New York

  I love New York. I really do. Ever since my first time in the city, I fell in love with it. There's just a vibe there that you don't feel anywhere else. There's such a tremendous energy and weight to everything. Sure, New York has its beautiful places, and, sure, it has its share of "looks and smells like a public toilet" places. But damned if it isn't the capital of the world.
  I went up for three days this week to visit Kendra. We had a great time. I got to see her new place in Harlem, visit a lot with little Colby, see a couple of fantastic shows, eat a lot of good food, and explore the city.
  Wednesday we visited the Natural History Museum, where we saw a lot of huge-mongous dinosaur skeletons. There were a lot of crazy beasts in there that I had never seen before. Typical of NY museums, it was packed to the walls with awesome.
  That night, we were thrilled to attend "A Steady Rain," which is a two-man play starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig that is only running for twelve weeks. It was brilliant, of course. I have to admit to being a little starstruck when the curtain went up and the lights came on and there were these two major actors I admired, sitting only fifteen rows ahead on the edge of the stage. Great, very dramatic performance.
  The next day, I kind of just strolled Manhattan, met Kendra for lunch at a little Mexican place called "Blockheads" and then spent the afternoon walking the great lengths of Central Park. It was a beautiful day for that kind of thing, and I was worn out by the time I got back to the apartment.
  The final day, we shared a little brunch before I set off on my day's adventures. I took the train to Chinatown and walked all over lower Manhattan. Then, I made my way back up the island to museum row and spent a couple of hours at the Guggenheim. There was a pretty interesting exhibit of Kandinsky's paintings going on, and I also saw some works by Monet, Picasso and Degas among others. That evening, I went back down to the Broadway district and bought tickets for that night to see "In The Heights." I can NOT say enough about how good that show is. Every single aspect of the production was brilliant. All the actors were very strong, the set was beautiful, the dialogue was sharp, the choreography was mind-blowing and all the songs were fantastic. I can truly see why it won the Tony for best musical. I highly recommend it and would see it again in a heartbeat. I had a seat 5th row center, and it really was spectacular.
  I polished off the night by visiting Kendra's wine bar "Clo" in the Time Warner building. Very innovative. They've got an interactive display that shows the "menu" on the countertop and you use your hand to interact with it and make your orders. The wines are all around the bar behind glass and each one has a spout that you place your glass under to recieve your pour. I tried several wines (including one from Israel!), all of which were very good.
  I had a fantastic trip and can't wait to go back. At least this time I was there for more than one night, but even at three days it went by in a flash.