Day two: Europe or Bust
I crossed so many things off the bucket list today. I mean, seriously. Visiting NYC (at an age older than 10 that is); seeing a musical on broadway; going shopping in Times Square; meeting a raccoon up-close and personal! But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.
We woke up bright an early this morning, ready to get out of our apartment and explore the Big Apple!!
Our first stop after stepping off the Subway was the 9-11 Memorial. It was all so massive and beautiful, I pretty much turned in circles with my mouth hanging open trying to take it all in. I got a lot of “oh-she’s-a-tourist” looks, but I couldn’t help myself. The whole sight was magnificent in a really overwhelming way. Dad told Morgen the story of the attack on the twin towers which was a sobering reminder to all of us. It’s hard to even think of such a sheer number of people dying in such a short amount of time.
We knew that there was a Barnes & Noble nearby, so after much debate we decided to just wander in that general direction and see what we could see. And though we never actually made it to Barnes & Noble (we got sidetracked at a used bookstore on the way) we saw a lot of really interesting sights.
Here’s where we get to the bucket list part!! This morning while we were all getting ready to leave the apartment Arwen said jokingly, “We should totally go see a musical on Broadway.” I’ll go ahead and say now that 90% of the crazy things my family does starts with a “joke”, so needless to say ten minutes later Arwen and I had tickets to go see Aladdin on Broadway. We were thrilled and it was honestly pretty difficult to get through the morning anticipating the show. That is, until we lost track of time at the bookstore and ended up running what felt like miles to squeak into the theater just as the show started (no kidding, I’m pretty sure I heard the Mission: Impossible theme music playing in the background as we ran). But the show was well worth every penny and burning calf muscle. It was gorgeous, impressive and hilarious. Two thumbs-up, Broadway!
We had planned to eat dinner at Carnegie Deli, so it came as a rude shock when we read that they had closed up permanently. For what seemed like forever we sat on the street looking up restaurants before we finally decided on a burger place and started walking again. I’m not sure what we expected, but it definitely wasn’t what we saw when we walked into a gorgeous hotel and asked a very posh-looking butler where the burger restaurant was. He gestured towards a half hidden door at the back of the lobby. Through the door was a hall and at the end of the hall was another door illuminated by blue neon lights. Walking into the restaurant was like walking into a different dimension. It was tiny, dark, covered in graffiti, and it smelled heavenly. Though the wait was lengthy, the burgers were AMAZING and we enjoyed sitting down to a good meal after such a long day of walking and sightseeing.
Our final destination before heading back to the apartment was Central Park. It was so wonderful to see rocks and trees again. I’ll admit, I love New York City, but I’m definitely a mountain girl. It would drive me insane to live in a big city full time.
I’ll be signing off now. Tomorrow will be full of airports and airplanes, but tomorrow tonight I’ll be in London!
So long NYC. I’ll miss you!
Lorien C
Broadway! Need I say more?!?
I read your recents posts aloud at the breakfast table with Thomas, Faith, and Sudie crowding around the screen. Faith joyfully announced every appearance of Morgen. So glad for you to check a broadway show off your list!
Faith wants Morgen to know that she will miss her at prayer meeting today. You can have confidence that your flight and travel to, through, and from airports are all covered in the prayers of your friends at home.😊❤️💕 We love you, Cockmans! Love, Faith