NYC was utterly breathtaking.
Jan. 17th, 2011 11:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shinydinosaur...even if it did drop to like -9 or whatever that night, with the wind.
My wonderful boyfriend waited at the bus station with me until it arrived at midnight-ish. BTW that bus is so sketchy, I loved it. (For the record, I accidentally got a ticket for midnight the previous night and although it has 'no exchanges/refunds' written all over the thing, the guy looked at it, had me sign it, and gave me a seat number). I can go there and hop a bus for $20 next time. And I couldn't sleep well 'cause the window across from me was messed up and blowing cold air. So I got like three random hours of sleep. Listened to my iPod a looot. Arrived in Chinatown around 6:30am and I stepped out and only had a shirt and sweater on and immediately put on like three more layers once I got into the equally sketchy stop there.
Then I walked around and got a roll with this ham and egg in it for like 80 cents, then had to ask like 8 people where the subway was.
The destination was 119th W 45th street, right? My sleep-deprived brain told me to get off at 119th St. Which is just... lolno. Way off. I basically spent like two hours on the subway and getting directions before finally making it to Times Square. (But when I first got out of the subway I was right near this giant college thing, I think.) Then I just sort of got out and stared in awe at all of Times Square -- until I realized exactly how freezing cold I was. So I ran and got coffee (I swear it became an addiction) and took my suitcase to the hostel and got to leave it there.
The next seven hours were just me with a map walking around and taking a lot of pictures (okay so I only took 500 but whatever, hard when it's cold). I said hi to so many theatres.. like, you turn the corner and there's at least one there. Nederlander, Imperial, Boothe, Magestic, Little Shubert Theatre... I think one of the few I didn't walk to was the Gershwin. And then I went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum and omg. It's kinda hard going in by yourself but there were some nice people who offered to take pictures for me. I kept thinking the statues were going to turn to lif---DON'T BLINK.
Kidding. XDDD But there was five floors of wax figures and I know I said "excuse me" to at least one when I bumped it. There's also this 15 minute 4D Wizard of Oz thing, wasn't too bad, and a greenscreen 'be a superhero' thing. So I volunteered and acted it out and saved the world from a giant laser. XD There's also a scream house thing that I opted out of because you NEVER do those things alone unless you don't get scared easily.
More walking, lots more pictures, I found out where N2N was playing and where their stagedoor was, more coffee...then I went back to the hostel and sat down for two hours and finally got warm.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
harbek told me that there was a pizza place nearby that was super good so I went and found that and omg she was right. It's a little hole in the wall with a little bartable thing and four chairs and that's the only seating in the whole place. It's next to the Church of Scientology (that place gave me MAJOR creeps just walking past it and glancing in) and across from Billy Elliot and wow I loved it.
OH YEAH. There was this group of Anon with their masks and this one guy on stilts dressed up all like Uncle Sam (like, all patriotic, basically) and he/they were being filmed by this official crew thing and from what I heard it had to have been about Wikileaks. xD
Went back to hostel, my bunkmate below me was awake so we chatted, she's from Australia and was just taking a bit of a vacation, and I suggested the pizza place to her. She also had no idea what to do that night and I told her about N2N and she decided to see a show, Phantom, but hey it's something. I left her my number, went out to Times Square and checked out the information center place. There's a group of hats on display from various shows next to this screen playing this Broadway retrospective that looked pretty amazing but I'm sure it was over $30 and I didn't wanna pay that much.
We ended up calling each other and meeting up for pizza for dinner a while later and our third roommate joined us. She's from London, there was a lot to talk about, and apparently she's met David Tennant when she went to see Love's Labor's Lost. AGH JEALOUS. XD We decided to all sightsee together so we walked down to the water, went to Grand Central Station and got pictures (and one together!) and stopped for more coffee. One went to see Phantom, I went to see N2N, and one went to see Chicago.
