Tom and Diana: East Coast Life

Watch out Seattle... Malea is crossing the busy streets with no regard to the cross walk signs (a total local move) and bartering with the most poker faced Chinese knock-off purse sellers you'd ever see. She is a fast learner.

I don't know where to begin with my description of our trip to the city. I am going to do it in 2 parts.

Thursday after I picked Malea up at the airport we went to Jersey City so I could proudly show her my favorite view of Manhattan from across the Hudson. It was beautiful weather---but very cold. She was a bit shocked at the painful burning the 7 degree temps brought to her exposed skin. Safe to say, we didn't hang outside for too long and opted to head home and hang out with Tom and the dogs. Frank wouldn't leave Malea alone! He loves her!
That night we were wishing that we would have made reservations to stay in the city at least one night... but we didn't feel like paying the average cost of 400 a night for a dinky hotel (see past post from Melissa's visit).
Just for fun we went online and believe it or not, found a 4 star Radisson with a view of Broadway in Midtown for 200 a night! Whew! Deal of the day!

Friday we took the train into the city. It was again, very cold. Very cold. Sunny... but did I mention cold? We were bundled up with at times just our eyes showing with our hats pulled down and our scarves pulled up, but we pressed on! We did one of our favorite indoor activities to stay warm: shopping. The Macy's in the city is the biggest store in the world--its size is amazing. There are 8 floors complete with a large Starbucks inside the store (in the handbags department, conveniently) and other restaurants on some of the other floors--even a McDonald's.

Malea is the best bargain shopper I know and since that skill doesn't seem to rub off on me, sadly, she protected her title and found some great deals! Looking back, the cold really slowed us down some and we spent most of the day just leisurely shopping in and around Times Square.
Friday night we went to Hairspray on Broadway. Since living here I have gotten to a few wonderful shows but I honestly think that this was the best play I had ever seen. It was Malea's first and she's going to have a hard time topping this one. My aunt Toni (Malea's mother-in-law) got us great seats 12 rows back, center orchestra.
Any other place but the theater, if we were any closer to the actors, we'd be guilty of invading that little invisible bubble of private space we all put around us. The actors never seem to make a mistake and the talent they have and effort they put forth is incredible to watch. We both said later that we caught ourselves smiling many times during the play. Norm from Cheers very successfully was Tracy's mother (a role traditionally played by a man on the stage and movie productions) and everyone loved him. He received a very deserving bouquet of roses at the end.

After the play, around 11, it began to snow. It was such a perfect moment. It was beautiful and we were energized from the play and the lights and sights to see in Times Square. We walked for prob half a mile until the snow (now mixed with rain) started to pick and we decided to just hail a cab. Easier said than done on a snowy Friday night just after about 80 or more shows let out for the night!! After walking a bit more we spotted a soaking wet young guy that appeared to moonlight as a rickshaw. Lucky for us, he had a cover over the cabin. Of course,it cost about 5 times what a cab would of cost, but it was worth it! Everyone needs to see their life flash before them at least once on a rickshaw in NYC--you cannot put a cost to that?! I was very proud of Malea; as our driver dodged taxi's and pedestrians and we said silent prayers that this boy would peddle us safely the 12 remaining blocks to our hotel, I only saw her shut her eyes twice from fear. Pretty good for a first timer--and in the inclement weather! We got back to the hotel and after giving the boy a generous tip hoping he'd use it to purchase a rain hat, we stayed up late visiting, gossiping and laughing and I cannot tell you how great it feels to have some friends from home out here. :-)

end of part I.
*pics: us at hairspray, malea in jersey city with the empire state building behind her, a couple of times square and then again in the hotel. the windows you see behind her once opened so one could go out on the balcony... but the Radisson has since bolted them shut. Probably a good idea for the crazy's-- but for us normals, it was a bummer.