A few slices of life from the Big Apple

I felt a bit like a wide-eyed country kid after nibbling at the Big Apple.

New York City was exhausting, amazing, overwhelming and great fun. Plus, I think we here in the Northwest could learn some things from those New Yorkers.

After a mere 3-½ days in New York City, I'm convinced we need more mass transit on the Eastside and in Seattle. Five friends and I went from Harlem to Greenwich Village, Lincoln Center to Ground Zero, breakfast to dinner on subways and buses.

One of our group, Shannon Horst of Redmond, used a free subway map and skills acquired on previous visits to lead us around Manhattan.

We were impressed by New Yorkers. We'd get close to our goal and, apparently looking totally lost, would hesitate on a street corner. Strangers inevitably stopped to offer directions. Do tourists coming to the Northwest find us as helpful?

We walked a lot — by choice. If a bus didn't go our way, we purposely avoided cabs. Big Apple drivers are maniacs. They squeeze SUVs into Prius-sized breaks in traffic. Taxi horns must be connected to the gas pedals. Intersections were like a big game of chicken — proceed if you dare.

It seemed like at least a million other souls also opted to walk at any given moment. Sidewalks were jammed from sunrise to sunset and beyond in the metropolitan area.

Here's another great thing about New York. Traffic engineers there have set pedestrian-crossing lights at least 30 seconds longer than ours. It was a pleasure to have time to cross the streets.

When we got off the beaten path in Greenwich Village, the side streets were calm. (And horns forbidden in the Village!)

We rode the subway to Brooklyn and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan — a breathtaking view. (Note to folks planning the new Evergreen Point Bridge: Keep fighting for those walking and bike lanes.)

The play's the thing

We caught the first play, "Voyage," in Tom Stoppard's "The Coast of Utopia" trilogy at the Lincoln Center Theater. Shannon Horst, her mother, Jackie Horst, Diane Stark and I went to a Saturday matinee.

Erika Rolfsrud is in the cast. She's a 1986 grad from Sammamish High School and a former neighbor of the Horsts when they lived in Bellevue. Rolfsrud was in several Issaquah Village Theatre productions in the 1990s.

ACT patrons may remember her from the 2004 production of another Stoppard play, "Jumpers." She was the lead female. (In one memorable scene, she was lying on a bed with her bare bottom to the audience.)

Meeting Rolfsrud after the play and having brunch with her on Sunday was a highlight for our group, which also included Sara Kosokoff and Harriss Müller. (They shopped instead of going to the matinee.)

At Sunday brunch we hung on every word as she described an actor's life in New York City. She's started rehearsals for the second play in the trilogy, "Shipwreck," set during the 1848 French Revolution.

"I'm a revolutionary and get to tear things apart," Rolfsrud said.

Notable fellow cast members who also will be in the second and third plays of the trilogy include Ethan Hawke, Billy Crudup, Richard Easton and Amy Irving.

Rolfsrud said rents in New York are so high she lives at the north tip of Manhattan, where a minuscule studio apartment costs more than $1,000 a month. That, Rolfsrud said, is an improvement over the former $850 walk-in closet with a bed that she sublet from someone.

"Living in New York has taught me not to accumulate things," she said. "I've become a master at packing a few things into small places, and I quickly get rid of things I don't wear."

Even with her growing successes in New York theater and some television roles, like most actors she works several jobs. Between Saturday's afternoon and evening shows she dashed off to care for someone's cats and on Monday, her only day off, she works a third job.

Is she having fun?

Absolutely, she said.

New York moment

We, too, had fun even though I spent too much money. We walked miles and miles and didn't see one-quarter of the things on my must-do list. We even had a New York moment when a waiter followed us to the sidewalk, berating us for not tipping him enough for lousy food and worse service.

I hadn't been to New York as a grown-up and found the city exhilarating, fast-paced and most of the food delicious. We have better coffee, but New York has fabulous bakeries and delis.

Shopping? I was too busy look-it-ing, but the merchandise even came to us. I lost count of the opportunities to purchase a knock-off Rolex watch.

The noise was almost intolerable. The quietest spot was the World Trade Center site, where a hushed crowd viewed photos and a timeline, prayed and wiped away tears.

They have better art museums, we have better trees and quiet. They had trash cans on every corner. We have better views of the sky. They have more miles of waterfront parks. We have less polluted water.

Would I live there?

Nope.

But I can't wait to go back for another visit.

Sherry Grindeland: 206-515-5633 or sgrindeland@seattletimes.com