New York, New York, The City So Dirty . . .

I tried 3-4 times last night to download these pictures, then gave up hope. Somehow, the blogger connection is better today.
Crises of the day:
#1--realized I'd left my NY tour book in AZ. So stupid. My darling husband offered to FedEx it to us, but even he couldn't find it. So out of luck.
#2--NY code does not have fans in bathrooms. Guess it goes with the smell of the rest of the city.
#3--Do not buy homemade ho-hos at Walmart.
#4--Navigating the subway system with three suitcases, a bag and a pillow without a map is stressful and kind of creepy.

Now, to my gorgeous Heidi. She's ready to grow up. So we got her a grown-up trench and knit cap. So cute, huh? Being my daughter, I can't believe I haven't converted her to the hat hairdo before now!
Before we left Rochester, we stopped for breakfast at Friendly's. Like Village Inn, but more focused on ice cream. Heidi was grossed out by the smell and the old man behind her clearing his throat and coughing. But the funniest thing was when she leaned to the side to politely sneeze, and in the process, she hit her head fairly hard on the table! We were laughing so hard, and it was made even funnier when the manager stopped by and said, "I heard your head hit the table. Are you ok?"

The first things we learned when we got to the city were these: Mom's experiences in London, Paris, and Japan would have been better spent with less stroller wrestling and more paying attention to the subway systems. But I only got us going the wrong direction once, and we never ended up in Jersey, so I think I was fairly successful. We ended up fairly close to our hotel, took a $5 cab ride, then with a great sense of relief, got to the hotel. Luckily for transportation (unluckily for sleeping), the subway is on the same block, so I've been able to keep us where we need to be ever since. I'm not promising for today, though!

Another major lesson we learned was that no all New Yorkers are rude and pushy. In fact, if two fairly cute girls stand on a train platform long enough looking perplexed, some nice guy with dreds and a lazy eye will stop, ask if you need help, and give you the appropriate directions. That was really a shock.

The next truth about the city: New Yorkers take St. Patrick's Day VERY seriously. We couldn't believe the number of people in inappropriate or funny attire for the day. We saw a group of 7 ladies at dinner wearing black shorts, tights, and shirts with fluorescent green bob wigs and suspenders.

We also spotted this guy crossing Broadway. He was on 4-foot stilts with baby shoes on the bottom! I guess he had his intended effect, because many strangers were asking him for pictures! Also discovered many many drunk people and even saw a puddle of vomit inside the subway train's doors. They almost made it off!

Truth #4 about the city--beauty is not lost on young men. If you look in the picture below, you can distinguish a normal-looking 25-year-old guy in a green ball cap. He was handing out flyers for a comedy club, and as we walked by, he said to me, in a Long Island accent, "You're sister's beautiful." I don't know who should have been more flattered, Heidi or me. Heidi thought it was creepy, but I thought it was kinda sweet. At least it wasn't the weird guy on the stilts! OR the creepy guy on the subway with the nose piercing that leered and winked at her.
We spent some time just people-watching in Times Square. WOW. Never seen so many crazies in my life. And all the crazy was exacerbated by the holiday. But we both said how glad we were that we'd been there on St. Patrick's Day. It made for great people watching.

We also succumbed to the temptations of NY street vendors. Heidi tried a black-and-white cookie (not too bad, not worth trying again) and I tried a pastry that held the promises of pain du chocolat from Paris. I was sadly, sadly disappointed. But I did offer the remains of it to a guy on the street, soliciting attendance at a random club!

See? With my glasses hiding all my wrinkles, we could pass as sisters, right?

We walked over to the TKTS booth for show tickets, and we were a little disappointed when we found out Phantom and Mary Poppins had no available tickets. So we decided on "Guys and Dolls," which just opened a few weeks ago. This was as good a place as any for a heel click, but it took MANY tries to get this one--literally nine times. And the exposure never was right. We had a request for the opposite side heel click, so here you go, Karen!
Funny story about this shot. A couple, drunk and attired in everything Irish, walked by during our photo shoot. I think we didn't look like the "What Not to Wear" crew, so they figured they could stop and chat. The girl was giddy, and asked if she could also have a picture of Heidi clicking her heels. So she joined the shoot and got a shot. After the picture, she turned to Heidi and said, "Now that's a memory! I'll never forget!"

A guy walking behind her asked if he could take pictures of mom and daughter together (guess I'm really not fooling anyone!), so here we are outside The Nederlander Theatre, ready to see "Guys and Dolls."

It really was a great show. Very cold show. We wore our coats and gloves through the whole thing. It was like sitting in our cultural hall for Sunday School (unless you've done that, you truly can't appreciate that statement). Funny thing. As we sat down, Heidi looked to her left and saw a couple of sophomore girls from MVHS. How small is this world, anyway! They gave us a few good tips on where to look for prom dresses (the goal for today, along with Phantom and Mary P.), and we told them what we knew about the temple. It's a small world, after all!

Such a great day, filled with a few funny memories.

Today we're going to do a little sight-seeing, shopping and theater-ing. Should be a great day--it's supposed to be almost 60!

Editor's note:

Allyson, we did hike Cumorah. It was cool. But that's when I didn't have the card for my camera, so all the pictures are on the memory, and I can't access them. Boy, it's steep!