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/.