Thursday, April 27, 1944
[Trip to New York City]
An hour and 15 minutes late out of Cleveland. I slept for about an hour between there & Buffalo. In Buffalo at 1:45 AM and on the advice of the M.P. Wally had talked to went back to the ritz coach where we couldn’t get 2 seats in Marion & got the first seat. Much more comfortable & our 25 cent rental pillows are almost superfluous.
Finally out of Buffalo at 2:35 AM.
Slept about an hour between each of the large stations all night. Lost more time at Rochester. While stopped at Syracuse (5:00 to 5:25) saw the first light high in the sky & after we passed Canastota it was really light. Sun tried to shine but was soon overcome.
After passing Schenectady decided to go to the diner for breakfast – thru 7 Pullmans, club cars, etc. & finally got there & had only table for 2 in the car. Wally got 3 ones & plenty of change ($1.15 worth) out of a $5 so he could leave a tip.
Although to me the train continued east as we left Albany the Hudson River running alongside to the right was proof we were going south. At first, the river was disappointing – its edges mere swamps & us not over 6 ft. above them but below Hudson it began widening & the buildings along the shore more impressive. Tried to pick out the President’s home along Hyde Park but our view to the left is very limited – the railroad is built at the base of the hills & sometimes it resorts to short tunnels.
Out of Duchess the dull day turned to rain so I wonder what our plans in N.Y. will be.
Into Grand Central at 10:30 & only a short walk up the ramp & there was Mary waiting & had been since 9:00. Rushed us over to the cab entrance so quick Wally didn’t really get to see the station. Took our bags to “Hughes House” 28 W. 37th St. & were there met by an aesthetic young man named Heckinger who informed us our rooms would be ready after 12.
So out we went in the rain to an auto-mat for lunch. Chicken noodles – good.
Came out at back of Public Library so stopped in there. Lovely marble arches & finally found Main Reading Room on 3rd floor. In the first room you look up your subject in a card index file. This room is about 4 times as large as our whole library at home. Then on into the book room where a guide helps you locate the book. None on spring wildflowers that I could find or the attendant.
The rooms where valuable manuscripts are kept are behind locked gates. Goodness knows how to get in there. Oh yes, to take a book off the shelf in the library you must fill out a slip. The circulating library has between 200,000 & 300,000 volumes & the library contains over 3,000,000 volumes altogether.
Out in the rain again and back to 37th St. Were shown rooms this time & took a back one at $14 a week. The bathroom looks terrible & we overlook wholesale millinery factories.
After getting settled decided to go to Planetarium & did via bus. En route saw our first glimpse of Broadway as we stopped at Metropolitan Opera House & got tickets for the Ballet tonight.
Planetarium, a dome shaped building on west side of Central Park, was surrounded by school boys but we made our way thru & viewed the meteor collections in the corridor before viewing “The Solar System” with 7 of the planets to scale in size & movement revolving around the sun. A short lecture here placed the Solar System in its proper relationship to the Universe.
Then upstairs to the inverted bowl of a room with a fantastic “Man from Mars” sort of contraption in the middle of the room. Silhouetted at the bottom edge of the upside down bowl are the buildings you would really see just outside. As the lecture starts the first of the stars (3 planets) appear & as it grows darker all the stars shine in their own place for this day at sundown, dark, etc. With a convenient arrow, constellations are pointed out & then the sky moves as if we were travelling 5,000 miles a minute & we view the Southern Sky as from Australia. From time to time views of certain parts of the sky as from telescopes are projected for our study.
It seemed impossible that we would walk out into daylight.
Since we were near Hazel’s, Mary suggested we might catch her in so took a bus across Central Park & were soon at E. 81st St. Her 3 rooms & hall are very compact & well furnished in taste that agrees with mine. Her husband’s flower paintings are beautiful. One large one of apple blossoms & one of 2 bleeding heart blossoms and one of a sort of hibiscus. She loaned us rubbers & umbrella & we started out again. 
For Wally’s pleasure we took a subway & tried to find 3 Crown Restaurant (Smorgasbord) but didn’t so had fried Smelt ($1.10 Mary) & calf’s liver (Wally) at Longchamps. Ate on balcony overlooking other diners & enjoyed the “mood music” tho I was hardly dressed for it still in my suit.
Walked down Park Ave. a way to see if & over to the Whitlow Reid Mansion (which surely is) where service women stay for 50 cents a night. It’s lovely but Mary will be staying with Hazel tonight.
[Following is excerpt from Hospital Ships of World War II found at Google Books:]
Then bus back to room to get ready for the Ballet. I wore my black dress & artificial orchids for a hat. Walked on up to 42nd St. & Broadway to get postcards & then back to the Metropolitan Opera House & up in elevator to the “Balcony”. Our seats were tops for balcony. Front row center with only a brass rail between us & the space to the stage.
A symphony orchestra in the pit was tuning up as we came in.
The opera house is done in red & gold and the “balcony” is really the 4th balcony the others are called loges – grand tier, dress circle & then balcony & then on above the family circle. 30 groups of 3 lights each encircle the five tiers of seats & it seats 2,000 and seemed well over half full. We didn’t realize how high we really were until we looked out from other levels when the ballet was over. The binoculars certainly came in handy for the solo parts of the dances. I was surprised at how well the plot of the dance could be followed. Two were Russian, one a new one by Agnes DeMille & then one to the Nutcracker Suite of straight ballet.
Who would realize the range of emotions that can be expressed through movement only. The settings & costumes were gorgeous, especially for the last production & the dancing in it was unbelievable. I was sorry when it was over although it lasted nearly 3 hours including intermission which only gave you time to study the next ballet.
[following on separate sheet:]
Have just seen my first ballet “Aleko” – Leonide Massine. Metropolitan Opera House – balcony first row center.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonide_Massine]
To the accompaniment of a symphony orchestra the curtain arose on a gypsy camp. A love story – tragedy – triangle but the beauty of the dance forms and the costumes, the delight of the motion to perfect music thrilled me until sitting straight up to see over the rail was a pleasure.
[end of separate sheet]
Walked down to Bertha’s room then (11:30 PM) & called up – she said to come up in the hall. She hadn’t gone to sleep yet so we made plans to call her tomorrow after 6 & see if we can get together.
Then up to our room & Mary got her things and started out for Hazels.
Wally has been dead on his feet all day so he’s been asleep for 1/2 hr & I’m sure I shall be in the next 5 minutes.