So, my trip to New York City. This will be a long entry... I'm just sayin'....
I got on the road a little after 9 AM. The forecasters had promised a beautiful day, but it was still a bit overcast and foggy. But by the time I arrived in the city, all the clouds were gone and it was gorgeous. I hit some traffic just outside the city, but that was no surprise. I still made it there within the time frame my Google Maps directions had predicted. The drive was so easy--the directions were simple and even though I was nervous about driving in and around the city, it was a piece of cake. As I turned on 48th Street, I squealed a little, because I knew I only had a couple blocks to go, and I had done it--I'd driven there all alone without getting lost or freaking out.
I parked in the garage we always park in when we go to the city--the one at the Crowne Plaza. I knew it was near my hotel, but I had no idea how close they were--my hotel was literally steps away from the parking garage. After parking (and texting Tony to tell him I'd arrived), I went to the hotel. I had requested early check-in, but they'd told me they couldn't guarantee that. But I knew I could leave my overnight bag with them, so I intended to do at least that. One lady started checking me in, and when I asked about the early check-in, she said nothing was available yet. Then she took a phone call and another lady continued checking me in, and suddenly announced that a room was indeed ready for me. So by noon, I was in my room.
I was more than impressed with the room--it was absolutely adorable, and clean and spacious, and just fantastic. I snapped a couple pics with my BlackBerry (didn't bring a real camera)--they're fuzzy, but you get the idea. (And just so you know, the only pictures I took were of my room. Sorry if that disappoints any of you.)
My bed. Now that I think about it, I'm trying to figure out if that's a king-size bed. I had only reserved a room with a queen-size bed, so I'm wondering if they upgraded me without telling me. Anyway, it doesn't matter. That bed was SO comfortable.
This was the desk beside the bed. I love the little cards hanging on the mirror.
A shot of the bathroom--very cute shelving. They provided a lot of amenities--shampoo and conditioner, like you'd expect, but also lotion and mouthwash.
I was amused that there was a phone in the bathroom, which made for a total of 3 phones in this little room (one on the desk and one on a nightstand beside the bed).
I didn't take pictures, but there was also a flat-screen plasma TV mounted on the wall, and a minibar.
After dumping off my bag, I headed out to hit the city. This is a crap picture, but I was fascinated with this... there was a mirrored wall right by the elevators in my hotel, and there was a little teeny TV embedded in the wall. The volume was really low, so I couldn't hear it, but I just thought it was the neatest thing. Yes, I am easily impressed.
Anyway, like I said, I headed outside. I knew I wanted to get in line for the TKTS booth around 2 (it opens at 3), so I didn't stray too far from the Times Square area. In my wanderings, I found a huge Barnes and Noble, and killed some time in there. I swear, I could spend hours in that store. But I didn't want to be cooped up inside on such a beautiful day. I finally settled on 2 books I've been dying to read and then headed to the TKTS booth. I was almost too hot standing there in the sun--that's what a perfect day it was. I read in line, trying not to get my hopes up about getting a ticket, since the line was pretty long.
While I was waiting in line, a Barack Obama look-alike (complete with a couple "Secret Service" companions) started hanging out around the booth. He ended up drawing quite a crowd--people were getting their pictures taken with him and even getting his autograph. That amused me--I don't know who those people thought they would fool with their pictures.
When the booth opened and I finally got up to the window, I couldn't decide between
Mamma Mia! and
Guys and Dolls so I ended up asking the guy which one was cheaper. When he told me
Mamma Mia! was, my decision was made. I got my ticket, forked over my $62, and headed on my way. I ended up going back to the hotel to drop off my books and my jacket, and it wasn't until I got there that I thought to peek at the ticket and see what seat I got. I was thrilled to see I'd gotten a seat in the 6th row!
After ditching my jacket, I was back on the NYC streets again, just walking and walking and walking. I never did end up getting lunch--all I wanted to do was walk and enjoy the gorgeous day. I ended up at the Disney Store in 5th Avenue, where I got a couple NYC-themed souvenirs for Ari, and of course I had to stop by the NBC Experience Store in Rockefeller Center. I also stopped in various stores here and there whenever the mood struck me. I made my way up to Central Park, but despite my plan to camp out there and read, I just kept walking. I was in the mood to just keep moving, moving, moving.
I absolutely loved walking the city alone. It was nice not to have to wait on anyone else, to get dragged into stores or places I didn't really want to see, or to feel bad about asking to stop anywhere. I mean, don't get me wrong--it's lots of fun to see the city with friends. But it was so nice to have the freedom to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Plus, I loved strutting the streets like I owned the place.
Sometime mid-afternoon, I realized I was hungry. I considered the idea of getting an early dinner somewhere, to beat the rush, but nothing struck my fancy. I ended up getting a giant slice of pizza somewhere, but after a couple bites of that, I was done with it. It was kind of strange--I would have thought all that fresh and air and walking would have made me ravenous, but I couldn't muster up much of an appetite. I just wanted to go, go, go. And I think, somehow, the cheapskate in me took over, and I just didn't feel like forking over a bunch of money for a big dinner. So I guess that was the one thing I didn't get to do--treat myself to a nice dinner. But that's fine--it was my own choice.
