Year 3 - Day 16 - January 16

We stayed in a pretty nice hotel on Lexington Avenue. Mike got a special through booking.com or hotels.com or something like that. It was a decent sized room for a city hotel room and (for once in our bargain paying days) it wasn't right next to an elevator. But we laughed when we opened the blinds & this was our view. :) For the price we paid, we put the blinds back down and moved on with our lives! I'm perfectly happy to deal with this view to have a great location, great service, and a well maintained, clean, city hotel room.

Year 3 - Day 15 - January 15

We started our morning bright and early because there was so much to fit in. First, we had breakfast at Penelope's. It was a cute little local place. What surprised us when we sat down is that they had a pre fixe menu for breakfast. I don't know if that was because it's Sunday or what, but your choice of breakfast came with either coffee & juice, an apple cider mimosa, or a pomegranate bellini. Mike was excited that the world gave him permission to drink that early in the morning, even if it was a girly choice. ;)

We then headed over to Queens (another borough - I've now been to all of them!) to see the Museum of the Moving Picture. Two friends recommended the Jim Henson exhibit to us and we decided to check it out. It was cool, but so was everything else! The exhibit had lots of muppets & props & the stories behind a lot of Jim Henson's creations. We saw Miss Piggy in her wedding dress. :) Sarah would have liked the things from Dark Crystal & Labyrinth, too. The rest of the museum was all kinds of things that show you how to make TV & movies. We made claymation stop animation films, did voiceovers/dubbing of "School of Rock" and made movie soundtracks. There was a neat exhibit showing how a producer uses the 12 feed options from video cameras around a baseball stadium to make decisions about what to actually show on the air. Lots of costume and sets stuff too. If I could have any other job, it would totally be behind the scenes of a TV show. We got lucky on crowds, too. We made sure to get there right when it opened so that we could be done before the Ravens game. The place was empty! Oh, and right next door is Kaufmann Astoria studios, where they make Sesame Street!

After chilling a bit & watching the Ravens, we headed downtown to see the 9-11 memorial that recently opened.

We thought of it at the beginning of the game and were able to reserve passes online for the last time slot of the day. With all the construction going on, it takes forever to get in and out of the park because you have to go all the way around. Once the construction is over and the trees mature, it will be a very peaceful place.

I didn't realize that some of the buildings down there had gotten so high. It's transforming the skyline. We didn't spend much time at the memorial, because we had to get back to the theater district to pick up our tickets from will call.

I've wanted to see Memphis since before it opened! Someone in their production department had a great behind the scenes blog so we got to read about every step of the process. I also thought it was great that the show kept so many of the original workshop actors rather than dumping them all when it transferred to Broadway. It must be a fun show to do, because they're in the 3rd year and lots of originals are still in the show! Back in the fall, though, I found out that Adam from Rent was taking over the male lead, so I asked for tickets for Christmas. (Little did I know it would turn into this whole weekend of fun!) It was great. I really enjoyed it. Mike said it was fine, but I did hear him laughing out loud at all the jokes, so he enjoyed it more than he'll admit, I think. ;) There were lots of Adam fans in the audience, (or people who saw the interviews that came out when he joined the show) because you could hear everyone waiting to see if he'd pull off the high note at the end, (He did) and then reacting to the note.

We are finishing up our day at the bar & grill by our hotel, with this view.

Not too shabby!

Year 3 - Day 14 - January 14

We're in NYC! We got here this afternoon and promptly jumped on the subway to Brooklyn in order to hunt down the Brooklyn Brewery. When we got there around 3:30, there was a line outside. Assuming it was the line for the 4pm tour, we got in line and bundled up. We were surprised to find that it was actually the line just to get in. The brewery is a giant open space (see above) full of people. You can bring your own food (there was a pizza truck right outside the door) and buy tokens to get beer. It appears that people just hang out all afternoon. We did take the 4pm tour, but it wasn't really a tour about beer. It was more the story of their brewery, which was interesting and involved some funny mob stuff.

After an afternoon at the brewery, we headed back up to midtown to find our hotel and put down our backpacks. They sent us to a local sushi place for dinner so that Mike could get his inner city sushi fix. (I had cooked appetizers!) Finally, then it was time for dessert! We decided to walk the 20+ blocks south just to work off dinner and work up a dessert appetite. It was cold & flurrying, but it's not freezing freezing. Behold, our dessert at Max Brenner's:

Fondue for 2! 2 types of chocolate & a butterscotch/caramel dipping sauce along with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, brownies, and blondies. Plus, a hot thing to roast the marshmallows on! I love the tray it came on, too. It looks like notebook paper! Mike also decided to order the Italian hot chocolate:

Oh my gosh it was so good. The mug is a little squished (and doesn't have a handle) so you can cup it in your hands and drink. (or spill, like we did a little.) See how thick and dark it is? It was really that thick. It was like drinking a melted hershey bar. YUM.

After another brisk walk back to the hotel, we are now ready to never move again. Or at least not until tomorrow. :)