NYC Day #6 & #7

Ah Sunday. A day of peace, rest and contemplation. Also Father's Day- and no better way to celebrate than by eating 5x your recommended caloric intake than at Norma's. Norma's (a restaurant in Le Parker Meridian Hotel) serves what is commonly known as the best breakfast in Manhattan. They have an omelet on the menu that costs $1000- but the majority of the clients seem to order their pancakes, etc. (that cost around $20). After sleeping in a bit, we talked Jackie's parents and Arianne into going with us- and seeing that it was Father's Day (they don't take reservations) I thought we'd be in for a wait. Well, they told us 45 minutes (it ended up being close to 2 hours) until we were seated. Just so you know what we ordered, I got the huevos rancheros, Jackie got the Wa-za (a waffle with fruit inside and a bruleed top- picture to the right), Jackie's mom got the fresh fruit smoothie and something fruity, Arianne got something fruity, and Jackie's Dad shocked all of us by ordering the chocolate french toast with hot fudge, whipped cream and many other things I don't often associate with Jackie's father (it was very funny when our odd waiter told Ray that "he was a naughty boy").

After breakfast we wandered a street fair that was up and down 6th Avenue. We then met up at 2:20pm to take everyone to see the farce, Boeing-Boeing. Now I had read the script (it's pretty tame for a farce- farces usually involve multiple exits and entrances with slamming doors, mistaken identities, and something sexual- in this case the leading man (played by Bradley Whitford from The West Wing) is engaged to three flight stewardesses- one American, one German and one Italian. It's set in the 60's and his plan is screwed up when a friend from Wisconsin shows up and all the women arrive on the same day). I really didn't find the script that funny when I read it, but after seeing the show, what a difference a strong director and a brilliant no-fear cast can make. The German stewardess stole the show for me and the friend from Wisconsin (Mark Rylance) was utterly amazing to watch on stage (the 7-year old boy behind me loved it when he got hit in the face repeatedly with a white bean bag- something for everyone in this show).

After the show, we said goodbye to Arianne and Jackie and I took a group of about 14 people to Union Square to get tickets to Fuerzbruta- an aeriel show from Argentina. After sitting in Union Square for a bit, looking for someplace amazing to eat, we ended up walking all over Union Square, over to Chelsea and then back up to Times Square. It was fun seeing streets and places we'd never seen before- the weather was perfect for walking and it was a calm Sunday afternoon.

We ended up eating at the restaurant of a famous chef (Daniel Boulod) called db Bistro. It was good- but I'm not sure it was worth the price. After dinner, we walked by Radio City Music Hall where the Tony Awards were taking place. It was hilarious seeing people in tuxes and formal gowns grabbing a hot dog from a street vendor during a commercial break. After getting a slice of cheesecake from Carnegie Deli (a tradition I haven't broken yet), we went back to the hotel, watched the Tony Awards (we were thrilled that In the Heights and Boeing-Boeing both won major awards). After room checks, another day was done.

Monday morning, Jackie and I wanted to do some last minute shopping. We ran down to the Drama Bookstore so I could get some scripts for school. Then we went up to Rockefeller Center for some food (there's a Paris chocolatier that has macaroons that Jackie lives for), then it was over to serendipity 3 for a quick frozen hot chocolate. I got the peanut butter one and we got a regular one for Jackie's dad- only they don't make it to go- so I had to run a few blocks to grab a soda cup and straw to put it in. Then it was back to the hotel- all of our group's luggage had been picked up by bellmen and put in a conference room. Everyone came back, picked up their luggage and loaded up onto a shuttle. Off we went to the Newark airport (on the shuttle, my uncle Bob- a doctor- explained how Mira lax will help Millie's poo-problems- and set us up on a year-long plan. It was fun listening to pooping stories all the way to the airport).

Although we arrived in plenty of time, due to a storm coming in, all flights out of Newark, Laguardia, and JFk were delayed- instead of taking off at 5:30pm, we took off around 8:30pm. (at least they let us wait at the gate and not in the plane- Jackie's dad had the same 3 hour delay stuck in a plane). At least we made it out as well- some other travellers from Utah were flying on JetBlue and the flight got completely cancelled- which meant they had to go back to the hotel and stay an extra night at their own expense. We landed in SLC around 11:08pm- it felt hot and really dry- and we were happy to see our girls (and my parents were happy to return the girls to us....) Another trip to NYC completed! For those of you that like to plan far off, our next group trip will be June 8-14 2010. 6 shows will be included (5 musicals, 1 play)- we'll stay at the Sheraton New York and, best of all, it will be with me and my wife!! What could be more fun than that?