Lions and Mobs of People

 

This trip to New York was my third time but up until this point, I had never attended a Broadway play. I love our local plays that do so much on incredibly limited budgets but wanted to see a full scale production, much like the off Broadway version of Hamilton I saw a number of years ago, in their native setting. We tossed around several names but in the interest of family, settled on seeing The Lion King. We made our way to Times Square and shuffled along with the hordes of people until we go near the theater and saw a large line of people waiting to get in. Unsure of where the line began, we simply merged into the line and received no complaints.

I must say, the journey from the sidewalk to our seats was a very efficient process compared to our local productions. The ushers were well seasoned on dealing with us tourists and the show only started a few minutes late. Photography and recording of any kind is strictly prohibited and yet the lady sitting two rows in front of us had to be reprimanded by an usher within seconds of the start of the production. I for the most part, spent the next two and a half hours in a state of awe as I absorbed the play. Although I still think the off Broadway production of Hamilton I saw several years ago is the best play I have ever attended, this one is a close second for sure. I'm not the only one because in a theater full of parents and children, I don't recall hearing a single child during the entire 150 minutes. 

Of course much like the ferry rides I took earlier, after the play there was a mad rush to exit the theater. In hindsight, I wish we had just lingered in our seats awhile longer but we didn't and were swept into the rush of people fleeing the theater. I finally took one picture, the one above, as I rode the escalator down to the main floor and the only time I could really get my arms away from being pinned to my sides by surrounding people. 

On the way back, we ate supper at a hole in the wall Chinese restaurant which we were the third table seated for about 10 minutes before an entire busload of 50 Chinese tourists were ushered in. Despite it being noisy at that point, our food was still quickly served and quite delicious. From there we continued on towards our motel where we dipped into Grand Central just because it was right there in the blocks before our motel room.  There are probably miles of hallways one could walk through but really, outside of the main lobby, the rest looks more like what you would see walking to your airplane gate at an airport. They are wide hallways lined with all kinds of vendors and full of people walking in both directions, some occasionally topping in the middle of it all to do something without concern of anyone walking around them. 

Once again, I spent the evening admiring the different sort of beauty I never see here where I live, taking a stream of photographs of the every changing reflection of the Chrysler building and the night life going on 33 floors below.