On June 16th, the 77th annual Tony Awards will be awarded (and televised on CBS). The ceremony this year is at Lincoln Center for the first time and American Express will be holding a live simulcast at Damrosch Park just behind the David H. Koch Theatre where the awards will be given out (see here for more information about how to attend if this interests you). Two years ago I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the 75th annual Tonys in person at Radio City (see how I wrote up the experience here) but this year I will be watching on television as usual. The awards this year seem harder than ever to predict this very crowded season. Needless to say, with so many new productions, not everything could be nominated, and most musicals and plays rely on the publicity and the “stamp of approval” from the Tonys to fuel sales.
Best New Musical
This was an unusually busy season for new musicals on Broadway, which is great for musical lovers – but very tough on producers as there was a lot of competition for the ticket-buying public. Six new musicals have already opened and closed this season: Once Upon a One More Time, Here Lies Love, How to Dance in Ohio, Harmony, Lempicka, and Days of Wine and Roses. From earlier this season, only Back to The Future (which opened last July) is still running, with most new musicals on Broadway having opened in a very busy spring season. So the eligible original musicals were Back to the Future, Days of Wine and Roses, Harmony, Hell’s Kitchen, Here Lies Love, How to Dance in Ohio, Illinoise, Lempicka, Once Upon a One More Time, Suffs, The Great Gatsby, The Heart of Rock and Roll, The Notebook, The Outsiders, and Water for Elephants. I saw all of them, and correctly predicted which five would be nominated (which is not the same as saying I agreed with the result). The five are:
“Hell’s Kitchen”
“Illinoise”
“The Outsiders”
“Suffs”
“Water for Elephants”
I have to say, this is a year where any one of these could win. The best reviewed by the New York Times were Illinoise, Hell’s Kitchen, and Water for Elephants (all “Critic’s Picks”) but Suffs and The Outsiders are both nominated for best original score as well as best new musical. Illinoise has had perhaps the most rave reviews across the board, but since it is a very unique Broadway musical (the story being told entirely through Justin Peck’s dance and a group of instrumentalists and singers, all based on Sufjan Stevens’ 2005 album) it may be hard for Tony voters to award it best in this category (although I expect it will get best choreography) when it is not nominated for Book or Score. However, Hell’s Kitchen had the most nominations (13; tied with the new play Stereophonic in number of nominations this year).
Best Musical Revival
The eligible musical revivals were Cabaret, Gutenberg, Merrily We Roll Along, Spamalot, The Who’s Tommy, and The Wiz. Only four were nominated:
“Cabaret”
“Gutenberg! The Musical!”
“Merrily We Roll Along”
“The Who’s Tommy”
This category definitely comes down to two productions, the transfer from the West End of Rebecca Frecknall’s Cabaret, starring Eddie Redmayne, and the smash hit revival of Merrily We Roll Along, a musical once felt to be Sondheim’s great flop, but transformed by the direction of Maria Friedman and the performances by Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez. The Cabaret revival has not been received as well on Broadway as it was on the West End, so I would expect Merrily to take this award. The same goes for Leading Actor in a Musical – I would be surprised (and very very disappointed) if Jonathan Groff does not win this category over Eddie Redmayne. I love The Who’s Tommy, by the way, but don’t expect it to win.
Best New Play
The nominees for best new play are:
“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
“Mary Jane”
“Mother Play”
“Prayer for the French Republic”
“Stereophonic”
I will be very surprised if Stereophonic doesn’t win this category. It’s a “play with music” (and in fact, it is nominated for best original score, which is unusual but not without precedent) by David Adjmi, about a rock band in the 1970s recording an album. It’s over three hours long, takes place entirely in a recording studio with no change of sets, and yet is completely riveting.
Best Play Revival
All three of the nominees for best revival of a play are excellent. They are:
“Appropriate”
“An Enemy of the People”
“Purlie Victorious”
Despite the strength of all three of these revivals, I would be surprised if Appropriate did not win this category (and I think Sarah Paulsen is a lock for Best Lead Actress in a Play despite being up against Jessica Lange in Mother Play).
Other thoughts
This season not only had a great number and variety of new productions, there were many extremely innovative sets. The category of best scenic design of a musical had seven nominees (for The Outsiders, Hell’s Kitchen, Back to the Future, Lempicka, Water for Elephants, Here Lies Love, and Cabaret) and I was dazzled by all of them. I think the immersive quality of Here Lies Love, which has closed but I absolutely adored, was a stand out in a great field for me – but it is very unusual for shows that have closed to win even if nominated (Here Lies Love is also up for best original score, best choreography, and best sound design).
A shout out to the Director categories this year, with four out of the five musical directors and three out of the five play directors being women.
After the Tonys, I expect many shows with disappointing results will post closing notices, either right away or as the summer ends. Tony awards do not guarantee a long run (look at A Strange Loop from 2022) but the lack of awards can be the difference between enough ticket sales to keep going and a decision to close the show. What will keep Broadway alive is not only a wealth of plays and musicals in the pipeline but also the ticket-buying public out there to support them. Go see a Broadway show (or a ton of them!) and keep this very special art form thriving here in New York City.
Walking around Manhattan’s East Side near the United Nations, there has always been a huge empty undeveloped (more about that later!) lot between E 38th and 41st Streets, from First Avenue to the East River. Beginning earlier this year, an enormous light installation has filled that space, Field of Light. I have been there twice and it is an unusual and charming experience.
The installation is free to enter, but you need to either have timed tickets or wait in a standby line. All of the procedures are pretty clear on their website. I have not seen long lines for standby, so even if you don’t have tickets I think your wait would be relatively short. You go through airport-style security, and then a few posters to set up the idea behind the installation and give information about the artist.
The artist, Bruce Munro, is drawn to creating large light installations, and this one in NYC is his largest to date. He notes that with buildings on three sides and the East River (and FDR Drive) on the other, the field is almost like a box filled with light.
From inside the installation, you can see the Chrysler Building, while the apartment buildings and the United Nations building surround the field, adding their own element of light.
Each bulb and stalk of light is interconnected to others in complicated tangles. The lights slowly change color over time as well.
There is a spider-web quality to the way the lighted strands snake around the bulbs on stalks.
This installation is sponsored by the Bjarke Ingels Group, which upon a little investigation, has plans for a megadevelopment in this space along the East River. A lot of it sounds good – affordable housing, a public park roughly the size of Bryant Park (the park behind the main branch of the New York Public Library), a museum (no idea what its focus would be), a dog run, play areas for children – but also a hotel … and an underground casino. See here for more details about the proposed development, which has to receive approval and licensing and hopes to by next year. The idea for the area shows a few tall buildings which would definitely impact views (and values) in Tudor City. Along with the proposed Times Square Caesar’s Palace Casino (see more about this here), and the question of whether a casino will be allowed in Hudson Yards, this casino raise the question of what NYC wants to be going forward. Proponents note the possibility of increased tourism and tax revenue, while opponents note that tourism based on gambling in places like Las Vegas and Atlantic City potentially creates a different atmosphere and clientele in those neighborhoods with a casino.
New York City is constantly changing, and there is a casino near JFK airport. I do wonder though what allowing casinos in Manhattan will change about the city. At this point New York State as announced that it will grant three licenses for NYC and/or it’s suburbs, and there is significant pushback against having a casino in a residential neighberhood. But . . . stay tuned! I enjoyed Field of Light but feel we need a little illumination (haha) about whether Manhattan wants casinos.
Some beloved family members – and their pets, two dogs and two cats – moved to Porto, Portugal about six months ago, and last month I went to visit them for the first of what I expect to be many trips to Portugal (as long as I don’t ruin things by being a terrible guest!). This trip was mainly about seeing them and where/how they are living now, but I can tell you about a few fun things I experienced this time and recommend if you plan to visit Porto.
