Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Sky Check.

Winging it.
New York City, New York – Email, text and a travel app chime in unison as we arrive at LaGuardia Airport

Very early.

"Not again," I sigh.

I've had a rash of postponed and cancelled flights in recent years, particularly those involving London International Airport. But we risked it this time for convenience and had no issues on arrival.

Sure enough, our flight from New York is delayed sufficiently enough we won't make our connection home. At least renovations have vastly improved LaGuardia since the last time I was here.

Heading to the lounge, I ask the attendant if there's an earlier flight. There is! She takes our passports, shoos us inside for a quick breakfast and gets us onto one that leaves in 20 minutes.

As we depart, she hands us updated tickets and doesn't take our passes for the lounge. "Keep it between us and have a happy holiday," she says with a grin. 

Credit where credit due: Air Canada's service is generally justifiably maligned, but not today. Exceptional.

Sometimes it pays to be at the airport (painfully) early.

As I'm known to be.

Sunday, December 17, 2023

Kicking Back.

This show has legs.
New York City, New York – Music builds in concert with the orchestra rising from the cavernous Radio City Music Hall stage.

It's an apparition with woodwinds.

Then, percussion as dancers tap in unison, microphones tucked into their shoes. Dressed as reindeer, revellers and wooden soldiers, they twirl and kick like ribbons of colour, rhythmic in the breeze.

Santa Claus slides in on a sleigh before multiplying in a chorus of "ho ho hos." A young boy's eyes grow wide at the appearance of 40 more, each popping up in spotlights around the theatre.

More than 1,100 costumes and pairs of shoes are used in the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular.

A very New York City holiday experience.
While much of the show hasn't changed since its debut in 1933, some immersive elements now require 3D glasses. More than a million pairs are handed out each year.

Drones flutter through the auditorium like fairies and pyrotechnics bring the performance to a close with a bang. With 160 synchronized high kicks each show, you'd have thought there would already be enough entertainment.

In the last scene, the stage grows dark and becomes serious. No more colourful helpers making toys.

Real sheep, donkeys and a camel trot slowly across the stage, drawing a line to the nativity scene. It may be the reason for the season, but it's a drastic shift in tone from the rest of the show.

Santa must have needed a break.

Let's Meat.

A Katz above.
New York City, New York – Today, the midday line outside Katz's Delicatessen is only a half-block long.

In relative terms, it's short.

Neon signs hum as we huddle against a light drizzle, a whisper of steam forming on our breath. It spells anticipation.

Moving inside, we pick up our tickets (don't lose them: you need them to get out) and scan the packed room for the shortest carving line and a table. Unsurprisingly, there will be a wait for both. 

Meanwhile, cutlery duels, plates clatter and people shout. Chairs screech across the floor.

The man in line in front of me doesn't seem to know what he wants and the server becomes visibly frustrated. Patience is not a New York virtue.

An oasis in the chaos.
The guest's saving grace is that he speaks Spanish. First opened in 1888, the Kosher-style deli may be the city's oldest, but it also signifies New York's shifting demographics: most of the staff today are Latin American.

As a middle ground, the carver offers, in Spanish: "Do you want pastrami and corned beef?"

He's as relieved to see the man gather his tray and push through the jostling crowd as he is to hear I know exactly what I want: pastrami on rye with brown mustard, a bowl of matzo ball soup and a side of pickles.

A wish for knish.
The carver throws a few juicy slices onto a plate set on the counter: time-honoured samples. Katz's goes through 30,000 pounds of meat in a given week and still expertly carves it by hand in front of you. I drool even at what's considered scrap and tossed aside. His knife spins, a glint in its eye.

The bustle and show are half the experience.

But only half: the sandwich is piled high with thickly cut meat, the crunchy pickles are sour and the matzo ball is the size of my fist. You have to be particularly careful to not spill any as you push against the stream to find a table.

A bite. Bliss.

While hardly still hungry, dessert comes in the form a a fresh cherry-cheese knish from the 120-year-old Yonah Schimmel a few doors down.

