Saturday

Headed down to the theatre district this morning to sort out what tickets we need for when. We're sadly running out of show gaps :( We got some tickets for Mary Poppins then caught the subway down to Canal st. We wanted to go there to get our names painted by street vendors :)

We then caught the subway back uptown to go in the Rock of Ages ticket lottery. Britt and Hayley both got drawn out so we got tickets all together. Between the lottery and show we had our lunch in the middle of Times Sqaure.. where else in the world would you want to have your lunch :) We had a bit of a shop around and then it was time for the show. When we went in, I was so impressed by the set. It comes so far out into the audience.. It looks great.

We all really liked the show.. I didn't think I would, but it's very entertaining.. It finishes with 'Don't stop believing' ... which was amazing.

We then started to head home for dinner and stopped to do some grocery shopping (exciting I know) .. But we did run into Bob, so that was nice :P.. We felt like locals (I wish.) He was shopping for our thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night.. so excited!

We had dinner in the apt and then headed out to Mary Poppins.. It's such a friggin good show! At interval we moved to pracitcally the best seats in the house because they were empty :) It was great.

At the end of the show, the cast announced they were raising money for 'Broadway cares equity fights aids' which all the shows do at this time of the year.. Mary Poppins was doing something awesome. They had a backstage tour for sale so as if we wouldn't do that! We got to go backstage and on the stage. Then the cast came and met us. Laura Michelle Kelly (Mary) was incredibly nice, as was Gavin Lee (Bert). Britt actually knows one of Laura's friends, so that was a nice topic of discussion :) She was amazing as Mary and an equally amazing person.

On the way home, the Halloween festivities had definitely began. The city is swarming with people in full-on costumes. It's amazing... and so normal to everybody else. Its the world's biggest costume party.

Friday

Friday friday friday.. and the weather has taken a turn for the worst.
It was blowing a gale today, but it was still great ofcourse!
We started off with a walk through Central Park to look at Strawberry Fields and the Imagine Mosaic.

 

Even though it was winddddyy, it made the park the park look even more beautiful. The leaves were falling everywhere and they were bright orange. It was unbelievably beautiful.

After a lengthy wander, we headed to a small deli for lunch, which was delicious.. Then on the way to 33rd street we stopped for a spot of shopping and checked out the Bryant Park Ice Scating Rink.

So we were going to 33rd street because It's time we bought some new suitcases. We have an unbelievable amount of stuff to lug home.. each one of us needs a new bag. Luckily we were successful. So we hopped on the subway and headed home with our new luggage :P We had a nice dinner while I skyped Amanda about our awesome weekend plans.. then we were off again.

Britt and I stopped off in a store that has a huge window overlooking Times Square.. It was mesmerizing .

And tonight it was 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'..

 and for all you theatre nerds, like myself, it stars Patti LuPone, Sherie Renee Scott, Laura Benanti and Brian Stokes Mitchell... and it was freakin hilarious. We all loved it.. and now all have a theatre crush on Laura Benanti.

It was an awesome night!

BUT

When we got home we were confronted with the mouse. :( It was not fun at all.

 I felt so sad for the little fella and then just physically sick because it was so disgusting.. Hayley is my dead set hero now though. She was the bravest. We scooped it into a bag, and then another bag and then fanged it down the stairs to the rubbish. The whole process took over an hour because of our deliberating and fear. haha... but i guess it's a good anecdote.

happy happy happy

We started off the day with knocking some things off our to-do list --places to go back to, things to buy (stuff like that). We looked at some luggage stores, seeing we all need another bag to carry all our stuff home.

So we did some shopping, and picked up our Wicked tickets before heading to the Rockefeller Centre. When we got there, there was a big ice skating performance in the rink. It was so awesome. One girl did a back flip on the ice. It was amazing!

