The Further Adventures of Soupeater and the Good Companion

We had so much fun at West Point we decided on another adventure, this time into the maw of the big city. A frightening place to a country boy like me but the good companion finds the activity and "action", energizing.

We decided on a cruise around Manhattan, probably one of the most exciting activities for out-of-towners that can be found in the big apple. The oracles of weather had predicted a beautiful day but that changed and the grey skies and small raindrops that we encountered as we were leaving the house did not bode well for the trip. We had some errands to do before sailing time and the sky became progressively lighter as we approached the berth that we decided to chance it. Off to the west we could see breaks in the clouds and only hoped that not too long into the trip the sun would come out. We sailed out from pier 83 at 42nd street and sailed southward. The George Washington Bridge was only a fuzzy image to the north and we concentrated on Manhattan's skyline with occasional glances at the Jersey shore. We were approaching Lady Liberty and it was still cloudy but that didn't prevent me from taking many photographs of this almost 150 year old statue. Ellis Island also came into view, but still, no sunshine.

As the ship turned about and we faced the massive buildings and the lacework of bridges of lower Manhattan, the sky began to lighten in earnest and somewhat past the Brooklyn Bridge the sun came out. Much before we came back out into the Hudson, the weather was fine, excellent for taking pictures.

Although the bridges of Madison County (IA) are the things of legend, the bridges of Manhattan are the things of reality, and what massive reality! Here is a sampling of them for your enjoyment.


Part of our plan was to attend the Shakespeare in the Park festival which is a feature of New York. For about 2 months every summer, the Delacorte Theater, amphitheater like, in the heart of Central Park, puts on two plays, one of which, at least, is by Shakespeare. This year, they produced 2 Shakespeare plays, "Measure for Measure" and "All's Well that Ends Well." Admission is free of charge but definitely not free of hassle as can be perceived by the convoluted procedure for acquiring tickets. Performance is at 8 o'clock. At 1:00 PM, tickets are distributed to those awaiting them, first come, first served. There are three lines, regular, handicapped and senior. Since the tickets are given out at 1:00, obviously a line (or 3 in this case)forms somewhat before this time.

Theoretically, any time after 1:00 is a time to obtain tickets. We had driven from the pier and miraculously found a legal parking spot on Central Park West about 5 cars from 81st Street. The entrace to the park which leads to the theater is at 81st Street. Not having a clue where the theater was we asked one and then another of the many people standing or sitting in the area. One girl pulled out a map and let me look at it but it wasn't detailed enough to give us the information we needed. Another couple tried to bring it up on a phone GPS but couldn't get a reception. It seems that no one roaming the area at that time of day is a native. We finally did find someone who gave us rudimentary directions and we found the theater.

We got there at 4:15PM. There were no tickets left; all sold out. As we were sitting on a bench contemplating our next move, a fellow bench sitter told us that at 6:00 pm there would be another distribution of tickets. We didn't want to wait until then so we decided to go to Brooklyn.

Now, if you have a perfect parking spot, free of charge in Manhattan, you don't easily want to move your car and especially since driving to Brooklyn during rush hour can be nerve wracking and time consuming and expensive into the bargain Luckily we spotted a subway station on the corner and immediately decided to take the train to Brooklyn. I hadn't been in the subway for at least five years and it was a pleasant experience. The F train has some new cars with an electronic sign board showing all the future stations along with connection information and the number of stops until the train gets there, updating at each stop. Fun to watch if you don't have a book and you have scoped out all the wierd passengers in your car.

It was a little after 7:00 pm when we got back to 81st street and seemed rather dark coming out of the subway, not at all what we expected at the beginning of July. It didn't take long for us to realize that we were under an approaching thunder cloud. As we entered the park we felt some drops, nothing serious, but then the heavens opened up. People were clustered around trees shielding themselves as best they could with donut boxes, bits of clothing that they could remove and still remain within the ordinances on public exposure, ponchos, etc. The good companion already had the umbrella out and it helped a great deal.

A line had again formed and we were told that there would be a further distribution of tickets by 7:30. It was already very close to curtain time and we were assured that there would be enough tickets to satisfy those waiting for them. The sun had come out again, the skies cleared and we waited and waited. Some said that the staff were drying the seats and some speculated that the program would be canceled. Time dragged on. Clearly the performance would not begin on time and by 8:15 we realized that even if the 2 hour and 45 minute play were to start by 8:30 we probably wouldn't get home till about 1:00 AM, so after all that we decided to leave. The staff was sorry to see us go.

All's well, but it didn't end well.