Day Four, New York, 2014

View from 29th Floor Room
©2014, R. Ono

On our final full day in New York, we hit the hotel gym in the morning and then went to a late breakfast at the hotel on-site restaurant. As rain was falling in the morning, we planned our mid-morning subway journey to the Museum of the City of New York. A small museum, compared to others in the city, the highlight of the visit was seeing an exhibit on the gilded age of New York, an exhibit of Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao’s large format photographs of New York and Mac Connor’s artwork/adwork from the 1950s and 1960s. There was also an excellent video discussing the historical evolvement of New York. We stopped by the museum café for lunch and then retraced our way to the 103^rd subway station to return back to our hotel.

Later we grabbed a take-out dinner at Carve Unique Sandwiches, located at 760 Eighth Avenue. We had been to Carve during another New York trip and found it a great place for pizza, sandwiches and salads. As our tickets to see Beautiful, the Carole King Musical, was for a 7pm showing, we wanted a quick but still tasty dinner. Carve has an extensive menu and was only a few blocks from our Doubletree hotel. A dinner of two large salads, soup and rolls was about $18. 

Rain was lightly falling as we walked to the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. The musical reflected a great night out as the individual and ensemble performances were very strong. I also enjoyed recalling and hearing music from our youth. Jesse Mueller, a 2014 Tony Award winner, was terrific in the role of Carole King. Previously reading Carole King's book, "A Natural Woman: A Memoir," revealed a much more complex back story - one that could only be touched upon in a musical.   

For those contemplating a New York visit, two mobile phone apps that we found useful during our trip was the NYC subway app and NYC Central Park app. Both are helpful in getting around the city.