Day 7: Week 2 begins…!
We awoke to clear blue skies at the end of our first week in NYC, so we headed to the Rockefeller Centre, and got tickets to ‘Top of the Rock’ – standing at 70 floors above ground, overlooking Manhattan. We were able to experience some of the most phenomenal views of New York City – stretching out as far as Harlem, the Bronx and Queens. It was windy and there were lots of European tourists; but the panorama out in front of you trumps it all and is totally breathtaking.
Part of the Rockefeller Centre is the Radio City Music Hall – the stunning Art Deco-style ‘Showplace of The Nation’ – at which we were fortunate enough to snag a behind-the-scenes tour. It was at this point we met a ‘Rockette’ (a member of the precision dance company initially formed in the 1920s) and saw some of the incredible costumes worn during the Thanksgiving Day Parade, Christmas celebrations and other performances The Rockettes participate in throughout the year.
We then stepped back into the present, as part of the NBC Studio Tour – where we saw the sets of Dr Oz, Saturday Night Live & Jimmy Kimmel Live. Sadly, we didn’t bump into any celebrities… We’d have to save that for our nights on Broadway.
And it was the night we’d been waiting for… Our first Broadway show; and that show was none other than Nat’s favourite musical of all time: ‘Wicked!’.
From the moment we entered the Gershwin Theatre, Nat was grinning from ear-to-ear as we awaited the lights to dim and the overture music to start. Nat had seen Wicked! twice before, so her bias toward the musical would make for a boring blog entry…
George says: From our great seats right up the front in the mezzanine, the first thing we noticed was the huge dragon hanging over the stage. This was just one of the many amazing stage special effects that formed part of the show. From the start the music was vibrant and set the scene. In brief, the story is about the life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West – how she was born with green skin, grew up being ostracised, but how she became friends with the Good Witch while going to school in the land of Oz. The two leads were both magnificent with amazing singing voices, and stunning costumes. To top it off we managed to score a backstage tour to get an inside view of how the production comes together. We saw how the sets are rolled in and out, all the props, what it’s like standing on stage looking out at the crowd, and saw the dressing rooms and costumes (which were amazingly detailed and actually quite heavy!).
Day 8: Celebrity Encounters!
Thursday was our last day staying at the Distrikt Hotel in Time Square. We packed our bags and said goodbye to the friendliest staff at any hotel we’d stayed at. We then paid a visit to the Museum of Modern Art. Among the masses of crowds and several floors of exhibitions we saw works by Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Matisse, Cezanne and Van Gogh, to name a few. On special display was Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”, and a huge exhibition of Henri LaBrouste’s work. LaBrouste was instrumental in the modern evolution of architecture and his drawings were incredibly detailed showing his design for Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in Paris along with technically accurate drawings of Roman architecture from the six years he spent there.
In the evening we joined the queue at the Shake Shack to see what all the fuss was about. Frankly, it was a pretty average burger, but given we visited the store in Times Square which was obviously stressed beyond capacity and quality was likely to be compromised, we weren’t all that surprised. Then it was off to the theatre to see Tom Hanks in “Lucky Guy” – Nora Ephron’s last play – about the journalist Mike McAlary set in the 80s and 90s, complete with mustaches, smoking, and padded shoulders. The cast was amazing and captivated the entire audience with a high energy performance from start to finish. After a standing ovation we bolted to the stage door and managed to get autographs from Courtney B. Vance (“Assistant D.A. Carver” on Law & Order), Christopher McDonald (“Shooter McGavin” from Happy Gilmore) and others. Nat managed to touch Tom Hanks sleeve just before he was whisked away in a limo.
Day 9:
Starting our day, we headed to ‘Museum Mile’, which run alongs Central Park and is home to America’s finest galleries and museums – including the Solomon R. Guggenheim, which was our first stop for the day. Although modern art generally eludes the both of us, we still enjoyed some of the more modern works on display.
Lunch was spent taking a step back into the 1950s at one of New York’s remaining original diners ‘Lexington Candy Shop’ – which looks exactly like the diners you see in old movies. Checkered floors, old-school machines mixing malted milkshakes, tuna melts, red velvet cheesecake as well as black & white photos of all the celebrities who have dined there (including Woody Allen & Scarlett Johansson).
We spent the sunny afternoon wandering the streets of SoHo and the East Village before getting dressed up for our very swanky French dinner at one of New York’s finest restaurants – Eric Ripert’s Le Bernardin. And all we can say about the experience is Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.
Known for their delectable preparation of all things seafood, the restaurant’s ‘Tasting Menu’ did not disappoint – from lobster lasagne, to seared scallops, to Peruvian ceviche monkfish – every morsel was devoured while we let the culinary experience take over.
