NYC Adventure (2010 Day 4)

By the time I finish this trip report, it's going to be 2012 and time for the next trip- so...

Friday morning is always the early morning. It has to be early because if you've ever gone down catch the Statue of Liberty ferry and you've seen the lines that form in the afternoon, you know it's worth it to get on an early boat.

We got every down and on the boat to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. This year we let people get off at the Statue, and in retrospect we should have gotten off there too- we always figure because we don't have enough monument access passes that it's not worth getting off at the Statue and waiting for the next boat for Ellis Island- but this year (similar to the Museum of Natural History in 2008), we were at Ellis Island with every single elementary student in the greater New York and New Jersey area. We did see a cool video that we had never seen before- but basically, it was too crowded to enjoy it like we had in the past (but it was great to see the kids wandering all over instead of just camping out at the gift store).

After the boat ride back, we walked the group up Broadway (and let students rub the Wall Street bull statue's testicles), showed them Wall Street and then it was off to China Town- but before being accosted by a crazy man in the subway that was raving on and on about Jennifer Lopez. Most of the group found him amusing (and some even recorded him with their ipods), but after a bit, he was getting in people's faces and swearing (a lot), I called security- but they couldn't understand me. As the subway arrived, our chaperones did a great job not allowing him on the car with us as we went up to Chinatown.

We let the group go in Chinatown- and the Coxes and us found (with the help of the Coxes awesome I-phone) the best hole-in-the-wall dumpling/noodle place. You got 12 dumplings for $3.00 so we got two orders for us- and then we all got a noodle soup- with various meat products. I think in the end it didn't matter what you ordered because even though I got the seafood one, everyone got at least one baby octopus in their soup. It was awesome watching the man in the back whack noodle dough on the table- just like in The Amazing Race! It was also funny watching our waitress/chef yell at an older man slurping soup on a table so she could give the table to us.

After that, we met up with Arianne and Ben for the free afternoon at the Museum of Modern Art. We then met up with Nate and my parents to go meet my cousin Allison for dinner at The Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridian hotel. It was hilarious walking through the lobby with Nate (and Nate saying, it's really fancy) and then going behind this little curtain and being in The Burger Joint (which looks nothing like the rest of the hotel).

That night the show was Kristen Chenoweth and Sean Hayes in Promises Promises. I thought the show was a lot of fun- even though Jackie sat next to me scowling through it (she's just not a swingin 60's Burt Baccarat kind of gal)- until Katie Finneran came on at the beginning of Act 2- and was brilliant. I thought the dancing and design was great- Sean Hayes was really likable- and he and Kristen signed all my students programs and posed for pictures. For some of the mom's in my group, they were more excited meeting Tony Goldwyn- most notable for being the bad guy in the movie Ghost. He was the bad guy in this musical as well. While I waited for students to get autographs, Jackie went back to the hotel- and was sound asleep before I even got in.

NYC Adventure (2010 Day 3)

Thursday morning we were up early to take the subway over to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Because our group was so huge, we had arranged a 1 and a half hour guided tour of the museum and then time by ourselves. Even though our groups were still over 30 people big, we got the best docent in the entire museum- James Spann. He was a former actor and literally kept our attention the entire tour (and we would have stayed with him longer).

After the tour we went up to look at the huge bamboo exhibit on the roof of the museum. It was pretty crazy that the entire structure (which could be walked on) was only held together by lashings.

We met up with everyone that wanted to go through Central Park (a lot of people opted to stay back at the museum or head over to Serendipity on the Upper East Side). We only lost one group of 4 boys who were walking over to Bethesda Fountain- but went on the wrong road (luckily Brent and Amanda went to get them) and we stopped by Strawberry Fields before heading for a eating tour of the Upper West Side. 1st stop was Gray's Papaya for hot dogs, Jacques Torres for chocolates and finally Levain Bakery for cookies.

While we were eating, my brother Nate was arriving in NYC from Virginia- along with my sister Arianne and her husband Ben. Ari and Ben were coming on a bus from Boston, but Nate decided to only spend $4 on transportation from JFK to his mid-town hotel- which also took about 3 hours (with luggage). He did say that New Yorkers are friendly and helpful (especially when lugging 2 suitcases around on the subway).

After our cookies at Levain, it was off for more NYC eating with Brent and Amanda Cox. We hit the Village for the Coxes first experience with Pomme Frites- a place that every other time we had tried to go to with them, it had been closed. Jackie and I first ate here in 2004- and though they only serve fries, they are the best fries in the land. Between all of us, we had about 8 sauces to dip our frites in- and they were amazing.

