little baby edmonds : NYC.Day.Three.

Last full day in NYC. We decide we should try to student rush tickets for a show. So, we get up early, head to the theatre to stand in line, and wait. Well... as I stood in front of the box office for Newsies, I did some research to see if they even do Student Rush. They don't. They do a lottery. Well.. that wouldn't work (two tickets per lottery winner... we are a party of three). So... we head over to the Annie box office. Assuming they open at 10am like they did all week, we waiting. Then... realizing it was Sunday and they didn't open until noon... we had to ditch the plan and head to the 9/11 memorial (our tickets were for 11am).

*What is Student Rush?*
Well... we found out about it right before our honeymoon. It is where the theatre box office sells any unsold tickets for a cheap price (usually $35-$45 per ticket) The seats are not always together but they do exist! It is so easy to just stand in line early in the morning and try to get a cheap ticket to an amazing show. I suggest you research.

We knew what train to get on, so we headed South to the 9/11 Memorial. We stood in line for about 20 minutes. It started to rain a bit... but it simply added to the somber state of the area. We walked through the security (very tight) and then another 150 yards toward the memorial. Here are a few pictures from the pools. The pools are the size of the towers that fell that tragic day in September. The names of all 2,900 victims are carved in the metal surround. On the victims birthday, a white rose is placed to celebrate their life. We saw quite a few roses that day.

Reflect. Pray. Love.

in the shadow of the new Freedom Tower

On our way back from the memorial, we decided to go to Grand Central Station to experience the hustle and bustle, the shops, and hit one more NYC landmark. What a wonderful decision. We headed in and went to the food court to eat. We each ate from different places. Courtney got a chicken pita, John got a roast beef sandwich, and I got a crepe with ham, cheese and egg. All delicious. As we continued to walk through the food court, we discovered MAGNOLIA BAKERY. (At lunch with Natalie, she said we HAD to go there and get the banana pudding because it is to die for) So... we did just that. John got the banana pudding, I got a cheesecake, and Courtney got a brownie. Well... lets just say... we almost got another container of the banana pudding (on multiple occasions for the rest of our stay). We refrained, but I sure did look up the recipe. I will let you know if it turns out anywhere near the deliciousness of the original.

((find Courtney and John)) hehe.

Grand Central Station

The MOST AMAZING banana pudding EVER! (and I don't like banana pudding...)

Delicious Brownie for Courtney

My scrumptious cheesecake. yumm.

Check it out. A NYC staple in my opinion. Just saying.

Because it was a rainy day, we had it planned that we would head to the Natural History Museum. So, we hopped on the train and headed back to 81st. Well.. when we got out of the subway, we noticed the line. It was WRAPPED around the building... in the pouring rain. No way. We wouldn't have even been able to get in before close with that long of a line. (We will try again tomorrow)

So... we hailed our first cab of the trip, got out of the pouring rain, and then headed to the hotel to regroup and dry off. Here is a picture of Courtney's first cab ride!

We got to the hotel... and rain and rain and rain. It wasn't stopping. So... we sat and tried to come up with ideas. We decided to google some ideas. John... was a lot of help during this search.

Courtney and I searched and searched. A few ideas seemed fun. Gelato making class (full), NYC pizza making class ($200.00.. no thanks), and the one thing that kept popping up in all the lists of things to do in the rain in NYC was the Museum of Sex. She may be 18 and all, but I don't even want to go... so we decided to pass. Once sleeping beauty woke up, we just decided to get up and head to Times Square. We were prepared to find a good restaurant, wait two hours, and eat. Well... on our way to find a dinner place, we saw a large group of people. We checked it out and people were surrounding RYAN SEACREST! (I had been saying the whole trip that I wanted to have a celebrity sighting... and it happened!)

A few things I noticed: 1. he didn't acknowledge the fans behind him 2. he was REALLY short 3. He was filming for a countdown of some sort and 4. I *really* wanted to ask him to rub my baby belly, but I didn't want the security guard standing next to me to flip out. So I refrained.

After that excitement, we headed to find dinner. We ended up walking into the Brooklyn Diner. We knew nothing about it, but it looked fun. We were seated within 10 minutes. John got to have a beer at the bar and we looked at the menu. We were seated at our booth and it had a small plaque saying the Jerry Seinfeld sat in the same booth! The food choices were pricey, but I was struggling with the decision between the 15 bite hot dog (served with a glass of champagne...) or the famous Chicken Pot Pie. Both cost $21.00. Yikes. I went with the Chicken Pot Pie. John got pigs in a blanket so I could taste the hot dog and Courtney got mac-and-cheese. It wasn't everything she had hoped. Mine was delicious.

The booth of Jerry Seinfeld!

Gigantic and delicious Chicken Pot Pie

Pigs in a Blanket

Mac-and-Cheese

As we headed back the hotel, we walked a bit, in and out of stores, saw the New York Times building and found ourselves in front of a Baskin Robbins. I used to love Maui Brownie Madness... FYI, it no longer exists. Courtney said she wanted to take us out for ice cream... so we headed in! Court got her vanilla with sprinkles, John got Snickers, and I got rainbow sherbet. (my favorite)