New York, New York: Part Two

I loved hearing all of your stories about New York! Keep ’em coming!

Our first day was definitely packed with activity, but Friday promised to be just as exciting. It began early with a train ride to New Jersey, where I met up with Sam to stash our suitcases at her place before heading back into the city.

We arrived at Port Authority at 9:30 and quickly made our way to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre to pick up rush tickets for How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) is only starring in the show through January 2, and there aren’t enough emotions to express how excited I was to see him sing, dance and act in person!

More on that later. 🙂

We secured four orchestra tickets (for $30 each!) before heading to the Times Deli Cafe for breakfast.

I was in the mood for a New York bagel, so I ordered an “everything” with ham, egg and cheese.

It hit the spot and fueled me for a morning of walking and talking with Sam, who took the day off just for me! Our first stop was Bryant Park and the New York Public Library.

I love libraries. It makes me happy to be among books old and new. This one was very Hogwarts-esque!

Does anyone remember World Book? These were essential for papers in grade school!

We worked at the library for an hour or so before venturing out to meet a great friend for lunch. On the way, we made a stop at Baked by Melissa to pick up some of her amazing mini cupcakes!

The selection was incredible – and beautifully arranged, too.

Sam insisted we get a dozen. As I’m sure you can imagine, I was very tough to convince. 😉 We got an assorted box, which allowed us to try each of the standard flavors. We also took two of the mini of the month: snow-covered pretzel, which came with white cake, white vanilla icing and a white chocolate-covered pretzel topping. Those are featured in the top left of the box below. The rest, in order, are cookies and cream, mint chocolate chip, tie-dye, s’mores, chocolate chip pancake, peanut butter cup, red velvet, cookie dough, cinnamon and peanut butter and jelly.

These were perfectly bite-sized, sweet portions. Over the course of the day, I tried one of the snow-covered pretzels, cookies and cream, peanut butter cup and peanut butter and jelly. Each of them were delicious for their own reasons. Did I mention they ship nationwide now?

Dangerous. They reminded me of another Melissa I know who bakes amazing goodies.

Once we had our cupcakes in tow, we headed over to Energy Kitchen to meet that “great friend” I mentioned – none other than Karla! I’m bummed because we did not take a picture together, but it was so nice to see her and be able to catch up on life.

I was still feeling full from my bagel, so I decided to order a smoothie off the menu instead, made with orange juice, banana and strawberries. It hit the spot!

We gabbed for more than an hour before Karla had to head back to work. Our time together is always too short, but I’m hoping we’ll be able to see each other again sooner rather than later!

Sam and I wrapped up the rest of the work day at a Barnes & Noble. Bobby called us around 4:00 to let us know he had finished his conference, so we met him at our next tourist destination…

The Empire State Building! It’s always nice to see a city from 86 floors up – especially at night!

Sam was our unofficial tour guide, and she did a great job pointing out the noteworthy buildings.

We hung out for as long as possible before the wind and chilly air brought us back inside. Once we were back on ground level, I was tempted to buy the photo taken of all three of us, but settled for taking a picture of it instead.

Can you see why I love this lady?

Ears popping, we walked to meet up with Sam’s boyfriend, Alex, to grab dinner before the show.

We decided on the ever-popular Shake Shack! We had dinner at the original in Madison Square Park the last time I was in New York, and the Theater District location certainly did not disappoint, either. Bobby got a double, while I opted for a single ShackBurger.

We also split a strawberry milkshake – yum!

Soon enough, it was showtime.

Daniel Radcliffe did an AMAZING job! He is quite the singer and dancer! Bobby and I agreed that this was one of the best Broadway shows we have ever seen. The music and acting were both brilliant, not to mention the fact that we had great seats and company.

After the show, we made our way back to New Jersey for the evening. It was a wonderful second day in New York City, with much more action and adventure planned for the weekend. Looking forward to sharing more in my third and final post!

What are your favorite Broadway shows, musicals or performances?

Abrazos,