This trip began in August, when I got a text from Jordan that simply stated, "We're going to New York in October!" Uh....We are? He THEN proceeded to explain that his supervising doctor wanted him to attend a two day training in New York. Because it was work related, Jordan's office paid for his plane ticket and hotel. What was EXTRA awesome was his doctor was like, "Hey, you should stay a few extra days and take your wife! No biggie. We'll still cover the hotel."
Yeah, I KNOW!
So of course, we bought a ticket for me and excitedly awaited our trip to the Big Apple.
We got in very late on Wednesday night, so that day was pretty uneventful. The next day we spent too much time trying to get into Jimmy Fallon via stand by tickets (don't ever try this, it is SO not worth the hassle) and right before the show was about to begin we were told that they could only take the first six people in line (we were numbers 12 and 13). We declared ourselves unlucky and left in a huff.
Because we weren't able to watch Fallon, we had some time to kill. I suggested we go to the Gerschwin Theater where Wicked has been playing on Broadway for the past 10 years. Wicked has a lottery where they save 26 front row center spots for lucky people who sign up in hopes that their names are called. If your name is called, you can buy up to two tickets for $30 a piece. When we got there, the line for the lottery was HUGE. I would estimate about 200 people. The odds were bad. Plus, I was still declaring us unlucky due to our denied entrance to the tv show. When they started calling names for the lottery, they called about 5-6 names that weren't ours. I kept saying to Jordan, "I know we won't get it. This is just an experience to be in the lottery." But then, sure enough the caller shouted out, "Alma....Hints?" WE GOT IN!!!! I couldn't believe it. I immediately changed out title to the LUCKIEST people in New York. We got to sit front row for Wicked, and it was ok....just kidding. It was ammmmmaaaaaaazzzzzzzzing! I had chills. I swear I made eye contact with several of the actors, and I probably looked really stupid because I was half-mouthing the words while they sang, but I don't care. It was so great!
Front Row, Suckuhs!
The next day (Friday) Jordan spent most the day in his training, and I walked to the Met. To described the Met in word would be: overwhelming. It is huge and confusing. Even when I had the free museum map, I still had to stop to ask for directions. I only covers about one fifth of the museum in 3 hours. But while I was there, I was able to see some very cool. famous works of art. It was amazing to see art that I learned about in high school and college. Especially Van Gogh's painting. He painted so thick on canvas, you can see individual strokes. I just stared at them thinking, "Wow, Vincent Van Gogh made those strokes." There were several Toulousse Le Trec paintings as well. It was fun to see them up close because he often painted on cardboard instead of canvases, and if you looked closely you could see the scratches in the cardboard, most likely from his sketch of the painting before adding paint. Amazing.
Jordan met me in Central Park after his class and together we hustled to the Nederlander Theater where the new musical Newsies was playing. Newsies also had a lottery, though they didn't give out front row seats. Their lottery seats are pretty much whatever is left over, such as obstructed view and left over balcony seats. I still wanted to try it because 1) the tickets were $30 a piece which is great for any Broadway show, and 2) NEWSIES!!!! Are you kidding me? One of my all time favorite musicals ever. we HAD to give it a shot. This time there were signficantly fewer people in the lottery (I would say about 60-70), so we had a good chance of getting called....and once again, we heard "Alma....Heintz?" Woohoo! We were seated in the fourth row on the very end, so we couldn't see about 25% of the stage, but we still loved it. The dancing was SO good, and they sang almost every song from the movie musical (though they changed many of the lyrics). It was an adorable show and I felt so lucky to have been able to see it.
The next day, we took it pretty easy. I hung out and walked around the Upper East Side (don't I sound so New Yorky? No? Ok...) and after Jordan's class we took a subway to Little Italy. We splurged on an authentic Italian three course meal and did not regret it!
The following day was Sunday. Jordan's class was over, so we took a subway downtown to the new 9/11 Memorial. It is still a work in progress, but they allow visitors to come. It was a beautiful, somber place to be. They transformed the building skeletons of the twin towers into two beautiful waterfall fountains. Around both fountains were engraved the names of every victim/deceased helper from 9/11. One of my favorite parts was the Survivor Tree. This tree survived the collapse of the towers (all trees were completely destroyed). The Survivor Tree was just a stump when they found it, but it appeared to be able to grow again. It was transported to the City Park where it was nursed back to health. Now is a lovely 30 foot tree that they transported back to the 9/11 site. Very sweet.
Sunday evening, we explored FAO Schwarz. I had fun on the famous giant piano, even if Tom Hanks didn't show up for a duet. Jordan had fun exploring Jordan-sized candy.
After our trip to the toy store, we met my wonderful friend Aleeza in Central Park. Aleeza was one of my best friends/soul mates/bosom buddies in high school. She was a bridesmaid at my wedding, and my wedding was the last time I saw her! She was so sweet. She had JUST gotten back from Spain, like she met us after she dropped her luggage off at her apartment. We had fun catching up, discussing how weirded out she is that I am going to be an actual mother of a real child, and we ended the day by eating some tasty New York Pizza together. It was great to see her, and hopefully it won't be another 4.5 years until we meet again.
Monday was our last day in NYC. No joke, we spent the day eating. We started by getting a donut that was about the size of a chihuahua, followed by New York Sausages from a street vender, and ended at Junior's (famous for their cheesecake). We were able to meet up with a friend of ours from Tulsa who now lives in Brooklyn for his medical residency. It was great to catch up. After that, we left for the airport, and sleepily ended up safe and sound back in OKC.
It was a wonderful trip, and were happy we were able to squeeze in one more fun vacation together before our baby decides to crash the party. Speaking of baby, being pregnant in New York is hard stuff, man. I gotta hand it to the many chic women I saw strutting in high heels and a baby belly as they speed walked down 5th Avenue. Meanwhile, I was huffing and puffing and desperately searching the nearest bathroom. When I wasn't doing that, I was complaining about how my feet hurt, and I was only 18 weeks along. This mom-to-be was meant to gestate in a suburb.
One more word of caution to those who choose to hit up New York while pregnant, the following things may make you cry:
1) The end of the song Defying Gravity when Elpheba starts to fly.
2) Seeing a man wearing a sign and trying to politely pass out flyers for whatever business he is "advertising", only to be completely ignored by everyone.
3) Everything in the 9/11 Memorial.
4) Finding out your subway stop is closed and completely inaccessible.
Yeah, this baby has turned me into an even bigger wuss than I once was. Thanks, kid.
Fun!
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