Second Day – 03/26

Sadly, there was no seducing last night. After I got in bed and laid down, I promptly passed out haha. But can you really blame me? I had a very full day!

We woke up at 10am. It was pretty cold, and cloudy. I managed to give myself a blister last night, walking around after dinner in my fancier shoes, so we went across the street to a pharmacy so I could get some band-aids. By the way, this is the first time I’ve ever been in a pharmacy with an ESCALATOR! Then, we took the subway down near Central Park. Stan wanted to go to lunch at Mickey Mantle’s, one of his favorite places to eat in the city, so we walked down that way. We passed the park, which was beautiful, even if most of the trees are bare. We got to the restaurant a little before it opened, so we walked down to a store with an ATM so I could get some cash, then back up to Mickey Mantle’s. The place was soo nice, filled with all kinds of sports memorabilia, especially Yankee’s stuff. We ordered pigs in blankets to start with, then Stan had the chicken fried steak (his favorite thing there) and I had the steak burger with cheddar cheese. Everything was sooooo yummy! After we paid for the food, Stan bought a commemorative Yankees book, and I bought a glass with the Mickey Mantle’s logo on it.
After lunch, we went across the street to the horse-drawn carriage rides. We got an Irish driver who knew where a lot of famous people live, and where a lot of movies were shot. We paid him $65 to take us from the side of the park we started on to the side where the Museum of Natural History is. Steep price, I know, but it was well worth it. It was quite romantic to ride through the park that way, bundled up in a blanket and snuggling. When our driver dropped us off, we got to pet the horse – Bobby – and take a picture with him. He was so gorgeous and gentle.
From the park, we walked down to the museum. Let me tell you, this place is HUGE!! It’s 4 stories of exhibits, and we were basically only able to do one floor! We were quite tired after that. We saw the North American Mammals, the section about the Earth, which talked about volcanoes and earthquakes and how the Earth is formed and a lot of other stuff I couldn’t even begin to take in. We also did the Ocean room, which was neat, with a GIGANTIC blue whale hovering above everything. Then we hit the gift shop, where I bought this fun dragonfly necklace made out of some sort of mineral, and Stan bought a fun tin plate. By that point, we were both hungry, so we decided to have an early dinner. When we left the museum, it was starting to rain a little, so we took a cab to the restaurant. If you’ve never been to NYC, let me tell you, everything they say about how cabbies drive is true – they’re absolutely crazy! But we arrived safe and sound, and it was relatively cheap too. Before we headed into dinner, I bought a $5 purple scarf from a guy on the street. Can’t beat that!
Dinner this evening was at Carmine’s, a family-style Italian place that was recommended to us by Nancy at work. We ordered garlic bread with parmesan cheese melted on it, and they brought us 9 huge hunks. NINE!! This is definitely a family-style place. The bread so sooo yummy, though. For dinner, we ordered spaghetti with sausage. And oh my GOD, the sauce was to DIE for. It’s probably the best red sauce I’ve ever had. We stuffed ourselves silly, and skipped dessert. After dinner, we decided to head back to the hotel to drop off our bags, and I wanted to change my clothes. We were going to try to walk, but it was cold and raining a little harder, so we caught the subway instead.
After changing our clothes and freshening up a bit, we headed back down to Broadway to see The Lion King at the Minskoff Theatre. This was probably my favorite part of the trip. The show was absolutely incredible!! They followed the script from the movie almost exactly, just adding in a few extra things here and there. But the way they did everything, from the animals to certain scenes to the songs was so beautiful. I am a huge fan! We ended up buying a program, a magnet, a towel, an ornament of the mask/headdress thing the adult Simba wears for my mom, and an autographed posted. If you haven’t seen this show, you need to. I can’t imagine anything on Broadway being any better.
After the show, we walked around Times Square a little, but it was still raining lightly, and we were tired, so we headed back to the hotel. We’re going to start planning what we want to do tomorrow, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to pass out soon.
I have to say, I positively LOVE this city.
(Again, pics coming soon!)