NYC!!

The good news is: 1) I am alive and well writing this right now, meaning that I survived a weekend in NYC with Billea and Cassie and 2) I did not loose any shoes! So I Friday morning I got up and drove to the Franconia-Springfield metro station, left my car there, and headed into the city to catch my bus to NYC . After a long (and ugly!) bus ride through several states, I made it to the city where the bus dropped me off a few blocks from our hotel where Cassie and Billea had just checked in. I got there and we immediately went to Junior’s (a Brooklyn restaurant famous for their cheesecake) where we got dinner and carrot cake cheesecake and devil’s food cheesecake. Best cheesecake I’ve ever eaten in my life! After that we walked around Times Square for a little while then headed to see what tickets were available for 9 to 5 that night. Turns out there were three seats together in the center of the fourth row and we decided to splurge because who knows when we’ll ever be back there again! The show was hilarious and it was the original cast since it just opened in April—Dad, I definitely recommend we go see it if it ever goes on tour.

Saturday morning we got up and prepared for a day of shopping—we hit up Chinatown, Century 21, 5th Avenue, and some stores around Grand Central Station too before we headed in to rest for a while. We decided we wanted to see another show, so this time we got in the tkts line since it was shorter than on Friday and got half price tickets to see Mary Poppins that night. We got hot dogs and pretzels from a street vendor then changed and headed to the show, which was also really great. As far as Broadway spectacle goes with big dance numbers, fancy costumes and set pieces, and good special effects, Mary Poppins had it all, so we were really glad we decided to see both shows and get a taste of two different types of musicals. We headed to get food and dessert after the show and then went to a place called the Mad Fiddler where we met a group of charming Irishmen who we danced with into the wee hours of the morning, especially considering that Cassie and Billea had to get up at 7 to share a cab to the airport/back to St. John’s University where Cassie is staying. They got up and headed out while I got to sleep in a little while longer before getting up and wandering around Times Square for a little while and then heading to catch my bus back to D.C. Another fast and furious weekend, but so much fun! Did I mention that we went the whole weekend without a map or guidebook? We wanted to see if we could do it, so we just used our Southern charm and Texas twang to make friends wherever we went (which we were very surprised about since we thought everyone in NY was supposed to be very unfriendly!) and were very successful and never got lost!