for those of you who read the blog this morning this may seem a little different - that's because I went to add in a picture of Central Park and accidentally deleted the whole day's blog!!! So lets start again.
Saturday we had arranged to meet my American Family at the Jekyll & Hyde Club at 4pm, so we decided to not do much in the morning. I had seen an advert for a new show called "Curtains" with Debra Monk, now I am a LONG time fan of Debra Monk, she is Broadway Royalty, it was also by Kander & Ebb also a favourite of mine, so Sarah offered to buy me a ticket for my birthday, we walked over to the theatre and ....you guessed it....waited in line, we managed to get the last two tickets for the Sunday show. I was chuffed!!
We did a little window shopping and having learned our lesson about portion sizes called into a deli and got a sandwich between us, they were still huge, think stacking five M & S sandwiches on top of one another only less bread more filling and you've got it!
Next we went into a store (see got the lingo now) called American Girl ...only in America, it was about three stories, on the first were dolls, dolls outfits, children's outfits to match the dolls, each doll had it's own book and DVD, on the second floor was a theatre where they did live shows and you could take your doll, there was also a cafe that had special seats for you, your offspring and the dolls, finally the third floor had a salon so your child and her doll could get their hair done. Now I know this seems a little over the top but if you saw the faces of those little girls clutching their Molly or Nikki or whoever, it was just priceless. I decided Cara was a bit young for these though, they were almost as big as her.
We called into Tiffany's, walked past all the diamonds with no prices, to the elevator, one elevator was an "express" to the third floor, this is where the silver/costume jewellery lived. I guess they thought that's where most people would go and they were right. We both purchased a little something so we could walk around with the little blue bag. I resisted the urge to ask where we could get breakfast and to hum moon river!!!
Next to FAO Schwartz another huge toy store, there you could make your own doll, thanks to Madame Alexander, you could choose the skin colour, eye colour, hair colour and style, while the assistant zapped the parts in a microwave (or Salon as she told the little girls) and put her together. I decided this option was better for Cara as the dolls were much smaller for her little hands. Alas time was against us so I had to save my creation for another day.
We walked over to the Jekyll & Hyde Club and waited in the bar Adam, Steph & Little Jacob arrived and there were hugs & kisses abound, Mom & Dad had gone through the scary entrance but soon arrived to more hugs & kisses. Adam had chosen Jekyll & Hyde's as Mom's favourite time of year is Halloween and it was really fun, there were Mummy's and Monsters everywhere, things jumping out at you, but Jacob being only three was terrified, so in the end we finished our drinks and went to a baseball themed place, it was much lighter, much quieter, and Jacob was much happier, it worked out well as the food was better, and we could all catch up. After dinner we took a walk to Central Park and went on a carriage ride it was lovely, all too soon it was time for them to leave, saying goodbye as hard, but I knew I would see them again soon.
Foolishly as the night was still young, we walked back to see the lovely Svetlana at the Russian Vodka Room, for a couple more of her lethal Cosmopolitans, this time we managed four, Svetlana then gave us a strawberry infused vodka to finish us off, and finish us off it did..I have NO recollection of how we got back to the Hotel, and poor Sarah spent the night in the bathroom saying goodbye to the Cosmopolitans.
All of a sudden it was Sunday and after a few aspirins and a lot of coffee we decided to walk up to Central Park, we went to Bethesda Fountain, and sat on the edge, it was lovely. One guy had a boom box which I dreaded him turning on, but when he did it played Edith Piaf, which somehow matched the mood and the park. We went back to FAO Schwartz so I could make my creation, pale skin, blue eyes, brown bob, just like Cara. We grabbed lunch took our shopping back to the hotel and went to see "Curtains" now here is where you will have to indulge me a little while I go on about how amazing it was! It was AMAZING, the whole cast were brilliant, as a bonus I saw Karen Ziemba another of my faves also Broadway Royalty, and David Hyde Pierce, fabulous, but Debra Monk was phenomenal, so good in fact it prompted me to write my first ever fan letter at the age of 38, I felt like a teenager when I posted it. It was so good to see an old fashioned, toe tapping, extremely funny, laugh out loud show with fantastic songs, characters and story, so many new musicals are dark and miserable. If there had been an evening show I would have handed over my credit card and watched it again. I hope it comes to London so I can see it again. If you are reading this in USA I urge you to go and see it. After the show we went to The View for a drink, which is a revolving bar/restaurant at the top of the Marriott Marquis, it was lovely, we sat at the window with a cold glass of Sav Blanc and watched the skyline of NYC revolve around us. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.
Monday alas was a bit of a disaster, Sarah had wanted to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art but as it was Memorial day it (and the other museums) were closed. We decided to go Bloomingdale's for a look, personally I hated it, it was a bit like Harrods, it was so big you couldn't find anything, we wandered through floors and floors of stuff, finally got cheesed off and left without buying anything! We took a taxi to Greenwich Village, as everyone had told us how lovely it was, and we arrived at the park which was indeed lovely, but as we walked, maybe in the wrong places, it turned from lovely to seedy. I think maybe you needed to know your way around, we did pay homage to Dylan Thomas in The White Horse, but then swiftly got a taxi up to Little Italy. There was a cheese festival on, so the roads were closed, there were stalls and music and it felt good. We got dinner at Vincents where, judging by all the signed pictures on the wall, so had a lot of famous people. The food was excellent, the banner proudly mentioned they had been in business for 100 years, and I think our waiter was there at the start, as he kept falling asleep at the back, but it only added to the charm, we had a lovely dinner and made our way back to the Hotel. We did call into the "Brewery" couple of doors up for a beer I chose a wheat beer, Sarah said " I would send that back if I were you it's cloudy" I spat beer all over the bar and explained it was supposed to be! We went back to the hotel and began packing ready for the trip home.......hang in there I'm almost done!
Tuesday we grabbed breakfast, finished packing and checked out at 10am our flight wasn't until 9pm so we left our bags and went to check out Grand Central Station, it was beautiful, we would have looked around a little more only both of us needed a restroom, one was out of order and the other had a line that wouldn't have looked out of place in Alton Towers. So we left quickly, and walked very quickly to the Rockefeller Centre where we found relief. It worked out well, where the ice rink is in the winter, they put outdoor dining in the summer, so we sat right by the gold statued fountain, had the most delicious Thai Fish thingy, and, well we had to didn't we a piece of New York Cheesecake. We shopped a little and then stopped in Bryant Park, it was a small park in front of the library, with hundreds of chairs, and in the middle they had newspapers and books you could borrow and sit in the park and read, it was so peaceful, and in the midst of the City. We eventually went back to the Hotel to pick up our bags....and repack all the extra shopping, and made our way home, I know at some point we went to Macy's but I forget when and there are other things I will have forgotten, I am home now exhausted but very happy, it's not the place to go if you want a relaxing time, but I can honestly see why they named it twice, New York really is that good!
Keep Smiling
Marmite Girl xx
No comments:
Post a Comment