At seven a.m. last Thursday, Meg McC's sixteenth birthday, she and Josie, who had turned sixteen three days earlier, caught a flight to New York City to celebrate the milestone.  They allowed their mothers to tag along.  After all, we were the one's with the credit cards.

Our plan was to fly in early, do, see and eat as much as possible during the next forty eight hours and fly out at the crack of dawn on Saturday.  It was a great plan; flexible and ambitious.

The moment we landed at LaGuardia, a very nice south American woman named Rosa offered to drive us into the city in her huge black SUV.  She said she'd charge us ten dollars less than the taxis would at that time of day.  We accepted her offer.  She was an excellent tour guide, driving like a maniac while pointed out such landmarks as Rikers Island and Harlem.  She became very concerned when the radio announced that New Jersey gov. Christie had been hospitalized.

The drive in was exactly what I expected; long, crowded and harrowing.  We were staying at the Hilton on the Avenue of the Americas, right around the corner from Radio City Music Hall, the Plaza and Rockefeller Center.

We were able to check into our room immediately so we dropped our bags and headed into the hot, humid crowds.

Our first goal was to cash in our online vouchers for tickets on the hop on/hop off bus tour that we bought online.  The office was in Times square, in Madame Tussauds Wax Museum so we headed in that direction.  It took a while to get there because we were distracted by several things we saw on the way.

I said the plan was flexible.

The Magnolia Bakery.

We had to get in line and buy some cupcakes and brownies, didn't we?  Yes!!  And they were spectacular!

The fudge brownie with white chocolate frosting was the BEST.  Although Josie says her orange cupcake with chocolate frosting was the best.  She may be right, I don't know because she wouldn't share.

NBC news!

None of us realized that 6th Ave (Avenue of the Americas) runs right through the middle of Rockefeller Center.  Even when we saw the emblem for NBC on a building and we ran in, looking at huge posters of Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey we thought it was cool but we couldn't find the big gold statue of Prometheus.  We weren't interested in buying tickets to top of the Rock because K is severely afraid of heights.

When we emerged from NBC we were disoriented so we bought hot dogs and asked directions.  Everyone was extremely nice and pointed us in the proper direction.

Here's something we all noticed; every single person we interacted with could not possibly have been nicer, from the drivers, to the women at the hotel desk to the hot dog venders; they were all nicer and more cheerful than their counterparts here in "Minnesota Nice" land.  We did see a few (very few) instances of New Yorkers being rude but it was rare.   Even the traffic was nice.  I mean, yes; it was wall to wall cars and four out of five were taxis but right away we noticed that the pedestrians were king; all the streets in mid town are one way and when the walkers noticed that traffic was stopped by the cross traffic a block up, they ignored the lights and walked and if some stray taxi turned down the street, there was very little honking and a whole lot of deferring to the pedestrians.  There was a ton of honking but none of it was personal.  It didn't sound like an insult.  It was more like quick "Look out" beeps and no long, angry "eff you, learn how to drive and EFF YOU!!" blares that you get here in the Midwest.  Maybe it's just because it's so constant there that you can't take it personally and here, where we only hear a car horn once a week, it always sounds like a personal insult.

We picked up our bus tickets and found out how they worked. 

Those tickets are a fabulous deal!

They cost each of us less than fifty bucks and were good for two days.  We were given maps that indicated exactly where the pick up/drop off points were.  There was a downtown loop and an uptown loop, each of which takes about two hours if you stay on the bus.  Each has about twenty stops at interesting parts of town, so you can tour all of Manhattan, getting off to explore any parts of town that interest you.

The passes also included one ninety minute boat ride. That pass was good for four days.  Finally, the pass included one ticket to the Museum of Manhattan.  (Or the Museum of New York?  I don't remember and we didn't use them anyway.)

But we didn't need our bus passes right away because one of the things the girls most wanted to do was right next door; The Harry Potter Exhibition at the Discovery Museum!

While they toured that, K and I headed into Times Square to try to score some theater tickets.  The lines at the Ticket broker kiosk were fifty thousand deep. 

We were surrounded by fifty foot (and a hundred foot) banners advertising Daniel Radcliffe in How to Succeed in Business, Wicked, Memphis, Baby it's You, Jersey Boys, Anything Goes and The Book of Mormon. Back at the hotel, we had checked a service they provide where they get you tix at the best prices.  The lowest ones they could get were $125 per ticket. 

We had heard about the kiosk in Times Square and were determined to at least take a shot at getting lower prices.  We had not factored in standing in a line that stretched seven city blocks in the ninety six degree heat. 

Oh well; sticking to our flexible plan, we headed for the end of the line, off on a distant horizon somewhere.

We were in Times Square on a hot, sunny July afternoon, surrounded by a million people, the lights and advertizement of Broadway towering over our heads like Angels on Judgement day. We were having a blast!!

"It's like the State Fair only without the freaks." Katie said.
That's when we spotted the Naked cowboy, which wouldn't have been so bad except that the cowboy is actually a woman and she's at least seventy years old.  She wasn't completely naked; between her stetson and ropers she wears a pair of briefs and star pasties on her sagging, floppy breasts.  She plays the guitar.

Katie and I actually hate the fair, so it was better than that.

As we searched for the end of the ticket line, K noticed several young men on the side lines, selling tickets.  She stopped to talk to one and that's how we bought tickets to see Avenue Q for $55 a piece at the New World Theater and skipped standing in line at all!  Then we met the girls outside of the Harry Potter Exhibition, which they both said was the best thing they'd ever seen.

