Sunny 9 for 2008 July 14

Thurs- At this rate I'll finish my summary by next week. Thurs morning we got up at 3:30 to shower and leave by 4:50 to walk to the studio to wait in line for standby tickets for the Regis and Kelly show. We were the first ones there when we arrived at 5:10ish. It is so nice to get up early and be in a big city with hardly anyone on the street. Don't get me wrong, there were people, but not a lot. I love having the streets to myself. So after about 10 minutes of waiting a man and his mother showed up and then ten minutes later another woman and her daughter came in line. It was all over from there, people just started trickling in. We froze our tails off and waited until 7:30 to get our ticket for the show. We walked down the block and ate breakfast at this European Cafe and Bakery called Euro Pan right next door to the temple. We had omelette's and toast and went straight back to see if they were going to let us in. Even though we had standby tickets, we weren't guaranteed to get in until they knew all the ticketed people where there. By 8:45 they knew we were a shoo-in and while walking into the studio, guess who was walking behind us??? None other than Gelman and his daughter. He was talking to her and he was the same ol deadpan Gelman he is in the show except in miniature form. Seriously, there, people are tiny in real life. I would look like a blimp on tv apparently since I don't weigh 95lbs like Kelly does (but, you know, I'm pretty close to 95 lbs ;) I sat in the back by the same couple who stood behind me in the line because the first seats Julie and I got together had a bad view behind the camera men. So we split up and got in the middle. I got to be on tv because the couple next to me were the only two who gave Regis and Kelly a standing ovation and Regis got a kick out of it, so the camera panned up the audience and showed us. Yay me! On tv! Mike Myers was the guest and then Nael Naim was the musical guest. Since they don't tape on Fridays they taped their second show and let us stay. That show had Chris O'Donnell, JC Chasze, and some gospel singer as musical guest. They were both good shows. All I will say is Mike Myers is killer funny.

After the show we took the subway downtown. Thank goodness Julie was there to show me the ropes of the subway. So confusing. We did a "walking tour" that was in this nyc guidebook that started on Wall St. All of Wall St was so cool. We saw Federal Hall where Washington was sworn in as first pres of US, NY Stock Exchange, Am Stock Exchange, Trump Tower, and there were lots of little kiosk on the street. I bought Aaron a few ties on Wall St. How cool is that? Where'd you get that sweet tie? Oh this? On Wall St. In New York City. And they were $5 each. I wonder how many millionaires on their way to work at the NYSE spill coffee on their tie in their limo and stop on the side to pick up a tie to wear. A tie just like the one Aaron has. Ha.

We bought a pretzel on Wall St too to tide us over. You have to eat at the NY food stands while you're there, right? We apparently spent a lot of time on Wall St because we also grabbed lunch at this cafe that was to the left of Trump Tower. I sat there eating my salad wondering how many rich people were sitting in the same cafeteria as me. Has Donald Trump ever eaten there? Am I lame? Yes. Excuse me, I was just so star struck by the entire city.

We went to Trinity church and saw all these old gravestone pounded smooth by the elements. I love that these stones went all the way back until 1700's. So much history. And of course I got the picture of the bronze tree root system that was uprooted by the collapsing of the World Trade Centers. We walked right by the World Trade Center site and the memorial structure in the park near it. We went into Century 21--a huge department store with discount designer clothes. It was so crazy and unorganized, it stressed me out just being in there. It was like TJMax on steroids. We didn't bother looking too hard. We were too exhausted to look around. All that walking around and getting up at 3:30 setting in. We went to St Paul's Chapel and saw the booth that Washington liked to sit in while at services. It is also the chapel that the rescue workers for 9/11 went to rest and meditate while volunteering.

We wandered around some more and ran into the ticket salesperson for the organized bus tours that take you around town on these double deckers. For $40 and a whole 24 hours worth of using the buses we were sold. It was nice getting to see so much without having to walk. Don't get me wrong, I loved walking everywhere. It was one of my favorite things about new york. These things took us everywhere. We didn't do it all at once...we would get on and off the bus when we saw H&M for example, or what not. On the tour we saw the Seaport and Brooklyn Bridge, Chrysler Building, Waldorf Astoria, Empire State Building, Radio City Music Hall, and Times Square area. We ate dinner on Broadway at O'Charley's right before the show. We had tickets to Curtains with David Hyde Pierce. He is hilarious and boy can he sing. I loved it, the music was awesome. It was sooooOOOooo (a la Melis Wood) good. O'Charley's sucked there and it's expensive as every restaurant in ny is priced at $15 and rising. Long story short, go see Curtains, don't eat at O'Charley's even though it is right by the playhouse your going to. After the show, we took the subway home and crashed. Home...ha, our home-y hotel.

More later when my fingers have feeling.