Yankies and The Piano Man

After a good night's sleep we grabbed our good coffee and set off, first for Washington Square, followed by some growers markets. We saw some squirrels, ate some local produce, had a play in the playground then caught the subway to Yankies Stadium.
I've seen it in the movies, people going to the ball game, but in real life it is overwhelming to say the least. From the moment you leave the train people are shouting at you to buy fake merchandise and drinks, then in low voices people are offering tickets to the game. It is confronting, and part of me really wanted to help these people as they are just trying to make a living.There are people everywhere and I quickly grab both children's hands. Normally I get opposition from Adalia but the kids are pretty overwhelmed too.
We had no idea where we were supposed to go, so we joined the throngs of people waiting to get in. So many Yankies fans loved Adalia decked out in her pink Yankies hat. Money well spent.
Once through the security we caught a lift to our level then up a few more stairs to our seats. They were so high it made my legs wobble. We had made it just in time for the Canadian and American anthems. I had been looking forward to this but in reality it was underwhelming. The organ played, people stood but no one sang! (Well tom did just to show that he knew all the words I'm sure) then we were instructed to say some silent prayers for someone that was shot and killed (not sure who, there is a new one every day...) but the MOST disappointing part was that no one made the announcement to "play ball".
The batsman missed the ball a few times, hit it, and that was it, Adalia was over it. And after a couple of innings so was I. This game is so slow, nothing like the movies. Hardly anyone even hits the ball. The most exciting part was when theToronto Blue Jays got two home runs in a row and the Yankies coach came on to the field to get cranky with the pitcher.
We had hot dogs and cotton candy, stayed until after the sixth innings (which was two hours) then decided to collect our first time attendees certificate and leave. In the end the Yankies lost, so it was a bad day to decide to start following the Yankies.
We caught the train and got off just short of our stop and walked past some of the sights like "The Plaza", "Tiffany's", Trump Towers (where we think trump was actually staying as there were road closures, police and secret services everywhere), them up to Rockefeller. We were willing to go into the Lego store but the kids just wanted to go back to the hotel!
Once back it was a quick shower and change for Tom and I as we were off to see Billy Joel!
The baby sitter arrived, she was given instructions and we were off. The tickets advised us to be seated by 7pm, so we high tailed it up 8th Ave and ended up being one of the first people seated. Clearly we were novices, which was also displayed in our clothing, we were so overdressed.
Since we had so much time to kill we ordered a drink from the bar and we were asked for ID. Tom was on cloud nine, he couldn't believe he had just been asked for ID. But there was a problem, Tom hadn't brought any ID! I on the other hand had withstood Tom's earlier mocking about bringing my credit card and licence and now who was laughing?! So I had to buy the drinks, be served the drinks and carry the drinks away, all the while with tom exclaiming "she is serving drinks to a minor here!"
When the lights dimmed people started shouting "here comes Billy!" Now I'm not going to pretend to be a big fan, until last week when I did a Billy Joel crash course I only really knew. "Piano man" and "we didn't start the fire" and perhaps a couple of others. My only point of reference of what he looked like was from the album cover I bought from vinnies. So I was a little shocked when a chubby, bald man with a white goatee walked on the stage to screaming, crying fans. But for 68 years old he was incredible! And the sold out audience hung on to every word. It is a rare beauty to see full grown men who aren't drunk, sing with smiles on their faces, and at that concert the room was full of them singing every single word along with Billy, sometimes even louder than Billy for over two hours with no break! But the highlight of the night for every person in that stadium was piano man. It almost brought a tear to my eye.
The concert ended and the crowds walked down flights and flights of stairs. Tom and I noticed the diversity in age, there was not one predominant age group, however, there were no African Americans. Everyone at the concert was white which we found odd given the diversity of New York City.
We decided to stroll home through the city, stopping to buy a $1 slice of pizza each and returned to the babysitter at midnight.Read more