New York Get A Way

Okay my flight left at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday night. Don't know why it was considered first class because it was seriously the most uncomfortable seat. I couldn't get it to recline and I got NO sleep. It took me to Charlotte, NC where I had an hour layover and then on to Newark, NJ for another two hour flight. This flight WAS first class, and at least I managed to get 2 hours of sleep because as soon as my plane landed at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday morning it was go, go, go!

Court picked me up at the airport and then we headed to his hotel (that he had been staying at since Tuesday) just so I could "freshen" up a bit and then we immediately headed out for Liberty State Park--which is on the New Jersey side of the harbour. From here we got on the ferry that took us to Ellis Island and then onto the Statue of Liberty. The whole day was insanely windy--as you can see by my hair. We climbed stair after stair after stair until we reached the top---or as close to the top that is possible right now. Due to safety regulations we were not allowed to actually climb the spiral staircase that takes you to the top of her crown. Our guide said that they are thinking about opening it back up soon.

Can you see the Manhattan skyline in the background?This was called the old fort and was how you exited the statue of liberty. Really cool old rickety stairs.

After the Statue of Liberty we took the ferry over to the New York side of the harbor where it dropped us off at Battery Park. From here we stayed on the southern end of Manhattan exploring the financial district and south street seaport. We saw the NYSE and the Brooklyn Bridge near Pier 17 and what visibility we could see of the once World Trade Center. This whole first day we stayed "above" ground using our own two feet as our mode of transportation.

We had a little bit of a hiccup when it came time to head back to Liberty State Park. It took us forever to find North Cove where we could catch a water taxi that would take us back to Liberty State Park where our car was parked. Once the taxi dropped us off in the marina, Court decided to make a run for the car. He must have been leaping like a gazelle as he gracefully made his way across the parking lot, because when we had made it all the way back to the hotel and showered and got ready for a long nights sleep, we discovered that his wallet was nowhere to be seen! We back tracked the rest of the night searching hotel parking lots and the entire Liberty State Park in the freezing wind and rain TO NO AVAIL. The wallet could not be found. We left phone numbers with every place we had been, just hoping and praying that some good samaritan would actually turn it in, but realistically began the painful process of cancelling and putting holds on every card that was in that wallet.

The next morning we took a shuttle back to the Newark airport where we then took a train into Manhattan where we would stay for the duration of our trip. The train took us to Penn Station where we hopped on the subway and headed for TIMES SQUARE. We were to early to check in yet, but we dropped off our luggage at our hotel--the Courtyard Marriott Times Square South. Miracle of Miracles we got a call that the wallet had been found by a maintenance worker--minus the cash that had been in it, but everything else was in tact! Unfortunately we wasted most of this day heading back to North Cove to take a water taxi back the Liberty State Park, just to pick up the wallet and hop right back on the taxi back to Battery Park. Then our weekend finally began.

It was pretty much pizza the whole weekend, but our very first stop was to Lombardi's in SOHO. Yum, yum. The best pizza by far of the whole trip. Courtney could not get over the tiny, tiny, very, very, old bathroom that of course due his OCD could not use, but he at least had to get a good look at. We walked around SOHO a bit, but then headed back uptown to TKTS in order to buy tickets for Little Mermaid that night. We finally could check into out hotel and both immediately crashed for a little nap before heading out for the evening.

We saw The Little Mermaid. I was disappointed, but Court enjoyed it. The boy who played Flounder was amazing, the way they made it look like they were swimming was pretty cool, it was neat to see Sherie Rene Scott as Ursula, but I do have to say that King Tritan was cree--ee--py! Lots of new music was added to the original score of the cartoon, so it was nice to actually have Prince Eric sing. Our visibility on our seats was horrible and the theater felt like a high school auditorium. Definitely not the NY Broadway experience I wanted for Courtney, but he doesn't know any better and I think he really enjoyed it. After the show we hoofed it over to Carnegie Deli for "the experience". Hello ROAST BEEF! I cannot believe we did not take a picture of the plate of meat, er, sandwich that Court ordered. The cheesecake was okay, the establishment did not live up to the hype I had heard. --sorry Chris!