We left the restaurant very full of incredible and rich French food, only to move on to another outstanding experience – The Lion King. Truly, The Lion King was an outstanding and one-of-a-kind experience. Many of the performers were native South Africans and with vibrant costumes, fantastic musical numbers, incredibly structured costumes and sets – and the two kids who get to play Simba & Nala, are possibly the luckiest 10 year olds in the world…
As we exited the theatre humming ‘I just can’t wait to be King’, our third night on Broadway was a truly memorable night – and truth be told, if/when The Lion King returns to Melbourne, we will probably go see it again…
Day 10: Exploring NYC’s Borough of Queens.
It was time to strap on our runners, and go for a nice long walk in the brisk, sunny weather of NYC (The New Yorkers appear pretty thankful that the extra winter cold-snap is now over).
The High Line was our first stop – an ‘aerial greenway’ built over 1 mile of old elevated railway line. Basically, the former elevated railroad (which had been disused for some years) was recreated into an urban parkway with benches, greenery, urban artworks and lookout points, as you walk over a mile, taking in Manhattan’s views from a slightly different perspective.
We ended up near Chelsea – so it was highly appropriate to head to the Chelsea Markets – enclosed urban markets with artisan foods, delicatessens, clothing stores and restaurants. We discovered ‘Fat Witch’ brownies and ‘Eleni’s’ hand-decorated biscuits, as well as some gourmet stores full of amazing fresh foods.
It was then time to take the longest train ride we’d been on since our time in NYC- out to Astoria in Queens to meet George’s Uncle Taso, Aunty Katina and his cousin Andriana with her gorgeous 2 year old son, Peter. Astoria is heavily populated with Greeks (Taverns, delis and bonbonieres shops adorned the streets) so we headed to ‘Stamatis Tavern’ for a good Greek meal (just like home) before walking down to Astoria Park, which runs along the East River and looks directly into the Manhattan skyline.
It was lovely to meet some of George’s extended family (and boy, there are a lot of them) in NYC – and to get out of the insane weekend hustle & bustle of SoHo and Manhattan), even if it was only a short visit – as we had to head back for yes, another night on Broadway… They’ve already told us that they are waiting for us to return soon – maybe Nat will be successful in convincing George to visit New York at Christmas-time.
Tonight’s celebrity-du-jour was Matthew Broderick (or as George will forever know him – Ferris Bueller) in the 1920s, slapstick, jazz-comedy, Gershwin musical ‘Nice Work… If You Can Get It.’
Starring songs like ‘Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off’ and other classic Gershwin show tunes which had the audience bouncing in their seats, Matthew Broderick, Blythe Danner (Gwyneth Paltrow’s mum; also the mum in ‘Meet the Parents’) and the incredible cast brought the musical to life. Although Nat was a teensy bit disappointed that Matthew seemed a little bit tired and flat, when compared to his young and very vibrant leading lady, Jessie Mueller (who was only in her 3rd performance in the role), it was still an incredible high on which to end our Broadway run!
All in all, our Broadway experience: 4 nights with 4 very different, enterataining and memorable performances!
Day 11: Easter Sunday Shopping
You know that it’s going to be a long Easter Sunday when you spend the first 3 hours of it trying to pack all of your shopping into 4 large suitcases, 2 carry-ons and deciding which 12kg of ‘stuff’ you’re going to send home to make room for any further ahem, incidental, spending over the last week of the honeymoon.
Although we are both well and truly shopped out in NYC, that wasn’t going to stop us from wandering through the gorgeous East Village into some amazing boutiques (and yes, added to our already overflowing bags further).
The afternoon was spent meeting some more family – this time, George’s Uncle Tony, Aunty Ludy and cousin Peter. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant in the Chelsea Markets – fresh, hand-made tortellini anyone – before collapsing in our hotel room at 7pm. And not moving except to sip water, eat Cheesecake Pops and write blogs. After 5 consecutive late-nights, our 2nd last night in NYC spent watching TV in bed while it rained outside, was a much-needed rejuvenation.
(Nat says: The chef of the James Hotel’s renowned restaurant, has his own range of ‘Cheesecake Pops’ with flavours such as Toffee/Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter Crunch. It would have been sacrilege not to partake in the Room Service experience, and order some. And yes, cheesecake pops are incredible, in case you were wondering.)
And while on the subject of watching US TV, here’s a few things we have learnt thus far:
– ‘Gangnam Style’ becomes ‘Crackin Style’ with Psy dancing to advertise bags of Pistachios;
– The Voice is infinitely better with Usher & Shakira;
– NCIS is guaranteed to be playing for at least 5 hours a day;
– There are more Google ads than Apple ads;
– And even though there’s 50 channels, half of them are still playing ads, inaccurate news (Fox News: comedy gold) or just plain bad movies (like ‘Twilight: Eclipse’ where Bella is a mopey emo for 2.5hours).