Last days in NYC

Wednesday was another shopping day. We started out in the east village on a street called St Mark's Place. We slowly worked our way west towards Greenwich village. I left the girls early to go to my Broadway show. I ran across town to Studio 54 where A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Natasha Richardson and John C. Reilly was playing. My tickets were for mezzanine but my dad had bought half-off tickets earlier in the day and ended up sitting in the 6th row.I asked an usher if I was allowed to move to an empty seat after admission and she said sure. So the second half I got to sit so close I could see the tears flow on Natasha's face during the last dramatic scene. It was the best play I have ever seen, so much better than the movie. Each actor brought so much to the play and I nearly cried at the end, mostly because I was so happy to have been lucky enough to see such a wonderful piece of work. After it ended, dad and I went to meet Suzanne and Amanda in Washington Square Park. While there, I took a little trip to the NYU bookstore and down the street to Shakespeare and Co booksellers. I have to say I have never seen such a beautiful store in my life. It was amazing. I could have spent days there. Dad was starving to we ventured into this old time diner for dinner. Later that night I decided I wanted some night shots from the Empire State building and my favorite building in NY, the Flatiron building. So we got back on the subway and made a pit-stop in Rockefeller Center. It was gorgeous at night all lit up and we all sat and people-watched on the benches. Then we went to the Empire State building; it was closed. But the ride down and walk around the Flatiron building was fun. Running across like 6 lanes with a meridian on 5th avenue with cabs going 80 to get better pictures was awesome. We also saw the statue of William Seward across from the Flatiron building.

When we had been in Times Square we were conned, yes conned, into signing up for a day at the spa, so Thursday morning that's where we headed. I say conned because they told us it was one price for a list of things available and we paid, then when we left the spa, they charged us a greater amount, again. But, we prefer to look at it as the time we got our hair done in a New York Salon and forget the cost. After 4 hours there, we took the subway to Coney Island. Little did we know it would be the longest ride yet; an hour. When we finally got there, we walked around for a bit, then made our way to the boardwalk. It was windy and a tad cold but the food was good. We ran around in the water and took pictures for a bit, then we headed back to the city. At the hotel dad and I got ready for our second Broadway show, Julius Caesar with Denzel Washington. Talk about a great play, oh and the visual affects, spectacular! As we were about to walk away we noticed that the line forming outside the door was growing and discovered that Mr Washington signs any and all autographs after each performance. So naturally we stood in line. I got to shake his hand and dad was supposed to take our picture, but he messed up, so that in itself is a fun story to tell. I do have evidence that I was near him however, and that's all that matters.
Friday was an early day. Amanda and I got up and took the subway down the Rockefeller Center and packed into the crowd around the stage at the Today Show's summer concert to watch Rob Thomas. It would have been perfect if not for the rain. So we stood outside watching the Today show and guests like Ellen Degeneres. We got to watch Rob warmup and perform three songs. After the show was over, we went to the NBC Experience store across the street. It was so cool. They had merchandise from all their popular shows, current and old. The store was huge and we spent forever there. When we got back to the hotel Amanda and Suzanne took off shopping and Dad and I decided to walk through the park to the Metropolitan Museum. We spent a few hours there. I finally got to go up to the roof garden. The exhibit up there was a little weird, but the view of the park and buildings was amazing. Then we went back to the hotel, got the girls and went to Time Square and ate at Bubba Gump's. After that we tried to go back up to the Empire State building, but the line was so long and by then I was feeling a bit sick. I still have yet to go up.

Saturday morning we finished packing and checked out. Then we made out way down the Bleeker Street to the Magnolia Bakery which I had heard had the world’s best cupcakes. It was packed so I figured they had to be at least terrific. They were sooo good. We took them over to a park across the street and ate them and watched kids and birds run around under the trees. Then we headed back up the W 72nd and walked over to Central Park. We walked around taking pictures for a few hours, went to the Lake and walked the path. Then we headed back and stopped at CityPi for one last piece of New York pizza. Back at the hotel, we grabbed our luggage and headed to the subway. The ride to Penn station then the train to New Jersey and the train to the airport took us nearly an hour, but we were well on our way back home.

New York City-second chances

New York in 2005 was going to be the greatest. I had my dad and two best friends, Suzanne and Amanda. Unfortunately, the airlines did not feel so strongly as we did. We were delayed out of Anchorage and missed our connection in Seattle. That meant an extra 10 hours in Seattle, which meant us girls took off for downtown and dad guarded the airport. Having never been to Seattle I was alright with a bit of a side trip. We went to the Space Needle, the mall and to Pike's Place Market. The weather was hot but dry and we found the best little deli downtown to have lunch. After a long day we finally got back to the airport and left for Newark, tired and smelly. We arrived in Newark around 6am but unfortunately, our luggage did not. SO, we took a crazy cab into the city and got to our hotel about 3 hours after they gave away our room. They told us we could have a room in 2 hours, so we went and hung out in Central Park. I decided to walk and found that there was an AIDS fundraiser going on, so I followed the line. By the time I realized I was tired and wouldn't find any celebrities I had walked nearly 20 blocks through the park. So I headed to the subway station and took the train the 15 blocks to the hotel. We were all pretty wiped from the trip so we just slept and lounged near the hotel most of the day. Though for dinner we decided to go to Chinatown and wandered around looking at the street shops and tables of trinkets. Later that night I took Amanda and Suzanne to Grand Central station and then we walked a few blocks down Park Avenue to the beautiful Waldorf-Astoria hotel. The lobby was gorgeous and featured a gigantic chandelier and a green Oscar de la Renta dress.

Monday began on a better note; we had luggage! So after finally being able to really clean ourselves and put on fresh clothes, we made our way downtown. We stopped in Times Square, midtown and ventured all the way to Battery Park and decided to head for Liberty Island and Ellis Island. On my previous trip I had declined to go to Liberty Island but I was talked into it this time. After our trip across the water, which was great, we went to Ground Zero and walked around in the new buildings. It was very different than what I had seen just two years ago. That day for dinner I had the best pizza of my life and we did more walking and shopping until we couldn't walk anymore.

Tuesday Suzanne and dad and I went to 34th street between 7th and 8th, where the largest store in the world, Macy's, is located. We shopped there and all around Herald Square, looking at fancy shops, little holes in the wall and places we've never heard of. Then we ate lunch in the square, hot dogs of course. We shopped all afternoon and decided to drop our stuff back off at the hotel before we went to dinner at a Mexican place near the hotel. After that we went out to the comedy show we had gotten tickets for when we were in Times Square. It was called Improv and was hilarious. One lady called dad a stud because to her it seemed he had 3 very young dates.