Friday 13th October 2023
New York, second day
Mary wrote: We got up before 0800 and went to breakfast. We decided that the hop-on hop-off bus covered a lot of the area we had already seen yesterday, so we decided to do our own thing. We walked along 50 Street but then turned away from the Opera House and walked as far as the Hudson River crossing. We found a nice cafe by the subway station called Bluestone Lane, at 55 Hudson Yards. The total bill was $13.1 which included 18% gratuity (which was the smallest rate on their system!) Therefore the gratuities (tips) were $1.85 for one cappuccino and one hot chocolate.
We had seen many people in fancy dress costumes which we did not recognise. There were lots of ladies of generous proportions dressed in pale pink with striking makeup and hair. We also saw many men often in groups in highly coloured subaqua-type suits. They often had horned heads! Another group had breathing tanks. We were mystified by everyone, but they were all good humoured. We eventually reached really crowded pavements leading to the venue, which appently was a three day ‘comic book convention’. I was given a card inviting me to ‘The Slayers Society’, which was an immersive experience celebrating slayers! A Buffy first story, brought to life by Audible. (Dive head first into this captivating environment and preview the brand new audio adventure that’s set to ignite your imagination?). We returned back to Balmoral by a different street after having our coffee. Our trip out had taken three hours, so I wanted to rest my legs prior to our trip to the MET this evening. We got ready to go, and went to the Palm Cafe when it opened at 1800, so we would be ready to leave at 1830. We had decided to leave in time to walk to the MET Opera House, as we had seen no taxies waiting at the terminal when we walked out in the morning. We arrived as the MET was opening at 1915. The building is very sumptuous inside, with lots of red velvet, including all of the bannisters on the walkways.
Our seats were in the second row of the stalls and were comfortable, with each chair having its own illuminated screen on the back of the seat in front, providing subtitles.
We both thoroughly enjoyed ‘La Boheme’. The sets were incredible. We had three changes. It started with the artist’s studio house and then to a town street scene which included all of the chorus, including children, one donkey and a carriage horse. The street was on two levels and the costumes were incredible. The third scene was cold and wintery, with the most realistic ‘falling snow’ we had ever seen. The fourth scene was the original studio setting. We were amazed as some people left before the 4th act started, but might have been caused for the problems around the demonstrations taking place in Times Square.
Mel did not recognise any of the main opera singers as ones he had seen before, but they were all exceptionally talented. After the performance we decided to walk back to the ship and managed to get back by midnight. When we reached the terminal, we found it full all Fred Olsen staff catching up on their Wi-Fi.
