Monday afternoon with David Letterman

Whew! It is so HOT and humid in New York.

Monday, I met Todd for lunch in Bryant Park, a part of New York I hadn't seen. The casual outdoor tables and grassy park offered a nice respite for the hustle and bustle of New York. It reminded me a bit of the lovely parks in Paris. The shady trees were soothing in the summer heat. I had some kind of pricey yet tasty coppa-with-pulled-pork sandwich, which was fatty but good. I noticed that during the summer, they screen films at Bryant Park, which sounded like a lot of fun; that night they were showing The Odd Couple, which I had been wanting to see. But I was told that people line up 2 hours before the movies to secure a picnic/viewing spot. I don't have the patience for that anymore.

After lunch, we had some time to kill before seeing the Letterman Show, so we stopped at Trump's fancypants mall at Columbus Circle. It's just a nice mall, with a few famous sculptures on the inside. If anything, it was nice to be in a clean, air-conditioned place for a little while. I did notice that they are going to open a Charlie Trotter's restaurant there later. My brother, Ted, had raved about his meal at Charlie Trotter's original restaurant in Chicago.

When we finally get into the theater to see David Letterman, there are cheerleader-like employees who greet you with pep and rhythmic clapping to the music, trying to pump up the audience before the show, so we are ready to clap along with the music and laugh at all of Letterman's jokes, whether good or bad.

Initially when we sat down, Todd and I thought we had awesome seats --about 10 rows from the front, smack dab in the middle. But then we realized how mistaken we were, because the camera crew and cue-card guy have to stand right in front of Letterman. So we ended up having to watch it on the monitors attached to the ceiling anyway.

During commercial breaks, they show best-of reels from previous episodes. Perhaps it was because we saw a Monday show, but I found the guest interviews with Kate Hudson and prodigy golfer, Michelle Wie, to be a little dull. I like Kate Hudson, and Michelle Wie's golfing talents are impressive, but they didn't have any funny observations or wacky stories to share.

Still it was neat to see the set and stage in person, and to see how the show gets run; I'm looking forward to the Conan O'Brien show, because I think it will be funnier.

For dinner, I met with Todd's family at Battery Gardens, a fancy restaurant at the south end of Manhattan island, with a view of the sailboats and the Statue of Liberty. As always, Todd's mom and sisters were dressed in pretty dresses and cute shoes. And Todd's dad entertained us with his quick-witted puns.

I loved the look of the Staten Island Ferry station, especially its neon sign. Taking the free ferry to Staten Island and back to Manhattan on Monday night was refreshing, to get the night breeze off the water, and also to get a free view of the Statue of Liberty. Sadly, my camera doesn't do well with long-distance night shots, but at least I got some interesting night shots of the puddles after a brief rain.