On Our Own in Manhattan 10-1-08

Martin and Mim both work and Kathy and Greg were spending the day with old friends from their time in the city. Micah and I were on our own. We started our day at the TKTS Booth at the South Seaport. TKTS sells same-day tickets to Broadway and Off Broadway productions at a discounted price. It's their way of making sure every show "sells out." There we made our first purchase of the day. Next we went the Bodies: The Exhibit. Melissa recommended this to us. The whole idea sort of freaked me out, but she said it was interesting in the end. I absolutely agree. It was a lot of standing and a lot of reading, but the whole exhibit was fascinating. Micah and I learned a lot. There were two doctors with a few samples at the very end of the exhibit. They would answer any questions and they let you feel the samples. They didn't allow cameras, so you'll have to appreciate Micah's pose instead. We hopped a subway to go further north and then took a pit stop at Dunkin' Donuts. I am a huge fan of Krispy Kreme, but they still do not have anything comparable to Dunkin' Donuts' Vanilla Creme. YUM! I should have known this was to be an ill-fated trip once we got inside and found they did not have any Vanilla Creme donuts. I settled for Toasted Coconut with some Nesquick Chocolate Milk. You know Nesquick, right? You need to give it a good shake before you drink it. Well, I gave it a good shake. Micah drank a bit and then it sat on the counter. I picked it up to give it another good shake and I got all wet. Micah hadn't put the cap back on. I was too busy reading the map and planning our route to check before I shook chocolate milk all over myself and the restaurant. What a disaster. The only good thing that came from the Dunkin' Donuts stop was that once we were back on the sidewalk, the Chrysler Building was in view. In case you aren't sure what the Chrysler Building looks like, you can see it here over my milk-stained shoulder. Micah and I headed over to check it out. It has some pretty interesting historical information, but not much else. The coolest part was the mural on the ceiling in the lobby. All the decor is cool, too. It has a very 40's feel. You can tell they put thought and effort into every detail. It is definitely worth seeing, if only for a few minutes. The time was drawing near for the start of our Broadway show. We weren't exactly sure where the theater was or how to get to it. With all the marquees and billboards around that area, they make it really easy to see where you're headed. The rain that had threatened all day just started pouring, so we were happy to be at our destination. It wasn't time for the show to start, however, so Micah and I took a look around the nearest blocks. I could not believe what I was seeing. It was coming up on sunset with dark and stormy rain clouds, yet the area was bright as day. There were dozens of well lit building-sized advertisements, and equally as many jumbo-sized televisions. Micah and I were trying to figure out what the occasion was, and then it became clear. We were in Times Square:

this picture was taken after the show at about midnight the streets are still bright

Micah and I wandered to kill some time. Our first stop: Toys R Us. This is the BIGGEST Toys R Us I've ever seen. It was 5 levels and separated by theme: Transformers, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Little People, Leap Frog, Barbie, Libby Lu, Lego, Dora, etc. My personal favorite was Candyland. Each section was decorated to the extreme. Here is a glimpse of what we saw there: I almost forgot to tell you my favorite part of the Toys R Us experience. Inside the store they have a ferris wheel of popular toys that provided an aerial view of each of the 5 levels of the store. I make Micah take me for a ride. I think he was happy to join me until we got the "My Little Pony" car. We also hit up Virgin Records where Robin Thicke was signing his new album and stopped in a few small shops. Then it was time to see our show. Micah and I watched Mary Poppins on Broadway. I'm with Melissa. It was "magical." I really enjoyed it. The story and even the characters are surprisingly different from the film. Micah loves the movie so much, I'm sure he didn't enjoy it as much as me. He didn't complain though. Funny story about the picture on the left. There is a huge Mary Poppins billboard behind us. What you can't see is that just to the right of where we are standing there is a staircase that leads up to a large cement patio. We went up there to get a better angle for our self-portrait. There was a guy standing there who offered to take our picture. It was raining and we were trying to be fast, so we gave him the camera. Only after we gave him the camera did it become apparent that he was wasted. He walked up a few steps to get above us and almost fell backward. THIS MAN IS HOLDING OUR CAMERA! After lots of wobbling, stair adjustments, camera adjustments, and nail-biting terror on our part, he finally decided he couldn't get both of us and the sign in the screen. Thankfully he handed our camera back. We quickly walked down the stairs and snapped this picture. I have another story about Mary Poppins. After the show, Micah and I were making our exit when a girl approached us. She wanted to know if we would be willing to comment on our thoughts about the show. She escorted us out to the front of the theater and there were cameras, lights, microphones and an interviewer. They wanted to FILM our responses. Weird. We did it. We told them we liked the show and they gave us each a CD with 9 songs from Disney's Broadway shows as well as 4 collector's pins. We felt pretty cool. If you look really closely, you can see some of their equipment and the overall setup of the interview through the window behind us. After the show we went over to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. We weren't very hungry so we each got an appetizer. HA! It was a lot of food. Good food. Micah giggled a lot at what music passed for "Hard Rock." We heard a lot of Pop and R&B, but not much Rock at all. They acquired a lot of fun instruments, albums, and costumes, but their wall of guitars was the best of all. Micah is rocking out in front of it here. We walked around Times Square a bit after that, but that was our first day alone in the Big Apple. Next Post: Brooklyn Bridge.