My first day there, while staying up to fight jet lag and get adjusted to the time change, we went to a tour of the Pinhais sardine factory (more information and tickets here). In addition to seeing the factory itself, we learned about the history of sardines in Portugal, saw a staircase designed to look like a sardine when viewed from the correct angle ( see above – the light is its eye), practiced wrapping a tin of sardines (which the professionals can do perfectly in mere seconds but I definitely could not), and finally had a sardine/wine tasting.
The next day, feeling fresh and ready to go, we enjoyed a fantastic tile painting class at Gazettes Azulejos (more information here). The tiles that are so beautiful covering the exteriors of buildings in Porto also serve practical purposes, keeping moisture from seeping into the facade, insulating from excess heat or cold, and strengthening the structures. Gazettes Azulejos is working to catalogue all the Porto facade tiles, and you can use a pattern from an actual address to recreate your own tile to take home as a souvenir. They admonish that “too much perfection is a mistake” and I would say that keeping that in mind is key to enjoying the workshop, as it is harder than it appears at first. The tiles I painted are definitely not perfect (the second one was better than the first, so practice helps), but I enjoyed making them, learning about the process, and bringing them home as a memento. One thing that surprised me is that Cobalt Blue looks light lavender before firing! You leave the painted tiles and come back to pick them up the next day after they are fired. I made a reel about the class that you can see on Instagram here.
One of my favorite things to do in any city (including my own New York City) is to simply walk around and experience it. Porto was a beautiful walking city, with plenty of hills and staircases to keep things interesting and muscles fully engaged!
The rooster is the symbol of Portugal, and they roam many of the public parks. At the park next to the Crystal Palace, there were also peacocks. You can see a video of the peacock showing off on Instagram here.
Porto is – not surprisingly – known for its port wine, and a port wine tour and tasting at Grahams – across the river in Gaia -was fantastic. This particular tasting paired food (a pastel de nata pastry, aged cheese, and chocolate) with three different ports. Grahams has some bottles still aging from the 1860s! A reel about Grahams can be seen here.
Speaking of pastel de nata, I tried several at different places. You can get these cups filled with sweet custard either plain or with cinnamon, and I liked mine with cinnamon. And the official cocktail of Porto, the porto tonico, was enjoyed several times! The porto tonico is white port and tonic water, garnished with orange peel, a cinnamon stick, and a mint leaf. Really, really good . . .
Livraria Lello proudly states itself to be “the most beautiful bookstore in the world” and I would dare not disagree. It is very hard to get into – you need timed tickets that you pay for, but the ticket cost can go toward a purchase. We went just before closing and managed to get a few photos without dozens of other people in the picture as well. To find out more about the bookstore or purchase a timed ticket, click here.
My final day before returning to NYC, we did a guided tour of the Douro Valley including wine tastings and a boat ride. The Douro Wine Region Valley is the oldest demarcated wine growing region in the world, and a World Heritage Site. The Douro (which ends up dividing Porto from Gaia just before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean) carved out this rich and beautiful landscape. I have written before about wine tasting in Napa and this day was just as special (see a reel about the day here on Instagram).
Of course the best part of this trip to Porto was spending time with family and experiencing a bit of the new life they have made there. They threw an amazing dinner one night where a private chef came in with all the ingredients and then we, the dinner party, made the meal under his guidance – so much fun, see a video reel here. And I look forward to exploring much more in Portugal as I visit them over the next many years.
The Hudson River Greenway along the Hudson River on Manhattan’s West Side is accessible for walking and biking from Battery Park all the way north to Inwood Hill Park at the top of the island. It keeps being expanded and is a destination for residents and visitors alike with recent additions like Little Island Park, Pier 26, and Pier 57. On the other hand, while the riverfront area along the East River has some lovely patches (like the John Finlay Walk next to Carl Schurz Park in Yorkville), there are also stretches where there is no waterfront access. There is a new plan to connect all of the East River waterfront, similarly to that seen on the Hudson River, and a new section of this was recently opened, beginning at East 54th Street and continuing up to connect an existing path at East 61st Street.
Entering the new stretch at East 54th Street, the views are instantly gorgeous. You can see south along the East River, as well as east to Long Island City.
The tiling on the walkway is inspired by diatoms, single-celled microscopic algae. They are the base of the food chain in the river, and convert sunlight into energy. There can be hundreds or even thousands of diatoms in one spoonful of East River water. For more details about the use of these diatom-patterned pavers, check out the description from the artist who was involved, Stacy Levy.
As you start to connect to Andrew Haswell Green Park at East 61st, you can’t help but notice the thing that looks like an abandoned steel roller coaster track. In fact, it is an artwork by artist Alice Aycock, called The Roundabout. A little more about that as we exit the new walkway next to it!
You get some thrilling views of the Ed Koch/Queensboro/59th Street Bridge, especially as you walk under it.
If you choose to exit at East 61st rather than continuing north to the existing Andrew Haswell Green park, you get an up close look at Roundabout. It covers the roof of a defunct Department of Sanitation Building, and was inspired by the weightlessness of Fred Astaire’s dancing! You can read more about this artwork here.
The eventual goal of the East River Waterfront project is to have a continuous loop around all of Manhattan next to the waterfront. It will likely help the livability (and hence the value) of the far east side of midtown Manhattan to have a waterfront park, and one that connects all waterfront areas in Manhattan will be even more appreciated. I look forward to seeing the East River waterway in Manhattan continue to develop and enrich the experience of New Yorkers and visitors to the city alike.
Winter in New York City has its challenges – while not incessantly freezing cold or snowy like some other cities (hey, I lived in Chicago), it certainly can be. The wind amplifies as it whips around our skyscrapers, making wind chill a real trial some days. The days are shorter, and once the festive lights of the holiday season are over, a gloomy grey day can make you feel that you are enduring rather than exuberantly enjoying walking around the city bundled in your warmest parka, hat, and gloves (I recommend mittens!). However, when my sister lived in Vermont, she told me that there you just have to figure out a way to make your peace with winter, and people would take up cross-country skiing or other outdoor sports to get out and find a way to enjoy the season. I think that is true of NYC as well, and one thing that is fun to do – and with few exceptions, only available during the winter – is to go ice skating. While the iconic Rockefeller Center rink immediately comes to mind, there are many places to go ice skating in NYC. Let’s look into our options . . .
Rockefeller Center
When the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is up, it’s impossible to resist skating under it – at least once (the rink has capacity limitations, is small, and when the tree is up everyone has the same idea!). But keep in mind that the rink is open much longer than the tree is up (it opened October 21st in 2023 for this season, and will stay open until late March or early April, depending on weather). Cost for an adult to skate ranges from $21-79 (pricing is flexible and based on demand) without skate rental and for only 40-60 minutes (your time could be shorter than an hour if the Zamboni is used during your hour), so it’s not inexpensive. If you wanted to skate a lot, there is a season pass, starting at $250. It’s hard to beat this skating rink for photo opportunities (see a video I took here), but it’s not most locals’ first choice. You can find out more about the Rockefeller Center skating rink here.
Bryant Park
Not too far from Rockefeller Center, behind the iconic main branch of the New York Public Library, you can find the Bryant Park Winter Village. Skating here is FREE (this is not a misprint!), and you can reserve tickets (the reservations open up a week in advance). If you need to rent skates, they are available – if you have your own skates, there is no charge at all to skate here. See here for a video I took at the rink once when a skating performance surprised me. The Holiday Market here was recently voted the world’s best, and there are other fun things to do (rent a private igloo for dining, eat at the Lodge, have a drink at the L’OR Porch, even go curling!). Perhaps the most fun is BUMPER CARS ON ICE, where you sit in a big tube and basically slide around and bounce into others. Trust me, it is crazy fun. Bumper cars on ice is not free, but I think well worth it. Find out more about skating and other things to do at Bryant Park in the winter here.
