NYC!

Sally and I went on a "grand adventure" (that is an expression that Jack often uses!) to New York City last week. We flew out on Tuesday morning, July 5th and came back Thursday evening, July 7th. We packed so much into those three days, two nights. We arrived at our hotel in NYC around noon on Tuesday and were able to check in early. We had lunch at Junior's and then went for a long walk to Central Park, arriving back at the hotel in time for me to get a little nap before dinner and the play. We had decided that we were going to eat on the cheap (as if that is really possible in New York City!), but caved and made a last minute reservation at the 21 Club. It was worth it! After a wonderful dinner, we headed over to the theater to see Catch Me If You Can. We did the stage door thing afterward. I love doing that! There is a video of that at the end of this post.

dinner at the 21Club on our first night

We saw Catch Me If You Can the first night

On Wednesday, we slept in and then decided to get tickets for a matinee. We went to the half-price ticket booth at Times Square and the line was ridiculous. Our first choice was Billy Elliot and so we decided that I would wait in the line and Sally would go to the theater box office and see what she could get. She was gone less than 15 minutes and ended up with tenth row seats, 40% off. We had a quick lunch, then went to the show. There was a 13 year old girl named Maria May making her Broadway debut at that performance and it turned out that her mother and aunt were seated next to us. We loved watching them watch Maria just about as much as we enjoyed watching the play! It was very touching. They were so gracious. I kiddingly told them about Sally being a star in a play at the Children's Theater of Western Springs and they were all "Oh how wonderful!" Yeah, well, not quite the same as Broadway, but thanks! :) After Billy Elliot, we had dinner at Sardi's and then went to see Anything Goes. Incredible show! Sutton Foster was amazing. She has been one of our favorites since we first saw her in Little Women (on Broadway) in 2005.

We saw Billy Elliot on Wednesday afternoon

Anything Goes! on Wednesday night

On Thursday, we checked out of our hotel around 10, left our bags with the bellman and started hiking. We walked all the way from 49th down past 20th and over to Kleinfled's, the bridal shop that is the setting for the tv show, "Say Yes to the Dress". They were filming an episode that day and we were hoping to see Randy but no luck. We left and walked over to see the apartment building from "Friends", then caught a cab to Canal Street (the place with all the street vendors). We had fun there, then took the subway up to Grand Central Station, had a late lunch, then picked up our bags at our hotel. We left for the airport with plenty of time to spare and on the way, Sally got an automated message on her cell phone that our 7:20 flight had been canceled and they had booked us on another flight the first thing the next morning. Yikes! Well, with a bit of help and advice from my husband,  Mr. Lifetime Platinum American Airlines, we were able to get on another flight on Delta that left at 7. It all turned out fine and we had a fun experience with a caring flight attendant, Doug. He was really the first class flight attendant, but he took a liking to us and brought us wine in real glass glasses ("Drinking out of plastic cups is so pedestrian", he said). He ended up chatting us up and when he heard that Sally was a high school teacher, he told us his story of a teacher that made a difference in his life. Sally cried, she was so touched. And as it turned out, Sherry Shepard from "The View" was on our flight and Sally talked to her after we got off the plane.

It was such a fun trip and a pleasure to travel with Sally. She knows New York City better than she does Chicago and was an excellent tour guide. Lots of great memories from our three day trip!

The first video is from the Anything Goes stage door, a video of Raymond Lee who played John. 

This is a video of Norbert Leo Butz at the stage door after Sally and I saw "Catch Me if You Can". He played Hanratty, the detective and was amazing. Norbert won the Tony award for best actor in a musical.