After frites, we hit the dessert restaurant Chickalicious where I had a special version of cheesecake- basically it was a cheesecake foam that dissolved on your tounge and left the most delicious taste- I don't know how to describe it- only to say it was the "essence of cheesecake". We also had a lemon basil sorbet that was so refreshing, I secretly licked my plate when no one was watching.

That night, the show we saw (along with a talkback afterwards) was Memphis- which later won for Best Musical at the Tony Awards. I went into the show knowing the music, but not being blown away by it- but I was blown away by the show that night. The actors were having so much fun up on stage that it was infectious. The 2 leading performers were great and the dancing was fantastic! (Especially when we learned at the talk-back that they had been dancing all morning in rehearsals for the Tony Awards). What was even better was at the talkback, almost every lead came out to talk to our group and they were really down-to-earth and fun with the students. We loved the show! Even my brother Nate (who doesn't know much about theatre) really liked the show- which is high praise indeed.

NYC Adventures (2010 Day 2)

We opened our eyes at the lovely Hampton Inn (on our 10th Wedding Anniversary) and made our way down to the complimentary breakfast. For the first time that I can recall, Jackie actually made it out of the room for breakfast (normally I'd bring her something back to eat on her own in the room). We then marched ourselves down to Rockefeller Center to do The Top of the Roc.
Having been to the Empire State Building 3 times, I can tell you that I'm no longer taking groups there- being in one of the first groups on top of 30 Roc is SO MUCH BETTER! You get great shots of Central Park, Empire State, Chrysler Building, New Jersey... and you get the world's coolest elevator ride up to the top. Our group loved it and it was worth it.

From the top of Rockefeller Center we directed students where to go for their Wednesday matinee tix. Jackie took a group to Lincoln Center to get student rush for South Pacific (success), I took students to get rush tix for Fences with Denzel Washington (no-go, but we did get valuable information about how to get them on Sat.), a fellow RHS faculty member and her husband to Million Dollar Quartet lottery (success- and the two kids that wanted Fences also made the lottery) and I settled in for the long TKTS line. My parents and the Coxes were on the other side of the line- and they ended up being ahead of us. So Brent got 4 tix to A Little Night Music with Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta Jones (Row B!) and my parents got great seats for South Pacific. Jackie was waiting for me (in the rain) at one of our favorite lunch spots, Nougatine at the Trump Building, but since I was taking forever, she came down and met me at TKTS. We quickly grabbed lunch at another great place, Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center. We ate our goodies in shelter from the rain next to the A Little Night Music theatre in the hotel breezeway of the hotel we stayed at with our 2002 group. Altogether, our group saw the following shows for their matinees: Wicked, Million Dollar Quartet, In the Heights, South Pacific, and A Little Night Music.

A Little NM was great- we were all the way to the left, but I could rest my arms on the stage if I cared to. There was a man sitting next to Jackie that looked like he wanted to join in on our conversations (I wasn't noticing it but it was cracking Brent and Amanda Cox up- they were sitting right behind us) and we got a special sneak peak of Catherine Z Jones when she flashes open her robe to her suitor- and since we were on the extreme edge of the audience, we could see her plastic/body stocking upper body.



We were really impressed with the simplicity of the set and the amazing singers in the cast. It was great (even if Catherine did strange choices in Send in the Clowns- we figured she was being so specific that she was directed that way).

After that, we ran in a downpour to the subway and went to one of the oldest steakhouses in NYC, Keens Chop House. They had all of these crazy smoking pipes on the ceiling and an actress got arrested in the early 1900's for refusing to leave (they didn't serve women then). She won her case. Jackie had crab cakes and lobster bisque and I had steak hash (which was so much I couldn't finish).

We then ran to the hotel to meet everyone for The Addams Family- which I led everyone to in a downpour. When I got to the theatre, I was literally wringing the water out of my clothes.

Now I'm conflicted with The Addams Family- I think the cast did the best they could with some weak material. Nathan Lane was fantastic (as was most of the cast- esp. Kevin Chamberlain as Fester and Jackie Hoffman as Grandma), the set was amazing (including all of the puppetry) and I think most everyone had a lot of fun with it- but I wanted more. I love Andrew Lippa (the composer) and except for the opening number and a fun duet between Wednesday and her fiance, I thought the music was pretty weak (but the orchestra sounded great). However, my group loved it and we got to have a great talkback after the show with some of the leads which was a lot of fun.


After the show, we went up to another of our favorite places Eatery for dessert- Jackie got a killer ice cream sandwich and I had red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Happy 10th Anniversary! Nothing like spending it with 71 other people (and a hotel room with your parents!)

