I woke up this morning rather early because I would have to do my morning tasks before leaving by 8 a.m.; I had tickets to the taping of the Drew Barrymore Show. I requested two tickets on a whim and within a week I had them for today. I asked Pierre if he would want to go with me and he was in favor. It was overcast and a bit chilly so I decided to get a cab to take me to the CBS studio on 57th Street. We agreed to meet at 9 a.m. since we had to be there by 10 a.m., but one of the problems of ordering a cab, Uber or Lyft is that the wait time is always the variable. I felt by going down at 8 a.m. I should be fine; the wait was less than 10 minutes. As a result, I waited outside for nearly two hours in the coldest weather I had yet to experience…and, I was not properly clothed. On top of that, our tickets were not “priority” so we were in the “standby” line. Fortunately, we were the first two, and I say “fortunately” because the show only took the first four from the “standby” line. It was a good news/bad news situation. So good we were able to get in; so bad we had to continue to wait.
It was not the taping I expected because there was no guest; rather, they taped nine different segments. What I really enjoyed and appreciated about this taping was how personable Drew was with all of us. She thanked us for taking time out of our day to be there and while I think she is a good actress; I truly believed she was genuine. She would often break from script and give her opinion, thereby interacting with the audience. It was definitely worth the effort to be there.
By the time we left the taping it was a bit after noon, so Pierre and I decided to go to lunch. He suggested a French place not too far away, La Bonne Soupe, on 55th Street just off of Fifth Avenue. I realized the minute I walked in that I would be back; the decor, the ambiance, the aroma made me feel as if I were in France – it was a really good feeling. I just knew I would not be disappointed… and I was not! Did I mention I saw bottles of Pernod and Ricard at the bar? I love a Ricard before a meal; the smell alone reminds me of the Basque Country and all things good. So when I see a restaurant carries Ricard it creates an automatic comfort zone for me. This restaurant was established in 1973; I can see why it has lasted so long given the service, the presentation and the quality of the food. We each had a delicious bowl of French onion soup, wine and talked for a couple of hours. Just a perfect middle-of-the-week thing to do.
By the time we left the restaurant I knew I would have to walk part of the way just to clear my head… OK! OK! …to sober up a bit. I ended up walking past Washington Square and although I really didn’t have much further to go, I took a cab the rest of the way. I was expecting Mayi tonight – she was flying in from the Basque Country for a couple of days. I got back about 10 minutes before she arrived.