By the second day in New York we were pretty much old hat experts. After spending far too long online in the morning, we realised we had pop-tarts we could eat for breakfast. Pop-tarts are weird. I think they are usually eaten toasted or warmed, but I struggle to see how that would work. They’re basically soft biscuits with sugar-icing and little black lumps that I decided were chocolate, but spent most of the meal thinking they were like sultanas or berries that had cooked weirdly.
Thanks to Google maps we successfully subwayed down to the Manhattan Mall which was rather small and disappointing. Half of it was JC Penny’s where we considered buying shorts, but we couldn’t crack the sizes and it seemed silly to buy something we could get back home for a similar price. I had heard that shopping in America is cheaper than in Australia, but so far that doesn’t seem to be the case. Of course trying to find clothes in malls means paying clothing store prices, so we really want to go to a Walmart or Target to compare properly. Malls strike me as so much less useful that shopping centres, but at least we got some nice ice cream and had fun in the Hallmark store.
Coming out of the Manhattan mall we were greeted by the incredibly tall Empire State building. We kept eyecontact with it and walked, which was far more successful than the tourist map (being orientated according to the compass and was thus about 90 degrees off was too different for my brain to deal with). We didn’t actually go up the Empire State buildings as it was $22 and would be better at night, though I’m not sure if we are actually going to go back.
My amazing direction skills combined with the rather useful numerically named streets meant we easily made it back to Times Square (which is fairly difficult to miss, the billboards didn’t quite come across as subtly as originally planned). On the way we nipped into the New York Library, which is 6 stories and hard to navigate, left a nerdfighter note in Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Tara was informed that lying down was a fire hazard.
We were keen for more Broadway so we thought we’d try out the tkts thingo where you can get cheaper tickets. They had sold out of How to Suceed in Business Without Trying, so we grabbed some for Billy Elliot. Standing in line for tickets was surprisingly easy. We got there about 5 or 10 minutes before it opened and were only in line for about half-an-hour. The only real issue I can see people having is if they are after a particular popular show then they might have to get there quite a bit before it opens.
Our hostel does not have a fridge or kitchen facilities so we have to eat out a lot, but thankfully that’s not that expensive here. So once we had our tickets to Billy Elliot we headed over to the Olive Garden. It was about 3:30 or 4 by now so we figured we would stuff ourselves and it could be a combination of lunch and dinner. Once you order there (minestrone for me, chicken Alfredo for Tara) they bring you free amazing salad and free amazing bread sticks. They were both delicious and filling. I think they should set up a sister restaurant selling just the salad and bread sticks cheaply for students and other poor people. Three plates of salad, three and a half breadsticks, two bowls of soup/one serve of Alfredo chicken, two cups of iced tea and half a cup of water later we were STUFFED. Oh my goodness. It hurt so bad. Getting up I thought I would die. Going down the tiny one person elevator I thought I would die. Crossing the road I thought I would die. Eventually we stumbled into the sanctuary of the Disney store and went upstairs to die in front of the screen and watched snippets of Disney shows and movies. Once we were functional again we went around the store taking lots of pictures and reveling in the magic.
Normally I wouldn’t mention slipping into a Macca’s to use the loo but this one was really cool. The wall were painted with Times Square stuff and they had a miniature model of New York city complete with a car accident. Plus I finally ordered a large drink (iced water 97 cents) which I think was about a litre, making me think the iced tea I got yesterday must have been more than a litre as it was bigger.
This post will finally come to an end as it was shortly after this that we went off to see Billy Elliot. I think this theatre was slightly more what I was expecting, with a more rectangular stage and the seating arrangements, but still taller and narrow than anticipated. The show itself was incredible. Truly amazing numbers, the dancing was unbelievable, the sets top-notch and so unique. I just adored it so much. If I lived in NY that would be a show I saw again and I’m sad that I won’t get to, but not too upset as it was just a treat to see.
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