Coming into New York by ship as the sun was just rising was truly magical. We docked at pier 88, which is in the central area of Manhattan, so we just had to walk straight up from 12th avenue along 48th street to reach Times Square. I tried to get a discounted ticket here to see La Cage Aux Folles, starring Kelsey Grammer but the ticket seller advised against seeing the show today because the understudy was taking Kelsey’s role. Instead, I purchased a discount ticket for Billy Elliot, which I had not seen when it was on in Melbourne. As I queued to buy my ticket, I was entertained by the New Yorkers. One of them wanted to buy a discounted ticket to see The Lion King. The list of the discounted shows of which The Lion King was not one was prominently displayed. The New Yorker wanted to see this show and she wanted a discount ticket. She argued with the man supervising the queuing. She said that the show was on because it was on her computer. He said sure it was on but not every show is discounted. She continued to argue. He continued to repeat his patter. Eventually, a gentleman who wanted to get some information, interrupted and said in different words that not all shows were discounted. Yes, said the guy in charge of queues, “Listen to this gentleman, he is a rocket scientist”. The woman took umbrage at this and explained that she is a genius too and did not appreciate the tone of the queue supervisor. The New Yorkers in the queue were all busy talking to everybody and anybody. They explained that this is what you do in New York where you have to queue for most things. It whiles away the waiting time. Billy Elliot was great. Michael Dameski from Australia played the lead and had a proper Geordie accent. (Barbara) I took myself off to the new 3.2 billion dollar Yankee Stadium to see the New York Yankees play their fourth game against the Kansas City Royals. It was a big day as the “Arod” for the NYY, aka Alex Rodriguez, was in line to break some sort of baseball statistical record. (There are as many of the these records as grains of sand on the beach.) The first challenge was the NY subway which swallowed my first Metro Card. The game was a sell out so I had to chance my luck at the ground for a ticket. Plenty of scalpers at the railway station but I proceeded to the Ticket Office where it was announced that the cheapest remaining seats were $150. This thinned the queue somewhat. When I explained that I was a visitor from Australia at my first major league game, I was provided with a great seat for $48. My luck was sitting next to Neil who was an all-sports nut who delighted in pointing out all the minutiae of baseball. I went to buy us both a beer and a hotdog (which is what you do at a baseball game). I had to provide an ID to prove I was over 21! There are no exceptions to this rule. By the fourth innings, 8 runs had been scored with 2 home runs by one of the Yankee players. Neil told me that this was quite rare. Then the rain poured down and the game had to be called off. The 50,000 crowd didn’t seem to mind. They just went to food and merchandise stalls and bought stuff. Then everyone went home. I did not find out whether or not the game resumed. (Bill)
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