Billy Elliot - NYC - We Did Not Get In

Lulu at the NJASL Convention.

In Time Square - they have blocked off an area for pedestrians. It has tables and chairs in the street for relaxation.

Clinton NJ on the Raritan River. It is about 30 miles from our hotel in New Brunswick.

Old steel bridge where Main Street crosses the river into the old downtown. Lulu used to pass by this town on the way to work in NYC every week - and never stopped there.
The river drops over a 10 foot waterfall here - the mils was used to make a variety of products. Before electricity - water power was the main source of energy. Drive belts ran from the water wheel to the machinery.

OUR TRIP INTO MANHATTAN FRIDAY NIGHT

There was a bus directly from our Hilton in New Brunswick to the bus terminal in Manhattan. Rather than take the car - fight traffic - pay for tolls - and parking - we took the $9 bus. It was a good idea because traffic into the city at 6 PM was heavy.

When we go to the city - we hurried up Broadway to the Billy Elliot Show. All that was left at the box office was premium tickets at $200. Since we saw the play in London three times - we passed on the high prices tickets. We stood out in front of the theatre until 8 PM - hoping someone would have extra tickets. One lady offered me single ticket - but when I said I needed one for Lulu too - she withdrew the offer. We did not see anyone else selling tickets - although I held up two fingers for about 20 minutes.

We spent the rest of the evening walking Broadway - loitering in Time Square - and having supper at the Hawaiian Room. Dinner was good - and the Maui Mama's tasted a lot like Hi-C Hawaiian Punch.

At 10 PM we rushed back to the bus - catching it just in time for the 40 minute ride back to the hotel.

The weather was not too bad - about 55 degrees and later a little bit of a drizzle. The coast is being punded with waves up to 20 feet from tropical storm Ida moving up the coast. I thought it would keep people home from an evening in Manhattan - but I was wrong.

Harry trying to get tickets for the show - no luck.

Holding up two fingers did not help - no tickets to be found. 90% of the ticket holders for Billy Elliot were women.

In the afternoon - while Lulu was presenting at the NJASL convention - I drove to Clinton NJ to meet with my old friend George Taylor. George drove over from his job in Bethlehem PA and we had lunch. Clinton is a pretty little old river town - complete with bridges - waterfalls - mills - waterwheels - and tons of tourist shops. Today - it was not every busy - but George and I had a a nice lunch and gabbed about life back home - and Brandon's (his son) adventures in China.

Saturday morning - we will get up early and make the 4 hour drive to Washington DC. We will watch the FSU football game with Keith at his new condo/apartment. We will stay in Washington until Wednesday where Nancy will be at a conference and I will be in DC visiting with Keith and my "third son" Steve Simchak who also works there.

Wednesday we fly back to Tallahassee from Washington.