New York City Trip Report - Day 2

Click here, or on any photo to see my album of photos from this trip.

I grew up in New York City. OK, it was in Flushing, Queens, in what is referred to as a "two fare zone." Still, it's part of NYC.

I never attended Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Sure, I watched it on TV when I was growing up, but that was totally different. Well, I assume it's totally different. How would I really know? There was always the possibility that watching Macy's parade in person is like watching professional football in person. Professional football is much, much better watched on TV (Did I mention my friend Barry invited me to see the Eagles - Dallas game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on December 7... and I'm going).

Helaine says she woke up around 4:00 AM. I was sleeping. I'll take her word for it. Steffie and I woke up closer to 5:00. We were out of the hotel before 6:00 AM, on our way to the Upper West Side.

At this time of day I felt better taking a cab. We walked to 6th Avenue and found a taxi within a minute or two. The trip uptown was uneventful.

Because of the parade, many streets were closed to traffic. So, we got off the cab at 72nd and Columbus and began to walk toward the park. At the corner, we saw an open deli and walked in for coffee, juice and some carbs.

As we walked up 72nd Street, you couldn't help but notice the police presence. They were everywhere. I'm not sure if this has changed over time, but it seems to me that cops are younger, and less athletic than they once were. Granted, at age 53, it's starting to become more and more difficult to find people older than me.

Central Park West was deserted. Across the street, we saw bleachers that we had spied the night before. Steffie thought they might be ours for the asking, but alas, they had been promised to folks with better connections and more pull than we had.

I had contacted Al Roker, asking him if he could help and he said he only got two! He hosts the telecast, for heaven's sake! I am way down the totem pole from where Al sits. I didn't have a chance.

We found a spot, at the curb line, under a construction scaffold, in front of an apartment building. We were right on the line of march. There would be nothing between us and the parade.

The 6:00 AM Central Park Temperature was 43°. As Thanksgiving Days go, this was incredibly balmy. Though the forecast had called for overcast skies, the sun rose into a sky of blue.

Overhead, four helicopters kept watch. The lowest flying, a blue police helicopter, made clockwise circles from the area around the Museum of Natural History, over Central Park, down to Columbus Circle and then back up to the museum, flying just west of us and over the apartments.

Even before the crowds came, the police (mostly auxiliary police) took their posts. I have seen police, in situations where they were constantly being challenged and pressed to yield something (like better seating) get surly. Nothing even close to that happened. These cops were in charge, secure, and happy to be there.

On either side and behind us, the crowd began to grow. It's possible that we could have come a half hour later and still found a good viewing spot, but it was worth getting up early to guarantee what we had gotten. Helaine and Steffie spoke with some people nearby who were visiting from Mississippi. I lied down in the fetal position and attempted to catch up on my sleep. It was futile... though sleeping on the sidewalk isn't as bad as you might imagine (though it is close).

If you watch the parade on TV, you see performances that take place in front of Macy's, on 34th Street. We were about 2 miles north of there. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the floats, marching bands and balloons are shot at the parade's beginning. We never got to see the awful lip syncing performances that this parade is known for. But, all the marching bands and other 'mass' performers did do their thing as they passed us by.

The parade really is special. The balloons are as big, maybe bigger, than they seemed on TV. The bands were on key and in step. Everyone in the parade seemed to be having a good time.

Steffie and I enjoyed watching the balloon captains guide their teams down CPW. I had been a balloon captain in New Haven's St. Patrick's Day Parade. We're talking a much smaller balloon, going down streets that were often capped with power lines. It was up and down, up and down. We did see one captain get his group to raise the balloon by unrolling their lines a specific amount in unison. Nicely done.

The largest applause in the parade came when the NYPD Marching Band came by. It is obvious that the people of New York, and the rest of America, will always be thankful to the police and firemen for what they did during 9/11.

It's one thing to claim heroism and bravery. It's quite another to actually display heroism and bravery, under fire.

The line of march took nearly three hours to pass our vantage point. I took as many photos in as short a time as I ever have before. Before we returned to the hotel room, I had filled a 340 MB microdrive and a 512 MB compact flash card.

I am pleased with the pictures. Taking nearly 5,000 pictures over the last 9 months, has made me a better photographer. I have also benefited from the technical powers of my Fuji Finepix S602Z camera. There's not much it won't do. Coupled with Photoshop, this is one versatile camera.

