NYC!!!

Over the past few years I have been stumped over what to get my oldest son for his birthday.  There haven't been any really longed-for ITEMS and I hate to just get him "stuff."  One year he noticed that Billy Joel was playing a concert near us, and fairly close to his birthday.  Bing! Tickets to the show for his birthday was the answer.  And of course, I had to take him to the show.  We went out to dinner first (my son is a very interesting and gentlemanly date!) and then to the concert.  Well, once precedent had been set, we found interesting shows for each subsequent birthday.  After Billy Joel it was Penn and Teller.  After that we moved farther afield, and took the train down to New York City (ah, the advantage of living on the Connecticut shoreline) and saw an off-Broadway show with John Lithgow and Jennifer Ehle.  Of course, we had to spend the day in New York, wandering, ice-skating at Rockefeller Center, finding an interesting place for lunch, and looking, of course, like the wide-eyed tourists that we were.  But it was such a fun day!  And I got to spend an entire day with my son!

This year he turned 19. There were other thoughts this year, as he's in college, between his freshman and sophomore years, and in the market for THINGS.  After much thought, however, we returned to what is now the tried and true.  Broadway shows.  And he is still happy to spend a day in New York with his mother!!! Woohoo!  So we took an early train in to Grand Central Station.

Jeff in Grand Central Station

Grand Central Station

I just love that train station.  It truly is grand!  I tried to take a picture of the ceiling, which is painted to look like a sky, with constellations painted on it, and lights where the bright stars are.  But the photo didn't really turn out - you can't see much.  Here it is if you want to try:  OK, I'm a sucker for grandeur, but it really is a beautiful station.

Grand Central Ceiling

We strolled down Park Avenue, just so we could say we did.  The sun was shining, it was in the 70's (deg F) and the day was beautiful.  As we walked we saw an interesting sculpture in front of a large office building.

funky sculpture

I couldn't resist taking a picture, and Jeff was good enough to stand next to the sculpture for me.  We walked into the building to see if there was any information about it, but nothing.  When we came back out I noticed the security guard, at the bottom left of the picture.  I asked him about it and he was very friendly and explained that it had just been sold through Christie's Auction House and they needed someplace to put it.  Ha!

Apple Store

Well, we wandered some more, looked in shops, and ended up at the edge of central park, where there was an apple store.  My son, being the techie that he is, of course wanted to go inside.  It is entirely underground.  The white structure that you see is painted plywood that is covering up the glass block that used to be there (I'm not sure whether it is under construction or being repaired), but we entered and all that was inside was a spiral staircase that led us underground.  I guess they need to use all the space available in a place as crowded and built up as New York City.

We chatted with a very friendly pedi-cab driver and got a recommendation for lunch, then we walked back toward Times Square to get to the theatre in time for the show.

The show Jeff picked out was "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."  And it was fantastic.  We both love musicals, and a good comedy.  This one was written in the '50's, very dated, but they really played up the camp and we were smiling and laughing throughout.  If you caught the Tony Awards and the song-and-dance number that they performed from this show, you'll have an idea of a little of what we saw.  Sets were very  creative, choreography was a lot of fun, dance chorus was fantastic, and the performances had a lot of energy.  We thoroughly enjoyed the show!

After the show we took the subway up to Central Park again (an adventure in and of itself!) and while wandering, met up with my running partner's daugher and her boyfriend, both of whom were in Jeff's graduation class at the high school.  What fun!

Jeff in Central Park

I had not ever spent much time wandering in Central Park on earlier visits to the city, and I was really impressed with the size and the greenery within such a large city.  Central Park really is beautiful.  We saw lots of runners and bikers as well, and families, and kids with nannies, baseball games, playgrounds, I think there's even a zoo in there somewhere, but we didn't walk that far.

beautiful stone staircase in Central Park

After the park, it was time to head home.  We took the subway back to Grand Central and picked up dinner, which we ate on the train.  I got some knitting done on my summer cardigan.   I really need to put up some pictures of that project.  I may even finish it while it's still summer!  Maybe in my next post.

A wonderful day, but I was pooped by the time we got home.  I just love the fact that we can go down to New York for the day, even if I only go once or twice a year!  It's certainly a great birthday trip.  I'm already thinking about the next one...