We then did some shopping in the NBC store before sitting down for lunch in the Plaza. While we were sitting there 2 NBC staff members walked over and asked us if we wanted to be in the audience for 'The Dr OZ Show' .. which seems to be popular in the US. Why not hey? so we followed these people into the studios and they gave us our tickets. He is the Dr from Oprah if that rings any bells for anyone. He's been on Oprah more than anyone else in the world.

So that was fun.. it took a while to get in but the studio was really nice. We'd already been there on the tour but it was cool to see it working. The topic for the show was 'Shocking truths about sex in America' or something along those lines. Hahaha, what are the chances... we thought it was funny anyway.

So after this we just headed home for some dinner and got dressed up for Wicked. After all, it is Wicked! It's my show... I love it show much.

No surprises we loved it! Mandy was friggin brilliant ofcourse and the girl playing G(a)linda is so hilarious (Katie Rose Clarke). Britt had some awful woman next to her who liked to get up and walk out at sucky times... and also get out her phone and then abuse Brittany. But it didn't spoil the night.
We met Mandy afterwards and had a great chat.. she's so frikkin lovely!

I love my life!

Wednesday.

Quite a day today.
We slept through the alarm, which was nice and then walked down to get tickets to the Mamma Mia matinee. To fill in time between then and the show we went and looked at a massive store called Forever 21 in Times Square. We did some serious shopping. We all got 2 out of 4 levels done before it was time for the show.

Mamma Mia was a lot of fun! and the theatre was amazing! the best theatre so fun I think. After this we thought why not complete the other 2 levels of Forever 21. So we headed back... and came out alot poorer.

Then it was time for some dinner and all we could come up with was McDonalds, so off we went. The Macca's was actually really nice.. the whole interior was painted as a city panorama with some 3D elements. Here is some of the wall...

 After this, it was Phantom of the Opera. It was a beautiful theatre aswell. The show was magical ofcourse. We all loved it which wouldn't be a surprise to you all.

Financial exhaustion

Today was the first day without our 'New York Pass' so we thought a bit of a sleep in would be nice. OH and it was. We got up at midday, clearly needing that sleep, and heard the story of Hayley's confrontation with the mouse. Gross.

Anyway, we walked downtown heading towards Kmart on 34th street. We had a look around and bought some costumes for Halloween :) Then we hit Borders.... and spent some serious money! See below...

All worth it though! Stupid Australia and its lack of entertainment :P
After this we got some New York pizza for one dollar a slice and headed to the In The Heights lottery.
We won. Huzzah and Britt and I got the 2 centre seats :) Before the show we walked up to the Opening Night of 'Rain' where there was a hive of activity.

We saw Chris Brown and Chita Rivera before we had to walk back down to In The Heights.
We settled in and sat in awe, as usual. I love this show so much! We had one of the understudies for a lead role and they blew me away! It was mesmerizing.

Monday

A cycle seemed fitting for this morning so off we went.
We hired some bikes and headed north up the park.. It was so beautiful! It was one fo those amazing moments where we were like "oh my god we're in New York" It was like a whack in the face.

After this we headed downtown to Madison Square Garden then wandered up to Times Square. We bought some tickets for 'Phantom of the Opera' on Wednesday and then stopped for some cheesecake. And holy moly was it a big piece of cheesecake :) We then had a bit of a shop in 'Aeropostale' and then Toys R Us.. (which is AMAZING). We all spent up big there :)
Check out Buzz Lightyear made out of Lego!

 After this spree we had a little rest in the middle of Times Square (as you do...) where the Naked Cowboy was hanging around at the time. We played some cards, toy story ones to be exact, and then walked over to Planet Hollywood for dinner.

Planet Hollywood is the most amazing restaurant. It completely filled with movie and theatre memorabilia. It's my kind of place! We had a great meal.. and our waiter was a gem! Good ol' Johnny.
Here is the view from where I was sitting (the perfect view for me if you know my favourite movie!)

And this is the license plate from 'Speed' - My OTHER favourite movie!

