NYC, Part IV
At the menu today: Grand Central Station, NYC Library, Hair Spray, back to apartment, Dinner at Jules's Bistro and the McSorley Pub (again) to wait for the big twelve.
It's snowing this morning ! Marc and Laura left earlier to try to go up the Empire State Building for the second time. They will give up because of the lack of visibility and the long line. We are heading up the green subway line to Grand Central Station, then follow 42nd street to the New York Library. We've over two hours before the broadway show, so we go ahead and embark on the free visit of the premises. Our guide is exceptionally brisk and interesting. Impersonation of the cultured and efficient librarian, defender of knowledge ! This place would be a heaven for Ruth, with 14 million books and 48 million artifacts (includes maps, etc). It's a "closed stacks" library, i.e. the visitor can not access the books and shelves directly, but request books after consulting a catalog. And it's free. Subsidized one third by public funds, two thirds by private donations. With one hour left before the show, we head up the 5th avenue and stop in the café Europa for a quick lunch. We reached the 52nd street with ample time to spare before the show. Hair Spray will last two and a half hour, with an intermission. It's an explosion of colors, and music, and dance. We like it very very much. Oddly enough, Céline had already seen the story somewhere. She does not remember where though. May be in a previous life?
When we get out, Time Square is starting to fill up -even though we are over 5 blocks from the place and seven hours from midnight (we'll meet some people from Kansas City the next day and they will tell us that they spent 7 hours standing there at Time Square to attend New Years eve). It's starting to snow again, and we're tired, so we decide to go back to the apartment and possibly have a quick nap to save our energy to outlast midnight (well, especially Céline). Marc and Laura come back soon after we get there. Everyone gets ready, and at 7:30, we head up for Jules's bistro on 8th street, two blocks up from our apartment. We have a good time, a reasonable meal, and finally we get kicked out shortly before the second service, at 10:00. We decide to give a shot to McSorley again, even though we firmly believe it's going to be even more packed than yesterday. But we are wrong! There is almost no one. Incredible. We even have a table, at which we wait for midnight patiently. Céline has brought "confettis", that we merrily throw at each other when the time comes. It seems to me that most of them end up in our beer, spoiling the good brews. The new year has begun!
