The Very Large Apple

I love New York. It is my favorite. David and I were super excited to spend a week there with his dad, since we couldn't stay in Preston for the 100 posterity party (which I was really sad about.) We had a great time in the city, though. I've only ever been to New York in the winter and it was fun to see everything so lively (not that New York is ever not lively but it's even more so when the weather's nice and hot.) A little run-down on what we did:

DAY 1- Took the train from Jersey City to Manhattan and the subway to the Village, where we people-watched in Washington Square Park, ate at Dojo and wandered around Soho and Nolita. We ran into a street concert, which was cool, and found a cool bookstore and some other fun shops. We rode the train up to Bryant Park after checking out Grand Central Station on our way through and went to the New York Public Library, which had a really cool exhibit going on for free on the main level with some cool literary artifacts, from e.e. cumming's typewriter (David's first question when I told him to go look at this was, "Does it have punctuation?" I thought that was funny. I think David's funny.) to Sylvia Plath's cane (the one her husband found floating in the river where she killed herself. It was a little creepy.) Then we went back to Jersey to have dinner with Phil and called it a day.

reading in Washington Square Park; apparently really serious about it

 The quality of street musicians in NYC is so great.

 David sketched people while I read and took sneaky pictures of him.

 Grand Central Station.

 My avenue.

 New York Public Library.

 DAY 2- And then began our adventures in Times Square. I hate Times Square. Let it be written. It is good for only 1 thing: the TKTS booth, where we spent a great deal of Wednesday getting tickets for "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying". It's probably silly, but my main reason for wanting to see this show, even though I really was interested in actually seeing this particular show because I heard it is good, was that Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame, is its star. So when Phil told us to get 3 tickets to the show of our choice that night, I was stoked to choose this one. As mentioned, we waited in line, but also checked out Rockefeller Center, got cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery, which is at war with some other bakery for the unofficial title of Best Cupcake in New York, and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (after a good bit of walking along 5th avenue and wondering what it would be like to be an Upper East Sider.) All good.
We met Phil back in Midtown, went for sushi and then went to the show at 8 p.m. At 7:55 p.m., I realized with great panic that I was going to have to go the bathroom due to the amount of water I had guzzled at the sushi place. After a bit of debate, I decided to just run for it and did.
On my way back to my seat, I heard some ushers discussing in hushed tones "an ambulance". I was in such a rush that I paid them no mind and skidded through the mezzanine doors right at 8.
We waited, but nothing happened. After 20 minutes, a voice came on telling us there was a bit of a problem backstage and that the show would begin momentarily. After 45 minutes, the same voice said the same thing again. Then, at 9:30, Harry Potter and John Larouquette came out and announced that the show could not go on, that there had been a tragedy backstage and they were terribly sorry and could we all just make our way to the box office for refunds.
It was sorely disappointing, and we were very curious, especially when I remembered the ushers whispering about the ambulance. So after all that, we went back to Jersey and watched a Dateline special on Casey Anderson.
We found out the next day that one of the stage hands had ODed in the bathroom and they discovered him minutes before the show was supposed to start. So that was a little crazy.

 So because of that debacle, on DAY 3 we went back to TKTS, waited in line again, got a refund, waited around some more, and finally found out that they had no tickets for How to Succeed for that night because the box office had given everyone from the night before tickets. Phil wanted to get tickets to Cirque de Soleil which was playing in Radio City Music Hall, so we went there. No dice. Went back to TKTS, decided we wanted to hold out for How to Succeed, went to the Lion King box office, sold out. Bah, bah, bah humbug and so on, I hate Times Square, the end.

So we went to the MOMA. I love the MOMA. I love it so much. I love it like I love New York. I love New York for having it. I love the little museum store by the entrance for having cool coffee table books and magnificently designed kitchen gadgets. So great. And then, miracle of miracles....

....we got cancellation tickets to Lion King, which was awesome because it's really hard to get tickets to, at least as last minute as we were trying to get them. The show was awesome! Very kid-oriented. The puppets and songs were my favorite. It was way cool. We got fantastic burgers afterward, too. So the day ended up being awesome.

On DAY 4, we had to go back to TKTS to see if they had How to Succeed tickets (which we were supposed to have first priority for). But they didn't. So we just went to the box office instead and got a good deal on a Saturday matinee and washed our hands of all of it and went to Central Park. We started by the Dakota because we wanted to see where Lennon got shot, and made our way around, got lost in the Ramble for a while, listened to Florence and the Machine doing a sound check for a show they did in the park that night and wandered back to the Lincoln Center on the west side. 

 That night, we went to a show at Dizzy's Club, where Lincoln Center hosts jazz shows. Barbara Carroll was playing in a quartet there and it was a FANTASTIC show. Good food, music to die for. I love Barbara Carroll, holy cow. She's the cutest little old lady ever and the sounds that come out of her hands are totally unexpected because she just doesn't look like she's going to be a sick jazz pianist, but she is and you should all watch this (from 2:40 especially). Bah, she's fantastic. It was our favorite thing we did in New York. The whole trip made me feel really lucky to have David and to love doing the same things that he loves, like going to museums and jazz clubs and wandering and people watching.

 DAY 5 = my birthday. I'm 23! David got me 2 books about writing and book of lists of things to do before I die and some pens. I loved it. Then we went to How to Succeed and the show went on this time and it was FANTASTIC. Daniel was great, even doing an American accent. The whole thing was great. I loved it. When it was over, we went back to Jersey, packed up and took off BECAUSE we had to get back to Toronto for church on Sunday at 10 BECAUSE the Prophet was going to be there, which was the greatest birthday present ever, even though we didn't see him on my birthday.
But we did see him. He came to dedicate a girl's camp here in Ontario and so he came and did sacrament meeting for one of the wards and the YSA ward. David and I are in the YSA ward, so we got to go, and Phil is in the stake presidency, so he and Gloria were there too and it was AWESOME. The meeting was great and afterward, we were on the side of benches that President Monson walked down and he shook our hands! It was wonderful. Such an incredible experience and a wonderful feeling. He is a Prophet of God.

 The view from Phil's apartment.

The subway.