NYC Adventures (2010 Day 1)

Aah, the pleasures of a red-eye flight. Arriving at 9:30pm- checking everyone in (well, I socialized, Jackie did the checking), having 3 students get detained at security because they were over 18 and didn't have a government issued ID- just a student id- having a guard call homeland security on them- taking forever- then finally letting them through- calling parents to send a birth certificate so we don't have the problem coming back- ahh, fun times.

Even with Jet Blue's lovely leg room and TV, it's still a red-eye. I tried to be prepared and took a melatonin before boarding- and I even bought Jackie and myself inflatable neck pillows with fleece covers. I over inflated "the bladder" (as it says on the package) of the pillow which wouldn't let my head go one way or the other- it looked like I was in a neck brace. I released some of the air- only to find it uncomfortable. Jackie was on the other side of the aisle nestled against a window seat by the Coxes- I was next to my parents- my mom sleeping somewhat soundly after taking a combination of 42 pills while my dad stayed awake watching a shark movie on the USA network. Oh- Jet Blue also passed out free Hanes T-shirts as we boarded. I tried to use it as a pillow but it was still uncomfortable. But, no matter- our group of 70 (2 people already had flown in from Arizona and were doing laundry because a can of hairspray had exploded inside their suitcase) was ready to go.

We were stirred around 1:00am by an announcement from the pilot asking if there was a doctor on board. I prodded my dad but I don't think they were looking for a doctor of mechanical engineering. The person turned out to be ok, but the pilot put his foot on the gas because we arrived at JFK 20 minutes early (around 5:40am).

Looking and smelling like zombies, we collected our luggage (nothing lost) and loaded our three buses to the city. I don't remember our drivers name, but he was great- he pointed out lots of stuff to our group and got us to our hotel pretty quick (even taking some detours to show my students some other stuff). The other half of our group had a first time driver that got lost and wasn't sure where he was going.

The Hampton Inn was a little overwhelmed by our groups arrival (they had 1 poor porter taking in all of our luggage- students and Mr. Cox helped) but they welcomed our group and told them to come in and eat breakfast. My mom was so delirious that she tripped and fell in front of the hotel- and asked if she could check-in then (at 8:00am no rooms were ready).

After our group ate, we were off on the subway to Brooklyn. I was a little nervous about it because I have never been to Brooklyn- let alone leading a group of 72. The subway was right across from our hotel and it was hilarious waiting for the entire group to get through the turnstiles before we all entered the train.

We got to Brooklyn and, on a clear, sunny and warm June day walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. The group had a great time and when we reached the other side- even though we were going on no sleep, we were off to St. Paul's by Ground Zero. St. Paul's wasn't open until 10:00am so I took a few students to Ground Zero- but our group got separated and divided (Jackie was at the back and I was at the front) and it took MUCH longer to get to the viewing windows of Ground Zero (and when we got there, my entire group had to pee- led of course by my mother...) but we made it back to St. Paul's and then it was off to Grand Central.

We were going to attempt a little tour of Grand Central but, because of sleep deprivation, everyone was a little loopy so we all ended up eating and relaxing at the Food Court underneath Grand Central- while Jackie took me, my parents and the Coxes on a little guided tour.

We then (after almost leaving my parents behind because of dawdling) were off to the NYC Public Library- which, while being open, is having it's front facade redone so the awesomeness of the building was dampened a bit- but students loved going inside and looking at everything Jackie recommended- everyone that is except my parents who were going to go try to see if our room was ready (it wasn't).

After that, it was off to Times Square- but we were sidetracked by the arrival of The Naked Cowboy which caused our group to be split up all over the place. We met up at the Times Square Visitors Center where I briefly became the tour guide to people not in our group because they were overhearing my advice to my students about how to get cheap tickets the next day. My favorite was the cute Indian couple asking me if i recommended La Cage or Fela! like I worked there. We then took students to show them how TKTS works- and again, I became a tour guide to other people listening to my explanation.

After that it was check-in- for some people (almost everyone except Jackie, me and my parents). After getting everyone situated (and Jackie only becoming delirious briefly), it was into our room for a nap.

After the nap, we met everyone for Next to Normal- which most of our group loved (we had one student weeping so loudly at the end of the show the mom next to him was worried about him). I still think the show is amazing and I was happy to see Alice Ripley before she left.

After the show, kids got autographs and then it was time for John's Pizzeria (famous from our 2008 trip where Jackie and I took half our pizza into Spring Awakening and where my tech boys saw the Jonas Brothers eating lunch) right across the street from the theatre. Our group had unlimited calzones, salad, soda and wood-fired pizza. I collected the $$ as students came in- and after everyone left, me, Jackie and my parents looked like mafia counting out all of the money for the restaurant. After that, we walked up to the hotel and quickly went straight to bed for fun the next day.