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I'm not superstitious, but I blame the overall suckiness of today on Friday the 13th. I got the flu, just a week after having a cold, and I had to cancel my G test, which could only be rescheduled for a month from now. PLUS, I can't go to the UC book sale today, which is when all the best stuff will be up for grabs. Since my day sucks, I will describe my trip to New York.
New York was a sheer delight, as it always is. Bubby was slow and a bit of a downer (I will never hear the end of how big the portion sizes are, how awful the traffic is, how much she hates the throngs of tourists in Times Square), but I think she had a great time, and so did Mom and myself.
We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is the most wonderful museum I've ever been to, and I can always get more out of it every time I go. We saw the John Singer Sargents (Rufus!) and Winslow Homer and Whistler, as well as dressed rooms in the American Wing, and we saw Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Degas, Manet, Seurat, and Picasso in the 19th Century European Paintings wing. We also saw Tiffany lamps and vases, Egyptian sculptures, Byzantine reliquaries...it's an incredible museum.
On Friday night we ate at a delicious French restaurant called Pigalle, and saw The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which is a hilarious and adorable musical about six kids (played by adults) in a spelling bee. It sounds kind of lame, but it's really funny, especially considering the words and definitions they're given. Mom and I loved it, and I think Bubby enjoyed it, although her capacity for enjoyment has gradually reduced in the past few years.
On Saturday, we went to Washington Square Park, where there was a daschund festival. It was surreal. We then walked through NYU and some of the Village, but Mom and Bubby got tired, so they went back to the hotel and I hopped in a cab to The Strand. It was....indescribable. The size of Honest Ed's, but all used books. I only got seven books because I was just too overwhelmed. I could have spent DAYS there, and it was full of hot bookish boys. Sigh.
Then I spent two or three hours just walking by myself through the East Village, which was really cool. My initial goal was to find a cafe, but I couldn't find one, strangely enough, and decided to just explore. That night, we ate at a really great Italian place, and saw the Broadway musical version of The Wedding Singer. It was absolutely awesome. The lead, Stephen Lynch, was out that night, which was a disappointment, but the understudy was great. Amy Spanger, who is Michael C. Hall (!)'s wife and a Broadway star, was awesome, and some dude from American Idol named Constantine was in it as Robbie Hart's bandmate who loves Michael Jackson, and surprisingly hilarious. I love that movie, and I don't love Adam Sandler, so this musical combined my love of the movie with a really fun, catchy score and no Adam Sandler. I was very happy, and I bought the cast recording. I've been humming the songs for days.
On Sunday, we went to Rockefeller Centre (which I'd never seen) and then window shopped on Fifth Avenue, where the Columbus Day parade was marching. It was a lot of fun, and I got to eat ice cream at the Trump Tower. And go the NBC store, where I bought a set of Conan O'Brien magnets. Then we saw a matinee of the new revival of A Chorus Line, which was great. It was a groundbreaking show back then, and I appreciated how much of a contribution it made to theatre. Then we had dinner at a deli and I had cherry cheesecake, and then Bubby went back to the hotel while Mom and I went walking through midtown. Lots of fun.
Monday we went to the Upper West Side and took a walk through Central Park. It was beautiful, and even more lovely without those ridiculous orange schmatas that were there last time I was in New York. We saw the San Remo and the Dakota, and then went to the Museum of Natural History, where we saw the planetarium show and looked at the dinosaurs. Then we hightailed it to the airport, and that's where the good stuff ended. Our luggage "didn't make it" onto our flight and we had to wait until 10 pm at Pearson to get our bags back. That sucked.
All in all, an awesome trip to New York, and it totally reenforces my wish to live there. Sorry I'm so incoherent. I'm ill.