Courtney and I recently went to New York City with the Pulaski County High School Drama Department - organized by Jeff McCoy.

We left at 3 in the morning and drove until around 2pm. Bus trips are always “fun”, but this schedule seemed to work better than the last time I went and left at 10 at night and drove all night. We seemed to miss most of the New York traffic coming in, which was a good thing! We stayed on the corner of 7th Avenue and 51st Street – in the Manhattan at Times Square Hotel.

 I had a great roommate -

Soon after we arrived, we headed to Madame Tussaud’s Was Museum. It was so interesting to see life-size statues of famous people. I was amazed how short and how tall some of them were. A lot of the women were really skinny. I am going to do a whole seperate posting of the Wax Museum because we got so many interesting pics.  Here is one just for Glenn - me with the Obamas!!!

We had dinner in a diner around the corner that sold just about any type of food you could think of. There are so many diners in New York – and each with it’s own style.

I bought some Ubon soup with shrimp dumplings. Something I had never had before, but yummy.

That night, our bus took us to Randall Island where we got to see the Cirque du Soleil show – OVO. It is amazing what those performers can do. It was entertaining – and a good choice for the first night when we were worn out. I remember last time, the first night we saw Phantom of the Opera – and I actually dozed off for part of it - imagine that!

On Friday, our group caught the subway to Battery Park – where you can see the Statue of Liberty.

We were all going to walk around a bit and then go on the Ferry to Stanton Island so we could get a closer view of the Statue. Courtney and her friend Tinsley got persuaded to stop and have their caricature picture drawn. That turned out to be quite the experience. The picture was relatively inexpensive – and since I was waiting for them – I had mine done too. The problem comes when they finish, put it in a frame, and charge you 3 times as much – but convince you that the picture is a total waste without the frame. All with an accent that makes it hard to understand! My picture wasn’t bad, but I look a bit like Hilary Clinton. Courtney and Tinsley, who are very different – looked the same as each other! Then, to top it off, we missed the Ferry with the group and had to wait an hour for them to get back – still, it was fun to people watch!

These "Statue of Liberty" poses are always fun!

The day got better – we caught up with everyone and walked to Ground Zero where the Twin Towers came down. It is humbling to think that that was where it all happened.

Back on the Subway and off to China town. Lots of little shops, most offering a lot of the same things, and each willing to “give you a bargain”. Courtney and I did each end up getting a faux designer purse. A pretty crazy place!

We got back to the hotel in time to clean up and go to the most amazing place to eat – Carmine’s. We had to pay ahead of time, and it was a bit pricey – but oh my!!!!! All of the food is served family style. We started with breads, salad, and an antipasti tray. Next were the pastas – a Marinara spaghetti and a super yummy rigatoni. The next course was the meats – lemon chicken and veal parmesan. So, just when you thought you couldn’t eat another bite, out comes a beautiful dessert tray! I thought I had died and gone to Italian heaven!

That night, we went to see “West Side Story”. They did a great job – and the storyline is always intriguing. Saturday, we hit up another deli for breakfast – which was always the best deal of the day. Next on the agenda was the NBC studio tour. It was kind of fun to see where Saturday Night Life, the Dr. Oz Show, etc. really take place.

 After browsing the souvenirs shop for awhile, we decided to catch the free open house at Radio City Music Hall. We were afraid it would be packed, but apparently, we picked the right time to go. We got balloons, free yummy food samples, drinks, a brief tour of the music hall, and even a cupcake as we were leaving. Courtney and I got to get our picture taken with a couple of the Rockettes. They’re pretty tall!

We scurried back to the hotel to change and Courtney and I went to see “Come Fly With Me” – it was a cute show – with Frank Sinatra singing, a live band, and some fabulous dancing.

After the show, we met up with the rest of our group and decided to check out some of the stores in Times Square. We went to the M&M Store, Toys R US, and stopped in a couple of other fun places.

We were going to eat dinner at Roxy”s (heard they had fantastic cheesecake) – but Times Sqaure was so crowded we decide to meet up with some others a few blocks away. We left Times Sqaure around 5:45 – and an attempted car bomb was found around 6:30pm. We never really knew much about it until the next day!

I had a light dinner at a French Bistro and Courtney ate at a Deli with some friends. After going back to the hotel to get dressed, we went to see Wicked. That show is fantastic. It seemed even better this time than last!

After the show, we had cheesecake on the mind – and of course, who wants to go to bed too early in New York? We found huge cheesecakes a couple of blocks from the hotel. Three people couldn’t finish two cheesecakes!

Sunday, we piled back on the bus and arrived home about 7pm. Who knew you could do so much is three days?  Yeah New York!!!