New York evening

Trying to stay in the Hilton family for the points, I booked a brand new Hilton Garden Inn just south of Central Park.  I had originally booked the much larger Hilton midtown where I have stayed previously but when I checked this week, I could get a much better rate here.  Well it's actually much nicer. Whereas the midtown is getting run down, this is new, clean and quiet.  Location is pretty much the same too.

I used Uber for the first time here and it worked well.  I took it down to Barbuto for dinner.  Traffic was terrible so it took 45 mins when it would usually be 15.  I got there in time to have a glass of wine and gnocchi.  They are to die for.

It was then a 5 minute walk to the Village Vanguard. I've wanted to go to a show here for sometime.  It is probably the most famous jazz club in the world.  I went to iTunes and searched for "village vanguard" and live albums from all the greats show up.  Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins to name a few.  I knew it would be small but didn't expect the walk down a tiny flight of stairs to the basement and the tiniest room for a performance.  Chairs squeezed together with the stage right in my lap. And to top it off, you feel the subway trains roll under your feet every few minutes.  So New York!

I watched the Barry Harris trio, who I had never heard of.  I suppose if I had been following jazz longer I may have heard of him as he and the band are quite old and have been playing together for 50 years.  Piano, bass, and drums made the trio.  It was very accessible as they played standards and had fun, joking through the show .  It wasn't long before the set ended and we got kicked out for the second show.  Lots of fun.

Saturday morning and the sun is shining and it looks like it will be a nice day.  Forecast for sailing time is about the same. 14 and sunny.