A New York Recap For November

We are back home. Rosa's flight was late leaving Houston, so she was really late getting home. I arrived around 7 last night.

We had a fabulous time at the shows...not so much with the sight seeing. It was bone chilling cold in NYC while we were there. (Thank goodness for Cuddle Duds and thick socks!)

Upon arrival Thursday afternoon, we went straight to the hotel. We had reservations at the W at Times Square. I am not a big fan. The rooms were expensive...which I expected for the location...but it was disappointingly tiny and had very little lighting. Maybe it was just a little too modern for my taste.

Upon checking in, we went down to the restaurant, The Blue Fin, for something to eat. Rosa ordered the California rolls and the Spicy Crab rolls...Spicy Crab, DELICIOUS! They were so good that we ordered more after the theatre!

We had tickets for Wicked our first night. I had seen it with the girls here in Houston in 2007. It was even more spectacular than the traveling show. We had wonderful seats...about seven rows back on the left. Rosa loved the show and I thoroughly enjoyed sharing it with her. We were both tired from the day of travel, so we headed back to the room for a few more sushi rolls and a good night's sleep. (One other good point of the W was their beds -- plush and comfortable.)

Thursday morning we slept in a little and then headed out for sight seeing. We walked down Broadway, over to Rockefeller Center (the tree was still surrounded by scaffolding), down 5th to Central Park. We took a quick carriage ride through the park then walked back down Madison Avenue toward 47th. I was tired...Rosa was cold...and neither one of us wanted to say anything. Finally, she decided that I looked tired and we needed to head back to the hotel. We stopped at a little deli on 45th for a bite to eat. When we sat down, she finally confessed that she didn't want to shop because she was so cold. We headed back to the room and took a nap! That night we had tickets to All My Sons. The theater was only two blocks away...thank goodness! It was one of the older and smaller theatres. We had good seats, but were a little far to the left. So, my ever clever sister went to the box office and had us moved to the box seats! What a view. John Lithgow was less than 20 feet away from me! I was in awe. This was different from any play I had attended before...my first non-musical. It is a wonderful drama...gaining in momentum until it reaches a very climactic end. Of course, watching such powerful actors as John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest would make a reading of the Sunday paper dramatic! It was the first production I have seen with the original cast. After the show, we walked around trying to find someplace to eat...finally settling on Bubba Gump's. The food was good, especially the hush puppies. Off to bed so that we could get up for the Today Show on Friday morning.

Well...we didn't make it to the Today Show. Who could blame us when we were able to sleep so well! We had picked up tickets to Shrek: The Musical the day before...so, we spent the afternoon visiting a few of the places that Rosa wanted to see including the Empire State Building. Have I said that it was cold in NYC? Well...that was nothing compared to the top of the Empire State Building. We took very quick pictures before heading back down to street level. A quick peek at the Macy's windows being dressed for Christmas and we headed back toward the hotel. Rosa picked up some souvenir's while I started getting ready for Friday night's show. We had 5th row center seats...and oh my gosh!!!! First of all, the back drops were incredible...even more whimsical than those of Wicked. Once again we were seeing the original cast and the show was very funny! I loved Pinocchio...as did most folks...and Fiona was extremely talented -- but Shrek took the show! And I couldn't believe that he was the same actor from Enchanted -- he looked so different in costume, it was unbelievable! After the show, we went back to the room for dinner and a good night's sleep before packing for the airport the next morning.

It was good to spend some time with my sister. I only wish I had not been sick the week before the trip. I was still too easily tired which led me to be very quiet at times. I hope our next trip goes even better. I now have three possible 'dates' for seeing a show...my girls (daughters), my 'Girls' (girlfriends) and now my sister who loved Broadway as much as I do.

I have three days to get us all packed up and ready for the next trip north. This one will include no dress clothes or heels -- it will be camo and hoodies as we head to Arkansas to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and spend some time on the deer lease. Talk about a walk on the wild side!