Day One:
After the hotel, we found some lunch. There was a little pizza place right down the street from our hotel.
Let me make a disclaimer now. We pretty much revolved our trip around broadway. So we went to a lot of different plays. Just be prepared for a lot of my...excitement...about musicals. I seriously love them. And it was the time to see them. Going to the theatre is a lot easier before children come along. Or so we've been told. I'd believe it though!
Anyway, back to our first show. We started the trip with Aladdin. It was a lot of fun! Our one complaint is the size of the seats. Jake's legs didn't really fit without kneeing the person in front of us. But the play was still quite enjoyable.
Day Two:
"Go smile for a picture."
"Are you done yet? This is taking a long time!"
This is the result. I love my goofball husband.
We found a little hole in the wall Belgian Waffle place. They sold Belgian Waffles and sandwiches and such. Random, but kind of fun.
When we headed out again, we stopped at Shake Shack for dinner. We had to wait in a very long line. Plus, we had to fight to the death for a table. Okay, it wasn't THAT bad, but it certainly felt like it. We had to swarm like vultures while trying to not be too stalkerish around people who looked like they "might" be almost done eating. Once they left, you had to elbow your way through crowds as fast as you could before the table was gone.
I must have looked pretty pitiful because a British lady waved me over and whispered, "We're almost done here sweet. Just stand here and you can have our table." She was great. I said I didn't want to rush them and she replied, "We're on our way to the theatre dear, so don't you worry." I hope she had a great time, because she was the nicest person we met on our trip.
Les Miserables.
Words cannot express how much I LOVE this musical. I have read the book multiple times. I pretty much have all the sound tracts memorized. When Jake and I had just started dating, he took me to the theatre to see the movie Les Miserables. That's when I knew he was "the one." But that's a different story.
Anyway, I won't go into all the morals and lessons you could learn from Les Mis. I love that each character is so well defined. Ah. Anyway, I was super, super excited to see this on broadway.
Alfie Boe was AMAZING. I couldn't find a video of him dressed up as Jean Valjean, but I did find a video of him singing with the Mormon Tabernacle choir. Awesome! He was just phenomenal. The audience almost gave him a standing ovation after the song "Bring Him Home." Wow. He brought such emotion to the song. The rest of the play was great too, but MVP goes to Alfie Boe. Wow. We were serious awestruck. Jake wanted to see the play again, just so we could hear him again.
Day Three:
After our weird grilled cheese, we headed to China Town and Little Italy.
"Is it an emergency?"
"No, I just need to use the restroom."
"Oh, well we only allow customers who are having an emergency or who are pregnant use the restroom."
"Well, actually, I am pregnant."
"Oh congrats then! It's over here."
I thought it was a pretty funny exchange. Luckily, she didn't ask questions. I wasn't lying though!
It did not disappoint. My favorite scene was the song "Phantom of the Opera." The way they staged it was really cool! They had fog across the stage so it looked like they were actually in a boat. The chandelier at the beginning was also really cool. I just love broadway! So good!
Day Four:
We also stopped at the Nike store. We love Nike! Again, we didn't buy anything. But we did like looking at 6 stories of Nike.
LION KING.
I've heard many good things about the Lion King and it didn't disappoint! I felt like I was back in Kenya. The songs, the costumes, the music, it was all so great! Rather than changing the set, the cast members ARE the set. They have grass and bush dancers. It's hard to explain. So cool though! If you get a chance to see this, do it. It is worth your time and money. I loved Les Mis, but I think Lion King was my favorite of the trip.