Wollman Rink
I will put my own bias out right away – I think ice skating at Wollman Rink, surrounded by Central Park and looking at the skyscrapers ringing the park is the most beautiful and enjoyable skating experience in NYC (see a video I took while walking past on Christmas Eve in 2023 here). Tickets can be reserved in advance (around $15) and they also have skate rentals available. Tip to New Yorkers with a library card: Culture Pass, with which you can get free admission to museums and such, often has a pass for four available during the week at no charge. Wollman Rink is more exposed than many of the other urban skating rinks, so check the weather before you go. Find out more about skating at Wollman Rink here.
The Rink at Brookfield Place
Brookfield Place, near One World Trade and Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan, has a nice rink that I find usually not too crowded. You have distant views of the Statue of Liberty and you are skating right next to the Hudson River. Pricing is reasonable – $15 weekdays and $17 weekends, with skate rentals only $5-7. Find out more about skating at Brookfield Place here.
Manhattan West
Manhattan West is a hidden gem – if you haven’t been to this area in Midtown near Hudson Yards, check it out. They have skating sessions mid-November through March, and the cost is about $20 (plus $5 for skate rental). Find out more about skating at Manhattan West here.
Glide at Brooklyn Bridge Park
There’s a new skating rink in NYC, and I really want to try it but haven’t yet! It’s called Glide, at Brooklyn Bridge Park right under the Brooklyn Bridge (one of my favorite pics from walking over the Brooklyn bridge is above), and is open until March 1. A skating session starts at $15, with skate rental at $5, and from what I can tell the views are incredible. Find out more about skating at Glide here.
Chelsea Piers Sky Rink
I mentioned before that most but not all ice skating rinks in NYC are outdoors, and the Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers is the big exception. Completely indoors, enormous (there are two full-sized rinks), and open year-round, this is where I took my daughters to learn to skate. Find out more about Chelsea Piers skating here.
One thing I was definitely reminded of when I summited Mount Kilimanjaro this summer in freezing cold and wind: there is no bad weather, only weather for which you have not dressed properly. (OK, not entirely true, it was still cold on Kili, and certainly at times my face has become completely numb by the cold and wind here in the city during a frigid snap – but still, proper gear makes all the difference!). So let’s get out and appreciate winter here in NYC . . . for after all, would we appreciate spring and cherry blossoms quite so much if we hadn’t just lived through our austere and challenging winter?
This time of the year, New York City is filled with holiday decor, the lights driving back the darkness a bit as we head into winter’s solstice. Not all the lights are specifically about Christmas, but images of Santa are plentiful. What if you are interested in seeing – or even meeting – Santa in the city? There are many opportunities, and I will describe a few, leading up to the “Miracle on 34th Street” pinnacle of seeing the “real” Santa at Macy’s Santaland (not for the faint of heart). I will also let you in on a few experiences where Santa is there but not necessarily the main event.
First, a new experience that I tried this year, Santa’s Winter Wonderland at Pier 15 in the South Street Seaport area. This is a fun experience that could work for a family with kids (there is Santa there for a visit with little or no line waiting, hot chocolate, snacks) or adults out for a fun evening (there are specialty cocktails, terrific views, etc).
This is a ticketed event, with timed entry. There is also an option for a sit-down meal at a specific time in an enclosed see-through hut, but I didn’t try that.
For general admission, you get a hot chocolate or hot cider, and a choice of snack (soft pretzel, chocolate chip cookie, or churro), and you can eat outside or in one inside dining area that has open seating (but was a little crowded when I was there).
For parents hoping for a Santa visit, I saw very little waiting time and plenty of interaction. I am sure adults could see Santa as well if they wanted!
The decor was festive, and the views around lower Manhattan, the South Street Seaport, and the Brooklyn Bridge were all terrific. You could purchase a s’mores kit and roast the marshmallows over a fire.
Interestingly, there is a rival Santa experience right next door at Pier 17, Disney’s The Santa Clauses’ Winter Wonderland! More expensive, but also more elaborate, this experience has a synthetic ice skating rink as one of the possible activities. Santa is also available for a visit and photos, but on specific dates and times, so if that is important be sure to check that out before purchasing timed tickets.
Not all Santa experiences cost money (although many might cost time!). Hudson Yards is decorated fabulously for the holidays and has signs up saying when Santa is available, free of charge. I haven’t been there during those times, but the place where Santa is looks like a lovely photo opportunity. Hudson Yards has also set up “twinkle spots” all over the building for you to set up your phone to get a photo of yourself with all the holiday lights.
Winter Village at Bryant Park has the best holiday market in the world (and I agree with this recent ranking) and Santa is there for free photo opportunities, see his schedule here. Bloomingdale’s also has an opportunity to meet Santa, reservations required, and a $25 booking fee is involved but you get it back in the form of a $25 gift certificate. The time for this has passed this year but if interested in future years the information about booking was here.
Finally the ultimate – visiting the “real” Santa at Santaland at Macy’s. The procedure now is via reservation only, and the reservations open up five days in advance. In my experience, they go very quickly. There is no entering the line without a reservation, but the reservation does not prevent you from waiting on a line. When I went this year, on a Saturday in early December, in the afternoon, we waited 90 minutes to see Santa! Some of the time was spent in the delightfully decorated line inside Santaland, but a fair amount was spent in a line in a hallway that wrapped back behind the entrance to Santaland. When I have gone before on a weekday, the experience has not been this difficult, but of course most people need to work during the week, making the weekends extremely busy.
You have to pack your patience for a wait like that, and it may be difficult to stay off Krampus Court and keep on Nice Street . . . but seeing Santa there is a special experience. Macy’s won’t charge anything unless you choose to purchase their photos (which I recommend, they are terrific photos with very cute digital borders) and you are free to take your own photos too. You will pay with time and effort, but isn’t that often the case with so many things in NYC? I was at Santaland with a child this year, but a few years ago was with another adult (on a weekday, without a huge line! see below for picture) and Santa was just as kind to us as he was around a cute baby. Even as I was walking out this year, having been there mainly to see this baby get first photos with Santa and to take candids, Santa stopped me to ask my name and what I wanted this for Christmas! We are never too old to be reminded of our inner child, in my opinion.
Whether we are going to see Santa this year, or whether we ARE Santa this year, this holiday season reminds us that in the midst of darkness there can be light, that babies and children represent hope, and that opening ourselves up to unlocking our own inner childlike wonder can let a little magic into our everyday experience. Happy holidays to all!
The night before Thanksgiving, a family member and I attended a show that has been a tradition for us going back several decades now – the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. This was my first time going back to Radio City Music Hall since being able to experience a backstage tour earlier this fall, and I feel that I had even more appreciation for this very very special venue. Nicknamed “The Showplace of the Nation,” it certainly is that – but it completely belongs to New York City! Opened in 1932, this magnificent Art Deco masterpiece is entirely unique. Its interior was declared a city landmark by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1978, and the exterior was landmarked in 1985 (along with the rest of the Rockefeller Center complex).
Originally intended to be a venue for stage shows, the opening revue was so long and tedious (and badly reviewed) that within two weeks Radio City had been converted to a movie house (with almost 6000 seats!). The Rockettes (originally the Roxyettes after theatre impresario “Roxy” Rothafel) would perform between shows, and there were also an in-house orchestra and chorus. Many films received their premieres at Radio City, including King Kong (1933), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Mary Poppins (1964) and The Lion King (1994). In the 1970’s, Radio City’s attendance had dropped to the point where there was talk of it being torn down and the area redeveloped (this was before it was landmarked). But a shift toward using the venue as a concert hall improved the financial picture, finally turning a profit again by 1985.
Radio City has also been the venue for numerous award shows, including the MTV Video Awards, the Grammy Awards, and my favorite, the Tony Awards! Attending the ceremony in 2022 was the realization of a life-long dream (you can read more about it here).
