Chinatown was… interesting. We decided to make a morning of it and the girls wanted to find cheap (albeit fake) purses, so we braved the sketchy area. Little did we know, it was about to get exponentially sketchier with every place we walked into. Actually the craziest part happened within the first block. Mallory, our fearless shopaholic leader, got sucked in by the first guy with a “Coach” bag to offer.
We figured he’d lead us to his shop off the corner and maybe into these “back rooms” we’ve been hearing they take you to to look at their inventory. No. This was sketchier (I apologize for the overuse, but it really is the only applicable word here). He motioned us to enter the back of his black van. It was straight out of a “Do’s & Don’ts of Child Safety” video and we were the unscrupulous “Don’ts” example. The whole time Mallory & Whitney battled the vendor for prices in the most gutteral, basic human communication imaginable, I had my foot in the door behind me and my eye on the empty driver’s seat to make sure it stayed that way. We were stupid. Sadly, no video. I didn’t feel it was a good place to whip out my brand new FlipHD video camera.
I managed to spend $5 on some new sunglasses.
After our experience in Chinatown, 6 purses, 3 pairs of sunglasses, 2 wallets, 4 subway trains and an ice cream sandwich later, we made our way back to the hotel. We managed to get a look at the Statue of Liberty from a distance, but didn’t get great pictures. We’re going later this week to take the ferry and get a better look.
The afternoon was scheduled for a New York City Bus Tour. When I saw this on the itinerary, at first, I was honestly not excited. But once we got going, it became one of my favorite parts of the trip. I loved hearing about all the districts and the history as well as getting a great view of every major landmark within driving range. All the major buildings, shopping areas, memorials, cathedrals, bridges and much more. It was totally worthwhile.
I say this because of the history and the culture we could observe within such a short time. The girls say this, because we saw a certain actor in SoHo – the Notebook’s Ryan Gosling. He was just strolling around, in cognito, obviously trying to go unnoticed. So that was funny to watch everyone’s reactions and hear their drooling conversations the rest of the tour while looking at a couple blurry pictures we were able to take (pictures coming tomorrow from Whitney’s camera for all you celebrity hounds).
After the tour, we waited in line for half-price Broadway tickets. It wasn’t on my list to start the trip, but I figured I might as well see one while I’m in New York. So, we all got tickets to the Phantom of the Opera. We went back to the hotel and got all snazzed up for the show (bowtie included – pictures tomorrow) and went to dinner at Bella Napoli. It was a quaint little Italian restaurant with great pizza and lasagna, as well as a great atmosphere. So after the ordeal of splitting a check 12 ways, we had about 12 minutes to make it to our show 4 blocks away. Sounds easy, but not in the people traffic we hit at 7 with rain starting to set in. We felt like real New Yorkers, running down the streets, yelling directions as each other and trying to keep pace with the group. We got to the show and were ushered to our awesome seats front & center (of the balcony), and got there just in time. The play was amazing! Breathtaking, impactful and so well-produced. I’d never seen a Broadway play, or any play outside of high school before, so I was absolutely blown away. I loved the movie, but this was so much better and interactive. Favorite part of the day for sure. Still get goosebumps just thinking about some of the songs.
After the show, we came back to the hotel, had some dessert at the cafe downstairs and now about to get some much needed sleep before a big day tomorrow. Here’s the list of things I will hopefully get done:
- Central Park group meeting
- Tour of NBC
- Tour of Sports Illustrated
- Statue of Liberty
- Shop at Urban Outfitters
- Ok, I thought there were more. More Thursday too.
Tags: adclub, broadway, chinatown, New York, OSU, phantom of the opera, tour bus
05/27/2009 at 2:09 am |
I basically drooled through this entire post. In the past three days, you’ve done SO many things that I’ve always wanted to do.
Jealous doesn’t even begin to describe how I’m feeling right now.
I’m so excited for you, it sounds like you’re having the time of your life! Don’t be surprised if I randomly show up and try to tag along.