Ten-and-a-half hours of opera in two nights might just be a bit much. Even doing the Ring in a week one doesn’t hear that much opera in two nights. Wagner’s Parsifal ran just shy of six hours Wednesday night and Verdi’s Don Carlo the next night clocked in at four hours forty-five. The good news is that both of them can be safely moved from the never-seen-‘em list to the don’t-ever-need-to-see-‘em-again category. I didn’t HATE either of them and there’s a lot of wonderful orchestral music in both, but, OMG, are they SLOW -- especially Parsifal. It might be more popular in Richmond or Atlanta, where folks move and talk slowly. For this Yankee it was painful.
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Unlike Wednesday night, on Thursday I had time to have a sit-down meal before the performance. Dinner at Grand Sichuan hit the spot, but it was a strange experience. Apparently a drug addict had locked herself in the bathroom and the owner had to call the cops. Four showed up and spent twenty minutes trying to figure out what exactly was going on. The situation was not resolved before I had to leave, but I learned they were waiting for an ambulance, assuming they had an overdosing addict on their hands. I’ve never before had a floor show at a Chinese restaurant in New York.
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I killed fifteen minutes in the Met Opera gift shop while waiting for Judy and I came across the mother of all boxed sets. All 35 Verdi operas on disc. Only $650. Can I say OMG twice in one post?
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You know how if there are two hundred people on a flight they likely each paid a different fare? The airlines call it congestion pricing I think. Well, hotels do it too, and it makes me crazy. When Ransom and I spent four nights here back in May we had the smallest hotel room I have ever seen – the queen size bed was against one wall, less than a foot from two others, and maybe four feet from the door. The room I just had was easily twice that size, and much nicer – for considerably less money. It’s a racket to which I have never learned the rhyme; the reason is simple: make every dime you can.
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Speaking of dimes, my two breakfasts in the city answer the question, ”Is the Big Apple expensive?” On my first morning I went through the lobby to Sarafina, a lovely table-cloth restaurant that’s open breakfast, lunch and dinner. I had excellent Eggs Benedict with potatoes and a salad and dark, strong coffee. After tip, $20. The next day I ate at Big Nick’s a 24-hour spot that serves almost anything you can imagine. I ate two eggs, Italian sausage, hash browns, toast and coffee; with tip, $7.
So is New York expensive? No.
And yes.
(Ironically, you can read an article about Big Nick’s in today’s New York Times).
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