My sister (the flight attendant) calls me and tells me she has a 30 hour layover in New York City and asks me if I'd like to come along to see a broadway show. Well...New York is my favorite city I've ever been to and broadway shows are just about my favorite thing in life, so really, how could I refuse. I hadn't been to NY in about 5 years, so 30 hours wasn't going to give me enough of a fix, so I booked a hotel to stay an extra two nights and do something I've NEVER done before...been alone outside of my hometown. I had to fly stand by again (free trip and all) and as luck would have it, I made it on both flights. This time the flight was a lot more fun! For the first time I was flying while my sister was working the flight AND she was in first class AND there were two empty seats so she bumped me up there (I hope she never leaves that job!). We flew on a red eye and I got to ride in the shuttle with the flight crew (saving me money) and got to stay my first night in my sister's room (saving me more money). How lucky she is to visit all these great cities and stay for free while sightseeing. We had decided that we would see "Gypsy" together, because it's our favorite musical of all time and frankly after seeing Patti LuPone's performance on The Tony's, I was left speechless. We ended up with great seats for that night's performance so we headed to the hotel for a nap and then dinner in Little Italy. Well, the performance was even better than I had imagined. Of all the times I've ever seen this show, this was, by far, the best. I was really bummed when my sister had to go back to work the next day and a little nervous about being alone for 2 days. I love living alone and spending time alone, but travelling alone..I was a little hesitant. Well, being alone can really come in handy. I was planning on seeing Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid the next day and they are pretty much sold out each evening, but since I only needed one ticket, they had some great seats available. I'm a complete snob when it comes to theater, because my rule is that I won't see a show unless I get the first 10 rows of the orchestra or the first 5 rows of the mezzanine. Sorry, but I was a theater major and have seen about 90 plays and I know that any further back becomes an issue. I ended up with third row center mezzanine for Mary Poppins at 2:00PM and
13th row (broke my rule a bit) center orchestra for The Little Mermaid that night. The shows were GREAT and so were the seats. I spent the day roaming around the Time Square area going to all my favorite stores I never get to spend any time in because I'm always with people who have never been there before and want to do the touristy things. I love NY, but there are only so many times one can see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Ground Zero, Empire State Building, etc. I took full advantage of my aloneness and went to all my favorite broadway memorabilia stores and any place else that caught my eye. My favorite cupcakes in all the world are at Magnolia Bakery and as luck would have it they opened a new store around the corner from my hotel so I didn't have to head all the way down to Greenwich Village. I took my sister there before she left and...made a couple more stops there myself! Thursday I woke up to some rain so I decided to go to my favorite museum-The Museum of Natural History. I'm sure most people would say that the Met is their fave, but not me. I walked around there for hours, loving the fact that no one was rushing me like the last time I was there and got to see things I've never seen before. It was great! When I left the museum, the sun had come out so I headed down to Canal Street to shop for all the knock off Dolce & Gabanna purses and see what all the fuss is about. Well, I don't care what label they put on these purses-they were all adorable and it took me HOURS to decide on my three faves and get out of there. I headed down to Dunkin' Donuts, got a coffee and a pound to go (it is the BEST)and headed to Central Park. Oh, how I love Central Park! I sat there eating a hot dog thinking about how lucky I was to be there in my favorite city in the world doing all my favorite things. The best part is that all the plays I saw were free because my boss (who shall remain anonymous since he is very famous) gave each one of us for Christmas a $500 AMEX gift card and I used it at every box office on Broadway. I had the most difficult time deciding what show I wanted to see on Thursday night, because I knew it was my last night in NY and the last show I would be able to see for awhile. After talking to my sister and a few very gay men with strong opinions (just what I was looking for), I took their advice and decided on Xanadu. It was hilarious! I'm so glad I was able to see it. I went to bed sad that I was leaving, but grateful that I got to experience the most perfect 3 days in my favorite city. I arrived yesterday afternoon and woke up hoping I was still in my hotel room! Well...maybe I'll go back at Christmas and see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular.
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