...And of course, my favourite Broadway star. Sara Ramirez's costume from Spamalot

It really is a remarkable place! I would recommend it to anybody!

After dinner we just headed home.. We thought an earlier night would probably do us some good :)
Another brilliant day though. Wow, is this a good holiday!

PS. It's bloody hot tonight! What up New York?  ...and we still haven't caught our mouse either.

"Harvey, put out your cigar, don't make me tell you again"

Well today was seriously the best day! Unbelievably fun!
We started off buying a mouse trap (that's another story) then headed down to Penn Station to meet Amanda and Sara. We met them in a MASSIVE borders and headed up town for Next to Normal tickets. Its so much fun hanging out with them! We just got some student tickets and then HOLY CRAP ran into Susan Blackwell... So I know pretty much none of you will know who she is but if you knew how exciting this was for me, you'd be stoked!

We then walked over to 'John's Pizzeria' for lunch which was delicious ofcourse and we all discovered some rather entertaining differences between our cultures (mostly about food). Seriously can't explain the fun we have with these girls :) We had a nice lesson on Cricket and meat pies. See below out diagram of cricket ;)

After lunch we wandered over to Times Square and hit some little street markets.

We also went into a sheet music store and Hershey's. Then it was SHOWTIME! Huzzah...
We walked down to the theatre and chilled outside before it was time to go in.

The show was amazing.. Nothing like I was expecting. So powerful... I would really suggest it to anybody :) After the show we met Sara's friend Bob who was in South Pacific, for dinner. We ate at a cute Italian place off ninth ave. It was a great meal! We just had awesome fun picking at each others accents and what not.

Then, my world changed. Chocolate covered pretzels - 'Flips'. You are all missing out on something back in Australia. Fair Dinkum. They are so good.  We got some snacks and went back to our apartment with the gang ;)

Oh man, it was so fun! We all get along so well! I wish we never had to leave them!
Seriously the best night to top off the best day! I love my life so much right now!

Thrill the World

I found my favourite place in the world. Carnegie Hall!
We started the day off with a tour there.. and it is unbelievably beautiful. I'm in love.

 

After this we had some delicious Panini's for lunch and then headed off to the bus stop. We were heading to Bethlehem Pennsylvania. We went because Amanda (who we met in Philly) was involved in 'Thrill the World' and invited us along. It is a world wide event where people gather to do the zombie scene from the thriller music video to try and break a world record.

Holy dooley it was so much fun! It will be up on youtube soon I beleive. We did the 6 minute dance and then went through a haunted house. How exciting, an actual small town american haunted house.
We went through with Amanda and it was awesome... heaps of effort went into it and it showed.
Such a fun time!
We didn't get to stay for too long before we were back on the bus home, but it was seriously an awesome night!

She's Queen of Fifty States

Got up at the crack of dawn this morning ...and Wow, you should see how attractive we all look now.
We caught the train down to South Ferry and pretty much got straight on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. (We planned in advance to get on the first ferry to beat the crowds, so we were more then pleased with ourselves when we were successful) Once more, it was perfect perfect weather for it (photo wise anyway.. the wind was a bit of a bitch).

After this and a ferry trip back to Manhattan we headed home for lunch - and $5 footlong subways, thank you very much. We seriously needed some rest so we just chilled out in the warmth of our apt for a couple of hours.

Our next stop was the Port Authority Bus Terminal to buy some bus tickets. We're going to visit Amanda and Sara tomorrow, as well as participating in a zombie horror dance thing. Should be a fun day in Pennsylvania :) We're excited!

Time for a show then I believe.. this time we went in the Million Dollar Quartet lottery. Britt and Hayley won so we all got to go :) Between lottery and show we went costume shopping for tomorrow.. with some success. You would not believe the costume shops they have here.. Its unbe-freakin-lievable! You can get absolutely everything!!!

Show time at 8:00pm and man was it good! Seriously surprised me! It was such a fun show.. We all loved it!

Another super day I say!