So the day started very slowly. We couldn’t get up and going. Plus we found that although we were given a coffee maker, we had no pot, and a host of other things we considered essential. That was frustrating. So, although we got up at 9:30, we didn’t leave until 12:30.

Once out we walked quite a bit and looked for the Manhattan Diner & Café (open 25 hours a day 8 days a week according to the waiter). We took the wrong subway connection and ended up on the wrong side of Central Park. So we ended up taking quite a walk around town. My feet hurt even more today than yesterday! But, like I said before, I just gotta suck it up.

We found the diner and planned, loosely, our days in New York. I’m going to Ellis Island on Sunday. We’re supposed to have sunny weather that day and Monday. We couldn’t believe our awesome weather. The people of New York that I’ve talked with (I ended up talking to quite a few people today, successfully I might add) told me that it was unusually good. We are really going to enjoy it too.

We rode the subway to Times Square again and waited in line at TKTS to purchase discounted tickets to Hamlet. The girls were going to go with, but they didn’t like the price tag ($87/ticket) and I ended up going alone. It was good…more on that later.

We took a shuttle to Grand Central Station and spent an enjoyable time wandering through the hustle and bustle. Anna and I were wondering if there was a place to stand where we WOULDN’T be in the way. She pointed out that there was plenty of space around us, and yet people seemed unable to go around. It was irritating really.

We walked up the steps and ended up with some good shots of the station. I’ve posted a few here.

Then we left and wandered around for about an hour while we waited for my show to start. JD and Anna tried to figure out where they were going to go while I went to the show. We found an excellent pizza place and I had a slice and a Coke Zero (I really like the taste of it) before the show. Then we high tailed it. The pizza place was just down the street from the Empire State Building. I’ll end up there eventually I’m sure, but we were running out of time to get to the show. After wandering a bit more and looking around, we finally found the subway entrance. It was near the little park area (Greeley Park) which looked like a scene from You’ve Got Mail…but wasn’t.

Found the subway, got back to Times Square with ten minutes until showtime. I went in and found my seat in Broadhurst Theatre, home of Hamlet until December 6th. The performance was good, though I think that Jude Law is more used to acting on camera. His voice seemed a bit forced to me. But I liked the comical stuff they put in. Jude Law hammed up those parts and made them enjoyable. In addition, the characters of Polonius and King Claudius were done very well. The costumes were modern, like business attire. Jude Law went bare foot for the entirety of Hamlet’s madness. The king was in a very nice looking suit as well and he seemed just like a CEO. It was excellently done there.

Polonius, poor Polonius. Such a sycophant, a silly man, yet with a good heart. And he ended up in the worst place possible. Especially when Hamlet was strung so tightly from having to act the lunatic. He was awesome though. The same actor played the grave digger and he was great there too.

I lost count of the number of quotes that I recognized. So many have come from that play. I wonder how many people realize that they did? The obvious would be:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

And another:

Though this be madness, yet there is method in ‘t

One of my favorite parts, in which Polonius looks very much the sycophant was this:

HAMLET: Do you see yonder cloud that’s almost in shape of a camel?

LORD POLONIUS: By the mass, and ’tis like a camel, indeed.

HAMLET: Methinks it is like a weasel.

LORD POLONIUS: It is backed like a weasel.

HAMLET: Or like a whale?

LORD POLONIUS: Very like a whale.

Last quote that I can remember at the moment:

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Fun times. It took me a bit to get into the midset of Shakespearean English, but once I did, being thoroughly engrossed, I didn’t realize when the 3 and a half hours went by! My seat neighbor was very friendly. We ended up talking about football, church, math (oddly enough), and a host of other things during intermission. He’s in New York cheering for his college team.

I left the theatre after the show and made my way up the two blocks to Times Square where I met up with JD and Anna at Roxy Delicatessen. We ordered some marvelous cheesecake and ended up back in the apartment for the night.

It was a long day of walking. And there’s more to come!

-MB

Photos from Day Two >