NEXT TO NORMAL OMG. I could make an ENTIRE post on nothing but that. The Booth Theatre is this adorable little theatre but o.m.g. I was ten rows away and just seeing the stage and the setup made me a bit emotional, knowing I was finally there and it was about to close soon and one of my dreams was coming true. The performances were electrifying, for lack of a better word, and I had chills down my spine. Alice Ripley is fierce and awesome and a bit crazy, but I swear, Marin Mazzie blew it out of the park. She had more depth and power IMHO, and her belting was perfect. And Jason Danieley? Holy crap. He was so believable, and just knowing that those two are married IRL and can do this every night... it was just that much more powerful. The look Diana gave her husband as she was sent off to her ECT treatment was haunting. Kyle Dean Massey was good as Gabe, but Tveit owned it. However, Meghann Fahey was a brilliant Natalie and as Natalie is the character I identify with so much, her scenes with Henry just blew me away. And I'm glad that the OBC Henry was still there. He's excellent. I'm convinced I've finally found my IRL Henry and I'm all the better for it. I had tears in my eyes at some points to say the least. As for the doctor, he may have been a supporting character but he was SO real and gave nothing less than 110% to his performance.
I ran out the door as soon as it was over, made it to the stage door, and there really weren't a lot of people at all out there, because it was SO cold. I was maybe 7-10 people away from the first one in line? The security guys said we couldn't ask them to pose for pictures, and they were so bundled up that you really couldn't tell who they were anyways. The first guy to come out was Louis Hobson, the doctors in the show. He was really sweet. Meghann was absolutely charming and seemed genuinely touched when I told her that this was my first trip to NYC and my first Broadway show - and it was because of them that I came, honestly. Marin and Jason were the only other two people to come sign, but they were both really sweet to take time out for the 20 or so fans out there. I was just really happy to be there, honestly, despite the bitter wind. The place I was standing in, Shubert Alley, was like a freaking wind tunnel.
Got back, my fourth roommate was there, she's from another part of Australia, and we all sat up and talked for a few hours before we went to bed. They seemed so surprised that I was 18 and doing this trip alone, and were rather impressed. XD
In the morning we all got up and I packed up, then checked out and went to take one last nice walk. Saw the Phantom's theatre, then I got to look around Sardi's and they let me take a ton of pictures on the first floor (the second was closed). There was a window poster thing of Rooms: A Rock Romance there! I was listening to that the whole ride up on the bus. I also took pictures of the outside of the theatre where In The Heights just closed, and man I wish I had gotten to see it. Then I went to this massive Hershey's store and another M&M's store next to it.
Walked way over to the east where the map said the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market was, but no luck. Walked farther to the Actor's Studio and got to look around there. It was like a foyer and a room with nothing but scripts on shelves - both completed and in-progress. Apparently students there do a seven-year program working on their plays. It's crazy awesome. Went to the Garment District and found the first 7-11 (convenience store) that I'd seen outside of VA. Took a subway to Union Square and looked around there for a bit, then found my way towards the East Village. Stopped at the merch store, Forbidden Planet..there's a whole section for Doctor Who collectibles. I kinda freaked when I saw the Fifth Doctor figure in the Castrovalva outfit, and then another with Fivey and the Master. And this big Tardis-shaped box with all the Doctor figures in it.
Right down the street is Strand Bookstore. They advertise 18 miles of books and they aren't kidding. Three floors and a basement full. I found what I'm getting my boyfriend for his 21st birthday next year, though. It's on their third floor (the rare book section). It's an old Gilbert and Sullivan play and it's annotated by Isaac Asimov. *flail* It's $100 and it will be so worth it. He adores Gilbert and Sullivan like whoa and he enjoys Asimov too, if I'm not mistaken.
