Monday in NYC

The one thing I notice about being home is the pace. New York seems to function at warp speed. From the subway trains that fly into the station, with you standing mere feet away, to the folks hurrying and scurrying to their destinations on the sidewalk. Only the tourists seem to move slowly and stop at street corners for red no-walk signs. We learned to walk if no cars were coming and stay in the flow of the sidewalk traffic.

On Monday morning we ate breakfast (this one was free, came with the room!), packed up, stored our luggage and headed out to see NYU, since it was just on the other side of the park from our hotel. We found the bookstore and the kids both found souvenirs. They had quite a selection of film school and performing arts books.
From NYU we walked over to SOHO and found the Apple Store and other interesting shopping. I checked my handy iPhone and discovered that Purl (a yarn store) was nearby so we walked until we found it. It wasn't open when we arrived so we waited about 10 minutes and then I browsed while my family paced outside. This place was tiny but had some nice yarn that was dyed locally in lobster pots. I had to pass though because it was cashmere and $46 a skein!
(Not sure what the bags in the photo contain but I'm pretty sure they aren't filled with yarn! Didn't even see them when we were there...I was too busy window shopping!)

Our doorman at the hotel had told us to be sure to visit Katz Deli for lunch so we headed there next. We found it and headed inside for pastrami and corned beef sandwiches, piled high! This is the restaurant where Harry met Sally and the scene you all remember was filmed. We had a good lunch, met one of the owners and then were off again to see more of the city.

On the subway, we decided to split up and the boys went off to find the B&H store (audio, video, and all things EB & GB love!) while AB and I headed to Times Square. Our goal for the day was to get tickets for a show that night from the TKTS stand. The ticket booth didn't open till 3 but we were told to get there early. The shows were even going to be posted until 2:30, so AB and I decided to find our hotel and see if we could check in early. We turned around and found the hotel right across the street! So we checked in, rested our feet, twittered our friends, called the boys and then headed back out to stand in the wind for tickets to Avenue Q.

The boys returned and found us still standing in line about 3:15. They headed off to our other hotel to retrieve the luggage. They took a cab back and said it zipped them right there...a whole lot easier than trying to take everything back on the subway, I think! Meanwhile, AB & I scored third row tickets at half the price and we were off to see our first Broadway show!

30th floor of Doubletree Hotel-view from room

We all met back up at the room and relaxed before heading off to dinner. Again, my iPhone and the reviews on Yelp and Urbanspoon helped find a place for dinner. Carmine's is a nice Italian restaurant that served family style and had paintings of famous people on its walls. The correct answer, by the way, was Jimmy Durante (in answer to AB's twitter question. Thanks for playing!)

The show was fabulous. A bit raunchy at times - full puppet nudity as advertised and a love scene we'll not soon forget. But we all laughed and laughed and had a great time!