New York Baby!

Even though I had loads of fun in NYC, I'm not really in the mood to recap it all.

It's amazing . . . and dirty . . . and big. All as expected. Seriously, as our bus was pulling up to our stop Ben asked me if it reminded me of Singapore and I just said "Way too dirty." I don't know how those S'poreans hide all that trash. Do they really not make as much? Possibly.This is our hotel, and the lobby was even grander than the outer appearance. It was right in the heart of everything. Surprisingly cheap (I heart expedia.com). The room was a titch small, but what do you expect when you're staying midtown Manhattan.

My only must on the itinerary was to see Lady Liberty. I waited too long for the ferry ticket onto the island, so instead we bought a three hour cruise around all of Manhattan. Ben actually said that was his favorite part, so I guess it was the good kind of procrastination.

Our tour guide was full of random facts (which was why Ben loved it). He told us 40% of Americans can trace down their line and find an ancestor who entered the country on immigration island. That is so fascinating to me. I love history. It is so cool to think about how busy this port was just a hundred years ago.

Architecturally, the Brooklyn bridge is as marvelous as I expected. Too bad I couldn't get any good pics . . . too big! Manhattan bridge is in the back. There are like 24 bridges going through that city.

The Chrysler building was my favorite sky scraper. I could have been a roaring 20's girl.

We spent like an hour and a half at the Toys R Us in Times Square. It was such a happy place.

It felt like an over grown Las Vegas.

The not planning approach really worked out for us on this trip. We found out about TKTS lines, where you can go the day of a show and buy tickets for like half off. It was still plenty expensive. But some things are worth making your childhood dreams come true.

So cheesy, but I'm so grateful that a little girl could grow up on a middle-of-no-where-farm with friends and parents who could instill in her a serious appreciation for the music in this masterpiece. It was so awesome, I had chills during some of the songs. I love love love the orchestra at the Majestic Broadway theatre, they were so fabulous. In order of impressiveness, the orchestra/pianist/organist, the dancing, the use of the stage, then the singing, the costumes, what else is there? The actual theatre was pretty awesome too. I'd definitely go back to NYC just for another Broadway production.

We spent Sunday afternoon at Central Park. It rained on us a bit, but was still much warmer than Saturday, so that was a plus for park planning. It was so hard to know who to ask to take our picture. You had to find someone who obviously wanted their picture taken together as well. And with little room to run away. Central park was quite breathtaking for a city park, but I was surprised that you never really felt like you escaped the city. Crowded and lined with skyscrapers.

We had to go back to the hotel for a nap after our park stroll. I'm really turning into my mother. We hit the town one last time that evening. We went down to the FRIENDS neighborhood. I should have looked up their address, but I didn't. We did get to see Washington Square park, that was pretty cool. Also, it's the NYU neighborhood so I daydreamed about what life might have been like. Pretty similar really. We ate Chinese and I gave my leftovers to a beggar. I hope he enjoyed it as much as I did. He really got about half of it. I love giving to the homeless!

Before we said goodnight to the city we stopped by my new shows place, 30 Rockefeller Plaza . . . or 30 Rock. I love Liz Lemon. The whole time we walked the city Ben kept wishing we'd run into Tina Fey, I think he has a bigger crush on her than I do!

Overall, it was a fabulous getaway. I'd like to go back someday. But when we pulled onto 14th and K right here in DC, I was really grateful this has been my life for the past three years. NYC makes DC look like a small town.

Gosh, not a bad recap for not being in the blog mood. :) I'm silly.