July 2009... Day 18...The New York Part

[DisneyMadAng]

Day 18 – New York and Shrek the Musical

Saturday 25th July

Day 17

Us lot…

DH (48) – Enzo – puts up with us and is happy as long as we’re happy (not with on the New York leg)

Me (39) – Angelina – the planner and tour guide

DD (16) – Gabriella – my shopping buddy…if there’s a Sephora…we’re in it

DS (13) – Gianni – likes to eat and always has a smile ready when he sees me point the camera at him

Bit light on photos today….

We really struggled to wake up today. We had such a bad night with noisy ‘neighbours’ until 3.30am…I called the front desk at 11 last night to ask if we could move room but was told to call in the morning I called the ‘neighbours’ but they ignored the phone…well they went quiet when it rang…so I left a message asking if they could please keep the noise down. It quietened down for about 10 minutes but then it started again. Screeching kids and high pitched squeeling mother It was so frustrating but apparently they’d been noisy the night before but as I was full of cold and had bunged up ears I hadn’t heard them. Blinking kids, why on earth didn’t they tell me? So my tip here is to make sure you ask for a non-connecting room!

As soon as we woke this morning I called the front desk to ask if we could be moved. No problem I just had to go down to swap keys. We rushed to chuck everything into the cases and made our way to the replacement room. It was just so aggravating because we felt that we’d missed out on precious time sleeping! We spent the whole day just feeling tired. Such a shame.

It turns out that all 3 of us had been keeping our thoughts to ourselves whilst the party was going on next door, but we’d all had the same ones:- putting a note under the door asking them to quieten down; knocking on the main door then running away; bashing and screaming like maniacs on the connecting door (sleep deprivation does strange things to the mind)….and Gabriella and I thought about sending Gianni to the door and threatening them…that idea didn’t cross Gianni’s mind at all…funnily enough

We had a sandwich and drink from a café a couple of doors up from the hotel and then made our way to the subway station. The plan for today was to walk across Brooklyn Bridge so we made our way down towards Wall Street then went in the general direction of the Bridge. We walked along the street by the right of said bridge…but couldn’t find the entrance lol We got fed up of that so decided to head to South Street Seaport instead. It was only later that I realised, looking at the map properly, that we needed to go to the left hand side of the Bridge ooops!

As South Street Seaport we stood and watched an entertainer….





Yes he did fit into the box….



We headed inside to see what the shops were like then headed upstairs to the restrooms…exciting huh? We sat outside for a while on the balcony and just relaxed…





It was nice and cool in the shade. I had a nice little chat with a lady who was waiting for her daughter who had had her morning run across the Bridge…glad she managed to find the entrance lol

We bought ourselves an ice-cream each….it was a really hot day today…no sign of that rain yet….then went off to find the Tkts Booth to see what shows were available for tonight. It’s worth the trip here, the booth in Times Square had horrific queues but there were maybe only 15 to 20 people in front of us here.

Three shows were on that caught my attention, Phantom, Little Mermaid and Shrek. DD and I really want to see Phantom….DS pulled a face at the mention of the Little Mermaid lol…but he really wanted to see Shrek. We got to the ticket window and the first words that popped out of my mouth were ‘any tickets for Shrek?’ er why? That’s not what I really wanted to see I was a bit flustered and just said ok when the chap said yes….I hate standing umming and ahhing when there’s a queue of people behind me. I guilt myself into making a snap decision lol

Anyway, half price tickets safely in my bag we head back out with the intention of walking along Broadway until we arrived back in Times Square.

Have I mentioned it was hot today? Absolutely baking…. We wandered up and nipped in and out of shops. Gabriella found some Converse boots she’d been after…no tax…don’t you love New York?! We all got a bit desperate for the restroom so began the search….we spotted a Wendy’s so headed in there to be met with a lonnnng queue. After we’d been waiting about 5 minutes with no-one coming past us from the one and only loo we decided to cut our losses and find somewhere else. It then hit me that this is the Wendy’s we’d nipped into for a loo break 2 years ago…lol…It really is just one toilet in the far corner of a really big room…bizarre.

It was about 4 o’clock and we were getting a bit hungry so we decided to get back on the Subway and get off at Macy’s…there must be a loo there….and we’d eat there too. There was just no way that we were going to manage to walk all the way back today…it’s so much easier to do when it’s cold

We had lunch…well I guess it’s really dinner at this time of the day…in Macy’s Cellar Bar & Grill…I had a lobster chowder, Gabriella had a minestrone soup, then for main Gabriella and I had crab cakes and Gianni had a steak sandwich. We had a couple of sodas and one water. We had a really nice server but once she’d brought the starters out she came to say that her manager had told her she had to go for her break and he and one of the other servers would take care of us. Ok. No problem. You’d think. Absolute pants…the pair of them. They both disappeared when we had our mains and so we couldn’t get any re-fills and then we couldn’t find anyone to get the bill. We waited ages, eventually got the bill and the found that 15% gratuity is automatically added on …cheeky beggars.. The bill before tip came to $71…ok..but then to not bother with your customers and add on the tip….we’ll leave it there shall we

We caught the Subway back to Times Square and headed straight back to the hotel for showers and a rest otherwise we would fall asleep in the theatre.



Shrek the Musical – It was ok. It was funny in parts. Princess Fiona was very good, we really liked her. I found it hard to warm to Shrek….just not right without the accent. Lord Farquaad (sp?) I just found disturbing to watch…it was all to do with the way his body was leaning because he was on his knees to make him appear really short….and I didn’t know any of the songs lol

When we came out of the theatre we were all feeling a bit peckish so nipped into McDonalds for a snack. I had an episode in here…I blame the lack of sleep….the girl taking my order couldn’t understand my accent, I couldn’t quite understand her, I was distracted by the fact that she had a cup of ice next to the till and kept throwing ice into her mouth as she was taking my order…strange girl…anyway she told me how much it was and I gave her what I thought was the right amount. She counted it a couple of times then handed me the extra $50 bill that I’d slipped in by accident….ruddy foreigners …me, not her lol



We headed back towards the hotel and a couple of doors up from the M & M shop is a Ray’s Pizza. Gianni has been going on about wanting a pizza from here since my hairdresser mentioned it was the best one he’d had in New York. He’d mentioned in MONTHS ago but Gianni has the memory of an elephant. Gabriella was tired so she went back to the hotel as it was only across the road.

Gianni had his slice of pizza…I tried a smidgen of the crust…it was very, very good pizza! Very much like the pizza you buy by the slice in Italy.



We then nipped into the M & M shop because I wanted to pick up a little pressie for my beloved. I bought him a mug and myself a mouse mat to brighten up my desk at work.

The end of another day and so we went back to our lovely quiet room and slept like babies……


Day 19

[Guest]

Another great report with lovely photos.

[purple myra]

Shame about your awful neighbours
I love the night time photos too... so glad you like Shrek the Musical

[DisneyMadAng]

Originally Posted by Minniespal

Another great report with lovely photos.

See more...

Thank you

Originally Posted by purple myra

Shame about your awful neighbours
I love the night time photos too... so glad you like Shrek the Musical

See more...

Thanks... can't wait to see what you think of Shrek...

[Guest]

Great day, hope you get a better sleep!

[tracyh]

Ooo what nasty noisy neighbours, I would never dream of making any noise and disturbing other guests in a hotel room. :angry: I think we'd have been tempted to bang on their door in the morning and run off hee hee! See if she likes her kids screeching then!

New York looks amazing and sounds like another great day.

[charly77]

Brilliant! We had a nightmare finding the entrance to the bridge too! Found it in the end but it wasn't easy!

[DIBBadmin]

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