Looking back, it's clear that our trip to the City was just not meant to be. It started several weeks ago when the Broadway show we bought tickets to (American Idiot) decided to close early, meaning we had no show to see. Several times we tried to buy tickets to other shows only to find out they were sold out. We finally did find some tickets to Million Dollar Quartet.
So on Thursday morning, our plane was scheduled to leave around 9:00 am. We woke up early, took Emily to daycare and then headed to the airport. Upon checking the weather in NY, we saw that there were some pretty bad storms all along the east coast. But upon leaving our house, our plane was still on time. We got to the airport and we went to the Admiral's club to wait (my dad is a platinum member of American Airlines). Around 8:30, Shawn got a phone call from American, we were delayed until 10:00. Okay, not so bad. Well, around 9:00, he got another phone call . . .now we're delayed until 11:00. So at this point, we're just hoping we can get out at some point. We get to the gate around 10:30 and they clearly switched our plane as people were just now getting off. There was no way we would be heading out at 11:00. We're finally on the plane around 11:45 and we're taxing down the runway. Then the pilot gets on to make an announcement that there is a ground stop in NY and no planes heading the east coast can take off. He tells us it's expected to last 30 min. 20 min. go by and he comes back on. . .now our departure time is 2:00. We sit on the runway for about an hour and half and finally at 1:45 we take off. . . only about 5 hours late.
We land in NY around 6:00. Our show tickets were for 8:00, so we're thinking we'll have just enough time to get to the hotel and change and get to the show. We take a cab to our hotel (the W hotel) and upon arrival, they have no room for us. All 4 of us were supposed to be in 1 room with 2 queen beds. Apparently the people in the room before us checked out late and the room wasn't ready. At this point it's 7:00. How the room isn't ready by 7:00 is beyond me. Anyways, after about a 20 minute wait (while the situation was being discussed with a manager), they finally came back and gave us 2 separate rooms for the price of 1 room (so this did end up in our favor). So now it's almost 7:30 and we have an 8:00 show to catch. We run to get ready in about 15 minutes and walk outside. Broadway is about 7 blocks away, but we all knew there was no way we'd make the show if we walked. So we had this great idea to take a pedi-cab. We didn't look at prices at all, but we're thinking how much could this possibly be. We certainly made the guy work hard. He had 4 of us in a 2 person cab and he had to pull us uphill. So he definitely earned his money. So we make it to the theater with about 5 minutes to spare and the guy is adding up the fare. So he tells us it's $30. . .per person!!! That's $120 before tip. We were all thinking that he was kidding. I mean we seriously probably went 1 mile. We reluctantly paid our fare and rushed into the theater. We all knew that in the end the pedi-cab was the only way we could have made the show in time since he was able to weave in between cars, etc.
Not the best quality of photos (I brought my point and shoot camera). But here we are on the $120 pedicab ride ($140 after tip)
It was actually kind of scary. We were weaving in between taxis and buses. I told Shawn to keep his arms and legs inside the cab or he might lose one.
After the show was over we walked outside and I'm not exaggerating, there were pedi-cabs just lined up. We all joked that the guy that took us told all his friends that this was the theater that had the suckers in it. We knew better this time and just kept walking. We should have just gotten a regular cab to go to the restaurant, but we kept walking. Big mistake as I'm getting blisters all over my feet and we can no longer find a cab. We finally hailed a cab and headed to dinner. We had 11:00 reservations as Babbo. For those of your that know Iron Chef, it's Mario Batali's restaurant. Apparently, it's very difficult to get reservations, hence the 11:00 reservation. We showed up at 10 hoping they would have a table open, but they didn't. So we went across the street and had a few drinks before heading back at 11:00. The restaurant was probably the highlight of the trip. It was really good. Don't get me wrong, it had some unusual stuff (not your typical spaghetti and meatballs), but all of us seemed to like our meals. Shawn even got all of us to try his octopus appetizer! By the time we left the restaurant (around 12:30) we were all exhausted. After all we had been up since 5:30 that morning. So we headed back to our hotel (which was so crowded by the way . .apparently the W hotel is a big night spot) and went to bed.
We woke up Friday morning and ate breakfast in our hotel. We were taking the train at noon from the City to Port Jefferson, which is where the wedding was. By the time we ate breakfast, it was time to head to Penn Station. So we were in the City for about 14 hours and didn't get to really walk around at all. We hopped the train and made the 2 hour trip to Port Jefferson where my parents were waiting to pick us up.
We stayed at the Dansfords Hotel (which is where the wedding reception was held the next day). It was right on the water. Port Jefferson was a cute little town. We got some NY pizza for lunch and walked around the shops in the downtown area and then stopped and had some drinks on a restaurant patio. We were going to the rehearsal dinner at 6:30, so we were able to spend about 3 hours just relaxing (finally!). The rehearsal dinner was held at a restaurant across from the hotel. . .The Fifth Season. It was really good! It was rated one of the top restaurants in the US by Zagat. After visiting with everyone at the rehearsal dinner we headed back to the hotel bar. I only made it until 10:00 or so, but Shawn and my brother made it much longer.
Saturday, it was colder outside, but still sunny. The wedding was at 2:30, but the church was a ways away, so we had to head out around 1:30. We slept in a bit and then got some seafood for lunch. We were all still tired from the night before, so we went back to our rooms to relax a bit before the wedding. The ceremony lasted about an hour and then we made our way back to the hotel. There was a break between the church ceremony and the reception (which wasn't until 6:30), so we all went to a sports bar to get some food since we were all starving. The reception was really nice. The cocktail hour was in a room that overlooked the water and there was a TON of appetizers. It seems like every NY wedding we go to, the focus is on food. I thought the appetizers were the dinner (there were so many), but nope, we had a 4 course meal to follow. . .soup, salad, entree, dessert (and not just wedding cake for dessert, but whole trays on mini desserts for each table)! After our late night, the night before, by the time the reception was over at 11:00, I was done. So Shawn and I headed to bed.
Our flight left around noon on Sunday. Again, we were delayed because of storms (only this time they were in Dallas). But luckily it was only about a half hour and we were able to make most of it up in the air. It was a fun trip, but a tiring one. I was glad to be home and also to see my baby! She had fun with KK and Joe, but I think she was pretty happy to see us too.
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