NYC Day 2 – October 24th: Evening Post

Rain, rain, rain.

It wasn’t too bad this afternoon. There were moments where it would sprinkle, then stop, then a few minutes later, downpour. Then, a few minutes after that, nothing. Figured the Yankees/Angels game would be good to go.

One thing that has not changed about New York is the craptastic weekend train schedule. We walked to the A-C line to find that it was running express. Unsure if the shuttle was free or not (our Metro cards were only good for the subway since the greedy MTA made some evil changes to the pricing structure), we walked over to the 1. Feels weird to not say 1-9 =( RIP 9 train. Anyway. Took that down to 42nd St which took FOREVER.

We had lunch with J at Joshua Tree in midtown. I missed that Asian chicken salad SO much. YUM! After talking for a bit, we parted ways, and got in line at TKTS.

We got three tickets to “Superior Donuts” which K was seeing with us. From there, Rie and I headed to Starbucks to get some caffeine and make a plan of attack for Sunday. We left there to head to the box offices of a few different theatres to inquire about rush policies and other ticket-related questions. LOVE the Shubert organization’s LCD screens with the ticket prices in the lobbies – very handy.

After that, we met K at Ollie’s for dinner.

Around this time, it started pouring non-stop. Torrential downpour style. Eek! By the time we reached the Music Box Theatre, we were DRENCHED.

The play was amazing. So much so, I forgot I was sitting there feeling so wet. Michael McKean and Jon Michael Hill were fantastic. I better see some Tony noms there.

After the show, we headed back uptown, excited by the prospect of dry clothes and sleep.

Got one. About to get the other.

Edited: October 24th, 2009

NYC Days 1 & 2 – October 23rd & 24th

NEW YORK TRIP! It finally worked out and we’re HERE!

I am currently sprawled on a bed in Inwood. Friends of Rie (my roommate/friend/travel companion) who crashed with us one night before heading off to a cruise handed Rie the key to their apartment and told us to stay there while they were gone. Who does that?! Really awesome people.

Really awesome people are really how this trip is working at all. We are crashing with various friends throughout the week who are kindly lending us some floor space for luggage and bags and a place to crash. AND I LOVE YOU ALL.

Last night, we flew into JFK and hopped on the shuttle bus to Grand Central ($15!). There was a LOT of traffic, so plans to try and see a show that night were thrown out the window, which we were actually pretty happy about since sitting in a theatre right after sitting on a plane was seeming less and less appealing.

We finally arrived well after 8pm. We, then, walked over to the hotel a friend works at to say hi and change into something less… plane-worn. Heh. After that, we headed up to City Diner on the Upper West Side – our 24 hour diner of choice when we lived up there – and had dinner. Ordering the same appetizer (potato skins!) and meals (BLT and grilled chicken club, trading half of each with each other) we frequently ordered back in the day. Just like coming home.

It was raining like crazy and I was pretty sick of dragging my luggage up and down subway stairs (Rie left hers at the hotel), so we hopped in a cab to Inwood. The cost of taking a cab has increased significantly. The cabs, themselves, have been upgraded. This one had a touch-screen monitor with GPS and news items and all sorts of crazy impressive things. Wow!

We dropped our stuff off, breathed a relieved sigh to be at our first destination, and went out to find some cheap wine to celebrate with. It was probably the worst Merlot I have ever tasted. But it was nice to kick back with a glass of wine and watch some NY1.

We both started fading pretty quickly after that and, after an episode of Friends, started getting ready for bed.

This morning, we had initially planned to get up early, head to TKTS and try to get shows to a matinee, but Rie’s alarm was NOT welcome. We decided to, instead, bail on the matinee and sleep in.

Now that we’re up, we have been productive. Dinner plans had been made last night with K and now we have lunch plans with J. We are going to try to see a show tonight, not sure what yet. We have tickets to “Next to Normal” on Sunday and the rest will be gotten day of.

It’s so great to be back here. It’s weird that it doesn’t feel weird to be here. It felt completely normal to grab a 2 train uptown from 42nd St. To know that we needed to be toward the back of the train for our stop (and because it’s less crowded there). More on that later. Gotta get dressed for lunch!

Edited: October 24th, 2009