Manhatten

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Trip start
March 31, 2026
Manhatten
Day 1 - Tuesday
March 31 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 21 °C
Every year we come up to Manhatten for Passover with the extended Rivlin clan. Of course, we come early and stay an extra few days becuase New York never fails to amaze.

Our hotel is the Marriott Residence Inn at 6th and 39th a block away from Bryant Park and a 20 minute walk to Times Square. We have come here for years and obtain a good rate; it’s near everything (except the Whitney and the Cloisters). We arrive on the Vamoose bus stop mid-town but have a few stops first.

First Stop. New York Pizza Suprema, a family run Pizza parlor for 60 years. They still hand throw their Pizzas. Yum (Pic 1). Second stop for a fantastic latte at Culture Espresso and off to check-in and naps.

At 7:00, we arrive at Lincoln Center to catch Ragtime (Pic 2) with a wildly enthusiastic crowd of mostly young folks. We found the play a bit dated although the themes of prejudice and justice still resonate.

A walk through a relatively calm Times Square always delights with various formal and informal dancing going on. To our surprise, the line was short at Joe’s Pizza and we grabbed a couple of slices. (Pic 6) People argue over the best Pizza in New York but Joes is a contender with 24,933 reviews.Read more
TravelerLooking happy ❤️❤️
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TravelerHave a great time
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Manhatten
Day 2
April 1 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
Up and out for a cortafo at Culture Espresso. Then onto the The Museum of Art and Design (Pics 4-6) for a docent led tour. Pic 7 is a couple dress that can also be flown as a kite.

Then onto an afternoon showing of Every Brilliant Thing, a highly audience participatory play starring Daniel Radcliffe. The play is so clever and energetic that you don't feel down about the central subject of depression and suicide.

Tonight onto the Rivlin clan Pesach (Passover) where we celebrate the jews leaving the bondage of slavery for the bondage of capitalism. Progress!Read more
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Manhatten
Day 3
April 3 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
Another big day as we shoot out the door to hit Harry's Bagels. The debate over fluffy vs. chewy continues. Then onto TKTS at Lincoln Center where we got the line talking about plays to see. So many but mostly revivals and adaptations. 😔. We settled on an off-Broadway matinee The Twenty-fith Annual Putnam Spelling Bee ($60 each but not a big hit) and, for evening, The Book of Morman, which, oddly, in the 15 years it's been playing, we have not seen.

Now, The Book of Morman is so well produced and such a Broadway spectacle it's hard not to enjoy. The Southpark humor is much more low key than I expected, and the Idiot white Americans "colonizing" ignorant Ugandans with their absurd religion is a pointed social commentary. References to widespread AIDS, female circumcision and men having sex with babies are pointed, even if only parts of the country did the last two. But the depiction of Ugandans - think 19th century British caraciture, is more troubling.

I’m ambivalent about a lot of PC stuff but going in I was mindful of the following: In 2023, a letter was written by orphaned children living at the Love Uganda Foundation, a charitable NGO in Uganda supporting children who lost parents to HIV/AIDS.

"We feel very sad and embarrassed to know that this is the way part of the world sees us and laughs at us. Some of us are angry and upset too. This is seen every night on Broadway? This has gotten so many awards? It is such a stereotypical view of what Africa is. The writers do not understand what it means to be Ugandan or live here.

It is not brave to make fun of people who have no way of answering back.”

How relevant is that to the way we are treating the world today? So sad. So, I enjoyed the satire of Morman and it was a brilliant play. Just troubling in the rear view mirror, as satire often is for me.

On to a walk in Central Park, Simply Noodles for dinner and Morman at night.Read more
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Manhatten
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Day 4
April 3 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C
No slouching. Simple breakfast while girls next table played patty cake (video). Then,
up and out to a walk across Central Park and to Met. Cool Mosaics in the subway (Pics 2 and 3). Sculptures along the way (Pic 5). On Exhibit: Raphael and Japanese Ceramics.

The Met is huge! See Pic 1. Just navigating is a labor of love.

The Raphael was an extensive exhibit much enhanced by the free audio app and much diminished by those who just stand in front of each item, take a picture and then move on - without looking at the painting or drawing! So sad.

I did not become a Raphael convert, as suggested by the curators, but then again it took them 8 years to organize and prepare the exhibit.

The Japanese Ceramics exhibit was bite sized small but wonderful. (Pics 10 -14).

Finally, onto Andrew's New York City Diner for a classic all day breakfast.

Last Pic. You may have heard that NYC has a pigeon problem. Here is the proof!Read more
Traveler Very cool! Where is that ?
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Trip end
April 3, 2026

Day 1 - Tuesday

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4