The flights were leaving eeeearly... BP, BC and Danar were on the 5:40am flight, and BMc and myself on the 6:30 direct flight - but all arriving at the same place and same time (whew!). BP and Bmc spent the night at my house last night to save a little morning sleep time (puppies were loving having more faces to molest) and Becki got to the
house at 4 (yes, A.M.) We wanted to be to the airport by 4:30 (A.M.!) so I set my alarm for 4:00... BMC was getting a little anxious and woke me up by yelling down into the basement. I
had one more minute before my alarm. Hope I don’t need that minute of sleep later.
BIG THANKS to Patti for being our early morning taxi service. We cram into Patti's car with 5 of us and our bags (meeting Dana at the airport) - Becki, we learn, is a little nervous about time (it's the "mom" in her). We said we would be at the airport by 4:30. It's 4:38. But I assure her that BMC and I will make out flight.. No worries since our flight leaves an hour later than the Southwest flight with Becki, BP, and Dana. So we're not concerned (see, there's that snark). I remind Becki that she's traveling with the queen of schadenfreude (I should make you look it up... but it's the act of getting pleasure from others' suffering). But we'll be there in plenty of time and then we'll all arrive in NYC at the same place at the same time.
Bmc and I went through security in different lines. She chose poorly. The kid in front of her had a pocket knife. HAD a pocket knife. He was a little disappointed that he would never see it again. Yah, dude. No junior terrorists. The southwest girls have all met up and I'm taking a moment in the airport to try and keep up with blog notes, trying to get back in the swing. You have to stay up on this, or it becomes homework. And no one likes homework. Especially teachers. ;)
On our flight we had a great attendant, Mitch. Young guy in his 20s, rosy cheeks, gay. He's sporting a little black apron with "Mitch" embroidered in the front center, about 72 font; and I wonder if it's by choice. He's St. Louis based and is excited about now flying to NYC. Next week he gets to spend a day there and he's asking bus what we're going to see and do - and mentions that this weekend is Pride in NYC. Now that would be fun to see. I'm sure they get a little edgier than stl Pride. He's our bestie, and he's not talking to everyone else like that - just us. We're special.
We find our way to the Southwest terminal and meet up with the other gals at their baggage claim and hear all about their flight. There were a lot of Korean veterans on their flight, going into DC for the day to see the memorial and be honored. And they had a great flight attendant buddy too - Albus? And apparently we're very lucky to have BP along with us. She was nearly left at the airport - they forgot to board the C group people. Third class citizens I tell you - if it was the Titanic she would be below deck.
Taxi to the Apt - and we like what we see! It's a nice place, great wood and fancy stuff in the lobby.. and a "doorman". But he just stands there at the revolving door and spins it for you so that you don't have to puch it yourself. He looks like he's pushing the merry go-round on the playground... BP and BMc were SUPER excited about having a doorman, and they have expressed disapointment in the reality before them.
We meet Ludy (that's not a typo)... Ludy. She's our host and has a very thick accent and LOTS of advice about everything. We get details on how to make ice and turn on the burners (push IN and then TURN - she's replaced a lot of oven knobs) - she gives us a full tour of the building, really more than we want - the trash and taking us down to the fitness center (in case we want to pay $50 each to swim) - and asks where we want to go... Oh Hobeken, you take the C to 47th to the R to 34th... or blah, blah, wah, wah... She now sounds like the teacher from the Peanuts Gang. We're fading fast and the others are kind of drifting off, but I'm staying engaged. Whew! She wore me out! But she's super sweet!
We do a quick change of shoes and head over to Time Square (a short stop off at Staples to reprint BP's tickets that she left at home). We're on 51st street, between 8th and 9th - so we're literally about 2 blocks from Time Square. Want to give the newbies a sense of NYC and that's the quickest way to do it. We enter the square at the TKTS booth and I find a fast friend. At first I think that she's someone who has just latched on - but found out that she was actually a very knowledgeable and helpful TKTS worker. She gives us the scoop on which line to stand in at what time and what shows are usually available. The others try to "save" me from her, they think I've been latched onto (people do that to me) - but this time it's all good. She even takes our pic in TS - we're here!!