It's so hot and delicious it melts into my soul.

Saturday, December 16, 2023

Parked.

New York City, New York – Aromas of baked goods and cheese dance in the air as raclette melts, twisting off the blade and onto a baguette.

Ice skaters twirl in parallel.

Frankly, it's a nice respite from the smells of weed and booze that seem to permeate the city.

Set up like chess pieces, the green-framed huts in the Bryant Park Winter Village serve as magnets for holiday crowds by offering crafts, gifts and food of all varieties. Passers-by tug on cups of hot chocolate so thick one merchant advertises that chewing isn't allowed; another twists freshly boiled pasta into a 70-pound wheel of Parmesan.

Jostled by endless lines of people, I feel the same.

But the sun twinkles on the tall Christmas tree and off the skyscrapers surrounding Bryant Park, whose revitalization over the past couple decades has allowed it to shed its previous "Needle Park" moniker. It now breathes a European flair into the city.

We trace the grid back up to Broadway, where we see Hamilton at the Richard Rogers Theatre, which has housed more Tony Award-winning Best Plays and Best Musicals than anywhere else. As expected, the show is great, but the theatre is cold, cramped and today has only one operational restroom. 

Patrons aren't thrilled.

But a post-show visit to New York landmark Junior's takes the (cheese) cake.

Friday, December 15, 2023

Finding Free.

Breakfast at Tiffany.
New York City, New York – "Beautiful smile, but I can't pay the rent with it," says an elderly man with a heavy Italian accent.

He doffs a tweed cap as he crosses the subway platform, his hands gesticulating as though drawing a caricature.

"Neither can I," I reply with a chuckle.

Not much in this city is cheap – not talk, not even the knock-off Gucci purses and faux high-end watches unceremoniously pulled from garbage bags and laid out on sidewalks. The packaging is a metaphor.

Fifth avenue is certainly no place to look for discounts. Its store windows, however, are beautifully animated for the holidays and come to life in sharp angles of colour and glitter. Bears dance the can-can behind the glass.

Bergdorf: good, man.
Having also wandered through Central Park, we stop at Judge Roy Bean for a beer and to toast my favourite young lady's birthday from afar. 

A sparkling silver purse sits on the patio table like the disco ball that will soon fall in Times Square to usher in the new year. We hand it to the server, who asks another table if it belongs to them.

A young woman shrieks in relief, not yet having realized it was gone.

As we prepare to leave, the server tells us the woman's friend has picked up our tab as thanks. "Good karma, and happy holidays," she says with a smile.

On our way home, we stumble upon a bourbon tasting and happy hour at the hotel. Both are free.

In a city this expensive, I'll take it.

Hustle and Go.

Not bored.
New York City, New York – We emerge from the subway to an eruption of colour.

Our stop has left us at Times Square, which is bathed in light from flashing billboards suited for a sweet tooth: Coca-Cola, Reese's peanut butter cups, M&Ms and the new movie, Wonka

As usual, it's a dizzying kaleidoscope.

We're immediately stitched into a thick holiday crowd and surrounded by countless street performers dressed in Minion, gorilla, robot and superhero costumes. Batman perches on a light standard, exchanging photos for tips.

Welcome to Gotham: everyone has a hustle, and everyone needs to make a buck.

A fine feller.
On another corner, the Naked Cowboy struts with his guitar, sings a bit and makes wrestling poses. I'm sure he's grateful it's sunny and an unseasonably warm 16 degrees.

The holidays are in full swing.

Iconic toy store FAO Schwarz is lined up around the block. Amazon couriers whiz past on e-bikes, pulling trailers stacked high with cardboard boxes; others rattle carts along the sidewalk.

Shoulder-to-shoulder doesn't put me into the holiday spirit, though, so we thread past the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and squeeze through the throngs to Hell's Kitchen for lunch at Alfie's. We sit on the patio, enjoying the relative quiet in short sleeves.

Global warming isn't real, you say?