New York City trip - Part VII: Spamalot

Saturday, May 27th

After revising our strategy - substituting quality for quantity - we had a good night's sleep and woke up at a more decent time on Saturday morning. I took the kids down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast for some delicious pancakes and waffles, while Mrs. Coturnix went to buy some matinee tickets for whichever (family-friendly) Broadway show she could get. 'Wicked' was the first choice, but those tickets have been sold out for months in advance. A couple of hours later, after waiting in the long line twice, she finally got a good deal on tickets for Spamalot from a scalpel and joined us at breakfast.
(cont. under the fold)

We had plenty of time to beat before the show and were, frankly, too exhausted to try something too adventurous, so we just had a brief stroll around Times Square. Then, we met with a good friend of mine and his wife for a drink and a chat. We saw them briefly at the exhibition, but this was an opportunity to spend some more time. His parents and my parents are the best of friends (actually, his father was the only friend who persisted in coming and visiting my father till the very end, just before my Dad died of Parkinson's three years ago, and treating him as an adult, playing cards and not letting him win, joking instead of complaining, etc.).

Growing up, we always saw each other at birthday parties. Once we reached teenage years, we did not see each other again - so that was about 25 years ago! Although, now that I think of it, I think he came by in 1991 to help us move my parents' furniture to the new appartment - but that was a chaotic occasion, not chillin' over a beer. In any case, it's been a loooong time. And we have not met each other's wives before. It was great seeing him again and meeting his wife (For the ice-hockey fans, he was on the Yugoslav national team for several years, back in the 1980s methinks). Here's a picture of them at the exhibition (our camera died after Friday night, so there will be no more photos in this series):

Then we went to the Shubert Theater. It was packed, of course! This was something really special for the kids - a small, old, packed Broadway theater (unlike the Memendi Hall in Raleigh) has the FEEL of a theater - you can sense the history in the walls and chairs and the curtains...

The play itself got better over time. After Act I, my wife and I agreed that it was ay-oh-kay, but after the end of Act II we agreed that it was really good, and definitely very funny. No, the cast was not the original one from the first season (David Hyde Pierce, etc.), but it was good nonetheless. Most importantly, kids loved it (even though they could not have caught any of the many cultural references, including numerous references to Monthy Python Show and movies). After the show, Coturnix Jr. insisted we buy the booklet, the T-shirt ("I'm not dead yet") and the soundtrack CD (which is still playing here at home almost every day).

Elated and energized by the experience, we joined the throngs of tourists on Broadway, took a picture of me in front of the New York Times building (which did not work out) and had dinner at my son's place of choice - The Hard Rock Cafe on Times Square, the one with the Beatles tour bus in it. The food was good enough that even the kids ate (they are the pickiest eaters ever!).

Exhausted, we went back to the hotel, read our new books and just enjoyed each other's company. It was nice to be able to get New York Times for free at the hotel - I can't remember the last time I read it offline!

Previously in this series:

New York City trip - Part I: Fear of Flying
New York City trip - Part II:Bryant Park
New York City trip - Part III: SEED
New York City trip - Part IV: Ceres
New York City trip - Part V: Central Park
New York City trip - Part VI: Darwin