I've only been there once in 2001 with my family, so it was very different going back as a young adult 12 years later. Britt & I met up after work at our bus stop in Chinatown for the 4.5 hour bus ride. I was SO proud of myself for only packing 1 backpack!
Got to Penn Station around 10:30pm and were too tired & disoriented to figure out the subway/bus so we took a taxi to our super hip hotel called "The Pod". I just cared about cleanliness & safety; the super hip design and art were bonuses! (bathrooms were public, but super nice)
I got the top bunk in our cozy room (it was actually freezing) w/ its itty bitty airplane sink haha
We woke up early the next day & got breakfast @ a cool deli a block away called Treehaus. This weekend was nothing if not gastronomically indulgent. I figured I'd walk off this huge serving of french toast, Canadian bacon, and strawberries -
Then we hopped the subway (way smaller and dirtier and older...I have a new appreciation for DC's spacious but crickety subway system)...
Walked a few blocks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Britt's pick), a behemoth of a building that makes the American Art Museum in DC look like a play pen.
Like I said in a previous blog post, I'm not traditionally artsy. But Britt and Cory M. have really encouraged a greater appreciation of art these last few months and I found myself marvelling at the huge variety of incredible works at "The Met". Here are just a few of the old, inspiring, unique pieces -
I couldn't resist buying this awesome book and beautiful journals as souvenirs (I'm an avid journal writer; journals just replaced keychains as my preferred souvenir).
So much art, so little time (only stayed 2 hours). Took a taxi to Times Square and enjoyed seeing the horses and carriages along Central Park. One came right up to my taxi window :D
I would describe the energy in Times Square during the day as absolutely palpable...
...historic (i.e. George M. Cohan statue - he was an extremely influential early entertainer on Broadway, as depicted by James Cagney in the 1942 biopic Yankee Doodle Dandy)...
...and entertaining (Michael Jackson impersonator)!
When I bought the tickets for "Newsies" online, I'd made the unbelievably careless mistake of buying tickets for March 2 instead of 8, so we got Nederlander Theatre early to plead our case to the ticket office worker to let us in somehow.
Thankfully, he was nice and told us to come back right before the show to see what was available. So we went to get lunch, praying hard all the way. We found an authentic-looking pizza parlor in Times Square where the dough tossers spoke Italian. Definitely a good sign. A slice was surprisingly affordable at $3.50!
New York pizza (bucket list - check!)
Went back and after everyone went in and the show started, the ticket office worker (God bless him and his whole family) gave us 2 seats, one in the 6th row center and the other in the 9th row center (our original tickets were for the very last row in the balcony)!!! Britt and I traded seats at intermission. I just KNEW somehow that God would turn my stupid mistake into a miraculous blessing. Praise the Lord! I finally got to see my first Broadway show (an especially big deal for a girl who grew up obsessed with musicals. Bucket list - check!)!!
The songs, dancing, sets, lighting, and sheer energy were astounding. I loved that we were in NYC watching a musical set in NYC; it was an all American show for an American Studies major :) But what really moved me were the actors' bios. Almost the whole cast of young men, including the lead Corey Cott, were performing on Broadway for the first time. You could see the wonder, humility, and gratitude in their eyes. They were living their dream - they were making it in one of the theater centers of the world! They are some of the lucky few who could actually make a living by inspiring others with their magnificent talents. I was so happy for them. It was an extremely emotionally touching moment for me.
Afterwards, we subway'd to Chinatown, where we got our caricatures drawn. I had one drawn my last trip to NYC that turned out badly so I wanted to give it another chance...nope, not any better haha.
Walked down the [in]famous Canal Street where vendors were hawking counterfeit purses and watches every 5 steps...
It was dark by the time we got to Little Italy, where I've always wanted to go :)
Britt wanted cannoli and I wanted gelato, so we got both :D (bucket list - check!) I ordered the pistachio gelato but they accidentally gave me green tea flavor (which I love, but I swore off after I got baptized into the Church), so I sent it back and got the to-die-for hazelnut flavor Britt got. Italians sure know how to do dessert!
When we came out, we saw that we'd just eaten the #1 cannoli in NYC! Sweet!!
Rode the subway back to Times Square to catch the 8:30pm show at BIRDLAND!!! (bucket list - check!)
This was a last minute destination I saw in the "Newsies" playbill (Britt was a trooper to come along). I first heard about it when my high school jazz choir sang Manhattan Transfer's vocalese version of "Birdland" in 12th grade. Only diehard jazz fans like myself would flip over the opportunity to go to this historic jazz club, which started in 1949 and has relocated and even shut down several times, but is now restored to its former glory near Times Square. It was named after the legendary Charlies Parker, whose nickname was "Yardbird". Cedar Walton's Quartet was on that night.
We got free drinks w/ our admission (I got diet cream soda) and I got a shrimp po boy with sweet potato fries. Jazz clubs usually feature Cajun food because jazz originated in New Orleans.
It was a surreal experience. We also got a good taste of Times Square at night -
We felt very safe the whole time :D
Woke up early to get to church, forgot to check out of the hotel cuz we were rushing to get pics of the ultra cool decor -
Got to go to the Manhattan chapel/temple (bucket list - check!). It's so uplifting to be renewed by fellowshipping in the gospel of Jesus Christ in the middle of a big city, and so comforting to be able to go to the same Church almost anywhere in the world.
We ran into 4 friends from our DC ward!
I KNEW I would reunite with someone I knew at church and it turned out to be 2 friends from different former wards who are now engaged to each other! Congrats, Nikki & Jordan! The world is remarkably small when you're Mormon :D It was also great to see Chelsea (a BYU roommate of 1.5 years) again!
Chelsea is interning for the Church's Public Affairs office and has an amazing apartment right next to the Church. Completely charming and awesome view!
She kindly let us drop our backpacks off and joined us for lunch from the scrumptious gyro food cart across the street. It was YUM-O good and way cheaper than DC food trucks - only $5! (I tried to avoid spending money on Sunday but the hotel didn't have a fridge to store food I could've bought on Saturday)
Then we strolled the few blocks to Central Park. I'd always imagined it full of green foliage, but I guess romantic comedies only film there in the spring/summer haha. We still had a wonderful time taking all sorts of pictures there. Who knew you could go bouldering in Central Park? If it weren't the Sabbath Day, I'd be all over that playground :)
Alas, it came time to catch our bus back to DC and we parted ways with Chelsea. Britt & I got to Penn Station early and walked thru several deli's to get dinner for the ride. I got a huge corn muffin (deLISH) and a huge slice of mushroom spinach pizza. Our bus was over 30 minutes late but we met some BYU-Idaho students (aka Mormons) in line :) Also, while waiting in line, Britt and I planned our next Big Apple trip in May, when the weather's warmer and the trees will be in their finery. I'm so grateful for all that we were able to squeeze into 2 days, and especially grateful to go back to a job that allows me to have incredible adventures like this one.
Random Realizations:
- Based on what I'd heard from people and seen on TV/movies, I overestimated these aspects of NYC: pace of life, dirtiness & danger of the subway, rudeness of the people. All pleasant surprises.
- Like my boss (a native New Yorker) said, D.C. really does seem like a small town compared to NYC. I feel like I can handle anything in D.C. now!
- I left DC for vacation; most people come here for vacation. I actually felt "home" when I saw the monuments on the way back Sunday night...How did my life turn out this way?!
Big Apple, consider yourself bitten. We'll be back :)
BAAAAH SUCH A FUN TRIP!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteFUN!!!
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