I want to be a part of it... New York, New York!

So, despite asking for suggestions of things to do in New York City, I think we did nothing off the suggestion list. Of course, had we remembered the tote bag with all of the printouts (hotel confirmation, theater ticket discount coupons, etc.) we probably would have done some things off the suggestion list. But, we didn't and so we didn't.

Instead, we -- take a deep breath -- went to the Met, met a friend of Matthew's, strolled Central Park, heard the New York Pops, rode the carousel, went in Tiffany's, ate dinner by the Rockefeller Center fountain, saw Assassins, hung out in Times Square, went to Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, saw the World Trade Center, glimpsed the Statue of Liberty, saw The Producers, went to the East River for the Macy's fireworks display, watched The Today Show taping, went up in the Empire State Building, shopped at Macy's, took the subway a few times, and walked, and walked, and walked.  Whew!  I'm tired just thinking of everything we did!

Perhaps I should slow down and go through a few parts of the trip in more detail.  On our first full day (Saturday) we spent a large portion of the day in Central Park.  Matthew had made plans to meet one of his friends from a Christian film message board at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (which happens to be in Central Park).  There was an exhibit of Byzantine religious art that was closing that weekend that Matthew's friend (who lives in New Jersey) wanted to see, so they made plans to meet and check out the exhibit.  Despite my love of religious art -- especially objects used during Mass and devotional paintings, sculptures, etc. -- I think my favorite piece in the exhibit wasn't really all that religious.  It was a wrought iron chandelier that would have hung from the ceiling in a cathedral.  Up close in the exhibit you could see so much detail work in the metalwork, but it's amazing that so much work would have been put into that when there is no way you could have seen it hanging from the dome of a cathedral.  And apparently during celebrations they would light all the candles in the chandelier and then swing the whole thing around in circles.  Sounds a bit dangerous, but sounds truly beautiful.  There were many other great works and it was such a large exhibit that we didn't go to any other parts of the museum.  Thankfully I had been to the Met before or I would have felt a bit cheated not exploring it further since I was especially fond of "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" as a child. 
 

After Matthew and his friend parted ways later in the afternoon, we set off to walk back across the park.  Along the way we ran into a free concert by the New York Pops.  I've been to better concerts, but it was free, the weather was nice, and it was a nice rest along the walk.  We also stopped along the way at the Central Park Carousel, which shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me that this was a must-see.  It's a pretty fast carousel, making for a fun ride.  Of course we walked along the Literary Walk, paused at the pond and boathouse with the remote control sailboats, and had some ice cream along the way.  The park is so enormous that we only went about a third of the way north-south and about halfway east-west.  And it was so beautiful and green.  There were areas along the way for "no sports" but "yes reading and sunbathing" to preserve the lawn and other areas for sports.  If we lived in New York, I could see us spending lots of time in Central Park, just like my friends and I spent lots of time in Kensington Gardens when I lived in London.

It was close to dinnertime by the time we finished with Central Park, so we headed down 5th Avenue back towards the hotel and Times Square.  Along the way we passed Tiffany's and I just had to go in.  In some ways I was impressed and in others, disappointed.  It truly is a large jewelry store, taking up five or six floors of the building (incidentally, not the first five or six floors but rather several floors throughout the building).  The first floor is the most impressive and just what you see in the occasional movie.  But, it is also too expensive.  We, along with all the other tourists, went to the sterling silver floor which is definitely more affordable.  But since there were so many other tourists floating around the silver floor it actually took away some of the mystique.  Last year I had a gift certificate to Tiffany and spent it when I was home in Chicago and while the store I spent it at wasn't the flagship and was much smaller, I think it actually felt more special there since I really got more personal attention.

We finally wandered the rest of the way down Fifth Avenue and over to Rockefeller Center.  We expected to just look at the fountain, etc., and continue on to Times Square for dinner.  But the outdoor restaurant right where the skating rink is in winter was just too tempting.  So we decided to splurge -- New York is so expensive for dinner anyway so why not spend a bit more and get a truly memorable experience?  We ate right next to the fountain which was a bit noisy but wonderful!  And they were even having a special deal on lobster so I had 1 1/2 lobsters -- complete with lobster bib.  Delicious food and beautiful scenery -- worth the splurge and the cheap food the rest of the trip.

We rounded out the day with an evening at the theater.  We didn't really have a specific show in mind to see in New York, so we ended up choosing an unusual sounding musical -- Assassins. Writing a musical about presidential assassins and attempted assassins seems like an odd choice for a musical, but we figured that it had just won five Tonys so why not give it a shot.  It turns out to have been a good gamble.  It struck just the right balance between humor and serious thoughts.  Apparently Gerald Ford had two assassination attempts, so the two attempted assassins got to be good friends on stage -- very funny.  And John Wilkes Booth spent much of the musical convincing the other characters that killing a president would solve their problems, ranging from stomach ailments to being ignored by Jodie Foster.  Great music, good rapport among the characters and actors, and unusual staging that worked well.  Despite being in the very last row (which, incidentally, had a better view than the second-to-last row) we could see well and had a wonderful evening.  (As a side note, it turns out that Neil Patrick Harris was in the musical, but I didn't realize it until much later.  I never thought Doogie Howser would end up on Broadway.)  I'll definitely be looking for the soundtrack after it comes out in August.