New York Musings

One month ago, I was in New York and it feels as though a year has gone by. A lot can happen in a month, and so it has - mostly on the work front. To cheer myself up, am thinking back to the action-packed four days we spent in the Big Apple.

The first day we arrived, we did some site-seeing in the immediate neighbourhood (37th street west, between 5th and 6th Avenues). We were immediately struck by the sheer volume of people on the sidewalks, something we only see if we go to Robson Street in downtown Vancouver and that seems rather tame now.

Our first outing was to Rockefeller Plaza (or as it is called '30 Rock'). We did a quick tour of the NBC store and then got our tickets and wristband to attend a live taping of the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show. The guests for that night were Anna Faris and Michael Emerson with musical guests MGMT (Pink Floyd tribute week). It was a great experience, the show is taped fairly close to real-time, no retakes - started at 5:30pm and was over by 6:45pm. Jimmy Fallon is a gracious person, he is very down-to-earth - quite tall and very cute :)

We walked a lot! Probably, more than what we should have done and found out why the locals take the subway or other forms of transportation. However, our exploration gave us a great introduction to New York and we saw many sites that otherwise we may have missed.

We also took part in the 'Sex and the City' tour, which was great fun! So many people from all over the world, it makes you realize how small the world really is. It was neat to see some of the restaurants, stores, etc. where the show had filmed some of the iconic episodes.

Of course, a trip to NYC is not complete without taking in a Broadway show, we saw 'Wicked' at the Gershwin Theatre. Having seen this show in Vancouver in June, it was thrilling to see it where it all started and to be able to share it with my friend who was seeing it for the first time. The production was grand and did not disappoint.

All to soon, our trip was winding down and we spent our last day having lunch at Serendipity 3, the restaurant featured in the movies 'Serendipity' and 'One Fine Day'. We actually sat at the 'One Fine Day' table :) We also observed two, what appeared at first to be secret agents, they turned out to be bodyguards. They ushered in a distinguished-looking family who were seated across from us. My curiosity was just too great not to ask the waiter as to who they were...he smiled and asked "have you heard of a small sports team called the New York Yankees?", duh yes. He continued "they are the Steinbrenner family (the owners)." A brush with local celebrities, quite cool.

Later that night, we had dinner at a local Italian restaurant, where we saw the actress Rutina Wesley (Tara from True Blood) at supper! Very exciting. She was with friends and didn't make eye-contact so I did not approach her, ever the polite Canadian.

I really miss the bagels, so so good. Never knew that bagels were to be fluffy and light. Really hoping that an Au Bon Pain will open up in Vancouver. It became our go-to place in New York, all the food tasted amazing whether it was a simple meal or a more formal dinner - it all tasted great. New York was a lot of fun, I highly recommend it. It is true what they say, there is no other city quite like it.