Our big family Christmas present this year was a trip to NYC! We were going to give this to the girls on Christmas morning but then a Delta flight change email came in which messed that up. So, we took a very fun approach and had the girls solve a cryptex. There were six letters so we had it spell TICKET. They had six logic puzzles that they had to solve in order to get the letters. We did this over dinner one evening while visiting Lily for Family Weekend back in September. Sure, this may have been a silly approach, but it was a lot of fun! When they got the cryptex opened, it had a little scroll of paper inside telling them all the fun things we had planned. Then, we just had to wait for the new year to arrive! We flew up on Jan 2. This is always a great sight to see flying in!
There's only this one rotating set for the whole show. There's only two actors as well, and they delivered an amazing performance!
Two beautiful ladies!
We had an appointment to get to, so we landed on room service for breakfast. I got a lox and cream cheese bagel with capers and lemon squeezed on it. What a fabulous way to start the day!
We had matinee tickets to see Maybe Happy Ending, a recent Tony award winner at the Belasco Theatre. None of us had seen this or knew the music; we only knew a bit of the storyline. This was another small cast with only four people in it. We were lucky that all four were original cast members! Who knew a musical about Korean robot helperbots in love would be so fantastic. This was a lovely and fun surprise; we all enjoyed it, and Mia even said it was her new favorite!
Helen Shen was an amazing Claire.
And here is the reason we (ok, mainly me) wanted to come see this show. Tom Felton, who played the role of Draco Malfoy as a child in the movies, was now playing adult Draco Malfoy on Broadway! It was so fun to see him in this iconic role!
We got into the city, dropped our bags off at the hotel, and then headed to Alla Antica for our favorite sandwiches for lunch. We had some time to kill in the afternoon, so we walked around for awhile. We headed towards FAO Schwartz to go see the Jellycat store but the line was crazy long; same thing for the Lego store, so we just kept going. Not too far away is Rockefeller Center, and the beautiful tree is still up.
We headed over to Bryant Park. When we went last year just before Christmas, we came here one evening, and it was beyond packed. Like shoulder to shoulder miserably packed, so we didn't stay. Coming in the afternoon though worked much better. We stopped for some hot chocolate which was a nice little pick-me-up treat.
We have never been in St. Patrick's Catherdral before, so we decided to stop inside here. It was really beautiful! Even though it was crowded, most people were being very respectful and quiet. I'm really glad we stopped in.
We happened to walk by Saks on the way back, so we had to check out their famous Christmas window decorations.
We got back to the hotel and freshened up for the evening. I was so excited that we were having dinner at The View which is a rotating restaurant on top of the Marriott Marquis. I have fun childhood memories of going here with my family, so I was excited to return. Unfortunately, both Ryan and Mia were bothered by the rotation, so it wasn't a great experience for them. I absolutely loved it though. I had a delicious filet, and we all shared mac and cheese, whipped potatoes, and broccoli. There were wonderful views the whole time too.
From dinner we headed over to the Longacre Theatre to see the show Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). None of us had seen this before, but Ryan had discovered the soundtrack and really enjoyed it. It started on West End and then has been in Boston for awhile; it only opened on Broadway a couple of months ago. We all absolutely loved it! It had some incredibly hilarious moments in it as well as some very touching ones. It exceeded my expectations, and I would highly recommend it to others.
Mia was excited to meet the two actors. Christiani Pitts is the original Robyn and Vincent Michael was the standby for Dougal. I can't give them enough praise!
Ryan bought the sheet music for one of the songs, and he asked both of the actors to sign it to add to his growing autograph collections. I thought this was a really fun idea.
The view from our hotel window on Saturday morning.
We headed over to Central Park for our Flytographer photo session; I'll make a different post for those pictures, but here's a few that we grabbed. It was such a gorgeous day.
We stopped at Bagel Market for lunch which has become a favorite bagel spot. Yummy!
Unfortunately, Darren Chris (Oliver) didn't come out afterwards, but we were thrilled to meet the other three cast members.
Marcus Choi was a wonderful James.
Dez Duron was a fabulous Gil; what a voice!
After the stage door, we headed down to Smith & Wollensky, a long-established steakhouse. Ryan and I both had a gorgonzola-covered filet while the girls both had strips. They were all so good as were the mac and cheese and mashed potato sides. Are you seeing the theme of what we like to eat?
After dinner we headed back to the hotel for a few minutes and then walked around the corner to the Lyric Theatre to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. This is the whole reason we even started planning this trip! Why? Well, you'll see the very specific reason below.
I love that one of the room has several patronuses drawn onto the wall!
The sets before the start of Act 1 and Act 2.
The main cast taking their bow.
We didn't even consider staying to stage door here. We've heard that many people don't even go to the show, but instead just come to line up by the door even before intermission hits so they'll be ready after the show. By the time we walked out, the crowd was 5-6 people deep for an incredibly width. There was no way we were getting anywhere close, so we decided to just head on back to the hotel and call it a (wonderful) night.
Sunday we had the chance to sleep in just a little bit which we needed. Then we Ubered over to Tavern on the Green within Central Park for brunch. This is such an iconic restaurant, and we were excited to introduce the girls to it.
Their brunch menu was so good! I think I could have gladly eaten any of the items on there. We had to try several of items! We shared a fig, goat cheese, and honey appetizer, a pastry basket, and some of the best fries I've had. I had steak and eggs while Ryan, Lily, and Mia enjoyed french toast. We shared a berry tartin with ice cream and honeycomb for dessert. This was a fabulous meal!
We stepped around to the back of the restaurant for a moment before we were picked up. What a classic view!
Unfortunately, from here it was time to go back to the hotel to finish packing up and then head on over to LaGuardia to fly home. This was such a wonderful weekend. Not only did we see some incredible shows, but we enjoyed time together exploring this fantastic city. I am so very thankful for this adventure!
No comments:
Post a Comment