Then I wandered into Alphabet City and found the Life Cafe. <333333333333
I think they're renovating it, actually. Or the outside, at least. Looked different from pictures I saw. I got so emotional when I went in. There weren't a lot of people so I sat in the back over by the Jonathan Larson bench. I then realized I only had 15 minutes before the bus got there and that was the latest one I could take to get to my bus on time. ;___;
I pulled out my beautiful Mark scarf and put it on and started to get emotional and tearing up. The guy was really really understanding though, he gave me water and let me compose myself and took pictures of me on the bench and all. <333
1) I never thought I'd get to go to NYC, much less the Life Cafe. 2) Rent does mean a whole lot to me, even if I became a fan well after the movie came out and completely missed seeing it on Broadway. 3) If N2N was my top reason for going, being there was my second. 4) That was my very last stop before I had to go home. TOO SOON.
I hopped the bus, used the last bit of my metro card (and $0.55 cents) and went to Chinatown to the bus station. I still had 20 minutes so I grabbed some food from the market I found the previous morning and another market, then went and got my best friend a really nice necklace since I missed both her birthday and Christmas (and I suck at finding gifts). My iPod was totally dead and it was too dark to read, so I ended up talking to two girls from New Jersey who were headed to VA for the first time to visit friends. They were quite nice and we told stories to each other and had a good time.
My dad picked me up, I went home, spent two hours talking to my little sister about the trip, then slept until noon - and then went out to eat (surprise!) pizza with my aunts and uncles for our late Christmas thing. I got earrings from my aunt and the DVD of the BBC The Silver Chair, from the Narnia miniseries. Went home, watched PS: I Love You (surprisingly good) with my sister, then sat down and got through half of the BBC's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (apparently LWW is like three hours long - and we were gonna marathon all three movie/miniseries? LOLNO). I was still tired and crashed around midnight.
While window-shopping in NYC I got a few things: a nice black beret that I fell in love with, postercard things of Spring Awakening, RENT, and Les Mis to put on my wall, the N2N shirt, and the big N2N book that has all the gorgeous pictures of the OBC and show. And some food-related stuff, like caramel-flavored pocky omg I wanna eat it now, some things that look like almond brittle, and one of the two shrimp rolls since one was enough to fill me up (I should have gotten like four of them omg delicious).
I WANNA GO BACK LIKE OMG. /end
My wonderful boyfriend waited at the bus station with me until it arrived at midnight-ish. BTW that bus is so sketchy, I loved it. (For the record, I accidentally got a ticket for midnight the previous night and although it has 'no exchanges/refunds' written all over the thing, the guy looked at it, had me sign it, and gave me a seat number). I can go there and hop a bus for $20 next time. And I couldn't sleep well 'cause the window across from me was messed up and blowing cold air. So I got like three random hours of sleep. Listened to my iPod a looot. Arrived in Chinatown around 6:30am and I stepped out and only had a shirt and sweater on and immediately put on like three more layers once I got into the equally sketchy stop there.
Then I walked around and got a roll with this ham and egg in it for like 80 cents, then had to ask like 8 people where the subway was.
The destination was 119th W 45th street, right? My sleep-deprived brain told me to get off at 119th St. Which is just... lolno. Way off. I basically spent like two hours on the subway and getting directions before finally making it to Times Square. (But when I first got out of the subway I was right near this giant college thing, I think.) Then I just sort of got out and stared in awe at all of Times Square -- until I realized exactly how freezing cold I was. So I ran and got coffee (I swear it became an addiction) and took my suitcase to the hostel and got to leave it there.
The next seven hours were just me with a map walking around and taking a lot of pictures (okay so I only took 500 but whatever, hard when it's cold). I said hi to so many theatres.. like, you turn the corner and there's at least one there. Nederlander, Imperial, Boothe, Magestic, Little Shubert Theatre... I think one of the few I didn't walk to was the Gershwin. And then I went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum and omg. It's kinda hard going in by yourself but there were some nice people who offered to take pictures for me. I kept thinking the statues were going to turn to lif---DON'T BLINK.
Kidding. XDDD But there was five floors of wax figures and I know I said "excuse me" to at least one when I bumped it. There's also this 15 minute 4D Wizard of Oz thing, wasn't too bad, and a greenscreen 'be a superhero' thing. So I volunteered and acted it out and saved the world from a giant laser. XD There's also a scream house thing that I opted out of because you NEVER do those things alone unless you don't get scared easily.
