Travel Tuesday

Once again, my pictures are out of order. Sometimes, this website just won't cooperate. Here goes.

When we arrived in New York on Thursday morning, I gave Butch and the girls a little card with the itinerary. It's nice to have something to refer to for timing purposes.

Our favorite way to start our trip is a stop at Ellen's Stardust Diner where all of the servers are singers, dancers and actors--all trying to get their start on Broadway. There's a vibe of fun and high energy.

Well, once again, I cannot get a video to work. Anyway, this was our waiter. As he was collecting payment from us, he was singing "Dream Lover" for the whole restaurant. They sing while they are working and finish by going up some steps in the middle of the restaurant to a very narrow stage. It's always so much fun. It just reminds us of the main reason we're here!! We are Broadway lovers for sure!

Mindy went out for her morning walk and decided to go by the GMA studio in Times Square. We stay at Times Square because it is a perfect location to everything! 

She met Rebecca on this morning. 

We stopped for a picture on Times Square on our way to see The Great Gatsby.

Although I didn't know this at the time, but the exact day we were there was the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Great Gatsby. Daisy was played by Sarah Hyland from Modern Family. We enjoyed the show and especially liked the costumes and sets. Plus it was special to have been there on that day.

On our way to The Edge, Sandy saw this French coffee shop that she had read about and added to her list. We stopped by afterwards for their specialty--the pistachio latte. Me, I got hot chocolate. Did I mention that it was cold and rainy? Temps in the 40's. 

This is the view from the 100th floor--The Edge. This juts out from the building and has a large part that is clear glass so you can see straight down 100 floors. Side note: my backpack purse matches my coat--it's not my big behind even though it looks like it!

We went to a really nice restaurant called, The Consulate. The food was delicious. We had lots of good food--as always. There are some places that we HAVE to go to every time--like Zuckers for New York bagels--they really are the best. And, we always make the walk to Schmackery's for cookies after a show. Luckily for us, it was only about 2 blocks from the theater where we saw Moulin Rouge. Sometimes it's a trek to go, but it's tradition now. And the cookies are amazing! I'm a cookie lover.

 

On Saturday, I booked the family for a tour of Radio City Music Hall. I had been there with Janet and the girls 3 weeks prior and knew they would like it. They did!

We have walked by these diamond lights in the diamond district without ever paying attention to them before. I had it on my list to notice them! There is so much see--it's easy to overlook things..

We ALL loved Moulin Rouge. Butch and Sandy had never seen it. I thought it would be fun since we're actually going to the Moulin Rouge in Paris when we go the first week of June.

This was our first time at this old and unusual Victorian restaurant, called Lillies. 

It was beautiful and the food was good. Next time, we're going to go for tea in the afternoon.

Prior to dinner, we stopped at our favorite bar: The Back Pocket.

They serve some of the drinks in gummie bear glasses. We wanted Butch to see it. They also serve popcorn with your drinks. It's a tiny place, but we've always managed to get one of the three tables. Another unusual find by Sandy that has become a favorite.

One of the things I was most looking forward to was the walk from our hotel across the Brooklyn Bridge to Dumbo City and back--7.5 miles. It was raining, so we ended up Lyfting to the bridge and then making the 1.5 mile walk over it. 

We went to Grimaldi's--a pizza place for lunch. It's really old. 

We also had our book discussion here. Since we all love Disney, Mindy suggested Disney High: the Rise and Fall of the Disney Tween Empire. We all enjoyed it and had a pretty lively discussion. Of course, the girls knew a whole lot more about those young stars than I did. I learned a lot. Butch was able to contribute explanations about the business aspect. 

Butch took us to the cleanest bathrooms in New York. We have passed by them dozens of times. They are at Bryant Park next to the New York Public Library.

They have a guard inside regulating the number of people going in. 

There were fresh flowers--pretty fancy. 

Art and coffered ceilings. I just peeked in. A couple of the girls took advantage of the facilities. This is what I mean. There are really cool and unusual things all over the place. You just have to know where to look!

Another fun NYC trip in the books (and how lucky am I to have gotten to go twice in just a few weeks! We girls have been going every year for quite awhile now. This was the first time for Butch since the girls were still all at home. In fact, that's what I liked the best about the trip--all of us--just us--being together! We're definitely going to do it again!!