Summer in the City

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Maui is yet to come because I realized I haven’t received all of the pictures that the rest of my family took. So here’s a post about all of the amazing things there are to do in the summer in New York City.

So first of all, almost every band you could ever imagine comes to New York. So a few weeks ago, a couple of friends went to the Death Cab for Cutie concert. It was really good. It was at a fun outdoor arena in Brooklyn. The only downside to that is it is subject to the forces of nature. About an hour and a half into the concert the wind really starting picking up and you could see lightning in the background. Pretty soon, the lights hanging over the stage were swinging pretty hard. So, the stage manager came out and said they had to cancel the rest of the concert. We were disappointed, but at least we saw them for most of the songs (and that meant we didn’t get home too, too late). Then as we were walking back to the car (luckily, we had a friend with a car), it started pouring rain. There’s nothing like an East coast torrential downpour.

Then this last week, the New York Philharmonic hosts the summer concert series in the parks around New York. The best thing about it is they are all free. A couple of friends went to the concert in Central Park (as seen in the movie “August Rush”). It was a lot of fun because everyone brings blankets and sits out on the lawn. A lot of people, including us, brought dinner to eat while listening. The Philharmonic plays songs most people would recognize and then they finish the night off with a fireworks show. It is a definite must do in the city.

Then yesterday, we took advantage of another free event that the city and generous donors provide called “Shakespeare in the Park.” You get tickets the day of for a relatively small theater in Central Park. Right now they are doing Hamlet, so we were able to enjoy a great, slightly contemporary, performance of this Shakespeare classic. It was really well done, just as good as any Broadway play. Definitely a fun thing to do if you ever have the opportunity to go see while you are in New York.