Radio City Music Hall has a backstage tour (find out more about it here) but rarely can you go on the actual stage, as I was fortunate enough to do this fall. The reason why it is so unusual to go on stage is that the venue is busy and most days of the year a show is loading in or out, preventing you from being able to go backstage or on the stage itself. Standing on the stage, you really appreciate how enormous the stage is (and the auditorium!). I loved knowing that my feet were standing on the same stage as so many Rockettes had done throughout the years.
It was disconcerting – but also fun! – to see the auditorium with house lights on, and the stage revealing things usually covered by a set or screen.
Going away from the stage in the backstage area, there was always clear signage to show directions – Radio City Music Hall is massive, and covers 50th to 51st Streets, facing Sixth, and a considerable amount of the block heading toward Fifth.
Seeing the mechanicals that allow the orchestra to rise up from below the stage to stage level, as well as travel from the front of the stage to the back, was amazing. This hydraulic mechanism is original to the building, and is a Mechanical Engineering Landmark (the first I had heard of such).
Heading to the rehearsal room, I passed interesting artifacts and posters.
The rehearsal room for the Rockettes had practice blocks for the number where they have seemingly random letters on blocks that end up spelling a phrase (I won’t spoil it for those yet to go!), a huge full-length mirror, and a way to measure to see if you are tall enough to be a Rockette (you need to be between 5’5″ and 5’10, reduced from 5’6′ before – but I’m still too short!). By the way, the illusion of all the Rockettes being the same height is accomplished by carefully tailoring the costumes so that they line up exactly the same at the waist, and by putting the tallest in the middle and very gradually reducing height as the line continues on each side.
In the private VIP suite, there is a book that everyone who plays Radio City signs.
If you’ve ever wondered, this is the view from the top row of the top mezzanine (there are three of them, all stacked above the rear orchestra). From this distance, you can really see that the design around the stage was intended to look like the setting sun.
Another amazing thing about Radio City Music Hall is that there are two mighty Wurlitzer organs to either side of the stage, the largest instrument built by the company with 58 ranks of pipes and 4,178 pipes. For the Christmas Spectacular, two organists play before the show begins, play as the show ends and people depart, and occasionally during the show. My friend Trent Johnson is one of the organists and was kind enough to let me use these photos showing the organ (and himself!).
The Christmas Spectacular famously features live animals for the living nativity scene, and if you live in the neighborhood you might be lucky enough to catch the animals coming in the morning of a show. I took these photos after seeing the camels out on the street on the way to a morning meeting – proving once again that you never know what you will run into walking in New York City!
The Christmas Spectacular is always enjoyable, and yes – spectacular! For my family, it’s a yearly event, but most attendees seem to be visiting based on the surprised reactions you hear at many parts of the show that are nostalgic for those of us who may be going for our 10th or 25th time.
The last public performance I attended before everything shut down for the Covid-19 pandemic in March of 2020 was seeing Riverdance come back to Radio City for its 25th anniversary performance on March 10th (I still marvel at how we sat there in the crowded orchestra, all unmasked, with no idea of what was about to happen). By March 13 the remaining Riverdance shows had been canceled (Broadway shut down a day earlier, March 12). That pandemic time was tough on me, and on New York City in general (I wrote about it in some detail in this blog post). But as I walked past Radio City during the shutdown, the famous marquee declared “Together Better. Together as One. Together Stronger.” Radio City Music Hall is an icon of New York City, and has had its ups and downs. But it’s still here, rising up again after any setback. How emblematic of this complicated, exciting New York City that I love!
Going through Chelsea Market recently, I tried to remember what my blog post about it had featured. I mean, I had done multiple posts about High Line Park (see here and here), the nearby parks, Little Island and Pier 57, and I love Chelsea Market! So imagine my surprise when I searched my blog only to find that I had never posted anything about it. I generally post in October about the fantastic Halloween decorations in New York City (some previous examples are here specifically about townhouse decorations, here about decor on the Upper East Side, and here about a special Halloween event on Governors Island) and since Chelsea Market goes all out to decorate for Halloween, the time seems ripe for a post about Chelsea Market this time of year.
First, a little history about Chelsea Market. The building that the Market is in, the entire block between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, and between 15th and 16th Streets, was once the factory of the National Biscuit Company – Nabisco – and the iconic Oreo cookie was developed and manufactured here in 1918. If you look, you can find reminders of the building’s history scattered around the current Chelsea Market, including the medallion above and a mural showing Oreos on the lower level. Nabisco moved manufacturing to the suburbs in the 1950s, and in the 1990s the building was repurposed as retail space on the lower floors and office space on the upper floors. Alphabet (Google) now owns the Chelsea Market building (it paid over $2 billion in 2018!) as well as the building across Ninth Avenue.
Chelsea Market is part of a revitalized far west Chelsea neighborhood, with neighbors being the Whitney, the High Line (the section of it between 15th and 16th Streets actually runs through the second floor of the building, one floor above Chelsea Market), and several new innovative public parks along the Hudson River. Because of this, it is often crowded with groups of tourists. Going early in the day is usually the best way to enjoy all the shopping and eating opportunities without being impeded by slow-moving groups.
Chelsea Market has many iconic NYC businesses, like Little Witch Bakery, LiLac Chocolates, Sarabeth’s, Pearl River Mart, and Amy’s Bread, as well as some completely unique to Chelsea Market. I particularly like the Chelsea Market Baskets store near the 10th Avenue entrance. Yes, you can make up a gift basket – and that is fun – but it is also a great place to get and try little food and toiletry treats from around the world at surprisingly reasonable prices. Across from it is the Posman bookstore that has a huge selection of very unique greeting cards. I would say that I go to these two places fairly often for gifts and highly recommend them both.
Neighborhood Goods is a very unique shop, with many items (snacks, toiletries, home goods, clothes, candles, and more) from many different small businesses all in one place. There is also a small bar there (Tiny Feast) there that serves pastries and light bites as well as alcohol.
There are so many terrific places to eat in Chelsea Market that I always have a hard time deciding what to choose when I want to have lunch or dinner there. Saxelby Cheesemongers not only has cheese to buy and the ability to create cheese boards for events, but you can have incredible cheese sandwiches there with excellent cheese – my favorite is a truffle grilled cheese. Friedman’s has elevated American classics from breakfast to dinner, and cocktails as well. Creamline has fantastic milkshakes. Buon Italia is a market for Italian pantry items as well as serving fantastic pasta dishes. If you go to Chelsea Market, don’t forget that there is a downstairs, as that is where you will find Buon Italia, Saxelby, and a wonderful fruit market (as well as the bathrooms).
The bathrooms have a series of very old-fashioned looking sinks in double rows.
Chelsea Market has a very unique appearance overall simply because of its history as a factory and the clever ways the repurposing of the space was accomplished. The building itself is timber and wood, covered in brick. There are vaulted ceilings, exposed pipes and vents.
Something I always particularly enjoy about the Market is the way it decorates for holidays throughout the year, and Halloween is perhaps the most elaborate.
I often wonder if little children get afraid of the decor! They have pretty scary figures hanging from the ceilings, around every corner, and some are even audio-animatronic (see here for an example of one talking).
Paula Guran, author of multiple fantasy books including New Cthulhu, has said “The farther we’ve gotten from the magic and mystery of our past, the more we’ve come to need Halloween.” I do think that New York City, ever-modernizing and looking toward the future, does also give us plenty of magic and mystery when decorating elaborately for the holidays. I believe Chelsea Market is worth visiting for the decor in addition to all the shopping, drinking, and dining opportunities. Maybe I will see you there!
After climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (see details about that experience here), my sore muscles and I were happy that rather than having to journey back immediately to reality, a five-day safari awaited instead (the prospect of recovering while being driven around looking at animals was very exciting!). This was arranged through the same company that organized the climb, Ultimate Kilimanjaro (highly recommended on both parts of the trip). Late afternoon after getting off the mountain, a representative came to the hotel to get feedback about the climb and let me know details about the safari. This would be a private experience with just my family member and myself in a Toyota Land Cruiser and a driver/guide, and included all meals and the lodges as well. The next morning we met our guide, Tony, and headed off.
Day 1: Lake ManyaraNational Park
We started out our safari driving from Moshi to Lake Manyara National Park, near Arusha. One of the smaller wildlife parks in Tanzania, it is known for having lions that climb in trees (see photo op above as I pretend to be under one, haha). We did not see any lions at all in this park, but there was plenty more to see.
Even getting to the entrance of the national park, we were entertained by entire families of baboons next to the road. I really had no opinion about baboons before going on this safari, but became entranced by watching the large family groups. Full of personality, I loved seeing baby baboons ride on the backs of or underneath their mothers, get groomed while trying to wriggle away, tussle and wrestle with each other, and generally act like out-of-control human toddlers.
We were asked right away by Tony what we hoped to see while on safari, and I had been quick to say “elephants!” I ended up being very fortunate on the entire trip, as we saw elephants – lots of them – up close and personal in every single one of the parks we visited. Almost as soon as we entered Lake Manyara, an entire family of elephants emerged from the forest and began walking first toward us, and – after a little warning rumble – right next to our vehicle and then into a different area back behind us. I was thrilled! We saw many more elephant groups over the next few hours, as well as giraffes, impala, and many more baboons. It was a very pleasing first day on safari.
On the way to Lake Manyara and from the park to our lodge that night, we saw many Maasai people herding their cows. While there are over 100 different ethnic groups in Tanzania, the Maasai are the largest, being approximately 16% of the population. The Maasai still live a largely traditional life, with cows as currency, and are semi-nomadic between Kenya and Tanzania. Often over the next few days, we would need to wait for a herd of cows to cross the road before continuing on.
Day 2 and 3: Serengeti National Park
After a night at Farm of Dreams Lodge (where we would also spend our last night) we headed for the Serengeti. It’s a long drive so we had two stops along the way. First was to look at the rim of Ngorongoro Crater (which we would enter in a few days) and later, to visit Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important paleoanthropological sites in the world.
Although we only gazed down into the crater (more about this site later) this day, the area is so rich with animal life that we had close encounters with elephant and giraffe as we circled the crater on the way to Serengeti.
The sign upon entering Olduvai Gorge says “welcome home” – and it is a going home of sorts as it is the site where paleontologists gained great leaps in understanding the development of early hominids. This is the site where Mary and Louis Leakey conducted most of their research, and where “Lucy” was found. I really enjoyed this stop.
Arriving at Serengeti National Park was a thrill. One of Africa’s Seven National Wonders (Kilimanjaro and Ngorongoro Crater are two more!), it encompasses about 12,000 square feet of land, and is the home (along with Kenya’s Maasai Mara, which adjoins it) of the great wildebeest migration. The wildlife photographer Boyd Norton has said,
“Wilderness gave us knowledge. Wilderness made us human. We came from here. Perhaps that is why so many of us feel a strong bond to this land called Serengeti; it is the land of our youth.”
Right away we saw elephants. The acacia trees were lovely as well (above is an umbrella acacia; the flat acacias are also stunning) and are the favorite food of giraffes. This was dry season in the Serengeti, so the grass was yellow and dry, and animals tend to gather around places where they can get water.
The Serengeti, a World Heritage Site, holds one of the largest concentrations of wild lions in the world, with over 4,000 believed to be residents. It wasn’t long before Tony had found lions for us to see – my first time ever seeing them in the wild. A lioness and a bunch of cubs (Tony said he believed she was watching the cubs of others, as well as her own, while the others hunted) were resting just a few feet from our vehicle – I couldn’t believe it!
The Serengeti was a vast plain, and we were able to see several more groups of elephants before heading to our tented camp for the first of two nights sleeping in the middle of the Serengeti.
We were spending two nights at Pure Tented Camp, and unlike the tent I slept in on Kilimanjaro, these large tents on platforms were luxurious (think “glamping”), had a toilet, shower, and sink, and two flaps to close – one just mesh, and the other thick canvas, like the tent itself. We were in Ngiri Tent (“Warthog” tent). Meals were at a larger tent farther away, and after dark a staff member had to escort you back to your tent because, after all, we were in the middle of the Serengeti with wild animals around! We only fastened the mesh closing overnight and could hear animal sounds throughout the night – lions rumbling, hyenas crying, giraffes walking through and munching. It was magical.
Giraffes were everywhere, and very close to our tented camp regularly. Note the gorgeous flat acacia in the first photo above. Acacias have huge thorns but the giraffes are able to eat from them with no problems.
As amazing as yesterday had been in terms of seeing lions, this second day in the Serengeti far surpassed this. It was “honeymoon” season and we saw several pairs of lions/lionesses over the course of the day, including seeing them mate. The lions are completely unconcerned about the Land Cruisers, and we could get right next to them without affecting them in the least. Several times they were close enough that I could have reached right out and touched one – but course would never be that foolish!
Over the course of this wonderful day, we saw buffalo, warthogs, leopard, cheetah, ostrich, baboons, gazelle, and many many elephants. We also saw hyenas, which at the beginning of the safari I would have told you I didn’t like. But Tony pointed out that hyenas and vultures are the clean-up crew of the wild, and incredibly necessary. In addition, when we first arrived at our tented camp, a leopard had just killed a Thompson’s gazelle and placed it in the nook of a tree to eat before being scared off by noise. Hyenas later came back to try to get it but couldn’t, and I felt a little sorry for them, seeing this food that could go to waste just outside their reach. The next day, the staff pushed the carcass out of the tree, and by the time we returned from safari there was nothing left.
I just adored staying in the midst of the Serengeti (including enjoying a Serengeti beer as one clearly must) and seeing the sun come up early the next day. But after two nights, it was time to move on.
Day 4: Ngorongoro Crater
Ngorongoro Crater, another World Heritage Site, is actually misnamed – it is a caldera rather than a crater. A crater, like that at the summit of Kilimanjaro, is formed when rocks and lava explode from the top of a volcano (I walked over miles of volcanic rocks that had been spewed from Kili when climbing the mountain – I mean, climbing the volcano!). A caldera is formed when a volcano becomes extinct as it is emptied of magma, and collapses on itself. Ngorongoro collapsed 2 to 3 million years ago, and is the world’s largest intact and unfilled caldera. It is enormous, 2,000 feet deep and covering 100 square miles. The reason so many people explore it however, is that it is a natural ecosystem for plentiful wildlife, with a few exceptions (there are no giraffes, for instance, and Tony said the legend is that they tried to enter the caldera but tripped on the steep walls and broke their necks – a rather gruesome explanation). Being a natural enclosure, it is easy to see a large number of animals in a relatively short time period. The disadvantage to this enclosure is that populations of animals can become inbred (this is believed to be true of the lions in Ngorongoro).
Right away we saw herds of wildebeest. We saw a few in Serengeti, but the great migration in August has the largest number in Maasai Mara.
Interspersed with the wildebeest were large herds of zebra. We had seen a few in Serengeti but here they were everywhere and very close to our vehicle.
We also got quite close to hippos. There are natural water sources in Ngorongoro that are there year-round.
And my friends, the elephants! We had plenty of close encounters with them in Ngorongoro as well. We searched for a while to see a rhino, but there are few left in the park (for that matter, few left in the wild in general) and we were not able to see one. The edges of the caldera are forested and the rather shy rhinos often hide in those areas.
