Day 87 & 88: New York Weekend

Dan just had a weekend in New York, so we squeezed in as much as we could in the next two days. First up: the Statue of Liberty. We set out early in the morning and took the subway all the way to the tip of lower Manhattan. From there we went to the ferry dock and lined up for the ferry.

The ferry to Liberty Island

Manhattan from the ferry

Approaching Liberty Island

Lady Liberty

We walked around the grounds of Liberty Island and snapped a few photos. We didn't get to go up the pedestal because tickets were already sold out, but it was nice enough walking around the grounds. There were several plaques around the park talking about the history of the Statue of Liberty, including one that explained how it got its green color (from the oxidation of the copper!).

Selfie with the Statue of Liberty

Manhattan in the back

Back in Manhattan, we decided to stop by Ground Zero since it was nearby. We saw the new One World Trade Center (still being completed).

And also the 9/11 Memorial where the Twin Towers stood.

After that, it was nearly 1pm so we headed over to Madison Square Park for some Shake Shack.

The line was crazy long - we waited for an hour (about 50 minutes to the counter and another 10 for our food). There is a shorter line though for drinks and ice cream, so we bought some milkshakes to drink while waiting.

So worth the wait though!

Dan's first Shake Shack

After Shake Shack it was off to the Empire State Building. More long lines as we waited to get to the top. (It was a day of long lines.)

The views were great though. It was so cool to see all of New York. We spent some time at the 86th floor observation deck...

...then headed up to the 102nd floor. That's Central Park in the picture below. Never realized just how huge it is!

On our way back home we stopped by Grand Central Station.

Super beautiful station!

The interior

The exterior

We rested a bit and had an early dinner in the apartment then went out to Times Sqaure to catch our plays. Dan and Moni watched Pippin (which Dan said was amazing), while Martina, Martin and I watched A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. It recently won a Tony for Best Musical; it was really funny and the numbers were very good. It's about a man who recently finds out that he's part of this wealthy family, and is 9th in line to the family fortune. What's really great about the show is that one actor plays the other 8 family heirs. He was really good.

On Sunday, after mass, we headed to Chinatown with Tita Cynthia and had some dimsum for early lunch. After lunch we walked to the nearby Little Italy and had gelato for dessert.

Little Italy

Then we headed to Times Square and I bought tickets to Newsies at TKTS. TKTS is operated by the Theatre Development Fund and they have tickets on sale everyday (same-day show tickets) for 20-50% off. The ticket booths open at 3pm for the evening performances, and there are people lining up well before 3. For the matinee shows, the booth opens at about 10 on weekdays, 11 on Sundays. We got there after 1pm but there were still tickets for Newsies (not so hard to get since I was just 1. Dan, Moni and Mart watched The Book of Mormon).

We had some time to chill before our shows so we walked around the area. We headed to Rockefeller Center.

30 Rock

This turns into an ice skating rink in the winter

Then we visited the chocolate stores! Haha.

Hershey's store

M&M Store

Lindt Store

Then we caught our respective shows at 3pm. I was really glad I got to watch Newsies, especially since it's closing next week. It's based on the 1992 Disney movie Newsies about the newsboys strike of 1899. It was such a fun and feel-good musical with amazing choreography.