Back  to the hotel to shower and change into our Theater going clothes and we set off again.  Our flexible plan included appetizers before the show and dinner at Carmine's after.  Sardi's is right there, too.  I don't know why we didn't think we could get a table there.  Meg's dream is to run into Daniel Radcliffe, anywhere.  Apparently he's her Justin Beiber these days.  But JB isn't starring in a show on Broadway.  It was painful for M to know that DR was there, somewhere, at the same time we were but we didn't get to see him.

I hear you, girl.  That's a pain we all have to learn to live with.

We had crab cakes and french fries at a lovely place over looking Times Square before the show.  Note to self; martinis are too expensive.

Avenue Q was hilarious and all the performers were marvelous.  It was obvious that the wait staff were all trained actors too, waiting for their turns to be on stage while some newbie slings drinks and candy to the crowd.  The guy who played the lead puppet was too cute for words!

By 11:00, we were upstairs at Carmine's eating the biggest Caesar Salad in the world.  They serve everything family style there; all dishes will feed four.

Four Sumo wrestlers.

We ate half the salad and could easily have stopped there but we didn't.  We also ordered Chicken something something that was roasted with green and red bell peppers, sweet italian sausage and onions.  It was insanely delicious.  We could only eat half of that, too.  It broke our hearts that we couldn't take the leftovers home with us.  If there were a Carmine's in Mpls, you could order one meal and eat for a week.

All my life, I've heard tales of how expensive it is to eat in New York so maybe we just lucked out but our huge and delicious dinner at Carmine's was well under a hundred dollars, even after the tip.

We dropped into our beds around 1:00, agreeing that we'd get up when we woke up.

We slept till 9:30,. which wasn't too late, considering that the girls like to sleep till noon and how late we'd been up but we were excited.

The girls wanted breakfast at the Serendipity cafe, which is where they serve the most expensive dessert on earth; ice cream sprinkled with actual gold flakes.

Never mind what a waste of gold that is; I can't believe it actually enhances the ice cream! 

So, I told them they couldn't order that.

We set out on foot again, using the directions Meg googled.  That part of the plan would have worked if not for all the distractions; first of all the Plaza Hotel.

Wow.  We wandered through the lobby, marveling at the inlaid marble floors, the twenty foot leaded glass windows, the fifteen foot french doors, the (seemingly) hundreds of crystal chandeliers, the gilded bannisters!! 

I wanted to take a photo of Josie and Meg on the marble staircase but a giant black man in livery came up and told me, very nicely and apologetically that no photos were allowed in the lobby.

Again, he couldn't have been nicer about it.  I got the feeling that if I openly defied him, he'd be sad as he lifted me over his head and threw me bodily out of his hotel.

Then, there was Bergdorf Goodman, across the street.  We spent forty minutes in there and we never even got past the accessories.  All the pretty jewelry and purses!! 

Then, right there, across the street from the Plaza, Bergdorf and Central Park; FAO Schwartz!

We spent two hours in there.  Every time we turned around there was another fabulous section! 

An entire safari of stuffed animals.  Almost life sized elephants, giraffes and horses.

Upstairs, the dolls are cool; Madeline dolls, Madame Alexander dolls, Raggedy Ann and Andy and finally, at the back Barbie.

Barbie in her absolute finest glory.  Vintage Barbie wearing designer outfits.  A Barbie fashion show, where dolls on stands spin down the catwalk and disappear behind velvet curtains.  A Barbie foosball table; one of only ten in the world.

When we had finished drooling over her, we headed into cars, action figures and legos.  There were life sized replicas of Indiana Jones and Cap'n Jack Sparrow, in legos.  Back behind that we found the Giant Piano.

Meg and Josie danced on it for ten minutes, along with scads of little kids and a few adults.

There was a section of Harry Potter clothes and toys.

Even better than the Barbies, was the Doll House section.

When I was growing up, I had a doll house and I collected miniatures.  I still have two boxes high in a closet in my house where all my furniture is wrapped and packed away.  I gave away one of my houses a few years ago but I still have one in my office, just waiting for the day I can take it out, paint it, decorate it and fill it with tiny replicas of gorgeous furniture.

The houses were awesome; there were several styles, from craftsman to Victiorian to salt box.  One huge, farm house with gables and an enormous front porch was my favorite.

Some of the furniture was super cool but most of it didn't look as finely crafted as the old stuff I have; but maybe that's because I haven't looked at mine in fifteen years.  I may remember it as much better than it is.

When we finally reached Serendipity, the lunch rush had begun and it was an hour wait.  All of that was doable but it had taken us so long to get there we were starving, so we walked back toward Central Park, determined to eat at the first place that would seat us.

That turned out to be a block away at a fun little place with lots of woodwork and marble topped tables and glass window walls that opened so we were sort of indoor/outdoor.  The girls split a chicken sandwich and  us moms split a beet salad and it was all delicious and we rose from the table fortified and ready to continue.

I wanted to see some of Central Park but the girls said "We have parks at home."

They're right.  NO one does parks better than Minneapolis.  Central park looks real pretty but it's no better than the Arboretum or Minnehaha Falls and it would just be embarrassed around Lake Harriet.

We skipped the park and hopped on a bus back up to Times Square.  We got off there and walked up 42nd to the pier, where we caught our boat ride.

Oh, it was great!!

I'll finish this later.

 

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