I stopped back in my room before the show, and saw that they had given me "turn-down service"--the covers on the bed were pulled down and the pillows nicely arranged. Oh I forgot to mention, too--when I first arrived in the room, they had turned the radio on (a nice Bose stereo system) to a local station. I turned it off when I left the room, but they turned it back on when they did the turn-down service. I thought that was a nice touch.
And I discovered this on my nightstand...
I know it's blurry, but it says, "We wish you a good night and pleasant dreams. To better prepare you for your day tomorrow, the weather outlook is:" And they checked off the little rain cloud and wrote in the forecasted high and low temps. Again, another nice touch.
I've got to tell you, I was so impressed with the hotel. There were all these nice little luxurious extras that I'm not used to--the robes, the newspaper, the TV, etc. But even more than that, the staff was fantastic. When I was checking in, like I mentioned, the first lady checking me in had to take a phone call, so another lady continued checking me in. And when she did that, another man, who hadn't even been dealing with me, leaned over just to say, "Thank you for your patience." I shrugged it off and told him it was no problem--I mean, to me, I hadn't been waiting at all, but I loved that they were so concerned with customer service. The hotel even had a doorman--I've never stayed in a hotel with a doorman. I felt so spoiled and important, having someone hold the door for me every time I came and went, who would smile and wish me a good day.
Finally, it was time for
Mamma Mia!. I joined the huge line outside the theater, waiting to get in, and called Tony and Ari while I waited. I knew Ari was about to go to bed, so I wanted to wish her a good night. We only chatted for a few moments and then the crowd started moving. An usher showed to my seat--I was about 8 seats away from the outer aisle, but it was still a fantastic seat. I glanced through the Playbill while I waited. One of the actresses, Brandi Burkhardt (playing the role of Sophie), caught my eye. It was her name more than her face that seemed familiar, and when I read her bio, it hit me. I don't know if any of you ever watched the soap "Passions" but I used to love that show--and this girl was the one who had played Siren. I thought it was kind of cool to see someone I "knew."
The show itself was awesome. The only "problem" with my seat was that I was right in front of a set of speakers, so sometimes the background music drowned out the singers--but it wasn't really a problem for me, since I knew most of the songs anyway. I've never seen the Broadway show, but I've seen (and love!) the movie. The show had a few more songs than the movie version did, and some of them were in a different order than in the movie. Plus, there were other things that were different--like the way songs were used. If you've seen both the play and the movie, you'll understand what I mean. Anyway, like I said, the show was amazing--and I think one of the favorite parts was after the curtain call. They all took their bows, but then ended up singing 3 more songs--2 that they'd already done in the show, plus another one (if you've seen the movie, it was that song they do during the end credits).
By the time I got out of the theater, it was about 10:30, and I didn't feel like going back to my room just yet. So I joined the massive crowd of people crawling through Times Square. And what do you know... I found myself at a Coldstone on 42nd Street. (OK, fine, I might have looked that up beforehand. Shut up.) As I got in line, I asked the guy in front of me if this was the end of the line (standard question, right?) and he seemed to take that as an invitation to talk to me the entire rest of the time we were in line. I finally took to just ignoring him, since he was totally getting on my nerves.
It was another long, slow walk back to my room, simply because of the massive crowd of people in the Times Square area. Once I got to my room, I kicked off my shoes (my feet were KILLING me at this point), and then all my clothes, donned one of the complimentary bathrobes...
...and settled on the bed with the TV remote and my melting ice cream. When I was done the ice cream, I took a nice steamy shower, put the robe back on, and crawled back into bed for the night.
For some reason, I slept horribly that night. I kept waking up every hour or so, and I'm not sure why. I had figured out at one point that my room was right next to the elevator shaft, which meant I could hear the "whoosh"ing sound of the elevator all the time. But other than that, there wasn't a lot of "city noise" in the background or anything... and even if there was, I'm not one who's usually bothered by noise when I'm trying to sleep, since I usually sleep like a rock. Anyway, I got to sleep in the next day, so it really didn't matter.
Another nice touch... I had a copy of that day's New York Times waiting outside my door for me on Friday morning.
I took my time getting ready on Friday morning, because I knew I didn't have much time before I needed to check out, and because it was a gross rainy day which wouldn't be great for walking around. When I finally did venture out, I was a little surprised to see just how hard it was raining. Of course I'd forgotten my umbrella, and I was too cheap to buy one, so I sucked it up and just got wet. I had one place I knew I wanted to go right before I left--the Magnolia Bakery, just a few blocks from my hotel. I had been there on Thursday and wanted to go back and get something for Tony. I made my purchase, scurried back to the hotel, and prepared to leave. Checking out was really easy and quick, which was good, since I wanted to pick up my car before the 24-hour mark passed and I got charged even more money for parking.
And so I picked up my car and bid farewell to my beloved New York City. I had no problems getting myself out of the city and finding my way back to the major highways I needed. But the rain matched my mood perfectly--I always feel so sad when I have to leave NYC and this time in particular, I felt even more reluctant to say goodbye. Here's hoping it won't be too long until I can pay that lovely city another visit.
But to end on a positive note here... this trip was absolute perfection, in every sense of the word. All the things I'd worried about were, as I'd suspected, no big deal. I did everything I wanted to do, I saw what I wanted to see, I didn't get lost or mugged or killed, and I felt confident and happy and amazing the whole time. I told Tony this was definitely something I could see myself doing again... a yearly tradition, perhaps? Hey, I can dream...