More walking, lots more pictures, I found out where N2N was playing and where their stagedoor was, more coffee...then I went back to the hostel and sat down for two hours and finally got warm.
harbek told me that there was a pizza place nearby that was super good so I went and found that and omg she was right. It's a little hole in the wall with a little bartable thing and four chairs and that's the only seating in the whole place. It's next to the Church of Scientology (that place gave me MAJOR creeps just walking past it and glancing in) and across from Billy Elliot and wow I loved it.OH YEAH. There was this group of Anon with their masks and this one guy on stilts dressed up all like Uncle Sam (like, all patriotic, basically) and he/they were being filmed by this official crew thing and from what I heard it had to have been about Wikileaks. xD
Went back to hostel, my bunkmate below me was awake so we chatted, she's from Australia and was just taking a bit of a vacation, and I suggested the pizza place to her. She also had no idea what to do that night and I told her about N2N and she decided to see a show, Phantom, but hey it's something. I left her my number, went out to Times Square and checked out the information center place. There's a group of hats on display from various shows next to this screen playing this Broadway retrospective that looked pretty amazing but I'm sure it was over $30 and I didn't wanna pay that much.
We ended up calling each other and meeting up for pizza for dinner a while later and our third roommate joined us. She's from London, there was a lot to talk about, and apparently she's met David Tennant when she went to see Love's Labor's Lost. AGH JEALOUS. XD We decided to all sightsee together so we walked down to the water, went to Grand Central Station and got pictures (and one together!) and stopped for more coffee. One went to see Phantom, I went to see N2N, and one went to see Chicago.
NEXT TO NORMAL OMG. I could make an ENTIRE post on nothing but that. The Booth Theatre is this adorable little theatre but o.m.g. I was ten rows away and just seeing the stage and the setup made me a bit emotional, knowing I was finally there and it was about to close soon and one of my dreams was coming true. The performances were electrifying, for lack of a better word, and I had chills down my spine. Alice Ripley is fierce and awesome and a bit crazy, but I swear, Marin Mazzie blew it out of the park. She had more depth and power IMHO, and her belting was perfect. And Jason Danieley? Holy crap. He was so believable, and just knowing that those two are married IRL and can do this every night... it was just that much more powerful. The look Diana gave her husband as she was sent off to her ECT treatment was haunting. Kyle Dean Massey was good as Gabe, but Tveit owned it. However, Meghann Fahey was a brilliant Natalie and as Natalie is the character I identify with so much, her scenes with Henry just blew me away. And I'm glad that the OBC Henry was still there. He's excellent. I'm convinced I've finally found my IRL Henry and I'm all the better for it. I had tears in my eyes at some points to say the least. As for the doctor, he may have been a supporting character but he was SO real and gave nothing less than 110% to his performance.
I ran out the door as soon as it was over, made it to the stage door, and there really weren't a lot of people at all out there, because it was SO cold. I was maybe 7-10 people away from the first one in line? The security guys said we couldn't ask them to pose for pictures, and they were so bundled up that you really couldn't tell who they were anyways. The first guy to come out was Louis Hobson, the doctors in the show. He was really sweet. Meghann was absolutely charming and seemed genuinely touched when I told her that this was my first trip to NYC and my first Broadway show - and it was because of them that I came, honestly. Marin and Jason were the only other two people to come sign, but they were both really sweet to take time out for the 20 or so fans out there. I was just really happy to be there, honestly, despite the bitter wind. The place I was standing in, Shubert Alley, was like a freaking wind tunnel.
Got back, my fourth roommate was there, she's from another part of Australia, and we all sat up and talked for a few hours before we went to bed. They seemed so surprised that I was 18 and doing this trip alone, and were rather impressed. XD
In the morning we all got up and I packed up, then checked out and went to take one last nice walk. Saw the Phantom's theatre, then I got to look around Sardi's and they let me take a ton of pictures on the first floor (the second was closed). There was a window poster thing of Rooms: A Rock Romance there! I was listening to that the whole ride up on the bus. I also took pictures of the outside of the theatre where In The Heights just closed, and man I wish I had gotten to see it. Then I went to this massive Hershey's store and another M&M's store next to it.
