May 21, 2025 – Staten Island, New York

It was a rainy day. We took the Staten Island Ferry sailing past the Statue of Liberty. We met our local guide and went to the Borough Hall. They have a series of murals telling the historical story of Staten Island. The murals were painted using pointillism. I’ve included a close up of one to show the way they were painted.

Next stop was an old movie theater that is now used for a variety of performances. The lobby was very ornate. We went to a pizza parlor for lunch. It was good, thin crust, oil-dripping pizza. Just the way I like it. After lunch five of us returned to the hotel while the rest went to Fresh Kills Park, which was NY’s largest landfill dump.

For dinner, I went to Joe Allen’s. Two weeks ago I ate at the bar and met two delightful men who talked all things theater with me. Tonight I sat at the bar again and ordered dinner. Two men came in and were talking next to me when I heard “I think we met you before.” It was the same men from 2 weeks ago. We swapped contacts and I’ll see if we can get together when I’m back in October.

I went to see Hadestown. This is a musical based on the myth about Orpheus and Eurydice. It was a really fun play to see. The song “we built a wall” was written in 2010 but is still timely.

Tomorrow we do a bus tour of Upper Manhattan and then head to the Bronx. Forecast is low 50’s with rain.