So after 3 flights and a lot of hanging out in airports,
finally landed in JFK, picked up my bags and staked out a spot in front of
Dunkin’ Donuts to wait for Brittany to arrive. Reunited and sufficiently
caffeinated, we jumped on the train and made our way to our hotel which is just
on the outskirts of Times Square. Left the heavy bags behind and happily
exchanged my Adelaide winter clothes for something a little more suited to New
York heat and humidity. Headed just down the street to the Stardust Café for a
drink and some singing waitresses.
Picked up my New York pass and had our first try at the
ticket lottery for the matinee of Book of Mormon. No luck but the lottery guy
was funny enough to make the stop worth while. Plus right after we saw Angelica
Houston filming a scene for Smash. Then, just because we were passing by,
stopped back at the Stardust Café for more lunchtime entertainment and my first
non airplane food for a couple of days. Also milkshakes. Amazing
milkshakes. After being able to get into
our room and debating how to spend the afternoon, we decided to take in some
culture.
Headed a couple of blocks over to the Museum of Modern Art
and checked out some works (by which I mean we very intelligently debated the
artistic merit of a square of white paint…and giggled at some naughty photos,
teehee).But also got to see a few of my favourite Van Gogh works that were
obviously missing from the collection in Amsterdam so that was pretty cool.
Somewhere around the 4th floor the dreaded jetlag crash snuck up on
me and I had no choice to surrender to a quick nap back at the hotel, curses!
Headed out after 2 hours to the Book of Mormon again. This
time the lottery guy was clearly messing with us as 2 of the winners were from
Australia and Florida, but alas, ‘twas not to be L.
So after rehydrating and a much needed shower at last, we had a tasty dinner at
TGI Fridays and wandered through Times Square which was by then all lit up for
the night and packed full of people heading off to shows. Ticketless however,
we tracked down boxing themed bar Jimmies Corner and its delightfully cheap
beers and relaxed. Headed back to the hotel for an early night in the hopes
that any further jet lag sneakery might be avoided. Fingers crossed!
Day 2
Started day 2 with a hearty hotel breakfast, most of which
was spent trying to figure out how breakfast potatoes were different to regular
potatoes. Headed to Battery Park and hopped on a ferry to the Statue of Liberty
(I may or may not have uttered the phrase “It looks smaller than it did in
Ghostbusters 2”) which was cool. Then over to Ellis Island where we got
completely wrapped up in the immigration museum which was really great. Back to
New York and we found a TKTS to buy our tickets for the night. Absolutely
starving we took a train over to Brooklyn and thought we’d grab a pizza. 45
minutes of standing in the queue at Grimaldi’s we finally made it inside, and I
have to say, totally worth the wait. Also the carafe of wine was good to help
forget how tired our feet were by that time.
Decided the sky looked a bit too scary to walk the bridge so
instead took a water taxi back past Liberty and Ellis Islands just as the rain
started. Walked back to the hotel for a quick relax and then off again to
recaffeinate at Starbucks. Headed to my first Broadway show, Bring it On the
musical. Now not being a fan of the movie, I was a doubter, but it was
seriously fantastic!
Day 3
Another long day of walking for our poor tired feet (who
really need to suck it up and quit their bitching already). Started after breakfast by heading to Rockefeller
Centre and did a little nerd shopping in
the NBC Experience store. Acted al classy by walking down 5th avenue
to find the New York City Library (I wish it was to look at the books…but it’s
cos it was in Ghostbusters :P). Wandered around Bryant Park, then back to the
Book of Mormon but still no luck in the lottery. With the afternoon thus free,
we took the stage door tour of Radio City Music Hall which was pretty cool, got
to see a bit of Cirque de Soleil in the huge, huge, huge theatre. Plus we got
to meet a Rockette…I’m still not totally sure what a Rockette is but she sure
did smile a lot.
After a stop by the hotel we were going to jump on a boat
cruise but a pesky rain storm sprung up and we were forced to take refuge in a
chocolate café for some liquid chocolate coffee amazingness. With the weather
still looking dicey we decided to skip the boat for the night and found a great
street market for a bit of budget shopping. Then after more walking we stumbled
upon a Comebuy…and there was much rejoicing (Comebuy is our favourite Milk Tea
chain from Zhuhai so there may have been some jumping up and down and screaming
when we spotted it).
Wandered through the Museum of Sex (oooooooh, naughty) and enjoyed a cocktail in their bar
before heading back to the hotel. After much discussion while soaking our feet
in the bathtub, we unanimously decided that we had earned a classy night…so we
walked down to the convenience store, bought a few bottles of cheap wine,
picked up some Maccas, got a couple judgemental looks from our co elevator
travellers and settled in for a nice night of not moving J
Still plenty to see folks, stay tuned!
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