It will show in an automatic mode, picking the best settings. I like to manually set the camera, so I can take pictures that are beyond the camera's capabilities. Specifically, I'll set the shutter fast enough to reduce shake problems and then shoot in areas without enough light to get clean photos. Then, with Photoshop, I'll bring up the light levels and try (not always successfully) to remove some of the noise that low light brings.

Digital cameras aren't yet at the point of film cameras when it comes to quality of the finished image. But, they are so close and allow you to shoot so many more pictures, that it makes no sense to shoot anything but digitally.

As the end of the parade passed 72nd Street, we got up to leave. There is a subway station right at the corner, across from the entrance to The Dakota (the apartment building where John Lennon lived, and in front of which John Lennon died). The line was long, but orderly.

Inside the station, transit workers and police wisely kept the crowd behind the turnstiles because the lower, southbound, platform was jammed. There was no sense overloading the platform and making a difficult situation dangerous. As the platform load lightened, they opened the gates and let passengers onto the train without paying fares. Again, this was a very smart move and helped with crowd control.

It only took a few minutes to get to the station at 42nd and 6th Avenue, near the NY Public Library and Bryant Park. We walked 6th to 44th Street and turned toward the hotel... only to run into a police line.

Because the parade was still passing through Times Square, and that area was overloaded, the police were keeping additional people from moving in. I said we were going to our hotel, and after I produced a plastic room 'key' we were on our way.

My first view looking down 44th Street was of Wild Thing passing between buildings. It's a totally different look from what you'd see on Central Park West. The confinement of Times Square makes the balloons seem even larger than they do in the wide open space adjacent to the park.

At this time I realized, we really didn't have to go to Central Park West and 72nd Street, we could have walked down to Times Square. But, we probably would have had to be there almost as early, faced a larger crowd and stayed longer because it is so much farther down the line. All things considered, I'm not unhappy we went uptown.

We all went back up to the room and crashed - but not for long. Soon, Steffie and Helaine were heading out to shop, under the false impression that stores like Macy's were open on Thanksgiving Day.

I slept.

For Thanksgiving dinner, we walked up through Times Square to The ESPN Zone. I know what you're saying, what could be less Thanksgiving than The ESPN Zone? Of course, you're right. But, Helaine had an ulterior motive, she wanted to see Miami vs Dallas (and was ecstatic when Miami beat the Cowboys, giving the Eagles the opening they took today to move atop the NFC East - but I digress).

We got on the list and Steffie and I started playing arcade games. I am impressed by the state of gaming today. I saw a woman boxing against a computerized opponent. I played a few holes of golf. Steffie and I raced on wave riders (she won) and drove sports cars (I won).

We went to the dining room, surrounded by dozens of TVs, all showing Miami at Dallas. Our waiter was Charlie. Whether it's an honor or not, Charlie was an excellent waiter. He was very attentive, informative and friendly. He Had a been working since early Thanksgiving morning when the Zone threw a breakfast for policeman working the parade.

Our night would end at the Al Hirschfeld Theater, about as far west as you can get on 45th Street and still consider it "Broadway." This theater used to be the Martin Beck, but I guess Marty doesn't have as much pull as he once had.

We had bought tickets for Wonderful Town before it open, while the show was in previews. I had been left cold by its radio ads. We were very lucky, because this show was very good.

Here's some of what Ben Brantley said in The New York Times:

Wow! Can you get a better review than that?

Still, the show started a little slowly... but then it built. The orchestra, instead of being in the pit, was on stage. This forced all the staging to be close to the apron. The sets were quite minimalist with good use of flown, transparent 'walls'.

To me, Donna Murphy was very reminiscent of the best of Lucille Ball. That's a hell of a compliment. She was able to go over her character to mug for the audience, but never went far enough out of character to not immediately step back in. And, it was always funny, never intrusive or self serving.

Jennifer Westfeldt, as the younger, hotter sister, had a beautiful voice. The rest of the cast was excellent. The audience was appreciative.

left the theater, exhausted, and walked back to the hotel. Part of our conversation had to do with the fact that we couldn't believe we had been here less than two full days.

Click here, or on any photo to see my album of photos from this trip.