A New York Weekend

Highlights to our Black/Donelan Family trip to New York.

Accomodations

The Millennium Hilton was a great place to stay.  Only $226 for the room and we had a view of the city and the 9-11 Memorial.  The room was spacious and the service was fine.  Subway stops right nearby, so you can get to everywhere…if you can figure out the system.  I would definitely go back.

Sister Act

We got half price tickets for the show, Sister Act, based on the Whoopi Goldberg movie. Barely a line.  I didn’t want to go, at first.  Found the movie very hokey.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  I think this is the first Broadway Show I’ve actually seen on Broadway.  I’ve seen shows in Washington and London.  Clearly, the quality of these shows on Broadway is far superior than in other venues.  Bigger cast, bigger orchestra.  The show was hokey and you have to give up a few things temporarily  in order to enjoy it.  Chief among these for me was my respect and admiration for nuns.  The show is patronizing, at best, to them.  But it’s good music and much spectacle.  Line of the show as identified by my sister, Susan, was, “Our lives are like the Stations of the Cross, but without the laughs.”

9-11 Memorial

We visited the 9-11 Memorial on Sunday morning.  Notwithstanding the moving tribute to those who died, what we will remember most was the bitter cold.  It was 17 degrees and, even under those conditions, there was a line.  The security was tighter than what you find at airports.  Our tickets were checked at least five times.  Frankly, I’m not sure what I think about the memorial.  The footprints of the Twin Towers are now fountains with water pouring down the sides.  The water effect is nice.  But, in the middle of the pool is a square into which the water flows, presumably to be recycled.  You can’t see the bottom of that square and, to me, it evoked a scary descent into the netherworld.  I found  it disconcerting.

But, overall, it looks like a nice park.  It has all the names of the victims around both fountains.  There are also trees that survived the attacks from the other two sites, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon.  We were probably there for about 15 minutes due to the cold.  I suspect it will be more appealing during the Spring….and much more crowded.

Click below to see a short slide show.

Tags: 9-11 Memorial, Broadway, Donelans, New York

Category: Travel