Heading back to Farm of Dreams Lodge, where we had stayed our first night before heading to the Serengeti, we enjoyed the local musicians, dancers, and acrobats who entertain nightly. I also tried a Safari beer to compare to the Kilimanjaro and Serengeti beers I had sampled earlier (I thought the Kili one was the best – but perhaps that was affected by trying it right after a grueling 8 day climb to the summit and back).
Day 5: Tarangire National Park
This was the last day of an incredible adventure in Tanzania. We packed up everything, ready to go to the airport by the evening, but would spend the day in another national park – Tarangire. The big bones in the photo to the left above are from elephants!
Tarangire is perhaps best known for elephants (it is called an “elephant’s paradise”) and baobab trees (the “upside down” trees, some of which are believed to be over 1,000 years old!), but has an abundance of wildlife.
We enjoyed watching vast groups of baboons.
The elephants did not disappoint! I had been so fortunate on this entire safari to have seen elephants, and so many of them, on every single day.
We left Tarangire and headed to the airport. The trip back was the first thing on the entire adventure that had not gone smoothly. We got to Kilimanjaro Airport, waited in line to check our luggage, and were told that one leg of our journey – the one from Amsterdam to JFK, pretty important – had been canceled with no reason given or notice in advance. Eventually we got home by going from Kilimanjaro to Dar-Es-Salaam, then to Amsterdam, from there to Paris, and then on to JFK. If I had it to do over again I would have booked with Delta rather than KLM as there would have been more direct options and (I suspect) better customer service.
The hectic flights back left little room for reflection at the time. I had left New York City exactly two weeks before, and had successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and enjoyed a wonderful safari. I had also learned so much – about Tanzania, about the land/people/flora/fauna, and about myself. I also made friends there, and a commitment to return. Tony convinced me that I need to go back to the Serengeti in February, when everything is green, the wildebeest are migrating through the southern Serengeti, and baby animals are everywhere. I would also love to spend a few days in Zanzibar, but there was not enough time on this trip given how long it took to climb Kilimanjaro. Going on a safari has been something I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember, and everything about the experience exceeded expectations. We saw far more animals – and much closer up- than I had even dreamed, and sleeping in a tented camp in the middle of the Serengeti was magical.
Karen Blixen (author of the book Out of Africa under the pen name Isak Dinesen) said
“There is something about safari life that makes you forget all your sorrows and feel as if you had drunk half a bottle of champagne — bubbling over with heartfelt gratitude for being alive.”
I completely agree with this. After dreaming of such a safari for my entire life, I now know that -if within my powers to do so – I will be back again. But I will try to keep some of that gratitude for being alive, that feeling of “coming home,” with me. Until next time – kwaheri, my beloved Tanzania.
My last blog post was written about my preparation to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, published a few days before flying out to begin the adventure. The photo above is a major spoiler – clearly I made the summit! However, this trip was about so much more than those few moments on the “roof of Africa” (although I was very proud to summit). I had decided in advance to try as much as I could to enjoy every day and every experience rather than spending my entire climb focused on whether or not I would be able to summit. I think I was able to do that, and the 8 days I spent on Kili were so much more meaningful that I could have even imagined before leaving on the trip. I ended with over 2000 photos and enough videos to make a short documentary, but will try to briefly show and tell in this post a bit about what this experience was like.
I flew out of JFK on a red eye on KLM to Amsterdam, had a short layover at Schiphol (long enough to enjoy a few pancakes and get my picture in an enormous Delft teapot) and then got on another flight, the one direct Amsterdam-Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) of the day. We landed about 7:30 at night. At this airport you walk off the plane and onto the runway, and it was thrilling to see the sign reading “Kilimanjaro.” We went through immigration, which was fast given we had done our visas online in advance. The checked luggage all arrived, and we were quickly able to find the car and driver waiting for us, and were taken to Stella Maris Lodge in Moshi for the night.
Day 1: Lemosho Gate (7,742 ft elevation) hike to Mti Mkubwa Camp (9,498 feet)
We (I was accompanied on this trip by a family member whose privacy level is a bit more guarded than mine) met our guides after breakfast the next morning and got in a van along with the rest of our team (it was a private climb, so just the two of us with two guides, a cook, and ten porters) to drive to Kilimanjaro National Park and begin our climb. On the way we saw giraffes grazing next to the road! We were told that we were close to Arusha National Park and that the animals sometimes wandered away from the borders of the park. After the climb we were to have a five-day safari and saw hundreds of giraffes (more on that in the next blog post) but at that moment it was thrilling! The guides registered us and all our permits for the climb, we had a boxed lunch, and then began the journey at Lemosho Gate.
The first day of hiking on the Lemosho route is completely in the rainforest. Having gotten in late the night before, I was a little jet lagged but felt great – energized by being immersed in such a lush and unique environment. I also began the process of getting to know our guides, Raymond and Elias. Over all the many hours we spent together on this journey, we became friends – and then more like family.
The rainforest was not only lush with plant life (including one of two plants only found on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, the Impatiens kilimanjari shown above – and just wait until we get to the others close to Barranco Camp, the giant Senacio kilimanjari) but also filled with birdsong, gigantic piles of safari ants (we were warned to jump over and not disturb them), and the scat and tracks of jackals, antelope, and buffalo. Perhaps the most fun was watching the energetic colobus monkeys – lots of them!
Getting to Mti Mkubwa (big tree) Camp, it was time to sort out the tent for the first time. Here’s a funny thing – I had never slept in a tent outside until taking a trip where it was required for 7 nights! I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to sleep, but it turns out I slept really well on the climb. Ultimate Kilimanjaro, our guiding company, provided foam mats and we added inflatable Big Agnes pads on top of those. Our sleeping bags, very warm Mountain Hardware down mummy bags, were rented. After sorting through my gear (as mentioned in the previous blog post about preparation for the climb, we were limited in terms of weight of our duffle) we had dinner for the first time and were ready to sleep.
Day 2: Mti Mkubwa Camp to Shira 1 Camp (11,500 feet elevation)
At breakfast, I was asked if I wanted “local coffee” or “African coffee.” This was the first time I learned that coffee grows on the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro. I selected the local coffee (African coffee was instant coffee you could buy in the grocery stores) and enjoyed a large thermos of that every morning of the climb. This was a long day of hiking; Raymond said he thought it might be the second hardest (after summit day, of course). It was relentlessly up and the day was long. We started out in the rainforest, but eventually left the tree line and found ourselves in the second climate of the climb – heather/moorlands. The sun was intense, as Kilimanjaro is close to the equator and we lost the tree cover. On this day I started to notice that Raymond was picking up any trash he saw on the trail, putting it in his pockets to take back to our collected trash for disposal (which was packed in/packed out – nothing left on the mountain).
The cook, Juve, had given me snacks for the long day of hiking, including a Sprinter bar, which I had never had before. Made in Turkey, it was chocolate and nougat over pistachios. I found it to be Snickers-adjacent and pretty yummy. Once we got to Shira 1 camp, we signed in as we always did at each camp (and then the lead guide would sign in as well so that there was a record of each camp we were in) and had our first “happy hour.” No alcohol is allowed within the national park, so this tea-time snack was usually popcorn, a few cookies, and hot chocolate (I became a fan of Milo, a malted chocolate drink you stirred into hot water – I’m pretty sure from the label that it is meant for children, but I’m only mildly ashamed). Before dinner we formally met the entire team of porters and were treated to a song (see here for a sample of the fun we had).
That night I heard jackals all around the camp, as well as antelope (Raymond said they like to come right up next to the tents for the warmth) and mice. We also started to see the huge ravens (black with a white bib on their chest) that we would see all the way up to base camp. There was frost on the tent overnight.
Day 3: Shira 1 Camp to Moir Hut (13,580 ft elevation)
The Lemosho route often goes from Shira 1 to Shira 2 camp, but our itinerary had us going to Moir Hut, a rarely used camp, instead. The reason for this was that there is a great opportunity for an acclimation hike in the afternoon up to just above 14K feet elevation, and then sleeping lower. The adage “climb high, sleep low” is often used to describe this strategy for successful acclamation to higher elevations.