 |
| Bangers and Mash |
 |
| Irish Breakfast |
We had initally planned on getting to TS and then catching one of the doubel decker bus tours to just get an overview of the city. But we go crazy - we decide that we want to see a show tonight.. but first FOOD. BMc really wanted the food truck experience, but the app to locate the trucks isn't updating. Shoot. We are starving - most haven't eaten all day and those that have eaten have had airport, or worse, airplane, snacks. Becki takes charge (my hero!!) and find us a little Irish pub (with bar above it called the Sin Bin) - now how can you not go to the Sin Bin? A Bin of Sin? I ask you! The food is great - BMc has bangers and mash, BP has the chicken pot pie and salad, I have the traditional Irish breakfast (love it) and even had the pig blood sausage (it looks scary but was really good). We started of celebrating this vacation by eating fare from next year's vacation! Becki and Dana went a less Irish route with pasta and BBQ chicken pizza respectfully. We might need to count the number of times that Dana's meal includes chicken (1). I get a little excited because halfway through the meal I look down at our glasses and they say "MAGNERS" - that's the American version of the hard cider that I like so much (Bulmers) that Bob brought back for me from England! I may have to go back later for one. I think I just screamed "MAGNERS!!!" ... and then tried to give some incoherent explanation... BM is so confused. "I don't know what just happened." I'm still not sure she understands.
We head out because as Becki says, "We have places to BE!!" But she's walking slightly in front of me and I swear I hear her say, "We have places to PEE!". It evoked some strange images.
Anyway! We head back to the TKTS booth and get in the "Play Express" line - it's like 10 times shorter than the line for Musicals - we're about 10 people back in the line. We're going for Peter and the Starcatchers - it's the origin story for Peter Pan. I've read the book and now Becki has it and is reading it. I'm super excited about seeing it. We don't wait long, maybe 40 minutes for the line to open at 3:00 - we wait in line while the Britts go get ice cream and pictures of being fondled by the Naked Cowboy (oh my!). We ask for best available for Peter - and we get front row center. Nice seats I guess. :)
We're fading fast. It's the hottest day of the week, up to 98 and feels like much more than that - and we've been up since 2 and 3 and 4 in the morning. Earlier BMc said that she thought she would need a nap and I have to admit that I balked a little. We're in the city that never sleeps! Our first day here and you want to NAP through it?? Poppycock!! We decide that since we have tickets to a show and it's now about 3:15, that we'll just explore the shops around Time Square a bit and then head back to the apt to clean up and get ready. We go into the Hershey store - I love the smell of that place, just pure chocolate. And then across the street to the M&M store... but it's obvious that we are fading even faster than we knew. A little zombie-fried. We decide to just head back.
 |
| Napping... |
Back at the apartment we play with facebook, charge phones - some take showers - and then most of us lay down for "naps". I'm still poo-pooing the idea a bit. Until 2 hours later when Becki wakes us all up and says that it's 6:15 and we need to GO! Show is at 7 - need to be there by 6:45ish, and we were a little peckish. We somehow pull it together and get out the door (thanks mom), and decide that we'll get a candy bar or a hotdog from a vendor on the the way. We're just a few blocks away from Peter, so we can do this! Becki and I grab a hotdog, but the others abstain and decide to wait until after the show. So we just want it to be known that WE beat BMc in eating something from a street vendor. :)
Ok the show - OMG the SHOW!! Wonderful, marvelous - we laughed, we cried, we wiped spit off of us... Becki said that by the end of the show we were covered in their DNA. They were working up quite a sweat, and spitting with emotion.. and we did catch some of the spray. Especially when one literally spit water in the laps of Dana and BP. We felt like we need plastic sheeting like at Blue Man or Gallagher (old school). But it was great - and BP and BMc are wondering if anything but the front row will ever be good enough for them again. We'll see. We have a few more shows on our list -
After the show we're looking at the merchandise - Becki and I each get cute bags that say "Star Stuff" (it's like the pixie dust that we know from Peter Pan) and BMc asks how we meet the actors. Right outside and to the left... and then we hear screaming! Follow the screams!! All the actors are nice and gracious - the Britts and BC get their playbill signed by all of them and Dana and I get pics. The girls are beside themselves with emotion meeting Christian (plays the future Captain Hook, and is on Smash, which they both watch) - so they are STOKED! I'm uploading video of them meeting him to Facebook as I type this in. Hopefully it will work, it's taking a while. I may have to upload to Youtube and then link, we'll see.
After the show and the post show excitement, we hit the food store on the way back and pick up supplies for breakfast (took forever to find cream cheese!), and we get fixings for chicken ceasar salad for a light "dinner" (what do you call the meal you eat at 11pm?). And if you're counting along at home, that's meal number two for Dana with chicken (and yes, it still counts if we're all eating the chicken). It was a perfect meal though - they had the great idea of using a baked chicken.
It's about 12:30 now - heading to bed! Plans for tmw include going to the Today show to see if we can glimpse Kenny Chesney in concert - and we've just learned that Ann Curry is fired (?) but not really or not yet... or something? And then we'll get on the bus and see the city!
I'll upload or send pics to the blog tmw... they're not working for me tonight and it's bedtime!!
I've read Day 5 and Day 1, in that order, so I have some catching up to do. I'm enjoying the blog and the picks. Hope Day 6 is as full and fun as Day 5!
ReplyDelete