New York City Trip: Day 2

Original Post Date: March 14, 2006

We went to a bakery near our house this morning. They had all kinds of good stuff there. We will probably go every morning. The croissant was delicious!

We made it to the ferry after not too bad of a walk (although one hill was a killer.) We’ll probably take a cab at night, though. It would be easy to get lost in the dark.

Today we are doing the stuff around the theatre district. Times Square, etc. It was raining a little, but the sun has come out, so we should be okay. The humidity is killing me, though. It’s not hot temperature-wise outside, but I’m getting hot. Oh, well. At least it’s not freezing cold!

What a day! We started out in Times Square. Now that is a sight to behold! So many things to look at. Huge, lighted signs. Tons of people. We weren’t sure what to do first. We did have to figure out which way was which. Where are the mountains when we need them? It’s easy to remember that streets run East-West and Avenues run North-South (just like Greeley), but I still don’t know which direction the numbers get higher & lower. We walked in the wrong direction a couple of times today.

We hadn’t been on Times Square more than five or ten minutes when the Scientologists attacked. It was this really nice girl who wanted us to come to see a movie about “Dienetics”. It took me about a minute to figure out that it was Scientology. Being the dumb tourist that we are, we followed her to their building. I was ready to day “Actually, we’re Mormon and we’re not interested” but then Shauna just said “Oh, we’re going to be late. We really have to go now.” As soon as the “nice girl” figured out we weren’t going to listen, she said “Bye” really quick and took off. So much for that. At least she didn’t hound us to come back. I should have given her a Book of Mormon. We did decide to get one at the Temple Visitor’s Center and leave it at the house.

After we escaped the grasp of Scientology, we went to the Gershwin Theatre to get our Backstage tour tickets for Wicked. Gorgeous theatre, I must say. We are trying to familiarize ourselves with where all the theatres are. We see lots of marquees. They’ve got the one up for “The Drowsy Chaperone” with Sutton Foster. It opens next month. (Why not now? Gah!)

After we left the theatre, we went in search of the Rockefeller Center. It’s not just that gold statue and the ice rink, like I thought. It was a huge complex of office buildings, including the NBC Studios. We watched the skaters for awhile and sat by where the tree goes at Christmas. The Radio City Music Hall is there, too. Next time we come, we are taking the backstage tour. I have a bet with Shauna that if she makes the tour guides cry or say “What?” at the Wicked Backstage tour, I’ll give her $5. This extends to any backstage tour in New York.

We visited the NBC Experience store. Pretty much any and all NBC products you can think of. It’s a HUGE store. We got our picture taken on the “Friends” set. Well, it was green screen. The picture turned out really cute. A definite keeper.

Next, we went to lunch. Okay, so we went to McDonalds. But it was a Times Square McDonalds. We sat on the 2nd floor. It was decorated really cool. A huge mural of Times Square, or Manhattan, or something.

We headed out from McDonalds and intended to go do One Shubert Alley. While standing on the corner, waiting for the light to change, we suddenly realized that Toys ‘R’ Us was behind us. Duh! So we went there instead.

Toys ‘R’ Us is the coolest store ever! There is a Ferris Wheel in the middle of the store! A HUGE ONE! We, of course, had to ride it. There is also a massive anamatronic T-Rex and tons of stuff made out of Legos. King Kong on the Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty, the Hulk, etc. So cool! You could seriously spend a whole day in there!

Next it was off to One Shubert Alley, the actual store of broadwaynewyork.com (where Shauna and I have spent loads of money.) It was much smaller than I expected. In fact, it was TEENY!! But, we got some cool stuff. I never knew that Shubert Alley was an actual alley by the Shubert Theatre. Go figure.

After we left there, we caught the train up to Herald Square. Macy’s is right there, but our destination was the Empire State Building. Now let me just say that if “Sleepless in Seattle” took place post-9/11, the ending would have been TOTALLY anti-climactic. Meg Ryan would have had to wait in line, go through security, wait in another line, get her picture taken in front of a picture of the Empire State Building, wait in another line, go up one elevator to the 80th floor, wait in another line, go up another elevator to the Observation deck, and then get to where she was going. Tom Hanks would have been long gone. Oh, and it cost $16. It took about an hour to be up there in the freezing cold wind for about 15 minutes and there were tons of people. It was really cool, and now I can say I’ve been to the top of the Empire State Building. But the long lines were just too much. I probably won’t do that again.

After we got back down, Shauna and I went in search of the Post Office while the other girls went to Macys (New York at Rush Hour is fun, by the way.) The Post Office is HUGE! We had to wait in line awhile, but finally got our 5 packages of souvenirs mailed home.

After hooking back up with the girls, we went to dinner at Ollie’s Noodle Shop. (Recommended by Juliana. Must thank her.) Good Chinese food. Next it was off to the Gershwin for...WICKED!!

Now, we saw the show in Denver, but this time...wow!!! My 1st Broadway show. I started to cry when the Overture started. (I’m pathetic, I know.) I wish I could have been sitting more center, but I did have a good show. Eden Espinosa and Megan Hilty were Elphaba and Glinda. Both were totally amazing. The same guy we saw as Fiyero on the tour was in the show. He’s really good. The highlight was that Madame Morrible was played by Carol Kane and the Wizard was played by Ben Vereen. So cool!!!! The entire show was just amazing. It’s a wonderful show to begin with, but on Broadway – HOLY CRAP!

When the show ended (and I destroyed a kleenex with my crying), Shauna and I went to the Stage Door. We met Derrick, the guy playing Fiyero. He was really nice. We talkeda bout how he liked Denver. Then we met Eden Espinosa. Surreal moment for me when she thought she knew me. She said “Now, I’ve met you before, right?” When I told her no, she said I must look like someone she knew. Totally weird!!! Then we met Megan Hilty. She was really cool. It was FREEZING outside then, so we left.

We got on the wrong train and had to get off after one stop. Whoops, my bad! We finally got on the right train, but we had to wait awhile. We missed the 11:30 ferry by less than 10 minutes and had to take the midnight one. It’s about a 20 minute ride. Then we were going to take two taxis to the house, but this one cabbie said we could fit all 6, and we did!! Crazy!

All in all, a great day, despite the cold wind. Tomorrow promises to be just as good!