A Busy Weekend

OK, uploading works now. This will be short-ish though because I'm still tired from everything June and I did this weekend (I'm sure she can vouch for this too!). Saturday, we walked from SoHo to lower Manhattan, including a stop at Ground Zero. We rode on the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, and then we walked to South Street Seaport for a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. Then we rode uptown to Grand Central Station, and walked to the Empire State Building. All day long, June was overwhelmed by how tall the buildings are, so I told her she had to see the tallest one. We ended up going up to the observatory at the top of the Empire State Building - a long wait but it was very nice up top - we got there just as the sun went down. The worst thing was there were TONS of people up there. I don't remember it being so crowded when I went up in 2000. Then we went to Grimaldi's pizza in Brooklyn. I had been there once and wanted to go one more time. Hopefully June thought it was worth it - we didn't get to eat until about 10:30 (after waiting forever for a train, and then waiting in line for a table).
Sunday we got up early so June could see where they tape the Today show. As soon as we got into Manhattan I realized I left our Broadway show tickets at home, so I left her at Rockefeller Center while I went back to get the tickets (about an hour round trip, stupid me!!). It ended up we missed most of the taping - I looked on my cable to see what time it was on, and it said 9-10 - apparently in NYC they show the Today show on an hour delay on Sunday. WTF?? After I got back with tickets, we hopped on a train up to the NY Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. I had gone in the summer of 2001, but I think they've made significant improvements since then (although I still think MoBot is the nicest garden anywhere). They have an art installation there by Henry Moore, so that was cool. The best thing there (as it was in 2001) are the glass houses, modeled after those at Kew outside of London. It was a perfect day to be outside and walking around at the garden, but I had bought tickets to go see Gypsy on Broadway, so we only had a few hours at the garden. We rushed to get to the show, and got there just in time. It was fabulous, and had 3 2008 Tony award winners (best actress, and best featured actor and actress). The best actress, Patti LuPone, was great - she's famous from something on TV but I'm too lazy to google it right now. After the show, my roommate's friend Matty gave us a quick backstage tour, which was very fun. Then it was dinner in Little Italy, then back to Times Square for cheesecake and so June could see it in all its crazy lighted glory. We were home by 11, an improvement from Saturday.
June left this morning and got home without incident (apparently only my flights get delayed and canceled...). Only 8 days til I am home!!!


Statue of Liberty




Brooklyn Bridge



West from top of Empire State Building



North from top of Empire state building (see the Chrysler building?)



East from top of Empire State Building


glass houses at NYBG




lotus flower



Henry Moore sculpture



June and the Peggy Rockefeller rose garden



sculpture,



and another sculpture