NYC - Day Two
Saturday morning…drifting in and out of consciousness and the first thing that Candi says is: “Boys are gross”
I proceed to whimper and whine, “I don’t want to take a shower in those grody bathrooms.”
We talked for a few minutes and then drifted back to sleep for a while until the time that we said we would start our day. Trust me when I say that we were in no hurry to get our showers underway, but at least there were two of them. So…we decided which ones we would go to and wished one another good luck before going.
Despite a few “snags”, we came out relatively unscathed. We got dressed and headed out into the streets of Harlem. We walked for a bit until we found the Subway entrance and down we went. Our first ride on the Subway was pretty uneventful, but fun just because of the adventure of it all. : )
We emerged from the Subway into the New York that I’d imagined. Tall buildings and lights and people were everywhere. We were going to scope out and find the theatre and then eat, but then we saw this giant McDonald’s with broadway lights and we decided that since we were early that we would eat first.
It was pretty cool in there. There were three floors and we went to the very top and sat at this cool table that had lights built into it. I thought that was neat anyways…but then I have a fascination with shiny things. Hahaha Also, they were playing music videos in there and they were projected upon these big brick walls…it was pretty cool.
Then, once again we were off and headed towards the theatre. We found it much more easily than we had anticipated and since we still had lots of time, we decided to go exploring. We rounded the corner and found ourselves in the middle of Times Square (way cool). We saw MTV studios and lots of other cool stuff and then Candi spotted the Virgin Records Megastore aka Heaven. LOL I had my sights set on it as we were walking when I realized that there was some guy asking me about a comedy show. I looked at him and saw that he had a Bush (the band, not the President...hehe) shirt on and said, “No thank you, but nice shirt.” He then held up his hand and gave me a high five. We talked to him for a few moments (nice young lad) and then we walked inside the record store. WOW…it was amazing in there. I swear if we’d spent much more time in there, I would have found a bin of CDs to swim around in. LOL
Another reason I loved the place (also three floors) was that as we were going downstairs, I looked up at this ginormous screen and they were playing “The Bourne Identity.” Yes folks…there was Matt Damon in all his glory kicking ass on a giant screen…it almost brought tears to my eyes. : )
Anywho…it was nearly time for the show, so we headed out to the theatre. Since we were still early, Candi took a couple of pictures of me outside of the theatre and then we got in line. It was a good thing that we did because just a few minutes later, the lines were HUGE!!!!!!!! I looked inside the lobby at a little crystal chandelier that was hanging there and started getting really excited!! OMG! I’m going to see Phantom of the Opera ON BROADWAY!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! Ahem…ok…had to get that out. : )
I usually never pose, but what can I say, I was excited. LOL
Not fond of this picture, but proud as hell of it!
Finally we were allowed inside and we easily found our seats and settled in to look over our programs and I can’t tell you how good it felt to be back inside a theatre. It’s been a while since Candi and I have been able to go to Stratford and so it was good for the soul just to be in the ambiance.
The show itself was phenomenal. I went through every range of emotions I think. This is a very emotional tug of war for me anyways, and if you know me, you’ll understand that. LOL It was really amazing from start to finish and everyone who was cast did a really great job. I SO love that musical and it was definitely an experience of a lifetime to see it there onstage. The Phantom did an AMAZING job…I can’t even tell you how many times I had either cold chills or tears in my eyes!!
After battling the crowds to get out of the theatre, Candi and I headed back to McDonalds and had a Coke and some cookies before once again hopping on the Subway to meet up with Ron. Naturally, he was late. LOL. However, eventually, it was me, Chris, Ron, Candi, and Blair and we all went to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant that was really good. I had a nice time and there was some good conversation, mostly about the tour and I was amused that almost every tour story involved Candi and myself. : )
Once we left there, we headed to Washington Square Park and had to go see the Small Dog Run (one of Ron’s fave things). We then also saw the Big Dog Run and then he took us around the park and showed us where he had written certain songs and also where he went to school. It was a really nice time.
After we left there, Blair decided that she was going to meet up with some of her friends and so Ron, Chris, Candi and I headed to Magnolia Bakery, apparently made famous by Sex and the City. Chris wasn’t really excited about cupcakes and so he went to the bookstore across the street. It’s a rather small bakery and there was a long line, but eventually we got our cupcakes and headed to a small park across the street to eat our goodies. The cupcakes were good, but in all honesty…Candi’s are better. : )
Ron, Me and Candi after eating cupcakes. Yes folks, I still have my program. I carried that thing around for HOURS!
Chris eventually joined us once again and so there we were, the four of us sitting together and talking and eating cupcakes, having an all around good time. I don’t know about anyone else, but I was having an amazing time. Then, we heard a sound that Candi and I immediately recognized, but both of the guys got a panicked look on their faces. Chris gasped, “Godzilla!” Ron gasped, “Revolution!” They were looking at one another and discussing that they thought it was gunfire. Candi and I looked at each other and told them that they were silly and that it was fireworks. Naturally they didn’t believe us and went on with their ranting until we all decided to go and see what it was.
Guess what. Yep….it was fireworks. Ron and Chris were completely amazed and Ron asked if we wanted to go down to the river to watch them and I actually made a decision and said yes. Hahaha. So…down to the river we went and there were fireworks across the river in Jersey. Ron said that as long as he’s lived in New York, they’ve never seen fireworks there. He then said that it was because it was my birthday extravaganza and that’s why there were fireworks and so I immediately blamed Candi for orchestrating the whole thing. *wink
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
Oooooooh! Aahhhhhhhh! Ohhhhhhhhhh!
Chris was super excited because he spotted a swimming crab in the river and Ron said that he was going to send me in with a knife in my mouth in true pirate fashion to get it. LOL There was a cute little girl standing next to us who asked her dad, “Daddy, do you want me to catch one for you?” He said yes and so she reached out like she caught one and then acted like she let it go in front of him. It was soooooooo cute! Then Ron asked the guy why there were fireworks and he said that he didn’t know, but the little girl said, “Because it’s New Jersey!”
Ron looking confused and me being windswept...LOL
This time there by the river with just the four of us was one of my favorite times. It was like the time in Jersey when Ron, Candi and I went to the beach. Magical. I love it.
Anyways…eventually they ended and so Chris wanted to meet some people and so we started walking for what seemed like hours to this place called The Crocodile Lounge where with every drink order you get a pizza…yep it’s true…pretty cool, huh? Candi and I declined our pizza on the first round, but were preparing our next plan of attack when we were informed that we were leaving.
We headed back to Odessa (where my b-day festivities were) and we got some food and eventually some people started showing up. Blair came and had a couple of people with her, including some British guys she met outside. The one that we met was named Russ and he was a little creepy…I can’t tell you why, but he was nonetheless. LOL
He ended up buying all of the women at the table a rose from this guy (which was ridiculous because the night before the same guy was in there and they were $9 a piece). Anyways…Candi and I were sitting at the table surrounded by the growing group of people that we didn’t really know and weren’t really feeling the love by this point. I didn’t want to drink and we were both tired. So…we decided that we were going to go home.
Creepy British guy Russ after he'd bought us all ridiculously expensive mostly dead roses
We slipped out and Candi hailed a cab…she’s awesome!!! Soon, we were on our way home and though we felt a little bad about copping out, it was also empowering to be doing our own thing. When we got home, we started making our plan for the next day and before we knew it, we were down for the count. : )
Quote of the day by me: Manhatten smells like cookies, Harlem smells like piss