So, after getting home late the night before from the taping & only having about 5 interrupted hours of sleep, I had to be on a train back into the city to meet Crau. We had finally set a date to see Shakespeare in the Park. This year's performance was Macbeth. I enjoy Macbeth....I understand it well having taught it. So I thought it would be good to see a live performance of it. And, this would be another free event to check out. Crau & I are working our way through what seems to be a free list. This is fine by me since I am not teaching as many classes this year. Free (or a rich man who wants to pay for me) is good.
So I hop on the 11 am train to Penn & it's jammed with people. Hello? It's July 3rd. Aren't any of you off or staying home or going to the beach so I don't have to stand all the way in? I spotted a seat between people & I actaully made them move so I could sit too. I was not standing in my cute, yet totally inappropriate, sandals that I would be walking all over in.
I meet Crau at the station & there she is.................
wearing the same exact outfit as me. Well, her tank had spaghetti straps & she had on shorts while I had capris, but we had the same colors & all. It was a bad doublemint twin commercial. And we had to walk all of Manhattan like this. It's either a case of great minds or we have confirmed what our colleagues have assumed all along...we are the same person & just don't know it.
We hop a subway to 81st & 8th & cross on over to the Park. Where it was easy enough to find the Delacourt Theater because it was right there & there were hundreds of people outside of it. We begin walking to the end of the line. The ned was approx. 2 miles away. Oh darn. Who actaully likes Shakespeare other than nerdy people like us? So we wait. And wait. For an hour. This is when we find out that there aren't any more tickets. So now we don't get to see Macbeth. I was upset, but we made the most of it.
It was well past lunch time so we walked up to the theater to at least see what it looks like and rounded our way to the right into Shakespeare's Garden. A lovely little spot that had brand new benches. We picnicked there for a bit. Then we climbed up to Belvedere Tower. There is an information booth inside of the tower, but it was closed that day. So we walked down the steps on the opposite side & off we went. We saw the turtle pond, the great lawn, the literary walk, the Bethesda Fountain, the Children's Garden, Cleopatra's Needle, the boat basin, and then stopped at the Dairy. We managed to get free posters there & directions to the carousel. Round & round we went on a horse that was way too high for me to have climbed up on, but I managed.
I couldn't tell you what else I saw that day because it was so long ago. We did manage to find our way out of the park & into a Starbucks for some airconditioning & refreshments. Then we walked (well, Crau walked & I stumbled in my too cute sandlas that are made for 6 blocks of walking....not 60+) down to Penn.
I was hot, tired, and had many blisters, but I had fun wandering for the day with my doublemint twin.
We are so getting a hotel next year.
