On our last full day in NYC, Madison spent the day hanging out with a friend, so Marsha and I had practically a whole day to ourselves. We've actually contemplated staying over another day. The Cats revival just started in previews tonight, but to see it we'll need to spend an extra night. That's because we already have tickets for Something Rotten! for tonight.
I was still a little concerned about the weather and the predicted rain this afternoon. Marsha and I both ended up taking our jackets (neither of which are actually rain coats), which seemed like a dumb idea for most of the day. It was already pretty warm out and only managed to get hotter. Umbrellas might have been a better plan.
We took the subway down to the West Village to another of our favorite places, Ditch Plains (which I've also covered before). Of course, just getting there was a challenge in itself. For some reason, our Metro cards stopped working last night right after we added money to them. The guy in the booth said to try them over and over and finally just let us go through the door.
Ditch Plains is owned by chef and frequent Chopped judge Marc Murphy. We had planned to eat brunch, but they only serve it on the weekends, which is when we usually go. Lunch was still great, though. Which is why Ditch Plains is one of our favorite places.
We'd decided to mark another major item off our list by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. On the way there, we walked through Little Italy and Chinatown. We just love strolling through both of these areas, which are right next to each other. In fact, parts of Chinatown, such as Mott Street, used to be Little Italy. We especially like all of the little shops that display their goods right on the street. Though the smell of fish is a bit strong.
We also did a little movie location scouting. Mott Street was also used for a pivotal scene in The Godfather. Obviously, it looked a lot different back then. Unfortunately, there was a big truck making a delivery, so it was hard to get a good picture.
This building was the location of Genco Olive Oil, Don Corleone's company.
Directly, across the street is the spot where Don Corleone was gunned down (spoiler alert).
We walked down the street a bit and found a spot with some overhead lanterns and other decorations. And there were more delivery trucks blocking the whole street.
But when we walked around them, we realized that they were actually setting up for a film or TV shoot. I asked one of the crew people what it was and he said it was a Marvel show called Kick. I looked it up and found out that Kick is actually the code name for the the upcoming Marvel series, Iron Fist. It fits in with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage.
We walked just a couple of blocks more down to Doyers Street, which is also in Chinatown. It's a small, curved street that looks like something on a Hollywood backlot. It was nicknamed "the Bloody Angle" because of all the Tong battles that took place from 1900 through the 1930s.
From there we hiked just a few more blocks to the Brooklyn Bridge. Marsha thought there wouldn't be very many people there, but it was pretty full. We were also surprised to see sidewalk vendors on the bridge selling water and souvenirs. It had gotten pretty dang hot by this point, so we'd already gotten a big bottle of water to share.
The pedestrian path runs down the center of the bridge and is higher than the traffic lanes on either side. At any point, you can look down and see the cars below. The path is split in two: one side for bicycles and the other for pedestrians. The path up on each side is concrete and is, therefore, the hottest sections.
Once you get up to the highest point, the path turns into wooden slats, like a boardwalk. This was the best part because you get the breeze coming from every direction, including below. That was awesome and a welcome relief from the heat, which was close to 90.
After we reached the other side, we had some debate over just how far we needed to go to say we'd crossed the whole thing before turning back (we're both completionists). We were both cooking from the heat and running out of water. We walked further just to make sure. Once I saw the words "Welcome to Brooklyn" mounted in the concrete, I deemed that far enough.
By the time we made it back up to the top, we were both getting overheated and had to stop for a break. We sat down in the shade at the Brooklyn-side tower. After a short while, we looked at the time and realized that we needed to get going. We had early dinner reservations due to a 7:00pm curtain time.
We hoofed it back across the bridge and down into the subway station at City Hall.
We were both drenched in sweat. And, of course, wehad trouble with our Metro cards again. The guy in the booth told us to just keep trying them over and over. We eventually got through and onto the air-conditioned train. Such a relief!
Now, it was all blue skies and hot as blazes when we got on the subway. But when we came out roughly twenty minutes later, the sky had turned dark and the wind was blowing like crazy. We were only a couple of blocks from the hotel, so we were sure we could get back before it started raining. No such luck. The bottom dropped out and we got drenched. At least our jackets finally came in handy. Madison got caught in the rain, too, and got even more soaked than we did.
The rain didn't last long, though and ended while we were getting ready for dinner. By the time we walked up to Bar Americain (Bobby Flay's restaurant, yet another favorite I've covered previously), you couldn't tell it had ever rained except for a few puddles.
Dinner was awesome, as usual, and yet another reminder of why we love eating there so much. No trip to NYC would be complete without eating there, especially before a show.
We had balcony seats for Something Rotten!, which is playing at the St. James. Built in 1927, it's another of those theaters with really tight rows. We didn't really know what the show was about other than it was a musical comedy about Shakespeare. And that it starred Christian Borle. In one of his final performances before leaving.
Now the funny thing is that on our last trip to NYC back in December, Madison actually got his autograph and a picture without actually having seen the show. We'd gone to see Misery, which was short and let out earlier than everything else. So she got in line at the stage door and even managed to grab a Playbill from someone who'd just come out.
The show was hilarious and we loved every minute of it. The humor was really over the top and it both paid tribute to the theater while poking fun at Broadway itself. I'll never think of Hamlet the same way again. And was so relieved that Borle performed tonight, which is always a risk (like the time I tried to see his ex-wife, Sutton Foster).
Afterwards we went back to the hotel, checked on our wet clothes (still wet), packed up a bit, and settled in watching Ghostbusters (the original, of course). Tomorrow we get up early to meet a friend for breakfast before we hit the road and say goodbye again to NYC.
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