High Art and Puppet Nudity

Advice: If you want to get over jet lag, don't stay up playing Sudoku on your computer until 2 AM every night.  It makes morning a b@#%.  Yes, it is 3 hours earlier in California -get over it!  This is what I have been telling myself all day, but here it is 12:30 AM and I am typing a blog entry.  This explains why it was after 11 AM before we actually left the apartment today, even though there is so much to see and do.  Ben gave up on getting me and Dilara up early and made a run to Trader Joe's.  He is a good, if somewhat disgusted, provisioner.

The weather today was hot.  We strolled through a muggy Central Park with downtown obscured in a hot haze.  Rounding the corner at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, we took a pause on the iconic stairs and gazed up at the impressive entry and the revolving doors which were about to deliver us into the refreshing air conditioned splendor of the museum.  Membership has it's privileges and we had no line to get our member tickets and free members-only entry into the new Interwoven Textiles exhibit.

First we had to visit the Impressionists galleries so Dilara could see her first paintings by Gauguin and Degas.  I asked each of us to select a work that really impressed us (to impress you later when writing this blog).  I kept changing my mind but settled on a Van Gogh flower arrangement.  

Dilara was captivated by a Rodin sculpture in marble depicting an artist who fell in love with his own sculpture which then came to life in his hands.  Ben kept dallying around and would never settle on one piece of art. After 3 hours in the museum he still could not identify just one piece that moved him (hard assignment).

 A stern matron was guarding the entrance of the Textiles exhibit and gave me a little lecture about not being allowed to bring in a guest, but then she relented and let Dilara in with us.  I won't launch into a long description of the exhibit because words cannot express what incredible skill and artistry was on display in these intricate and gorgeous fabrics from around the globe.  The point of the exhibit was to demonstrate how trade between cultures then influenced textile design and execution.  It was fascinating.  The gift shop out the the exhibit tempted us but we resisted.

We left the museum after several hours.  Along the way Ben asked me to take his picture with a street tree because he liked it (this was apparently a response to my request to pick a piece of art to feature - this day he prefers the trees). 

Newly invigorated with a bite to eat,  we decided to head to Broadway to see if we could get lucky at the Book of Mormon ticket lottery (25 winners a day for front row tickets for $25 each).  This is how lucky we were - by the time we arrived, the lottery was over (we has misunderstood the time).

Not letting it get us down, we headed over the the last-minute ticket broker TKTS

to see what shows were being discounted.  We were excited to see that Avenue Q, the off-broadway show starring adult version Muppet-type puppets, was available.  We got 4th row seats at a 40% discount.  

The show was great fun.  The stage set was like Sesame Street if Sesame Street had been in Detroit.  The puppets and their masters had lots of personality and indulged in adult humor and some sexy rendezvous.  The story, with jobless and underemployed puppet characters, rang true to the fates of a generation of Millennials.  Great cast, music and lots of creative staging.

We returned home to our 'hood and Ben led us to Beer, Biscuits and Pickles. A place where it's easy to spend $50 on 2 beers and a few southern sides. All really good, not that we won't be getting plenty of southern food in a couple of weeks! 

The night was still so warm as to make us prefer to sit indoors but it was delicious to walk home on wide, treelined sidewalks on a warm night.  True to form it is now 1:15 AM and time to sign off so I get up earlier tomorrow!