A Day in the City and Night at the Opera

Update on traveling into NYC:
I am assuming that most folks from NJ and/or PA will be taking the NJ Transit train going to New York Penn Station. That’s why I made the meet up point for the start of this event at the entrance of Madison Square Garden (MSG) on 7th Ave. which is also an entrance/exit of NY Penn Station.

So, those who would like to ride into NYC as a group can meet me at Newark Penn Station. I will be outside of the station at the intersection of Market St. and Raymond Plaza E at 11:00 AM and wait there until 11:15. Then, I and whatever group of people have met up will take the 11:22 train to NY Penn and then proceed to the meetup point at the entrance of MSG in time for the start of the event at 12:00 noon.

If you intend to join the meet up at Newark Penn Station, post a comment below to confirm this. If I do not see any confirmations in the comments below, then, I will not come and wait for anyone there.

Hey everyone, next weekend is Labor Day and summer is winding down. Let’s not waste any of what’s left of the season and have us some MORE fun before it’s all gone! So, for this holiday weekend, let’s do an urban outing over in the Big Apple and take advantage of it being (hopefully) less crowded due to (almost) everyone being “out of town” for the holiday, eh? More specifically, the “Day in the City” will be a soul food lunch up in Harlem followed by a “casual trek” down through Central Park (total distance of about 4 mi.). The “Night at the Opera” will be a picnic supper in the open-air plaza in front of the MET opera house in Lincoln Center followed by the FREE screening of an HD video of an opera performed by the MET Opera during the past season. This is part of the MET Opera’s Summer HD Festival. The opera that will be shown this evening is “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” (“The Barber of Seville”) which is what some of us saw LIVE here inside the opera house as a “Come Join Us” event back in June. So, for those of you who saw that live performance and loved it as much as I did (and always do – I’ve seen it a dozen times and will see it many dozens more…) here is your chance to see it again… and for those of you who missed that live performance, here is your chance to see what you missed!

We’ll meet up outside of the Madison Square Garden entrance on 7th Ave at 12:00 noon. Then, we’ll take the No. 2 or 3 subway up to Harlem and have our soul food lunch from a choice of three eateries: the Greedy Pot, the Fieldtrip Harlem, or Amy Ruth’s (we’ll take a vote on the day of the event to decide which one we’ll end up going to). After lunch, we head to the northern entrance of Central Park and begin our ramble down through Central Park. We’ll pass by and stop off at scenic and notable spots along the way and even lie down and lounge on the grass if that appeals to us! Some of the highlights along our ramble will be Harlem Meer, the “high ground” of Nutter’s Battery (to take in the great views), Jackie O. Reservoir, Arthur Ross Pinetum, the Great Lawn, Ladies Pavilion on the eastern side of “The Lake”, the Strawberry Fields memorial to John Lennon, and Sheep Meadow. We’ll finally arrive at the 65th street entrance of the Park where we’ll head to Rosetta Bakery, across the street from Lincoln Center, to refresh ourselves with a cup of coffee, espresso or latte. Then, we’ll have a picnic supper in the Lincoln Center Plaza at 6:30 PM. We’re having this picnic in the plaza because we have to arrive one hour before the screening of the opera begins at 7:30 PM in order to secure the FREE seats which are available on a first-come-first-serve basis… and YOU have to get and save YOUR own seat – no seats will be saved for anyone who is not present.

So, bring something from home for the picnic supper OR you can get something at the Rosetta Bakery (sandwich, wrap or panini) or someplace else – like one of the food trucks or hot dog stands – during our trek down through Central Park. And, if you’d like, bring a blanket or compact folding chair to lie or sit down on the grass.

If you only want to attend the “Day in the City” and leave before the “Night at the Opera”, that’s fine. And vice versa, if you want to join only the “Night at the Opera”, then, meet the rest of the group at the Rosetta Bakery between 5:30 and 6:00 PM. Just be sure to post a comment below to inform the event host of what you’re planning to do.

As always, attendance at this and all other Meetup events, is at the risk of the attendee who waives all rights to hold any and all event hosts, organizers and leaders liable for any injury, loss or damage sustained in the event of any accident or mishap.