual dialogue, would never work in Cambria. At least not for the locals. Maybe a room full of tourists from SF and LA. We both liked it, however. But then we're maybe a bit more lenient than most.
Seeing that show made me think I should pull out my one-woman show VIAGRA DIALOGUES (my answer to "Vagina Monologues") and develop it some more. Right now it’s a bit too crass, even for me. Maybe after my novel, and then after I've written my play about Catherine Cookson, the British novelist. So, VD will be a project down the line. Oh dear, that doesn't look good . . . VD. Well, you know what I mean. Isabella looked fabulous, by the way. Reminds me of her mother . . . Ingred Bergman. She performed well, but her roles were a bit more subdued than John Boy's.
We had dinner at "Paper Moon" with Ted before the play across the street from the theatre. It's a new theatre complex - PRIMARY STAGES - on 59th between Madison and Park Ave. There are 3 stages in the building. A couple of 99 seaters and the larger one where we were.
This hotel we're staying in for tonite only is huge, quarters a multitude of ethnic travelers and businessmen. An older hotel, but nice enough. Big rooms. And a Lindy's downstairs, which is a bit nostalgic. Jim had to have a souvenir menu, of course. He's stacking Zs right now, and I'm about to.
May 5
Cinco de Mayo . . . no celebrants in sight, I guess they don't celebrate the Mexican holiday here in New Jersey. Oh well. We're near our gate at the airport, waiting for departure on Alitalia Airlines to Milan then on to Zurich. A four-hour stopover in Milan, Italy. I wish we had more time in Milan so we could see that city. I wonder what we can do in two hours. No, probably not a good idea to stray from the airport. Mustn’t take a chance. Nah, won't do it.
I just roamed around this part of the terminal here in Newark Int'l airport into the duty-free shops and trinket shops. We had some cheese and crackers in a place called Formaggio's a few minutes ago. Jim is still sitting there reading the New York Times. I don't know what he'd do without his newspapers. I see a character for a story there, always reading newspapers, especially the ads. You'd think he was an ex-ad man the way he peruses them. His brother Bill was an ad-man, that was his life, with a top advertising agency in New York for years. In fact he and Jim sat for several hours going over his portfolio, all the ads he'd done those many years ago. Some very creative ones. It was humorous when Jim began asking him why he would design one this way instead of that way. Linda and I were in the kitchen laughing about it. Brothers. Still competitive in a way.
This flight to Milan should be a nice flight; we're seated at the window and aisle, no one traipsing over us. I can't really tell how long the flight is, however, because of the time differences. If it's according to the times indicated on the ticket, it's a 14-hour flight to Milan and a 2-hour to Zurich. I don't think the Milan segment could be that long. Might be. We'll see. I hope not. Cripes! Talk about tiring. Maybe I should buy another book to read in addition to my own. I'll be through editing MIDNIGHT AT TRAFALGAR SQUARE long before that flight is over, that's for sure.
After we had breakfast at lunchtime this morning in Lindy's at the Pennsylvania Hotel, we requested a later checkout and went across the street to pick up our train tickets to Newark Int'l. Boy, am I glad we did that. It is not the easiest terminal to get around in. If I were by myself, yes. But so many steps and distances to walk. Impossible for Jim. By the time we got the tickets, it was time to go back and get the luggage and return to the train. It took that long. We'd planned to go to the Empire State Building before leaving, which was just down the block. But it was too late at that point.
So we went back after the luggage and hauled it around looking for elevators to get down into Penn Station. None from the street level, not good. Finally a policeman took Jim's baggage down the escalator for him, after I asked him where the elevators were because it would be too difficult for Jim to carry his bags down the steps. And then we finally found one on the lower level, after taking a couple more short flights of stairs to get us closer to the gates. But at the door of the elevator a fellow was kind enough to suggest we get a "red cap", that it would still be quite a hike to the train. We didn't think there were any "red caps" anymore. We hadn't seen any. Well, come to find out, the info booth person telephones them and they appear.
So that's what we did, and thank goodness, because we were heading to the wrong gate, and would have missed our train to the airport. How simple it was with a "red cap" directing us and transporting our luggage on a cart. He took us right on the train before boarding time, we didn't have to wait. Great move. Just that one little scare and a bit of confusion, all cleared up by a construction worker suggesting we get a "red cap". Nice guy. Nice New Yorker. Hey, what do we know? We're just stupid Californians. And here we are in the airport, we made it on time, and now we're waiting for our plane near the gate. No stairs, no escalators, no elevators to worry about anymore. We're here. Whew! I’m telling you, I’m tired already.
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