Walked way over to the east where the map said the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market was, but no luck. Walked farther to the Actor's Studio and got to look around there. It was like a foyer and a room with nothing but scripts on shelves - both completed and in-progress. Apparently students there do a seven-year program working on their plays. It's crazy awesome. Went to the Garment District and found the first 7-11 (convenience store) that I'd seen outside of VA. Took a subway to Union Square and looked around there for a bit, then found my way towards the East Village. Stopped at the merch store, Forbidden Planet..there's a whole section for Doctor Who collectibles. I kinda freaked when I saw the Fifth Doctor figure in the Castrovalva outfit, and then another with Fivey and the Master. And this big Tardis-shaped box with all the Doctor figures in it.
Right down the street is Strand Bookstore. They advertise 18 miles of books and they aren't kidding. Three floors and a basement full. I found what I'm getting my boyfriend for his 21st birthday next year, though. It's on their third floor (the rare book section). It's an old Gilbert and Sullivan play and it's annotated by Isaac Asimov. *flail* It's $100 and it will be so worth it. He adores Gilbert and Sullivan like whoa and he enjoys Asimov too, if I'm not mistaken.
Then I wandered into Alphabet City and found the Life Cafe. <333333333333
I think they're renovating it, actually. Or the outside, at least. Looked different from pictures I saw. I got so emotional when I went in. There weren't a lot of people so I sat in the back over by the Jonathan Larson bench. I then realized I only had 15 minutes before the bus got there and that was the latest one I could take to get to my bus on time. ;___;
I pulled out my beautiful Mark scarf and put it on and started to get emotional and tearing up. The guy was really really understanding though, he gave me water and let me compose myself and took pictures of me on the bench and all. <333
1) I never thought I'd get to go to NYC, much less the Life Cafe. 2) Rent does mean a whole lot to me, even if I became a fan well after the movie came out and completely missed seeing it on Broadway. 3) If N2N was my top reason for going, being there was my second. 4) That was my very last stop before I had to go home. TOO SOON.
I hopped the bus, used the last bit of my metro card (and $0.55 cents) and went to Chinatown to the bus station. I still had 20 minutes so I grabbed some food from the market I found the previous morning and another market, then went and got my best friend a really nice necklace since I missed both her birthday and Christmas (and I suck at finding gifts). My iPod was totally dead and it was too dark to read, so I ended up talking to two girls from New Jersey who were headed to VA for the first time to visit friends. They were quite nice and we told stories to each other and had a good time.
My dad picked me up, I went home, spent two hours talking to my little sister about the trip, then slept until noon - and then went out to eat (surprise!) pizza with my aunts and uncles for our late Christmas thing. I got earrings from my aunt and the DVD of the BBC The Silver Chair, from the Narnia miniseries. Went home, watched PS: I Love You (surprisingly good) with my sister, then sat down and got through half of the BBC's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (apparently LWW is like three hours long - and we were gonna marathon all three movie/miniseries? LOLNO). I was still tired and crashed around midnight.
While window-shopping in NYC I got a few things: a nice black beret that I fell in love with, postercard things of Spring Awakening, RENT, and Les Mis to put on my wall, the N2N shirt, and the big N2N book that has all the gorgeous pictures of the OBC and show. And some food-related stuff, like caramel-flavored pocky omg I wanna eat it now, some things that look like almond brittle, and one of the two shrimp rolls since one was enough to fill me up (I should have gotten like four of them omg delicious).
I WANNA GO BACK LIKE OMG. /end
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Date: 2011-01-17 05:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-17 07:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-17 10:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-17 11:03 pm (UTC)And yeah, I got lucky and had some great roomies!
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Date: 2011-01-18 02:23 am (UTC)ADSL;JASD;LKFJDSA;LKFJD;
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Date: 2011-01-18 02:26 am (UTC)