The Big Apple

My dear friend Amy just happened to get to come to New York for a conference. Friday, after her conference ended, I went and met her down in NYC. It was a rather long greyhound bus ride, then I rode the subway uptown to our hotel. We had a private room, but shared baths. It was a little chilly, as they hadn't turned on the heater yet... and the A/C unit was still in the window letting in a draft... and it was the first cold weekend of the year. Brrrr! Luckily they turned it on after that first night. I had to buy a cute scarf (for $5!), because I'd been spoiled by the lingering warm weather and was not prepared. Saturday, we got a late start, after finally tearing ourselves away from the warm blankets. Amy found a fun little cafe for breakfast. I love eating out for breakfast, especially eggs, hash browns and bacon. Amy is imitating the cute Halloween bat cookies.We wandered down to Times Square, then entered the Wicked lottery. Unfortunately, we did not win... ... but saw The Fantastiks instead, which is the world's longest running musical, showing since 1960. I wasn't quite expecting the small, small stage and no orchestra, but still found it fun. They pull all of the props out of a magic box, and there are just a few characters, one of which is the wall (the actor holds out a stick over which the characters talk). Miss Amy manages to make friends everywhere, including at the play. Afterwards, we had a little time so we explored St. Patrick's Cathedral, then shopped a little on 5th Avenue (Amy almost walked into a mirror, but stopped herself in time, unlike in Jerusalem).


That evening we went to a Russian Turkish bath. A friend that was in the Berkshire's the weekend before mentioned he would be in NYC at the same time, so we met up. It was so relaxing to sit in the hot, hot rooms... one of which had aromatherapy peppermint. After getting so hot, you either dump a bucket of freezing cold water over your head, or go jump into a pool of freezing cold water. I held out as long as I could every time. I was able to speak a little Russian with some of the workers and even got to eat some blini (yummy Russian pancakes, more like crepes) in their cafe. Mmm-mmm. I definitely slept soundly that night.Sunday, we tried to go to church at the church attached to the temple. The building, however, is under renovation and the wards were moved to other buildings. At least we got to see the temple. The first time I went to the Manhatten temple, they hadn't put up the angel Moroni yet. We ended up going to church in Harlem. They assign someone to sit in the foyer of the building to keep away drunks. It was a good meeting though, and nice people there.Amy had said she would be happy to just see musicals all weekend, so that is basically what we did. We loved The Little Mermaid. The actors wore roller shoes so they could glide around the stage like they were swimming. The costumes and scenery were incredible, they transitioned from land to water seamlessly. We did have dinner in Planet Hollywood... here I am with Ferris Bueller's "devastatingly handsome" sweater vest.We weren't sure which one last play we waned to see, so we asked the guy at the information desk. He informed us that is was closing night of Legally Blonde, so we of course chose that one. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy the play, but it was actually quite fun. The audience was enthusiastic... the groups around us sounded like they'd all seen it a few times... so there was a lot of cheering and clapping. The lead was Bailey Hanks, who actually won the role as part of an MTV show called The Search for Elle Woods. The next morning, I missed my bus. even though I was there so early... at 4:30 a.m. There wasn't anybody working that early, and that one bus I was supposed to be on left from a different gate... and nobody bothered to tell me. I got home really late and to work even later, because the next bus didn't leave for another *sigh* three hours. Oh well... it was a fun weekend and really good to spend time with Amy.