cabenson | NYC 2007 Day 3

Breakfast at the Brooklyn Diner in Times Square was the perfect start to our final day in NYC. Mrs. CB had the Tony Bennett French Toast while I had the Sweet Buttermilk Pancakes. Oh! My! God!! Next to dessert, breakfast is my favorite meal. And speaking of dessert, this place has a lemon meringue pie that is bigger than your head ! I wish we had returned there for dinner last night. I highly recommend this place to anyone visiting Times Square.

After a hearty breakfast, we grabbed a cab to Washington Square from where we foolishly decided to walk to Battery Park. Oh, did I mention that it was about 30 degrees out with a windchill of maybe zero? So we walked, and we walked, and then we stopped for coffee before we started walking again. I think we calculated that we walked a good 20 miles in the mere 72 hours we were there.

We passed by The World Trade Center to see how much progrees had been made since our visit a year ago.

Re-construction continues

I think this is the redevelopment of Building 5

Tower 7 and it is splendid!

We continued on our trek and was I ever suprised to see a a statue of me bathing. Look at that fine ass! And around the corner, we found a nice toothless man who was willing to take a pic of me and Mrs. CB. I know we look a bit stoned, but hey, we're on vacation!

When Mrs. CB had to pee and we couldn't find a Starbuck to pee in, we grabbed a cab and headed back to TS. We ordered room service (the waiter called me "sir") and I was delighted to experience again my fave treat, Tomato and Mozarella di Bufala. God I love that stuff and while I can prepare it here, it's just not the same. After drinking my $6 8 oz Pepsi, I still needed a nap. Did I mention that I am still recovering from a severe respiratory infection? After a brief snooze, we walked down the street to the Hilton Theater where we saw,

Now to be honest, I was not all that interested in seeing The Pirate Queen. It officially opened three days before we saw it and Stephanie J. Block had been under the weather, so we saw the standby, Kathy Voytko. She was wonderful! The production was beautiful, the cast is incredibly talented, but the book and lyrics are weak. What could have been a show about the empowerment of women failed to reach past the history lesson we saw. The character of Queen Elizabeth 1 was comical to us and really had no purpose until the very end.

The dancing and music was gorgeous and as soon as we saw the set, we knew that the folks who had done up "Wicked"'s stage had been involved. The authentic Irish singer's performance of the death dirge was very moving. The costuming was outstanding, especially the Royal Court. I smell at least a Tony nom for costuming.

All in all, the Pirate Queen was an entertaining experience, but nothing, not the music, lyrics or the dancing was overly engaging. Maybe if I had seen Stephanie J Block in it...I did see her as Elphaba and she was brilliant. I'm not sorry that I went to this musical, but I am sorry for their prognosis-it just could have been so much more!

After the show, we went in search of dinner and found the Heartland Brewery and Chophouse. I started with a Bootlegger (home-made rootbeer with Jim Beam) and Mrs. CB tried a flight of home brews. She had a bigass Cajun ribeye while I had NY Strip au poivre. Dessert was beer for Mrs. CB and Dutch chocolate-hazelnut pudding and Mr. Pinot for me.

We took in a last look at TS as we walked back to the hotel and started packing for our return to Ohio. We spent the last night of our trip watching vintage BSG on ION.

One last breakfast at Smith's Diner brought out the inner New Yorker in me and I was never more pissed to find the gratuity already added to my bill.. Do not go there EVER! Nuff said.

The flight back was perfect and again, on time! This is unheard of for us! I made a love connection with the seventy-something year old nun sitting across from me when I held her coffee so she could locate something in her briefcase. Later, I helped her find her seat belt buckle and she thanked me as we de-planed. I am SO going to heaven.

We came home to five cats, none of whom would admit to having opened a box of Girl Scout cookies all over the kitchen floor. The guys watching the boys left a note about how they saw the initial mess and LOL'd before cleaning it up. At least it wasn't the Do-Si-Dos. Mrs. CB mowed the lawn and I got groceries and wine. We are now preparing to enjoy the next 6 days off.