BIG APPLE VENUES AND DAYTRIPPING (c) By Polly Guerin

Although the Big Apple can be a vacation in itself, nearby day trips also give summer a very special way to enlarge your appreciation for other venues. From Broadway musicals to Stratford-upon-Avon-upon-Park Avenue and DUMBO delights, adding daytripping jaunts to the Amish country can be fun and educational. It’s the Best of New York, the Very Best of Everything, my friends. Here’s the scoop!!!
THE OLDEST AMISH COMMUNITY IN AMERICA….As the world turns its modern head into the 21st century one thing remains constant and that is the Lancaster’s "Old Order Amish' a self-sufficient community that has remained true to its beliefs and simplistic way of living. Learn about the Amish life on a day trip to Pennsylvania where you visit a quaint 1840s Amish farm house where electricity is banished and in a typical schoolhouse the school mistress with her white cap and simple dress sits ready to answer your questions, albeit with discretion. Don’t miss the blacksmith shop as busy today as yesteryear as the one-horse buggy is still the mode of transportation as it carries its Amish occupants through the pristine farmlands and country roads. Farm animals, including baby bunnies, reside in the barnyard. The day ends with a real buggy ride through the back roads of the Amish country. Hines Tours, 1.646.403.5653 Book on line at www.hinestours.com. Email: sales@hinestours.com.
STRATFORD-upon-AVON-upon-PARK AVENUE
Go no further than 67th street to the Park Avenue Armory where the Stratford-Upon-Avon’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre has been rebuilt within the confines of the Wade Thompson Drill Hall. Not only did they build the physical structure—a replica of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre but it is authentic, complete with its seating, lighting, wardrobe and personnel. Five full-length productions are staged including As You like It, The Winter’s Tale, King Lear, Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet. Audiences seeking to have the experience of being in an authentic Elizabethan theatre can see the plays from through August 14th. www.armoryonpark.com.
DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY Polly’s Theater Pick of the Week is a jolly 1920s romp through the Villa Felicita where the assembled Art Deco attired cast meets an unusual guest, Death himself disguised as a Russian Prince who will spend a mere weekend falling in love and causing havoc in the run among the social elite of the villa. Ah, but who will Mr. Death take with him when he leaves to go back to eternity…that is the intriguing question that can only be revealed if you see this new musical madness. At The Roundabout Theatre Company’s, Laura Pels Theater, W 46th St., www.roundabouttheatre.org.
OLD FULTON RESTAURANT Polly’s Restaurant Pick of the Week is a short East River Ferry ride right to the heart of Dumbo-short for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass—a location where the Brooklyn Heights Promenade offers spectacular views of Manhattan and a chance to take a detour to 70 Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights where Truman Capote wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's. Down to the waterfront the Old Fulton Restaurant with its nostalgic European paintings and ambiance is a final respite after visiting the Dumbo area. A reasonable lunch menu makes it a ‘find.’ I had baked eggplant, authentic and delicious!!! A dinner Prix Fixe at $22 includes appetizer and main course. 7 Old Fulton Street, 718.797.0007. www.7oldfulton.com, info@7oldfulton.com.
Ta Ta darlings!!! I loved ‘Death Takes a Holiday!” Any Art Deco aficionado would too. Fan mail welcome at pollytalk@verizon.net. Visit Polly’s Blogs at www.pollytalk.com and click on the link in the right hand column http://www.amazingartdecodivas.blogspot.com/.

A SUMMER HOLIDAY IN THE BIG APPLE (c) by Polly Guerin

Whether you're a Manhattan native or visiting tourist spectacular summer events provide a unique holiday in the Big Apple. From viewing the fireball sun, to dining in a neo-speakeasy restaurant to accordion, piano, jazz, music festivals it’s a joyous round of entertaining venues that make summer in the city the Best of New York, my friends, the Very Best of New York. Here’s the scoop!!!
MANHATTANHENGE…AN ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENON. Midtown is the place to be Wednesday Night, July 13th at 8:25 p.m. to catch Manhattanhenge (image above). This visual spectacle arrives when the setting sun aligns just so with New York City's street grid, casting a radiant glow of light across Manhattan’s skyscrapers and every cross street. As the sun dips below the horizon in perfect alignment with 42nd Street it sends waves of orange across the skyscraper facades, tricking the eye with visions of evening traffic headed into fiery oblivion. It’s an amazing occurrence, not to be missed and a great photo opportunity. Share yours with the American museum of Natural Histories Manhattanhenge group on Flickr.
MINETTA TAVERN, Polly’s Restaurant Pick of the Week is the standard bearer of the old tavern tradition, a haunt frequented by the likes of various layabouts and hangers-on including various writers, poets and pugilists. The place reeks of nostalgia and as one passes through the red velvet entrance curtain the ghosts of the literati of the day seem to be still lurking in its dining room, albeit in photos on the walls. In its heyday Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Eugene O’Neill, E. E. Cummings and Dylan Thomas were regulars but today the neo-speakeasy is a modern fashionistas destination where its reputation as ‘the best steakhouse in the city,’ does not disappoint. 113 MacDougal St., NYC 10012. Tel: 212.475.3850 www.minettatavernny.com.
WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL launches a month of free music in the West Village. Chill out, sit on the grass, find a bench seat and listen to operatic selections by Schubert, Mozart and other great composers in the repertoire of masterful music. Guest appearances by a New York Philharmonic clarinetist fills the summer nights with delightful melody, while jazz, by the late, master Charles Mingus gives cause to find our place in the maddening crows. Dates: July 12-Aug. 2. For schedule contact: www.washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org.
MUSIC, DANCE, POETRY, and a LUSH LAWN wind down at Bryant Park where accordion music, 12:30-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, brings a nostalgic Parisian feel to a summer day. Ragtime jazz also has its due, and Word for Word Poetry introduces internationally renowned poets who share their latest works to an admiring public. Feeling playful, then pick up a mallet and join the Ping Pong enthusiasts at the 42nd Street Allee, cutting up games from 11am to 7pm daily. Deanna Wiktowski, world class pianist, holds forth at the Upper Terrace from 12:30pm-2:30pm. Contact events@urbanmgt.com.
Ta Ta darlings!!! You’ll find me sun gazing on Wednesday night on 42nd Street. Fan mail: pollytalk@verizon.net. Polly’s Blogs: go to www.pollytalk.com and in the right-hand column click on the link to the Polly Blog of your interest like amazingartdecodivas.blogspot.com.