Here goes enjoy. ....
As the author I have the right to tell you what I want to
and therefore im going to muck up the timeline a little and tell you about my
trip to New York before I tell you about Becks and my road trip to visit the
witches. Not that that isn’t worth telling you about, it is currently a work in
progress but I am still buzzing from my New York trip and therefore feel the
need to tell you about it right away.
I hadn’t planned on coming to New York again, Cathy and I
came here for Easter a few years ago and it was such a good trip I didn’t feel
the need to come again but I needed to break up my trip to Boston from DC and
so New York was a good stop.
Last time we didn’t make it to Broadway, it wasn’t Cathy’s
thing and I wasn’t going to drag her along (even though I do keep telling her
she will love it!) so that was my aim this time. I also didn’t get to go to m&m world last
time so that was going to be a little bonus.
It didn’t start off too well… 6.15 am alarm at Beckas place
in DC I had planned my bus time to correspond with her work time, and then a
fire alarm at Union station which was evacuating everyone as we arrived. We had
no idea where the Bus stop was, and I was amazed at how calm Becka was about it
until she informed me I still had an hour till my bus left!
They let us all back in after about 15 min, bustop found, we
grabbed breaky and then Becka headed off to work .
I sat with Gina and her mum who were heading off to New York
to catch up with a family friend and have a girly weekend looking at wedding
dresses and heading to Broadway. So Gina and I chatted while mum rested
preparing for the big weekend.
We weren’t sure we were going to get the alive, there wasn’t
all that much resting going on as the driver was very quick on his horn, just
barrelling through the traffic expecting them to get out of his way. He would
honk his horn and shake his finger at them assuming they could see him telling
them off I guess and we would all jump a mile.
We got there safe and sound and on time, totally against
Beckas predictions.
I headed to my Hotel, after the initial shock of the size of
the room wore off, I realised its charms and how fun it was. I was staying at
The Jane, a hotel on the edge of the river based on a ship. I was staying in a
Standard Cabin. So there was my bunk or
berth if that’s the correct term and not much else! It was a shared bathroom,
kinda like a single room in a hostel but with a lot of added extras like… water
in a bottle, room service, TV and after awhile I even found a dressing gown,
towels and slippers stowed away in the shelving. (As I left I also found the ipod dock Damn it.
)
There was room to stow my bag under the bed, in case of high
seas, and to make sure I had some floor
room.
The corridor was dark and small like the corridor in a ship
with the main doors having portholes, even the taps in the showers were little
helms.
I loved it. I stowed
my bag and headed up to Times Square to hopefully get my tickets to Evita.
Having looked into it and almost buying a ticket previously but not being able
to choose my seat I was meant to ring them when I arrived in US. I forgot. I was resigned to getting the back
row.
Becka had suggested using the last min ticket booth in Times
Square, like in leister square in
London, and I was hoping to get a ticket through them.
Times Square blows me away everytime I see it, and the
people so many people.
I was handed a brochure to Sister Act and the lady said I
could buy it straight from the box office that they were open all day. Maybe
just maybe the Evita office was open, but I hadn’t done my research and had no
idea where on Broadway Evita was playing.
I had decided on Evita as one I hadn’t seen it and two I felt
it was a traditional Broadway musical, it was Andrew Lloyd Webber, not one of
these new modern things. My back up plan
was Lion King just to go against everything I just said!
So I started wandering up Broadway and low and behold, the
first theatre I see is playing Evita, right there on Times Square. Box office is open and they have tickets
without the $40 booking fee the website was going to charge me! They don’t do
last min tickets, they are the same price all the time. So I buy my ticket then
realise that the money I had saved on the booking fee, well I had been prepared
to pay that so why not upgrade from the pauper seats to a better seat. He
assures me that there is hardly any difference between upper mezzanine and lower
as it’s a smaller theatre and its not worth the extra cash, im thinking maybe
he just didn’t want the hassle of changing my ticket. But I believe him and I leave with the biggest
grin on my face.
People had been in there asking about the last min tickets. If there was still a chance of getting them
from the outlet and how much they could get off. I had decided that waiting for at least an
hour in the line was not worth it on my limited time schedule, I had already
budgeted (the tiny little bit of budgeting I do on a trip) for this and I would
much rather enjoy new york.
Next stop some food. I had read about a gorgeous little Italian
place that I really wanted to visit. It was back down in a neighbouring area to
where I was staying. It was great to see
another part of town,
I walked through Washington Park Square. It was teeming with all sorts of people, old,
poor, suits and lots of young people. There was a homeless fellow feeding pigeons,
there was even one standing on his head. A young boy was asking if he could
feed them too and so the fellow gave him some seeds. As I walked past a little
old lady was walking away, saying goodbye to the birdman. She still had a white
pigeon sitting in the crook of her arm.
And someone addressed her by name and asked her if she was taking that
one with her.
There were bands set up all over the park busking. Most of
them talking to what were obviously regular visitors.
There were even a group of young people practicing a dance
routine. Everyone was out enjoying the good weather. As I exited the other side
I stumbled upon New York University, which explained all the young people in
the park.
The restaurant was a fair walk but definitely worth it! I shouted myself a main, desert with a glass of wine and after all that food an expresso so I wouldn’t fall asleep in the show! Figured I could seeing as I had saved myself that money on the booking fee!
My waiter asked me if I had saved a little room for desert
which I thought was really sweet, until I heard him say the same lime to the
group of guys sitting near me.
I wandered home to where I had an hour to get ready, so I
doled myself up even put on some heels so I looked respectable. The one thing I
hate is how people no longer dress up for the theatre. It’s a tradition I
really feel should never have been let slide.
It was no use having got doled up as by the time I had
walked to the tube I was a mess anyway! It is soooo muggy in New York.
The fellow at the box office had been speaking true when he
said it was not worth the extra for the lower mezzanine seat. It was a small
theatre and modern so I had no heads in the way and could see the whole stage.
After taking in Times Square at night I started to head
home, until a lady walked past carrying an m&m’s gift bag. I cant believe I
almost forgot to go to m&m world I’ve been talking about that for weeks!
I didn’t really have to search very hard for it I just
followed the huge screen showing m&m snippets.
   |
| Ive put in a request to Santa for this for christmas |
I then jumped in a cab just like in a movie and headed home.
I was surprised the cabbie knew my hotel until I arrived and found out there was
a night club in the basement, but I couldn’t hear a thing from my room. I was
home by midnight just like Cinderella. Promised myself id get up very early to
make sure I made the most of my time… well we will see how that went.
2 comments:
I knew you would enjoy the play. So jealous of you seeing Ricky Martin live.
Sounds like a blast!
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