Spring Break in NYC (Part 2)

 

 

You came back for more? Gee thanks! This is where things get really good too! On Tuesday, we took the bus UNDER the Hudson via the Lincoln tunnel and ended up right in Time Square. That place is a spectacle, even in broad daylight! Fortunately, there are a billion coppers keeping things safe (notice them in the pic below). You do have to watch out for Spider-man, Elmo, and Hello Kitty while walking around though. They really want a hug and a picture (for tips of course). We were lucky and saw the (mostly) naked cowboy and a guy with four multicolored rats on his head and shoulders.

 

We wandered around a bit, popping into buildings that interested us. Then, we went below and had our first subway ride over to Grand Central Station. In case you were wondering, yes, it DOES smell like pee in the subway station, and yes, there are crazy people on the subway sometimes. I made the mistake of smiling at a homeless man and he walked up to me and shouted, "WHITE GIRL!" He then proceeded to announce the ethnicity and gender of every person on the train. Tip: don't make eye contact with people on the subway.

Grand Central Station is pretty fantastic. You have no sense you're underground because it's freakin' huge! There are tons of shops and restaurants there. We ended up there at lunch time, so we had our pick of yummy places to eat.

Several friends had recommended sweets at Magnolia Bakery, so we indulged in a little dessert too. We all split a slice of carrot cake and red velvet cake. Talk about heavenly! We give eight thumbs way up for the carrot cake.

From Grand Central Station we traveled by subway to Union Station so that we'd be close to some famous parks and the Flatiron building. It was such a lovely, warm day that tons of people were out and about. One girl was practicing yoga right in the middle of Union Square (and then Rick held her in the palm of his hand).

We continued on Broadway, passing dog walkers, musicians, and Hare Krishnas. Pausing only to grab a quick pic in front of the Flatiron building, we marched on to Madison Square Park. There we stopped longer than normal people to hang at a dog park and missed our Shelby for a bit.

After all the walking, my feet grew mighty sore. You see, I opted to wear cute boots rather than sensible sneakers. I regret that decision, as I now have bruised toe nails. We ended up riding the subway the rest of the way to the Empire State Building. Tip: choose function over fashion when you're walking around New York.



The Empire State recently went through a major renovation to make things more energy efficient and such. We got to learn all about the re-do, plus a lot of history, on our tour. Did you know it took only about a year to complete? It was also the tallest building in the world until 1972. We got to go all the way up to the observation deck! That's 102 floors folks!

The Empire State Building truly has the best view of New York. The picture above shows lower Manhattan in the background. The picture below faces the East River. Can you find the Chrysler building?

 The picture below was taken up on the observation deck. It's surprisingly peaceful up there!

By the time the tour was over, my dogs were barking. We hobbled to the closest restaurant that wasn't $30 a plate. For the life of me I can't remember the name of this place, but it served good Italian-American fare. Also, our waiter was super friendly. He was an actor (obviously), though he wants to get away from performing to become a critic (classic).









Ahhhhhhh. Sometimes there's nothing better than sitting and drinking glass after glass of Diet Coke (until you learn that there are no free refills).

Next up: our first BROADWAY musical!!! Rick scored some amazing tickets for Newsies that were orchestra, stage rightish. Oh man, was this show good! We were so close that we could see the actors spit and sweat. The dance numbers swept us off our tired feet. It's no wonder that they won the Tony for best choreography. And the singing? Superb! The guy who currently plays Jack Kelly puts poor Christian Bale to shame. In fact, I think he's better than the guy on the original cast album (which we bought immediately).

The super cool thing about seeing a live show is getting to meet the performers after. This particular cast was very approachable. We got autographs and pictures with many of the lead actors. The picture below shows Emma with the gorgeous Corey Cott. (Jack Kelly).

 This cutie is Andy Richardson and he played Crutchie. I think he looks like David Archuleta.

And this guy is Jeremy Greenbaum who played Davey.

Oh, what a night! I would see this show again TOMORROW if given the opportunity. Fortunately, there will be a touring production starting this Fall. Tip: Make it your number one priority to see this show! For a little preview, check out the video below. It gets good about minute 2.

Stay tuned for my next post covering Julliard, FAO Schwarz, and Disney's Aladdin!