The Rhythm of My Story: Avoiding the Inauguration

I got up faster than I have been doing on this trip. I wanted to try out the "free" continental breakfast that we are actually paying for because I needed bananas. The "free" continental breakfast is as sparse as the "free" cafe. I returned with two bananas and two yogurts.

Gayle and I made a conscious decision that we didn't want to watch Trump's inauguration. Just reading about it set my teeth on edge. Instead, Gayle and I set off for the Banksy Museum. Knowing it is a federal holiday and that it isn't good for Gayle to stand in line we opted to get skip the line tickets in advance. Silly us. There was no line and we only saw a few other people inside the building.

Now I need to be clear that calling this place a Banksy Museum is a joke. As the New York Times writes: "Can you call yourself a museum if every piece of art inside is a reproduction?" Besides that Banksy himself does not condone this place. As I bought a magnet in the gift shop on my way out I felt like the consumer Banksy criticizes.

Even knowing all of those things I am glad this place exists. Street art is temporary art and I am in need of the challenge Banksy's art makes me see.

Some of his work is fun and silly, like this one of an old woman who when she sneezes her false teeth fly out of her mouth.

Some of his work speaks to our homophobia. This one critiques Queen Victoria for saying, "women are not able to be gay."

Many of them critique violence and militarization,

and the defense of war as a way to peace,

and corporations,

and consumerism,

and politicians,

and the adverse effect our overconsumption has on the environment,

and the way our connection to our phones disconnects us from each other.

His critiques are too numerous to be able to mention them all.

One floor of the "museum" was focused on street art he has done in Kyiv since Putin attacked Ukraine.

Banksy said to think of graffiti as "underclass revenge".

We enjoyed the time we spent at the Banksy Museum, but as they did not have any wheelchairs to loan we knew it was time to leave and get somewhere that Gayle could sit down. We Ubered to the Frenchette Bakery on Church Street because their website promised kouign-amann. When Gayle saw that they also sold baguettes and french butter we added that to our order. Frenchette Bakery is in the lobby of an office building in Lower Manhattan. We sat against the wall and enjoyed a turkey sandwich topped off with a kouign-amann and a canele. The bakery items are better than Bibble and Sip and we were delighted we had made the trip to Lower Manhattan. Gayle headed back to the order window and got five more kouign-amann. Can you ever have too many kouign-amman, really? (Rating of 98)

I don't know if I mentioned that it is very, very cold here. It was 19 degrees when dinner time rolled around. We needed to get dinner but we didn't want to have to walk very far in the bitter cold. We debated just ordering from Soup Nazi and have DoorDash deliver it to our hotel. We finally settled on Ellen's Stardust Diner -- "home of the world famous singing waiters." We arrived to find we had to stand in a line outside in the freezing cold to wait for a seat. Just about the time we thought we couldn't stand in the cold any longer we were ushered in and given a seat in the corner. I assumed that perhaps every hour one of the wait staff would sing. Nope. It was constant. We heard music from Phantom of the Opera, Amy Winehouse, Ray Charles, and more. At one point they passed a bucket so that we could all contribute towards their voice and dance lessons. The food was meh. The place was so loud we didn't even try to have a conversation. But it was definitely a Times Square kind of experience. I'm glad we went and now I never need to go again. (Rating 75)

Our next stop was the Gotham Comedy Club. We decided that on the day of Trump's inauguration we needed to hear some comedy. We picked Gotham because we could reserve a seat and not stand outside in the cold hoping to get in. We were not familiar with any of the comedians: Kevin Dombrowski, Larry Beyah, Leclerc Andre, Emma Willmann and Rich Aronovitch. We enjoyed Dombrowski and Willmann. Halfway through the lineup the emcee came out and said that Jim Gaffigan had dropped in to do a set. Lucky us. He was excellent. He understands the importance of timing. I have never seen him in person before. I loved his set. We were really glad we went in the cold to enjoy comedy. Gayle wished we had gotten a table on the front row so that the comedians would have bantered with us. I told her she would have to go with someone else if that is what she wanted from the the evening.