New York, Day Three

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Well, if yesterday was wonderful walking through Strawberry Fields with the sun shining down on us, then payback really sucks. Saturday was horrible, weather-wise. We had checked the weather up until the day before we left and saw a nice, no-rain forecast. Since we could only take carry-on, packing a huge coat was rather difficult. But with the forecast, we felt that our jackets and hoodies would be fine. Never trust Mother Nature. It was windy, cold, rainy, blustery, overcast … you get the picture. I finally bought some gloves for Felix and I due to extreme numbness in our hands but I ended up loaning mine to another kid who was equally cold.

Today was Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange, 9/11 Memorial, and standing for 45 minutes in the freezing cold to buy half-price tickets for an evening show. One show in the afternoon (War Horse, which was gut-wrenching from beginning to end) and then a show in the evening (Chicago, and our seats were on the front row and I could literally see up the dancers’ noses).

      

Pictures 1-12 (left to right, top to bottom)

1. Note the cloudy overcast day. Cold cold.
2. New York Stock Exchange Building. We were there on Saturday so all was quiet for us.
3. George Washington. Love this guy.
4. This was cool since it was the Bull that came to life in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” with I’m-Always-The-Same-Character Nicolas Cage.
5. The 9/11 Memorial Waterfall. It drops 30 feet down the hole. There are two of them, for the two Towers.
6. The only surviving tree that was in between the Towers.
7. Felix, freezing her freaking a** off in front of the Waterfall. As the water fell into the fountain, it was blowing out on to the sidewalks. So not only were we wet from the rain, we were drenched from the Waterfall. Amazing we didn’t catch pneumonia.
8. The cemetery that was in “National Treasure” one of our favorite movies WITH … Ta Da!! Nicolas Cage (see above note)
9. Trinity Church. Not only was it an amazing, gorgeous, reverent building … it also gave us a place to finally get warm and dry off. It was inspiring (because I could finally feel my toes. I BELIEVE!!)
10. Over to the Lincoln Center where we saw War Horse. I did doze at the very beginning (hey, I was finally warm and sitting; throw me a bone) but then as it picked up speed, I was riveted. It was so amazing. Seriously cried through the entire last act.
11. After War Horse, we quickly got something to eat and then sprinted to see our show “Chicago.” Some people saw “Godspell,” others saw “Phantom.” I’ve seen the movie but sitting right under the dancers was totally amazing.

Then we staggered wearily back to our hotel and crashed at 11 pm … so that we could be bright-eyed for the next day. Yeah, I’m tired now.