imagine the sound at street level just
by looking down on the revelry.
Our family always enjoys
watching a few movies relating to a
place we are about to visit, and I had
imagined I would create a
Breakfast at
Tiffany’s
moment for my daughters.
Instead, we opted to watch the
ensemble 2011 movie
New Year’s Eve
the day before we left Hong Kong.
The movie takes place in Times
Square (you can even see the Marriott
sign of our hotel). So, every morning
at 6am, we would buy breakfast at the
Starbucks in our hotel lobby, then sit
outside in the middle of Times Square,
which was deserted at that hour
except for the street cleaners and the
workmen who take down and put up
all the Broadway show banners.
Times Square is not really a
“
square” as such, but an awkwardly
shaped thoroughfare formed by the
diagonal criss-crossing of Broadway
and Seventh Avenue. Because
Broadway is at such an angle to the
grid of neighbouring streets, it’s closed
to traffic for a few blocks at this point.
Clever and thoughtful city planners
set up a station of small red tin tables
and chairs, which are set out at 6am
by friendly city workers and packed
up in the small hours. We had several
very memorable “Breakfasts at Times
Square”.
Drama and delicatessens
A friend familiar with New York City
had advised me to book Broadway
theatre tickets ahead of time if I
wanted to take my children to a
show.
The Lion King
was playing right
next door to our hotel, and
Evita
was
playing right in it (Ricky Martin, who
had the title role of Che Guevara, was
in the building!). But we had booked
online well in advance to see
Wicked
at the Gershwin Theatre, about three
blocks away, and I was surprised to see
that it was sold out for our Wednesday
matinee. There’s a discount ticket
kiosk in Times Square, with a large
display board that shows which shows
have stand-by tickets available at a
discount, but it was slim-pickings for
the better-known shows. In addition
to Broadway performances, there
are other shows to remind you that
Manhattan is the place to be: shows
like Blue Man Group and well-
known singers and musicians were
also playing when we were there, at
intimate venues. I suggest that if you
are planning a trip, Google the tour
dates of any show you may wish to see
because you might get lucky.
We love to eat, so I Googled “New
York delicatessens” beforehand for the
skinny. We made our way to the Lower
East Side of Manhattan to partake of
Jewish eatery, Katz’s Deli. While it is
no doubt a tourist spot, it’s the kind
that is also very popular with the locals.
The very table where Meg Ryan and
Billy Crystal had their memorable
lunch in the movie
When Harry Met
Sally
is noted with a big sign hanging
from the ceiling. Here, my daughters
sampled matzo ball soup and cheese
blintzes, and we gawked at the mile-
high pastrami sandwiches delivered to
other tables by no-nonsense servers. I
loved the pickled green tomatoes that
were given out as an appetizer.