Saturday morning we got up @ 5:00 a.m. to go stand in line for SNL tickets at the Rockefeller Center. (Bear in mind that that would be 2:00 a.m. Arizona time.) We were given our ticket #'s of 64 and 65 and were told that there might be a chance that we could make it into the 8:00 final dress rehearsal. We were already there so we meandered around 30 Rockefeller Plaza and did the NBC Studio tour as well. We wanted to do Top of the Rock, but it was raining the WHOLE weekend and there was no visibility--bummer!

Do you see the Rainbow Room sign in the distance? Yeah that is where the front of the line was!

Pheww! Glad that's over!

Have I mentioned that I LOOOOVE Heroes!

Court in front of Rockefeller Plaza

This is right across from where they record the Today show every morning!

After we finished the NBC experience we headed up 5th avenue towards Central Park. On the short walk from 50th to 60th street, we passed FAO Schwartz, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Trump Tower, H&M and all sorts of designer shops. Court was utterly amazed by Central Park. Because of the rain there was hardly any body there, but it was still so amazing to step out of the hubbub of the city into the serenity of the park.

A shot in front of St.Patrick's from across the street.

Court just got FIRED!

In front of Bethesda Fountain

Bridge overlooking "the pond". I thought that the buildings disappearing into the mist was cool! I did mention it was raining ALL weekend right????

After Central Park we headed to Greenwich Village near NYU to John's Pizzeria. Along the lines of Lombardi's but not near as yummy. After lunch Court wanted to see Madison Square Garden. A hockey game was just starting while we were walking around, and it was frightening to watch the scalpers in action. I seriously thought a guy was gonna get beat up if he didn't buy from the guy. The Empire State Building was close by, so even though we knew there would no visibility, we still wanted to see it and take the escalator up. Just like Central Park it was almost eerie how there weren't any people ANYWHERE! Just a bunch of ropes where people should be standing in line. I guess we were the only ones brave enough to just walk around in the rain and deal with it. My hair did pay the price the whole weekend I must say.

After being warned to expect disappointment, Court's luck pulled through and we did manage to get in on the 8:00 SNL show. I was a lot of fun. They do quite a few more skits than the official live performance, and the actors break character and joke around with each other and the audience alot more than the live performance. After the show we headed back to Times Square where I am sad to admit that we ate at the Olive Garden. We had made a pact to try and NOT eat anywhere that we could at home, but alas, it was late, we didn't want the Carnegie Deli experience again, and I had a $50 gift card on me! They sat us up on the third level by the glass wall, and it was so fun to see Time Square and all the people just getting out of their Broadway Shows laid out down below.

Sunday morning Court actually let us sleep in til 8:00. Court headed out on his maiden solo journey on the subway all the way up to the Bronx in order to see the old Yankee Stadium while I wandered around Time Square and did some shopping for the kids. We met up at Grand Central Station and headed down to Greenwich Village again for the famous Papaya Grays Hot Dogs. Not sure what they were famous for since I couldn't handle more than one bite of Courts hot dog and could not finish my Papaya Drink, but at least it was located close to Waverly Place, so we got some great shots for our baby girl.

I had a matinee and an evening show lined up for the rest of my day, while Court watched football. Tale of Two Cities was my matinee and it was AMAZING! I balled my eyes out. My friend Stephen Gruse lives in Manhattan and I had heard that he was working on Grease. The theater for Tale of Two Cites was literally around the corner, so I stopped by the theater just to see if by chance we has working. Luckily for me he was as I was able to chat with him for a little bit. I forgot to get the camera out. Before the evening show, Court walked with me through Times Square on his way to yet another pizza joint and I begged him to take the shot of Hiro from Heroes in Time Square! My evening show was Spamalot. Clay Aiken was starring as Sir Robin, and the show was so, so funny, but it did not hold a candle to Tale of Two Cities. Did I mention that I used my discount website and got 5th row center for Tale and 3rd row center for Spam? At Tale of Two Cities I was even sitting next to one of the Producers' of the show and she invited me backstage after the performance.

Just me and the knights of the round table!

Monday morning we got up and slowly worked our way back to the Newark airport to catch our 10:00 flight. We managed to take this horrible picture on our way out, just to prove where we stayed!

We had sooo much fun. This was my third trip to NY, but it was Court's first. Anytime I have ever gone it has always been, shows, shows, and more shows, so it was fun to do the touristy thing. I don't even think the kids missed us because when I picked the kids up from school on Monday I thought they would be so excited to see me, and the first thing out of Laetner's mouth was "Hey, where's Alecia?" ....ahhh well.