This day was entirely in the heather/moorland climate zone, and we could see the summit of Kilimanjaro (Kibo) most of the day. It was both thrilling and a little intimidating to see the enormous mass of Kibo peak, and I could feel my own hubris a bit in thinking I could climb it. At one point in the day, we passed a spot where many people had placed rocks on top of each other to create cairns. Balancing a rock on a cairn with Kibo looking on imposingly was supposed to be good luck, so of course I did it.
We also passed the Fischer Camp, named after Scott Fischer of Mountain Madness who died during the Mount Everest disaster of 1996 that was the basis of Jon Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air. Mountain Madness usually uses the Western Breach route to summit, and shares this section with the route we were taking.
Moir Hut Camp is so little used that there was no official sign for it like the other camps, so I posed with the Ultimate Kilimanjaro flag. We did the acclimation climb after lunch, stayed up above 14K for an hour, and then returned to the camp for dinner.
The view of Kibo at sunset, and then after dark, was spectacular. My camera can’t fully show how full the sky was of stars. An arm of the Milky Way fanned across the night sky. It was gorgeous and humbling. I live in a city where I rarely see stars, but even on vacations I had never seen the night sky like this.
That night, the wind roared as if we were in a hurricane. The tent shook and rattled all night, and yet somehow it made me feel safe to be inside during it. The rattle and roar became a kind of white noise and I slept well.
Day 4: Moir Hut to Lava Tower (15,190 ft) then to Barranco Camp (13,044 ft)
This was a very important day for acclimation to altitude. We would go the highest we would until base camp (over 15K feet altitude), stay there at least an hour, and then head down again for a few days of “climb high/sleep low” training for our body. Not knowing how I would be affected by altitude was my biggest concern before starting the climb but (spoiler alert!) I had no issues at all. I think the length of the route, the opportunities to adapt, taking Diamox which can help with altitude sickness, and a bit of genetic luck all affected this – but I never felt sick, had a headache, or was particularly out of breath – even on the summit.
The guides were very good about suggesting fun photo opportunities. We took the first pictures above heading up from Moir Hut (Elias and I are “flying”). This was the day that I started to be aware that we were above the clouds. We often look out an airplane window and see ourselves above a sea of fluffy white clouds, but it is disorienting to be on solid ground and see this blanket of clouds below you.
Lava Tower was imposing – and is indeed formed from lava that erupted at the same time that Kibo was being created (remember: Kilimanjaro is a volcano with three cones). Ultimate Kilimanjaro had actually set up our lunch tent there (even our toilet tent) and we had a hot lunch before hanging out for at least an hour for acclimation purposes.
The hike from Lava Tower to Barranco Camp took on a surrealistic feeling, as we were enveloped by a cloud and surrounded by the other flora native to the slopes of Kilimanjaro – the giant senecios (Senecio kilimanjari). Enormous – almost Dr. Seussian – plants, wandering through clouds amid a forest of these towering alien senecios was a disorienting yet delightful experience.
Getting to Barranco Camp, I couldn’t even see the famous (infamous?) Barranco Wall that we would tackle the next morning. Dinner, organizing gear, and bedtime happened, now all part of a routine – as summit night began to be less of an idea and more of an imminent challenge.
Day 5- Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp (13,106 ft elevation)
The Barranco Wall was one of the things I was concerned about when planning the Kili climb. I don’t love heights, especially if I feel exposed (a bit like James Stewart in the movie Vertigo, as if I could just spiral backwards into an abyss). Many previous climbers said it’s not that exposed, and that it was one of their favorite parts of the route. It is described as a “scramble” because you need to use hands and feet at times. The most narrow section is called the “kissing wall” because you face the wall, move crablike sideways along a narrow section, and kiss the wall for good luck before emerging onto a slightly wider path.
The Barranco Wall was VERY crowded – it creates a bottle neck for everyone, climbers and porters, who need to get above it because often you can only go one at a time. Nicknamed the “breakfast wall” because you tackle it after having breakfast, we left a little later than some, because those who will be going straight from this camp to base camp (Barafu) as some shorter itineraries do, are allowed to go first. We would be going from Barranco to Karanga to allow more time to acclimate.
I had realized on the acclimation hike from Moir Hut that big rocks were my nemesis. I am on the shorter side, requiring more effort to step up on a big rock, and more force to step down from one. The Barranco Wall was a lot of rocks (I eventually became like Indiana Jones about snakes – “rocks, why did it have to be rocks?”) and it did involve more scrambling and more exposure than I had expected. However, once you are on this route, it’s climb the Barranco Wall or go back, and I was not going back! (Some other routes, like Northern Route, which circles Kibo along the northern side, or Rongai, which enters from the Kenyan side, don’t require the Barranco Wall.) My guides were very helpful as always, and after about an hour and a half or so on the Wall, we had great photo opportunities at the top. The clouds had once again covered us by the time we got to the top of the Wall. There was a fantastic view of nearby Mount Meru as well.
The rest of the climb from the top of the Wall to Karanga Camp involved more cloud cover, and more senecios. Getting to Karanga, I discovered a very tilty camp with gorgeous views.
Day 6: Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp (Base Camp, 15,331 feet elevation)
Karanga was a beautiful camp, but the climate had changed from heather/moorland to alpine desert. It felt somewhat like walking on the moon, with the everlasting flowers (tiny white flowers) as the only touch of life amid the rocks and shale. For the entire climb, I had been covered in dark brown volcanic dust, and this intensified as we got higher and higher. The air also got drier, and it was getting successively colder. For a few nights, I had asked the waiter porter to fill my Nalgene bottle at night with boiling water, and slept with it like a heating pad. By this point I was sleeping in several layers of clothes including a hat, gloves, socks, etc., as well. I still slept very well, however, falling asleep as soon as I got everything ready for the next day, and waking up at dawn.
Getting to Barafu Camp brought a real awareness that the summit attempt was on us. We got to Barafu early, lunched, rested and tried to nap, then had an early dinner around 5PM and the final health check and briefing from the guides. I put on three layers on top and three on bottom, plus two pairs of socks (liners and Darn Tough summit socks), a hat and gloves, and tried to get a few hours of rest before being woken up at 10:30PM to get ready for summit night.
Day 7: SUMMIT! Barafu Camp to Uhuru Peak (19,341 feet) then down to Mweka Camp (10,065 feet)
I had decided before I began the climb that I would not spend the entire time thinking – or worrying – about the summit. I was adjusting well to the altitude, had no sore muscles, was sleeping well, and enjoyed every day as we kept going through different climate zones and seeing different flora/fauna. However, at Barafu it was hard to ignore the imposing bulk of Kibo peak behind us. And a big question is: why do so much on the last summit push? Why start at night with little sleep? Why try to summit at night in the first place? As far as why you go so far on the final summit push, it is possible to take the Western Breach route and sleep in the crater (above 18K feet altitude), then leave for summit just before dawn and head down while the first groups are coming up from the all-night climb. I seriously considered this, but the Western Breach is more dangerous (it was closed for a while after several people were killed by falling rocks) and sleeping at altitude that high can be difficult and even dangerous. If you aren’t doing that route, you almost certainly need to climb overnight because the ground is more frozen (so less slippery) and it makes it possible to get all the way down to your final camp without going down in the dark (which can be challenging).
