The Wonderful World of MorPRi

Stef, John, and I started our journey early early early Friday morning. Yay mimosas at 35,000 feet! We had pretty good luck with the flights to New York, with a slight delay in Chicago. No matter. More time to make a phone call, and enjoy the sunshine and sandwiches. The delay made for a rush to get to Broadway, but we made it in time to see Macbeth. Absolutely phenomenal! Plus a million points to John for getting a hotel that is 25 minutes walking distance to everywhere!

Saturday we pretended to be tourists. While walking for what felt like forever, we took a lot of pictures, and saw as much as we could before heading back to Broadway for The Lion King. After our breakfast at the Viennese (Vietnamese??) deli, we "lost" the Chrysler building, ran away from Grand Central Station, climbed the lions at the library, and waited in a ridiculously long line at the Empire State building. Thinking we wanted to take the Staten Island Ferry, we hopped on the subway, and due to garbled directions over the intercom, we missed our stop. The "R" train promptly got booed. Minus a million points. Well, at least I've now been to Brooklyn. Mr. Softy ice cream and my picture with John in Battery Park made up for the subway incident I think.

As our hotel was within reasonable walking distance to the theatre, we decided to walk to The Lion King. I was able to stop by Radio City Music Hall and get my picture taken there, as I had promised to my mom. We encountered large groups of people shortly afterwards, and thinking we may be late, we hurried down the street. It was only after reaching the corner across from the theatre that I realized where we were going. Times Square. On a Saturday. It made for a hard decision for dinner after the show, but the price of the bill at TGIFriday's was not too much of a shock after a few Long Island Iced teas. Ooops.

Unfortunately it rained most of Sunday afternoon and evening, so our playing tourist game was cut short after 5th Ave, FAO Schwarz, and Central Park with its amazing carousel (Whee!!!). Best two bucks I spent! We braved the subway to Little Italy for dinner and got off at the right stop. John had a ridiculous dinner, Stef had a "gelatto", and I was soaked from the rain. We ended up back at the hotel and racked up another large large booze bill at the bar.....then took our party down the street to the drugstore (chocolate covered peanuts?! who needs those??), and finally back to our hotel room. Oh my liver. I am still curious to know what sort of German ramblings were said to me. I love my furnace. ♥

To recover from Sunday we walked to the UN Building, enjoyed the scenery, and then hailed a cab to a pier on the opposite side of Manhattan. As we decided not to take the Staten Island ferry, we instead boarded a sightseeing ferry while the weather was still cooperating. Lots of pictures were taken, as we had a great view of downtown Manhattan, Ground Zero, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty. Good times. We still had much to accomplish, so after disembarking we walked back to Times Square to again brave the subway. A few stops later we found ourselves at Ground Zero looking for the memorial site....not realizing that recently the city of New York moved it some 40 blocks away where we had been earlier in the afternoon. Instead of retracing our steps, we carried on to the Brooklyn bridge where I had vowed I was going to walk across. I was not going to let my tired, sore, and swollen ankles get the best of me. I had walked too far over the last few days to be beaten by this bridge. I am proud to say that Stef, John, and I walked across to Brooklyn.......and then back to Manhattan! Yay us! This called for a celebratory dinner back in Little Italy with authentic New York pizza, cannoli, tirimisu, and of course, Tuscan wine. Whee!!!! Stef and I made John proud by sharing 3 bottles between the two of us. Apparently we took the elevator down to the subway (?) and neither Stef nor I remember going through the turnstiles.....osmosis maybe??? Oh my liver. Sorry about getting to bed early, John.

Unfortunately Tuesday came around, which meant time to go home. Too bad our plans for "missing the flight" didn't work out. But first, what is a visit to New York without shopping?? A walk to Macy's was a must, along with the occasional side trip to a souvenir shop. I think Stef and I could have spent many more hours in Macy's, but alas, we had to be back at the hotel. Thank goodness Stef was able to hail down a cab, otherwise we really would have missed our flights for serious, and would have been soaked to the bone along with our purchases. It didn't occur to us how far away we walked until we hurried to get back.

*sigh* yes, we had to be back. We were all so tired, and yet needed to be back to reality. I had a fantastic time, even though we were incredibly busy. It may not seem like it would have been relaxing, but somehow it turned out to be that way. Very relaxing.