Matilda, the musical, Prospect Park, Frankie's Restaurant

Our strategy is to attempt to win the lottery at all the Broadway shows we see.  Why?  Because we get good seats and a very cheap price.  The half-price ticket booths basically have crappy seats in the back half of the theater, but if we win the lottery, we are many times in the front row or the loges.  It's terrific.

These are the lottery hopefuls.

This is a very good burger joint which I believe is only in New York.

This is "the great meadow" in Prospect Park.  We took a guided tour on a Sunday afternoon and learned a lot.  This is the park that is the heart of Southern Brooklyn, designed by Olmsted, unfortunately, Brooklyn doesn't seem to have the money to spend on it to keep it looking like Central Park.

 They lost so many trees to Hurricane Sandy and winter storms that rather than haul them off, they turned them into innovative things.  This is a "cave" for a little boy.

At least their carousel has been restored.

 This is a very charming Italian restaurant with a wonderful patio/garden.

Smorgasburg

So on the weekends many, many food vendors gather on Saturday in Williamsburg and on Sunday in the Brooklyn Bridge Park.  Mitch, Suzanne and Luke walked over the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan and met us at the Smorgasburg.

Anything you could imagine from whatever country was possible to eat.  Really fun!

I have heard it said that there is a water feature in every park in NYC.  From what I've seen, this is true.  Luke was a good boy and did not get too wet since they were on the way to the airport.

This is Brooklyn's arch which is the gateway to Prospect Park.  The kids are gone now, flown back to Athens.  Hopefully, they had a wonderful time.  I know Ed and I did.

The 4th of July & celebrating Mitch's 40th

This is our 4th of July dinner.  The chefs here were on the cover of Food and Wine in July.  It's very close to our house.  Very good!  Another birthday candle for Mitch.

We watched the fireworks from one of the piers in Brooklyn.  They were really, really good.

Here is Luke on this way to the Statue of Liberty.

Many panoramic views from the parapet.

Approaching Ellis Island.

That night we went to Suzanne's favorite restaurant in Soho, Balthazar.  Another stellar meal.  What a trip for them!

Mitch, Suzanne & Luke come to visit

Ed stood in line in Central Park (arriving at 7 a.m.) to get Senior tickets for Much Ado about Nothing.  This is the stageset.  We were in Row 3.  They take care of the seniors in NYC!

We walked from the kids' Math Museum on 23rd Street to Babbo in the Village for dinner.  Suzanne had made all the reservations one month ahead.

This is Mario Batali's restaurant.  It was very good!

 This is the ad for Much Ado outside the theater.

This is Luke in the Math Museum.  They stayed for 2 1/2 hrs.  He only was willing to leave when they closed the place!

Aladdin, the musical

  

 So we won the lottery @ Aladdin.  I had no idea what to expect. It was definitely written for 10 year olds and the music all sounds the same, but the choreography was great and the costimes were over the top.  A cute show and the price was right.   Afterwards, I looked up the review in the NY Times and the critic said it's the best thing Disney has done on Broadway.  We had good seats since they drew our tickets second.

The theater is the New Amsterdam which was built around 1900.  A lot of history in this building.  They recently did a wonderful restoration with lots of toilets in the ladies room.

This is a ballroom off the theater.  

Very well done.  A good day.

Domino Sugar Factory, Madonna & Children

This was an exhibition that took place at the Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge.  This entire warehouse will be demolished to be replaced by condos as soon as this exhibition is over.

The

sculptures are covered in sugar.  The little boys are coated in brown sugar, and the large, female who looks like the sphinx is coated in white granulated sugar.  The small boys are created from molds so they can be recreated.

To me, the walls look like a Richard Serra sculpture, however a guard swore that was just the drippings from the sugar.

 This female is the sculptor's idea of a black female prototype.  The sculptor is a black woman herself.

 I asked one of the attendants the relationship is size between this sculpture and the sphinx in Egypt and was informed the one in Egypt is 5 times the size of this one.  All in all, a lovely, free way to get people to come to Williamsburg and see all the new housing, etc.  The sculptor is very political and you can read whatever you want into the exhibit (i.e., the exploitation of the people who worked in this factory).

Brooklyn Heights waterfront

Mitch, Suzanne and Luke are coming for the 4th of July.  NYC is shooting the fireworks off from barges in the East River and they will be visible from this promenade but the police are limiting it to only 250,000 people.  People in our building say there's a good view from Prospect Park which is just up the road.

Ed liked this gargoyle which was in a fountain our in from of this beautiful building.  I'm sure we should know the name of it but we don't.

This is the beautiful building.