So I went to New York again. This time New York City. I went with Corinna and we had a blast. It was FREEZING!!! It was about 10 degrees colder than DC, and they also had the nasty wind attached to the cold which made it feel colder, but I survived. We were supposed to leave DC Friday night the 5th at 7:30, but our bus didn't show up until 8:20 which put us in NYC at 12:30 instead of 11:30. Oh well-right? We still made it. Then we got to our hostel in Harlem (I didn't actually tell anybody I stayed in Harlem until after I got back because I didn't want people to freak!) about 1:30. We checked in and the guy said to make sure we slept in our own beds because you get fined 10 bucks if you're not. My first reaction was "huh?" because I had only ever stayed in a hostel once before in Boston over the summer when we had our own room, and it didn't matter which bed we slept in. So we go upstairs to room 202 and bust open the door only to find 6 bunk beds mostly full of sleeping girls. One who snored! Oh man was she annoying.
Saturday morning we woke up and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and looked around for about 2 hours or so. I was really interesting to all the different pieces there. Afterwards we wanted to go to lunch at a diner where the servers are all aspiring actors, but when we arrived, the line was out the door and around the corner, so we decided that we'd go after the show we saw that night for pie or something yummy. We headed across the street to get some pizza, and the place was PACKED! We couldn't find a seat anywhere and after having walked around the museum for 2 hours, all we wanted to do was sit and chill, but no luck. We ate at a counter. After lunch, since we were in Times Square, we decided to head over to the discount Broadway tickets booth to see if we would be able to tell which shows were 1/2 price that day, and when we got there (an hour and a half before they were to open the window) there was already a line forming, so we decided to hop in and wait. After about 1/2 hour we were practically freezing, so I ran across the street to grab a Caramel Apple Spiced Cider from Starbucks, but they were currently out (let me tell you how depressed I was because those things are GOOD!). I settled for hot chocolate, and we managed to get our tickets for the show we wanted to see.
After we finally got our tickets we decided we needed to go to the bathroom because we'd been standing in line for about 2 hours at that point, so we look across the street in Times Square to see if there's a place where we could go, and we see a sign that says Charmin Bathrooms on it. We head across the street, and the line is out the door, but we figure-hey, why not. They were handing out Charmin tissues that had aloe in them, and they felt really nice. I think I'll buy them next time I have a serious cold. Anyway-so we go in and go up the escalator, and there is a huge line for the bathroom, but there's an entertainer guy standing there talking to everybody asking how they are and what not. They had about 20 stalls in the room, and there was a worker that went in and cleaned each one after EVERY use so that when somebody went in, it was nice and fresh. They had your choice of toilet paper in there from nice and soft to sturdy and strong. It was hilarious. I tell people it was the best bathroom experience I've ever had.
After the Charmin bathrooms, we walked around a little bit, did a little shopping and stuff to kill time before it got dark so that we could go to Rockefeller Plaza to see the lights. We finally did that and it was so cool. It was seriously crowded and trying to cross the street right in front of the plaza was crazy. People pushing and shoving and getting upset that there were so many people. Whew! But we made it, took pictures, and got back outta there. We were headed down to the theater to see our show, and we stopped to ask a police man where we were going so that we knew we'd get there and not be late, and he was seriously the most unhelpful police man ever. He was not even interested at all in helping us. Oh well. We found it-no thanks to him.
We saw a musical called Rock of Ages that was a story line all set to '80's rock music. It was really cool and the people who sat in front of us were totally wasted and quite interesting to watch. It was just like being at a real 80's rock concert. Fun times. Afterwards we went to the StarDust Cafe where we were going to go earlier, and we got some hot wings and cheesecake, and watched all the waiters get up on the counter to dance and sing. It was pretty cool to watch them, and to see their talents. We made it back to the hostel, showered, and went to bed in our seriously uncomfortable beds with snory snorerson. Sunday morning we woke up and went to China town and went shopping! We stayed for a couple of hours, and I made one man so unhappy with me. I wanted to buy something, so we were discussing prices, and when I was about to leave, he kept lowering the price until I said ok, then he suddenly changed his mind. I told him I'd come back to get it, and I told him to remember me and my pink hat so that I could come and get the same good deal. When I did he claimed that he never told me that price and that I wouldn't be able to get that good of price anywhere. After haggling him for a few minutes, he finally sold it to me, and I left, after wishing him a Happy Halloween. He called me crazy and told me to get the hell out of his shop. He was so upset. But what's a girl to do when she's offered one price, then told she's not gonna get it?
We ate lunch in China town, then headed to the discount tickets booth again to catch a matinee before our bus left that night. We saw a musical called "13" which had a cast of all 13 year old kids. It was really cute, but I was a little discouraged to know that they all had better singing voices than me, and not only that but knowing that they were making tons more money than me. Oh well. I got over it. After that, we went back to Penn Station to catch our bus to head home. What a weekend. Full of fun and excitement, and we didn't even get mugged. Thank goodness!!!
Our waiter from StarDust Cafe singing, Rockefeller Christmas tree, me at the Charmin bathrooms, me in Times Square, and Corinna and I in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