I wore six layers on top (silk base layer, wool base layer, wool hiking shirt, fleece jacket, down jacket, and wind/waterproof jacket), four layers on bottom (silk base layer, wool base layer, fleece pants, wind/waterproof pants), plus a wool hat, two hoods, a wool buff, wool liner gloves under ski mittens, liner socks under summit socks, plus gaiters. It is extremely cold year-round when summiting as you go into the Arctic climate zone, but the wind can vary and that makes a big difference. Unfortunately we had strong wind all night and even when the sun came up it didn’t relent. I was reasonably warm but my lips were incredibly windburned after the climb and blistered. The first hour of the hike was over my nemesis, big rocks. Then began about a 5 hour hike over switchbacks, relentlessly up, over small rocks and eventually scree. The blackness of the sky and the narrowing of my field of vision to that illuminated by by headlamp gave the journey a nightmarish quality. My memories of these hours is foggy – I remember passing climbers who were down and being attended to by others in their party, but overall this section was long and tedious. Having gotten so little sleep, I kept falling asleep on my feet while walking and jerking awake – something I had never imagined could happen while on the move. Around 6AM, though, the sky stopped being relentlessly black and lightened just a bit – sunrise was coming!
All the tedium of the previous hours was erased for me as the sun came up. We were soon reaching Stella Point, on the rim of Kibo’s volcanic crater, and from there it would be only an hour or a bit more to Uhuru Peak, the summit.
Passing Stella Point, walking along the volcanic rim, the glaciers that still exist at the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro were visible. With climate change, it is possible that they may be gone in the next few decades. Raymond had been staying ahead of me the entire night, maintaining a slow pace (“pole, pole” or “slowly slowly” is the mantra for managing altitude on Kili), but as we got about 10 minutes from the Uhuru Peak sign, he said to me “You can lead.” I remember such exhilaration as I moved toward the sign, seeing it get ever closer, no longer feeling tired – or bored – or sleepy – just thrilled.
We had to wait for a few groups to take their photos at the peak, and a person collapsed near us while we were waiting (as we headed down we saw a helicopter come up for a rescue near Stella Point but weren’t sure if it was that person or another). I noted the actual curvature of the earth. Given that it was not climbing season for the mountains that are taller than Kilimanjaro (the enormous Himalayan range that includes Everest, as well as the other giants, Denali in Alaska and Aconcagua in Argentina), it is possible that at the moment I stood at the peak I was the human being standing on the highest point with feet still on the earth!
I took a series of photos with the glaciers, recorded a video for a family member, and it was time to head down. All in all I think we were on the summit above 19K feet elevation for a little over 15 minutes. Descending the mountain takes place in three sections. The first is to get from the summit back to base camp, and you go back to Stella Point and then take a different way down from there with no switchbacks – basically (slightly) controlled falling, using your poles and digging your heels into the loose scree so that you are almost skiing down the mountain. In Monty Python’s sketch about Kilimanjaro, the character played by John Cleese remarks, “Kilimanjaro is a pretty tricky climb you know, most of it’s up until you reach the very very top, and then it tends to slope away rather sharply.” Funny, yes – but quite true!
The same distance that had taken us 8 hours to go up overnight took about 3 hours going down. As we got close (just before my dreaded “big rocks”) two of the porters came to greet us with fresh juice and to find out if we had successfully summited. When we got to camp we were sung to by the entire team. I had often thought of the lyrics to “Go the Distance” from Hercules while climbing:
I have often dreamed of a far off place Where a hero’s welcome would be waiting for me Where the crowds would cheer, when they see my face And a voice keeps saying this is where I’m meant to be
I’ll be there someday, I can go the distance I will find my way if I can be strong I know every mile would be worth my while When I go the distance, I’ll be right where I belong
I became so emotional when welcomed back by the entire team, thinking “here is my hero’s welcome!”
We had an hour’s break to get out of all of those layers and sleep – but I couldn’t. My head was racing with thoughts of what had happened over the past 12 hours. After dressing for descent, we had lunch and the cook had prepared an actual cake – in a frying pan over the butane stove, decorated beautifully with nutella – to celebrate our successful summit.
Next came the second part of descent – leaving Barafu Camp (I loved the sign saying “Congratulations” as you head down toward Mweka Camp) and first walking across a wide plain with the summit of Kilimanjaro now behind you. You could see the metal stretchers that are used to medically evacuate people, and we saw several helicopters flying over as well for evacuations.
After reaching Millennium Camp (or High Camp), the trail changed to huge rocks (yes! rocks!) and my knees really started to hurt. This part of the day was probably worse for me than summiting – having been awake since 10:30 the previous night, hiking all the way up to the summit, the skiing descent, and now big rocks for hours to get to Mweka.
I was extremely happy to get to Mweka Camp – back in the rainforest! – have dinner, and go to sleep. It was my last night sleeping on the mountain but I was so tired there was no time to reflect. My Fitbit told me that I had walked almost 15 miles and that didn’t even account for the elevation gain and loss.
Day 8: Mkewa Camp to Mweka Gate (5380 ft elevation)
Sunrise at Mweka Camp was beautiful – being back in the rainforest, the camp was lush and full of birdsong. For the last time, I got my duffle packed, my daypack ready to go, my sleeping bag stuffed into its sack, and went for breakfast. We had the farewell ceremony where the guides, cook, and porters all saw what their tips will be (you can’t carry that much money on the mountain, so it has to be given back in Moshi) according to KPAP guidelines for fairness. We had another fabulous concert, and this time “Jambo Bwana” mentioned the places we would be going on safari instead of the different camps on the way to Uhuru Peak.
The 3 1/2 hour hike from Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate was steep and muddy (although we had not had any precipitation on our climb, it had rained before we got there and parts of the path were heavy with slippery mud). We even saw a porter fall down fully loaded with a bag balanced on his head – but he was able to recover and carry on his way. I would have fallen scores of times if not for the steady arm of Elias, whose sense of balance was incredible. We even had one last look at the summit of Kilimanjaro, glimpsed through a thicket of camphor trees and vines.
Finally, the sign was in sight – “Congratulations and Bon Voyage.” Mweka Gate was buzzing with activity. While Raymond went to verify our climb and get our climbing certificates, I had my filthy boots cleaned for $2. When I got my certificate I was excited to see a QR code that goes directly to the official record of my summit – I can’t be accused of photoshopping myself onto the peak (go to the link here)
The guides, cook, and several of the porters were riding back to Moshi with us, and we stopped just after the gate for me to buy a few souvenirs (my family members all got coffee grown on the slopes of Kili and sold by the local farmers – the same coffee I had every morning on the climb) and for all of us to enjoy some Kilimanjaro beer, on me. Then we drove back to Moshi, I distributed the tip money, and the climb was officially over. I was sad to see the incredible guides, cook, and porters drive away – I quite literally could not have done this climb without them. They had become family, and it is very hard to leave your family.
Our hotel had an upstairs lounge with a view of Kilimanjaro, and after a shower and a meal, I sat there for a bit, with my climbing certificate, and began the process of realizing what I had done over the past 8 days. I had read an essay by writer Michael Crichton (yes, the Jurassic Park author) about his Kilimanjaro climb before leaving, and had been struck by how ill-prepared he had been to attempt it (for instance, he brought hiking shoes he had only worn once and ended up with horrible blisters). I feel that I was as prepared as I could have been, and yet so many parts of the experience still managed to surprise me. Some things I was very worried about in advance (altitude sickness, sleeping quality in a tent on the ground, etc) turned out not to be problems, while I had underestimated the challenge of big rocks and a brutal descent. I had never dreamed that the guides would become friends and eventually they and all of the porters part of one family with us. Crichton reflects on the end of his essay that the climb made him feel he had previously defined himself too narrowly, and I do think that is something I agree with – and that realization will stay with me. I can do hard things; I can live in nature; I can jump into new experiences with joy and openness. I was asked by our guides to come home and be an ambassador for Tanzania, and I am honored to do just that. I may not climb Kilimanjaro again, but I will be back to Tanzania. And after the climb, I had a second part to my Tanzanian adventure yet to come – a 5 day safari! Read and see photos of that here in my next blog post.
Julie Brannan, NYC residential real estate 