We convinced Kip that it might be a fun trip, got tickets, booked travel, and we were on our way to New York City! I love trying to turn "what if" into reality. And having it actually work out.
Redeye into JFK airport, then train + bus to Flushing Meadows to kill some time before we could check in at our AirBnB.
Kip hadn't explored this city before, so I decided to work around the theme of "movie locations". The idea started in my brain with the Unisphere (from the Stark Expo in Iron Man 2) so it was appropriate that we also started here in person:
New York State Pavilion observation towers - the ships the first aliens used to visit Earth in Men in Black:
Walking over to the metro, we realized it was opening day for the Mets - we offered to take Kip to a baseball game but he didn't think the weather would be optimal (let's go sit inside the Ed Sullivan Theater instead) - good choice.
Just a small part of the tailgating before the Mets game:
After a much-needed nap we were ready to "tackle" Manhattan. Stephen Colbert, here we come!
The first part of waiting in line, happily it wasn't raining and happily the part on the sidewalk didn't last very long:
Our friend Ron joined us for the show! Yay Ron! Perfect time to catch up as we waited quite a while in the inside hall. It was warm and there were rotating bathroom breaks and there were a few diversions. Kip spotted a woman signing a release form and theorized she had been picked to be brought up on stage (he was right).
No photographs allowed inside the theater - and I wouldn't dream of doing anything that might get us kicked out - but you can see the theater and the show itself on TV or YouTube. It's every bit as amazing and fascinating and fun and full of energy as you might expect. Stephen is super nice and "present" all the time. Jean Batiste and the band are fabulous, and we finally got to hear all of their music instead of the commercials.
I especially liked watching the logistics of putting on the show. It was almost real-time, no breaks for redoing/editing, as fast-paced as it appears, with a couple stage managers constantly coordinating with Stephen and the cameras, and one specifically instructing the audience occasionally.
It was fun watching Stephen when the cameras weren't on him. It seemed like he hadn't seen the opening bit, so he watched it the same time we did and had similar humorous reactions. Tossing props back and forth with the stage guy next to the camera during the monologues was hilarious. During commercials he was calm and focused, working on what would be happening next.
We specifically picked a Thursday night show in order to see two monologues - Thursday and Friday (because there is no live taping on Fridays). That was super special, double of the best part.
We had guessed that the Thursday taping also did the entirety of the Friday show, but that's not right - they must have taped Friday's guests earlier in the week. Which was the only little bummer, because Bryan Cranston and JIMMY CARTER were on the Friday show. Oh my gosh we almost ALMOST saw Jimmy Carter!
The guests we did see were great. Emily Blunt was funny, a couple folks from the political show The Circus did a neat interview, and Kacey Musgraves sang a lovely song. John Bolton made an appearance (not live but hilarious). The Keebler Elf had some tricks to play, and Stephen can ad lib with the best of them.
We were so stoked about the whole experience. If I lived near NYC I'd be trying for tickets every 6 months (I believe that's the limit for how often you can go).
Super awesome, thank you Stephen Colbert!
(Note - in the above photo, that's my "selfie concentration" face, I need to work on that. Also, that's my "we missed Jimmy Carter!" face, no not really)
Stepping back outside into the fog, I was reminded that one of the city's monikers is "Gotham":
Friday was walking tour day. We started at Google's Chelsea location and Kip was able to get visitor badges for us. Nice!
We made a beeline for the "Panorama Cafe" and were rewarded with this awesome view from the 14th floor patio:
Google has the coolest toys. We've never seen a practice slackline before, we were all over this idea:
Callback to a recent cruise:
Heading toward the High Line, we spotted what looks like a delivery bike (?), although we're not sure what's in there:
Love the High Line!
A large complex being built on the north end of the trail:
Some kind of new art center... that stands out between the skyscrapers:
Subway to the south end of the island for a view of the Statue of Liberty (where Daryl Hannah shows up in Splash):
The theme turned into a fun quiz, with me giving clues about movies and Kip coming up with many of the titles and actors and bits of trivia. Here we are discussing the Staten Island Ferry, as seen in Working Girl and Spider-Man: Homecoming:
There are many more, I won't go through the whole list here, suffice it to say we had fun walking and looking and talking about movies.
Fearless Girl is still standing in front of the Charging Bull, wonderful! So glad we got to see her.
One of the ticker tape parade commemorations:
George Washington where he was sworn in as first president at Federal Hall, our nation's first capitol - also where Patrick Swayze convinced Whoopi Goldberg to make a $4 million donation to the homeless in Ghost:
John and Broadway:
The new transit hub at the World Trade Center - a place to explore further next time (when I'm not starving for lunch and still a few blocks from Little Italy):
New York County Supreme Court, a key location in many movies including where Santa Claus stood trial in Miracle on 34th Street and where Charlie Sheen was put on trial in Wall Street:
Someone added a face to Crosswalk Man:
John and I had never been to Katz's Deli, so this seemed like a good day to check it out. It fit our theme of the trip, with the famous "I'll have what she's having" scene from When Harry Met Sally:
Wow, inside the deli was kind of crazy. Lots of people, a bit of work figuring out how to get to the spot where I could order an egg cream (for dessert after our pasta lunch). Here it is, the counter where you can get beer, wine, & egg creams:
And then we waited in the line to pay, which snaked around the whole place. While at the far end we saw some employees sprinkling a bunch of stuff (?) on the floor and heard one of the diners say "What the hell?" We decided the whole thing was about the experience. We finished the egg cream (yummy but too sweet for me to drink much of it - thanks for the help, Kip and John), made it to the register to pay, and finally got out of there.
Phew!
We were getting tired, topped off by the Katz's experience, so when it started raining we decided that was a good sign that we should head back to Astoria where we were staying.
With one little detour to a fun bar called Blend to try some interesting drinks (mine was supposed to be lit on fire, but it was only dry ice - still entertaining):
And one last quick stop at the hardware store for a screwdriver and WD40 to fix a couple minor things at the apartment. Then it was back to the AirBnB where I slept 12 hours straight... yep, we sure had a couple incredible days!
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