Day 13: Hard to be the Bard

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.

Day 12: Who Could Ask for Anything More?

When we got up this morning, we faced the eternal question: what are we going to do today? It's a question with which we'd begun grappling last night. Normally, we have our NYC trips planned out pretty well. But this time, we've been playing it by ear. 

One idea had been to go see another Broadway show, particularly a matinee. I'd been wanting to see An American in Paris (even more so since we were Americans in Paris last summer), which is a new musical based on the Gene Kelly movie. And since we could get last minute tickets for a pretty good price, we decided to do it. Thank heavens for technology.

By the time we were ready to head out, we only had two hours before the show. Marsha had the excellent idea of going to the Cosmic Diner (one of our long-time favorites, which I've covered before) for breakfast. We had a table and food inside of ten minutes. Can't beat that.

Afterwards, we walked down to the theater and picked up our tickets at Will Call. Since we still had some time before the show started, we walked back to Times Square. Popped into the Disney Store for a minute and then went to pay our respects to the sadly departed Toys R Us.

Show time! Our seats were in the middle of the mezzanine and they were great. We had a fantastic view of the stage. What's more, the three rows in front of us went unsold, we we got to move down a few rows after intermission. The theater was great, too. It's playing at the Palace, which was built in 1913 as a Vaudeville venue, so the seating was a little tight.

The show was fantastic (it won the Tony in 2015 for Best Musical). The music is by the Gershwins and, since it's based on the movie, has Gene Kelly's fingerprints all over it. I bought the soundtrack at dinner when I could connect to wifi.

After the show, we walked down to Bryant Park (another favorite spot) and relaxed for a bit. About that time we noticed a slight change in the weather. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, but the coming drizzle had clearly shifted a bit.

I also had my second celebrity sighting. While I was walking around in the park, I passed by Candice Cuoco (the goth designer) from the latest season of Project Runway. Sadly, Madison and Marsha missed her. I would never have recognized her myself (situationally famous), but Marsha and Madison are both hooked on the show. 

We felt a few drops, but they didn't last long. Dinner reservations tonight were at Amada, our first time at the NYC location (you should know that Amada in Philly is Madison's favorite restaurant), which is all the way down at the World Trade Center. We decided to walk most of the way and then take the subway.

We hiked as far as 7th and Christopher, then made one quick little sightseeing stop in front of Village Cigars. It's a small mosaic on the sidewalk called Hess' Triangle. Back in 1910, the city claimed a number of buildings by eminent domain to widen 7th Avenue. A landlord named David Hess fought the city to keep from losing his apartment building, the Voorhis. Hess lost, but in 1922, his family discovered that the city had goofed on their survey and they still owned this tiny 26-inch triangle. The city asked them to gift it, but the Hess family refused and put in the plaque instead. In 1938, Village Cigars purchased it for $1000 dollars.

From there we got on the subway, which unfortunately stopped a few times thanks to issues on the line. We'd been ahead of schedule, but now time was getting tight. As soon as we got back up to the street, it started sprinkling again. Thanks to our lunch yesterday, we knew that we could get there via the basement level of the World Trade Center all the way to Brookfield Place.

The NYC Amada is just as great as the Philly location, but slightly different. It's much larger and the tables are closer together. It's also a bit noisier. There are fewer tapas selections (a couple of our favorites were missing) and more large plate items. It was still a fantastic meal and the service was excellent.

Afterwards, we walked out to the water again, where an outdoor concert was getting started. The esplanade along the Hudson is really one of the most beautiful areas in the city. You could easily forget that you're even in Manhattan, except that both the Freedom Tower and the Statue of Liberty are both in view.

We decided to walk the esplanade all the way up to the High Line. It was a bit of a walk, but we'd never done the High Line (which I've also covered previously) at night before. Plus, I don't remember the esplanade going anywhere near that far before, so that was a new experience, too.

Walking the High Line at night was just great, except for when we reached the end at 10th Avenue. The closest subway station that would get us back to Midtown is at Penn Station, so we had to walk several more blocks in an area that we weren't exactly sure about. Naturally, we all felt a lot better after we reached Penn Station. Not just for personal safety, but to finally get a break from walking so far.

We were all pretty glad to get back to the room and relax with a little TV. Tomorrow is our last full day in NYC, and this time we have a little more of a schedule.

Day 2.5: First Date on Broadway

Fortunately, it was a short walk from Bar Americain to the Longacre Theater, so we had plenty of time to get to the theatre and get settled in our seats before the show started. We'd bought tickets months earlier for the brand new musical, First Date, with Zachary Levi (Chuck, Tangled, Thor: The Dark World) and Krysta Rodriguez (Smash, The Addams Family). As soon as we got to the theater, Marsha scoped out the stage door. Madison was really hoping to get Zachary Levi's autograph after the show. She was all set with her pink Sharpie.

We had perfect seats -- front row mezzanine, with Madison on the aisle so she could rush outside as soon as the curtain went down. Yes, we're old pros at this. Our worst fear was that Zachary Levi wouldn't be doing the show that night. That happened to me last year when I went to see Sutton Foster in Anything Goes. We were all quite relieved when the replacement notice in Playbill was only for a minor cast member. Whew!

The show was a lot of fun, about mismatched pair on a blind date in an NYC cafe. It was largely on one set with no intermission. What was really cool is that the supporting cast played multiple characters, constantly switching with just a simple accessory, like a hat or scarf. In addition to the other cafe patrons, they played exes and family members commenting on the action in the two leads' imaginations. The set, too, was a character, using video screens and hidden props to instantly transform at any moment. Just amazing.

When the cast was taking their final bows, Madison rushed up the aisle and down the stairs. I was right behind her, but waited for a minute when Zachary Levi stopped to let everyone know that they were collecting donations for Broadway Cares. I went ahead outside to find Madison. There were only two other people waiting outside, so she got a perfect spot in the autograph line.

We were only there for a couple of minutes before John came out and then Marsha called for us to come back inside. For various donation amounts, they were giving away posters and CDs. The top give-away was going backstage to meet Zac and Krysta, getting their autographs and a photo. Marsha raced downstairs and was second in line.

I have to say that Zac and Krysta could not have been any sweeter or more gracious. They shook our hands and introduced themselves, asked if we enjoyed the show, and thanked us many times over. He was thrilled that we were big fans of Chuck and told us that it's (finally!) on Netflix streaming. Krysta was impressed that we'd seen both Smash and The Addams Family, and she just loved Madison's pink Sharpie! When they signed our Playbills, Zac noticed that we were one short so I could grab mine from my coat. Yep, it was all pretty darn awesome.

Every time we've waited by a stage door, we've always wondered about the regular folks who come out. This time it was us. Needless to say, we were all on Cloud Nine for the rest of the night.