Nov 19, 2009
As usual this has not been proofed for errors. Sorry, please disregard them. ljf
Good day. Today we got up really early- at 0400 to get ready to leave the house by 0500. We even had time to go get a doughnut. We hustled to MSP airport and made it in 60 minutes. We were terribly early for our flight. I will admit it was my insistence to be early for the plane because you never know how much time security will take. We had to have our bags scanned and we passed without any beeps.
The plane was small. 2 seats on one side and one on the other side of the aisle. They did serve “snacks” that we assumed weren't free. So we skipped them- only to realize that they were. Darn it. My tailbone was so uncomfortable in those seats. It was like my tailbone was flexible and made of cartilage it hurt so bad.
We arrived in Newark Liberty Airport with our luggage that had to be stored underneath eventually because the plane and overhead compartments were so small. We bought a NJ transit ticket for 15$ each that took us from the airport tram to the NJ transit train to NYC Penn station. We walked not too far to our hotel. Luke says it's like 5-6 NYC blocks.
The sidewalks were CRAZY full of pedestrians. I think they were the most crowded streets we've ever been on. Then add rolling luggage. Luke took a route to the Hotel that passed a famous hotdog shop. It is called Gray's Papaya. We had a 2 hotdog meal with a drink for 4.00 each. It was a normal enough hotdog with a sweet onion sauce on it (maybe that was the paypaya part). They were OK. I sacrificed half of one of my hotdogs for the love of my life. The hot dog lover, Lucas Fenton. He appreciated the gesture.
We walked the few more blocks- slowly weaving through the traffic. Got to our hotel. The hotel is 30 floors tall with only 6 rooms on each floor. CRAZY. Our room is small, but not too small.
Luke let me take a nap while we got organized and freshened up. I was worried about the late broadway show we had to go to. I usually am in bed by 9 and last night I was up til 1030 and up at 0400 with only a 15 minute nap on the plane to counter act that. So I think I got a half hour nap- which re energized me just right. We went out and decided to go to Macy's Times Square and around there.
Macy's was first. We went to each floor on the escalator. There were several floors of women's clothes. We glanced at the kids floors. But we really spent the most time on the top floor at the Christmas displays were. I am sure there are more Christmas stuff to come, but this was pretty cool. They just had the trees dripping with themed ornaments. I got a picture next to the Dear Santa mailbox. You know like “Virginia there is a Santa Claus”. I didn't actually write a letter to Santa. Macy's itself was gigantic. I thought it was interesting that there were only a few of the 7 floors with bathrooms.
The only thing I really wanted to buy would be bunny stuff I couldn't live without or some Macy's reusable bags. The bags they had were not the ones I was interested in. They were more permanent with fat padded handles or a zipper.
When we finally finsished with Macy's and buying nothing, we exited one of the many exits. Luke stopped for some Coffee at Starbucks. He got a carmel brulee coffee latte. He said it wasn't that great. What we thought was hilarious was that the ladies that were making the coffee were REALLY slow. They were all talking and chatting- the line was just growing and growing. Anyway what we thought was the best wast that when she was shaking the spices on the top she shook the shaker so slowly and lazily like the shaker weighed 20 pounds. She hardly shook it hard enough for the sprinkles to be forced out the holes. We both saw it and just about laughed out LOUD. Then she announced the drink really softly and put it on the pick up counter. Whatever.
We went through to times square to look around the area and people watch. I ended up getting pooped on by a pigeon. I was just distressed. We didn't have any napkins. Luke picked most of it out of my hair and then we just let it dry. In fact later at home, I could hardly see the spot where it was. So I just brushed it out and that was all.
A family from the south asked if we take their pic. I said yes and asked them to return the favor. They were happy to. The screens were really bright, there were lots of people around. By this time it wasn't really raining or spitting any and the night was quite nice.
We spotted a Falafel stand. Luke got a falafel as it was dinner time by now. He got the spicy sauce put on it. I asked luke if he could see the handwashing facilities in the cart. Luke said he'd know in a few hours if he'd acquired food poisoning. He did not.
We headded home to get ready and get our shit together befofe the play. I tried to primp a little bit. But I can only dress up a pair of tennis shoes so much. Oh well.
At about 6.30 we left the hotel to walk the 8 blocks or so to our theatre. The theatre was kind of near Times Square. I decided I wanted to get a slice of pizza as I was getting hungry and hadn't eaten since the hotdog at noon. We ate at Villa I think it was called. It was a glorified sbarros.
We went to the show, waited in line a bit. Went in went to the bathroom and were seated. Our spot was on the extreme R side of the stage in the 4th row. We had a nice view of the stage.
The show “A steady rain” consisted of basically NO set. Just 2 chairs and some occasional screens in the background that exemplified the story they were telling. The story was about 2 cop friends, one who kind of breaks the rules occasionally and through the events of one night his son goes to the ICU, he cheats on his wife, his wife cheats with his partner and the next few days the story slides downhill and he gets suspended and eventually kills himself- all basically for his family. The partner moves in and takes the place of the father. The partner now realizes that there is nothing he wouldn't do to protect his family- just like his partner did.
The best part of the play was the little fundraising schpiel they did at the end for broadway helps fight against AIDS. They auctioned off their wife beaters that they wore during the performance- for get this $6,000 and $7,000 each. The ladies got to go backstage and talk with them too. WOW. Thats some good money. It was fun to watch Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman interact with each other and joke around a bit. Daniel Craig was FIT. FIT. NO gut on him what so ever. His dress shirt was tailored tight at his waist. We left the show, the streets were busy, there were cops around to handle crowds and safety if needed. There were many people still out and about.
We went home and saw a Duane Reade store (which is like a Walgreens). They had some groceries and drug store type stuff and souvineers etc. We got some milk. The only milk they had was VitD milk and this one quart of skim milk that was “extra creamy.” I would have liked a half gallon or something, but this worked. We also bought some chocolate chip cookies. I wanted some ramen or Mac and cheese but it was just to expensive- like 1.90 for Kraft brand. I don't think so, or a dollar for ramen. No, sorry.
We went home, had our treat and went to bed.
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