IMMERSION

We just had a four day weekend.


While this isn't a big deal for me as I'm not working, it was great for The Old Girl who has been working long hours recently.

On Friday we flew to Newark (New Jersey - Sopranos country) to catch an Amtrak train to Baltimore. We had to be up early which for those used to travelling means that you don't actually sleep for fear of sleeping in and were at the Toronto City Airport at 6AM. This airport is on a small island on Lake Ontario sitting just offshore from downtown Toronto. It is so close that the ferry ride is said to be the shortest in the world. We waited for our flight. And waited. And waited. The city was fog-bound and we were getting concerned as we had train bookings to meet. The Old Girl rang Amtrak and changed our tickets for a later train, but we were fully expecting to not be able to fly until Saturday. Fortunately the fog lifted at midday and we were away soon after.

We were expected for dinner with friends in Baltimore and were only a little late, spending a really enjoyable dinner party to the early hours.

Another Baltimore friend had offered her apartment for us to use for Friday night as she would stay with a friend nearby. The one-bedroom apartment turned out to be massive, occupying the top floor of a small historic building in Mount Vernon Square opposite the Washington Memorial. We were gob-smacked.

On Saturday morning we wandered around the square area. I'd been practicing my "Arright" Baltimese accent that I picked up from watching The Wire but didn't get a chance to use it. The 'Projects' as featured in The Wire must have been further away from where we were.

We got the Amtrak to New York City. The Big Apple.

It looked the same as we remembered except for the replacement building for the Trade Centre twin towers. Ugly. Its height accentuated by a big 'Skytower'- type hypodermic syringe. I reckon that they should have had a big finger on top up thrust towards Mecca but then I'm not PC.

By the time we found our apartment on 53rd street it was about 4PM. We sorted ourselves out and walked uptown to The Metropolitan Opera to collect our tickets to Eugene Onegin. After dinner (Take-A-Way) we headed back up to the opera at about 7PM and got snowed on. It was great approaching the beautiful Met building all lit up with snowflakes swirling about. Magic.

The performance was outstanding. We'd wanted to go to the Met for quite some time and we weren't disappointed.

On Sunday afternoon we went to Barrymore theatre to see Betrayal a Harold Pinter play with Daniel Craig, Rachel Weiss and Rafe Spall. Great actors and a powerful performance.

It was freezing in New York with an unseasonal weather drop and we had to buy hats which, worn with scarves wrapped around our faces and our leather jackets and gloves just about kept the cold out as we wandered about. We went back to our favourite wine bar on the corner of 47th and Broadway, sat at a window table out of the cold and people-watched.

On Sunday evening we went to Birdland on 43rd street. We got there at 8pm and there was a 9pm concert due. Luckily there was a cancellation of a reserved table for two on an elevated area near the centre stage. We took that and shared a bottle of Chianti before the set. Artulio O’farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra played a 2 ½ hour set of great jazz. The line-up was O’farrill at piano, three percussionists, back row of four trumpeters, middle row of four trombonists and front row of four saxophonists with flutes. Oh, there was also a double bassist who they hid behind the piano. I had to laugh when the trombonists played their extended solos as the slides just scraped over the heads of the saxophonists in front.

AT BIRDLAND

Everything was within easy walking distance. The grid system of streets in Manhattan is a blessing for out-of-towners. We had no problems.

On Monday midday we took the train to Newark and flew back to Toronto.



What a great weekend.