New York City - Round Two

For Christmas this year, Chuck gave me tickets to see one of my favorite Broadway shows, Jersey Boys, in New York City. We've been trying to find time to go to NYC since moving to Boston, seeing as it's only about a 4 hour drive away. Chuck figured January was the perfect time- right after I left my job at MIT and right before we move (temporarily) to Seattle.  (More on that soon.)

We took the Megabus down on Thursday morning. The Megabus is awesome. You can get super cheap tickets, the bus has free WiFi, outlets to plug phones and laptops into, and it's kinda fun to ride on top of a double decker bus. Plus, someone else does all the driving so you can just relax and take in the scenery!

When we got to New York, we walked through the city, got a coffee at Starbucks, and slowly made our way to check into our hotel. I found a hotel online for VERY cheap because they were having a "winter sale." The hotel was right in Times Square and only a few blocks from the theater where we were seeing the show!

Before the show we ate at a restaurant called "Victor's Cafe." It was basically the NYC, slightly fancier version, of our favorite restaurant back in Louisville, Havana Rumba. It was SO. GOOD. Then it was off to Jersey Boys. That was also SO. SO. SO. GOOD. If you ever get a chance to see this show, please go see it. You will not regret it!

Friday morning we woke up, checked out of our hotel, grabbed some coffee and a danish and walked to Rockefeller Center.

A few people were ice skating so we thought about doing it too, but decided it was way too cold to be enjoyable. So we just had our picture taken in front of it instead.

We hung around there for a little while- spent way longer than a couple of 25 year olds should in the Lego store, stopped in the NBC studios store and thought about taking the tour but decided against it since we've both done it before, and then decided to tackle the NYC subway and make our way to the World Trade Center Memorial.

Thank God the Boston subway system is not this crazy.

Getting to the memorial was pretty interesting. For some reason I assummed it was just open to the public to come and go as you wish. Of course that's not how it was. The memorial requires (free) passes, a maze-like walk to the entrance, a security checkpoint similar to airport security (minus taking off your shoes) and about 5-6 points where you have to present your pass to be checked. When we finally made it  to the memorial it was very much worth it. I can't say the memorial is enjoyable, simply because of why it's there, but I can say it's a very  nice tribute to the victims of 9/11. And it was awesome to see the Freedom Tower and the other buildings currently under construction to replace the Twin Towers.

After the memorial, we had lunch at a hole in the wall Irish Pub across the street and then walked over to Wall Street. We wanted to go in and do some trading at the New York Stock Exchange but that place is on lock down!

After Wall Street, we decided to go see the 34th Street Macy's. I knew that store was big but I had no idea how big. I can't even understand how a store can be this big. My favorite floor was the 9th floor, furniture and whatnot. I really just wanted to stay there the rest of the day. Actually, I wanted to stay forever. They have a bed and couches! And look how nicely it's decorated!

By 6 o'clock Friday we were back on the Megabus making our way home. It was a pretty eventful ride home: snow, rush hour, 6 hours when it was only supposed to take 4, and a Charlie from LOST situation in the bus bathroom- some guy locked himself in and wouldn't come out.

We had so much fun in two short days but definitely agreed that when we go back, we should go when it's warmer than 20 degrees!