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My day started with breakfast in the Club Lounge, followed by lunch at some Japanese restaurant off Times Square:
That pepper plant was next to my table and seemed worthy of a photo.
I then caught the Hop On-Hop Off bus paid for by Panda Tours from Times Square to One World Trade Center. The traffic yesterday was horrendous because of the ceremonies. First, my Blue-bar pigeon bade me hello and goodbye:
New York City has the second largest library in the country, next to the Library of Congress:
That is the Empire State Building in the background:
Not sure what this building was about:
Then my Blue-bar pigeon met me at One World Trade Center:
Wall Street is next to this tallest building in the USA.
We cruised by the United Nations building;
Got back to the Sheraton, took a shower, and had dinner at an up-scale Italian restaurant, Azalea:
I ordered a Caesar salad:
It was not on the menu, but I asked for Capellini Bolognese with truffles, basil leaves and a slice of onion. to my astonishment, it came, with a Chianti, Prosecco and Limoncello:
I was surprised to see so much truffles, in slices and chunks:
Best Italian meal since, perhaps, Rome.
Then, a five minute walk to the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, where The Book of Mormon was playing:
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saints, said to be the writings (in reformed Egyptian) on gold plates of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 2200 BC to AD 42. The last contributor was Moroni, who buried the plates in present-day Manchester, New York. He returned to Earth as an angel in 1827 and revealed the location to Smith. Stories like this long ago convinced my that most of religion is a collection of outright fables. The reality that people believed, and still do, is mind boggling.
None of this was in the musical, The Book of Mormon, except for these beliefs. The show won critical acclaim and won numerous awards. While satirical and smutty, even the Mormon church eventually came around and exhibited some support. The audience in the theater gave the production a standing ovation, and everyone seemed joyous.
Frankly, I was disappointed. Maybe for the $200 cost, but the music was forgettable, and I somehow expected a lot more.
While the cast was half black and half white, I don't think I saw one African American in the audience. That has to say something. I was not totally comfortable. The feeling was close, I think, to a few friends I knew who were not Mormon, lived in Utah, and left. Everyone was nice, but you were just not part of the tribe. While I'll need to re-analyze my attitude, here is a Huffington Post article that seems to reflect my sense.
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Hurricane Florence should weaken into a Category 3, but will cause some serious problems beginning tomorrow:
The uncertainty now is about the path of the eye after making landfall.
Tropical Storm Olivia should roll over most of Maui later today with winds around 45 MPH and a whole lot of rain:
I guess the good news is that, still, the Big Island, Maui and Oahu will miss a hurricane landfall. However, flood damage will again be severe.
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