This year, to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday, James and I went to New York. The best part was we got to go with three other couples who are great friends of ours. After our journey to San Francisco earlier in the year, we decided we should venture further and longer so we planned a trip to New York. We had a blast!!
We landed in New York on Thursday with just enough time to walk around, grab some dinner and get ready for a broadway show. We ate at Roxy's on Times Square. We were joking about how expensive the food was but when dinner was served we understood why. I've never seen sandwhiches as big as those we had that night. I don't know how the men got their mouths around them let a lone finished them! With full stomachs we headed to see Mary Poppins. This show was absolutely fabulous!! The music was great and the staging was superb. I also learned quite a bit about the author of Mary Poppins. I'm emberassed to admit that I assumed Disney was the creator of Mary Poppins. I learned there is actually a series of books written about Mary Poppins and I was able to purchase the series at the theatre. I look forward to sharing them with my kids.Friday started out early with a tour of the Empire State Building. I have been to
the top before but I always find it fascinating to look out over New York City and learn from the tour the interesting tidbits about the city's history. I really is quite amazing how quickly that building and the entire city was built. We later jumped on a tour bus that took us around parts of the city. Our feet where tired from walking so we decided to ride the bus longer than originally planned. We were not disappointed with the tour guides musings of the city we were driving through. Everytime the bus had to stop at a light or for traffic we got to enjoy her impromptu references to the city around us. She would point out the little old man walking his dog, the joggers running around the park, the restaurant where one could choose to "eat in or take your food with you." It was fascinating stuff! After tearing ourselves away from her informative tour, we found ourselves on 5th Avenue where we worked our way down to our hotel, shopping a long the way. James and I hit the American Girl Doll store where we picked some things up for the girls and FAO Schwartz where we found some things for the boys. That evening we split up and went to different shows. James and I had followed our concierge's advice and got tickets to Rock of Ages. It was a disaster!! I don't think I've ever left a show so fast. About 30 seconds into the show, when the nearly nude ladies came out, we knew we had to leave. As we searched for an exit, the ushers kept trying to show us back to our seats. We finally escaped the devil's lair and headed across Times Square hoping to get into Hamlet. We were fortunate enough to get tickets and they were able to seat us right away. We made it before the "To be or not to be..." speech so we were happy. Hamlet was played by Jude Law and it was great. James says it is his favorite rendition of Hamlet. Apparently Hamlet is his favorite play so he was very happy to see it. Saturday was our earliest morning yet as we headed out to the Statue of Liberty. We were able to get on one of the first tours which meant very little waiting in line. There is an awful lot of security checkpoints but I guess it keeps us all safe. This was my first time actually going into the statue. It was very interesting to learn about how the statue was built and the reasons it was given to our country as a gift. This statue has become such a symbol of our liberty and freedom and has many meanings to many different people. It was neat to tour it. After leaving the statue we made our way up from the bay to Ground Zero. We visited the new museum across the street from the crater. The museum is incredibly moving. All of those emotions of September 11 were brought to the surface again. I don't think anyone can truly understand what family and friends and the city experienced that day but visiting this museum gives you a better understanding. As we headed down to Wall Street the rains started to fall. Sidestepping the small rivers along the way, we made it to Wall Street and the Church that was used as a base right after the 9/11 attacks. Our next adventure was to hop on the tour bus again. The only seats available were at the top of the bus in the open air.
Umbrellas were prohibited but they did provide us with some lovely plastic ponchos. I'm not sure what the tour guid was saying as I was buried down in my poncho with my chattering teeth but I'm sure he was just as interesting as our first tour guide. After nearly an hour of water busing, we made it back to our hotel. James and I cleaned up and headed out for some shopping. James took me shopping for my birthday which was really nice. We went to Fossil where he got me a watch and a purse. After our quick shopping trip, the men met and took the Subway to the local Church to catch Priesthood session. The ladies spent the evening shopping. We met up later for a nice steak dinner at Gallaghers. We had a great time talking and making memories.Aside from a sickly experience in the night before we flew home, it was a great trip! I won't go into too much detail but there was hours in the night where I thought I might not be able to fly home I was so sick. Thank goodness for Priesthood blessings and a loving husband. Everything ended well.
James and I are so thankful to have such good friends to laugh and share these experiences with. We had a great time and look forward to our next trip!
