Needless to say, I had a hangover the day after the show. Thankfully, we did not have grand plans for the day. It was absolutely freezing outside and everyone agreed that we could not spend the day wandering the streets. We had breakfast on the third floor in the hotel and my mother went to talk to the concierge about the museums. We stayed at the Residence Inn by Marriott and the service was absolutely awesome. The staff was really friendly and helpful and the room was a suite, so it was spacious enough for three people to share without trying to kill each other. This is an important statement considering that these three people were me, my mother and Evan. Not exactly the Three Musketeers.We agreed on the Guggenheim Museum. None of us had ever been and it seemed like a good alternative to sitting in the hotel or braving the cold. We took a cab through Central Park to get to the Museum. It was really nice to drive through since I’ve only ever driven on one side. I did long for it to be spring since the park was pretty bare. There were quite a lot of people in the park considering it was a weekday (Friday) and absolutely frigid cold. While we were enjoying the scenery on Park Avenue, from inside the cab, we noticed that schools seemed to be letting out. A bunch of elementary aged children in school uniforms were swarming the sidewalks being greeted by Nannies and family members. It was a quick glimpse into the every day lives of wealthy New York families. We all enjoyed guessing where they were going and what their lives must be like living in one of the most expensive and exclusive neighborhoods in the US.
Once we arrived at the Guggenheim, I was pretty hungry (and hung over, did I mention that?). We wandered in the café, but they only have, what Evan and I refer to as, Starbuck’s food, prepackaged sandwiches and salads. Nothing looked appetizing. We all realized that we were pretty tired so we decided to split up and meet in an hour and a half. The architecture of the Guggenheim is part of the art. It is a big winding ramp that goes around the outside perimeter of the building and each floor has rooms that branch out. The smart thing to do would have been to take the elevator to the top and walk down, but I didn’t realize that until I walked more than half way up. I really wanted to see the famous artist’s works, the Picasso, Degas, Pollock, Warhol, Manet and Monet. I am happy to say that I saw at least one of each. I didn’t make it through the whole museum in our allotted time and my mother and Evan agreed that I missed the two coolest exhibits. I guess I’ll have to go back.
At the museum my mom asked for a recommendation for a good restaurant. We were referred to Three Brothers a few blocks away. It was a cozy neighborhood restaurant that had just about everything you could imagine on the menu. I had a tomato orzo soup that was delicious and really warmed me up. At this point, I started to feel better. We decided to go back to the hotel and rest since we still hadn’t heard from my brother and didn’t know if we would get to meet up with him. We got to our room and immediately, the phone rang. He wanted us to meet him at his Management office and have dinner. We had just eaten, but why not go for another meal? We’re in New York!
We took a taxi to Soho and stopped by the building where my brother does business. The entrance into the building was a random steel door on a block full of shops. It was actually an entrance onto an elevator manned by an operator. The operator never made eye contact or spoke a word to us. He took us directly to the floor where the office was and we were greeted by my very tired brother. The office was a huge open space with hard wood floors and low cubicles on one side. All of my brother’s clothes from the show were on racks around a large conference table. It was clear that he had been doing buyer meetings all day. My mom and I ran to the racks to pick out what we wanted him to make for us. We both tried on jackets and snapped a few photos. Then he kicked us out.
His Manager, Mariah, walked us what seemed like a million blocks to the restaurant where my brother had made reservations. Obviously, she didn’t know that we take taxis if we have to go two blocks or less. My brother had one more meeting, so he told us he would meet us after. I didn’t catch the name of the restaurant, but it was designed to look like a boat on the inside. We weren’t really hungry, but I knew my brother was buying, so I talked my mom into splitting the surf and turf with me. I don’t eat seafood, so I figured if ever a better time to try lobster (except probably in Maine) would be in a fancy New York restaurant when someone else was paying. (Thanks, bro!) To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t all that great. Either, I don’t like lobster, or people just make way too big of a fuss about it.
After the dinner, Evan and I were off to the theatre. We had tickets to see Avenue Q. Only one person we talked to the whole trip had actually seen it. Everyone else said they knew someone who had seen it and liked it. I thought that was kind of weird. We sat in the second row, which was almost too close. I prefer to sit in the front row of the balcony. I really enjoyed the show, but Evan thought it was just so-so. The musical was about people and puppets in their twenties trying to figure out what to do with their lives. The songs were quite cheeky with titles like, “It Sucks to be Me”, “The Internet is for Porn” and “Everyone is a little Racist”. I thought it was a good combination of silly and sweet. I wouldn’t recommend it if you have never seen a show in New York, but if you’ve been to a BIG Broadway show before and were just looking to be entertained, this would be a good one to check out.
We decided to walk back to the hotel so that we didn’t have to fight for a cab. It was pretty cold, but we only had about 10 blocks to go. We quickly rushed past the crowds from all the shows letting out. We walked through Time’s Square that was lit up and filled with people. Then we past the Fashion tents in Bryant Park. It was like a quick recap of the days events, except that everything in New York looks different at night. It was a nice ending to what turned out to be another busy day.
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