Summer in the City

So this post is really late, but I definitely wanted to fill you all in! Last week mom and I went back to New York City and we had a blast. We arrived late on Tuesday evening (about 4 hours later than planned) and went straight into Times Square. We stayed at the Belvedere Hotel on 48th and 8th, so it was a very short walk to Times Square. We got some ice cream and people watched for about an hour and then went to bed.

Mom in the middle of Times Square

On Wednesday morning we went to see the live recording of Sirius/XM live on Broadway. Unfortunately Seth Rudetsky (the normal host) was out of town, but it was still neat to see how it all works. Come to find out, nothing is ever really live.

Heather Laws, Derek Keeling, and substitute host Julie James at Sirius-Live on Broadway

We left the recording a bit early to get over to see Hair. We went to the matinee and again had a blast! There was an understudy for Berger, one of the main characters, and we were pretty bummed, but he was phenomenal! I love that show and I would see it again and again! After the show we went to the stage door, but because it was a matinee most of the "leads" didn't come out. We were slightly bummed, but we saw the whole cast a few months ago, so it was fine.

2009 Tony award winner for Best Revival. Such a great show!

The cast members loved my tie-dye!

We had just a few hours before the next show, so we had a great Italian dinner and then went to see In the Heights. This show won the 2008 Tony for Best New Musical. It was another great show. The music was so different from anything I have ever heard and it was a very nice change! There was another understudy for the lead, but again, he was phenominal. It was only his fifth time playing the lead role, but it seemed like he had done it every night.

With my signed playbill. I love the stage door experience!

While we were standing at the stage door for In the Heights we saw one of the Billy's from Billy Elliot just standing around. He was just too cute so I wanted to get a picture with him.

David Alvarez - one of the 3 Billy Elliot's

We also went to the stage door for Billy Elliot to see who we could see. We found the second Billy - Trent Kowalik. Later in the week we also saw the third Billy walking on the street - unfortunately we were unable to get a photo with him.

On Thursday, we went to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). We only spent about 4 hours there, but it was enough to see what we really wanted to see.

Van Gogh - Starry night

Andy Warhol

Modern Art at its finest.....



.....a room full of visitor's height measurements.

Thursday night's show was my first straight show on Broadway - God of Carnage. This is the show that we saw all of the famous people at last trip during the Opening Night. See here for more details. The show is about 2 couples who meet to discuss a playground fight between their sons. "At first diplomatic niceties are observed, but as the meeting progresses and the rum flows, huge tensions emerge and the gloves come off, leaving more than just their liberal principles in tatters." With a cast made up of Marcia Gay Harden, James Gandolfini, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels, the show was bound to be good - and was great! We also sat about 4 seats away from Jane Krakowski! It was very exciting. I tried to get a picture after the show, but didn't have much luck.

Hope Davis


2009 Tony Award Winner for Best Actress - Marcia Gay Harden

Jeff Daniels

James Gandolfini

The final God of Carnage poster.

After God of Carnage we went back to the stage door for Hair and to the stage door for Next to Normal. We saw Alice Ripley from Next to Normal and she was the most genuine person we had ever seen. Mom took her picture with Alice Ripley that night so I could take my picture on the following day after the show.

Mom and the very talented Alice Ripley! 2009 Tony Award Winner for Best Actress in a Musical.

On Friday we took the subway down to SoHo and Greenwich Village. It was pretty hot out so we left a little earlier than planned. We went up to The American Museum of Natural History for a few hours to get out of the heat and then we went to see Next to Normal. Next to Normal was absolutely incredible! I think it is definitely one of my new favorites!

While we were down in the Village, we went to Washington Square Park.

The American Museum of Natural History

Just inside the Main Entrance of the Museum.

That is one big whale!

This show was phenominal! I can't wait to see it again!

J. Robert Spencer - Origianl Nick Massey from Jersey Boys and Dan the Father/Husband in Next to Normal.

The brilliant Alice Ripley again! She was the most genuine person I have ever met. Example: the night before when mom got her picture with Alice my hair was curled under. Alice asked me on Friday night if I got a haircut! It was just amazing to me that she would remember that! Words just cannot describe how incredible this woman is as a person and performer! She certainly earned her Tony!

We left to come home on Saturday. Three planes and many hours later we made it home. We had another incredible trip and I look forward to returning in the future! I feel like I belong in the city, and will take any opportunity to get back there! Mom is a great person to share all of these experiences with!

ROMA

We arrived in Rome, by way of Prague, around 10pm. We went straight to the hotel and fell asleep rather quickly. We woke up and left for the ship around 10am. We took the train to Civitavecchia, and got on the ship around 12:30pm. We worked for about two hours and then went back to the city. We got back to the hotel around 4pm, dropped off the bag and then took a bus and the Metro over to the Trevi Fountain. We had a fabulous Italian dinner (by far the best Italian food I have ever had!) and then went over to the fountain for about 2 minutes. Our flight left at 10pm so we did not have much time to sightsee, but I was glad we were able to see something! On the way back to the Metro we stopped in a shop so I could replace the ROMA shirt that Gonzo (my mom’s cat) clawed through. We got back to the hotel around 8pm and went straight to the airport.

 The beautiful Trevi Fountain

Just Kevin

Just me

US! We didn't throw a penny this time... I hope we will still return!

We literally spent 24 hours in Rome and made the best of it! I very much wish we had more time to spend there, but I am glad we got to go back at all! I have told many people that if I could go back to anyplace that I have been, I would go back to Rome, so I was so disappointed we didn’t have more time, but I am grateful to have been there for some time! I can’t wait to go back again!

Stockholm

We arrived in Stockholm around 7pm Monday evening, by way of Madrid and Copenhagen. It was really neat to fly over Scandinavia and see all of the hundreds of little islands. It looked just like the maps portray. Many people refer to Stockholm as the “Venice of the North” because it consists of 14 different islands (in a rather small area of space). While we were in town we only covered one island.

Our hotel was in an area called Arlanda, which was about 25 miles from the city of Stockholm, so we did not go into the city until the following day. Surprisingly we were able to fall asleep around 1am and sleep through the evening until about 9! We quickly learned that the sun never really goes down in Sweden. The sun was blaring until about 10pm and was up again before 5am. Even though the sun went down, it never really got dark. This was a very strange phenomenon, that I am glad we didn’t have to experience for too long!

We woke up around 9am on Tuesday, had breakfast at the hotel, and then started our journey into the city. There was a FREE shuttle from our hotel to the airport, and then from the airport we boarded the Arlanda Express Train into Stockholm. This train took us directly from the airport to Stockholm in under 20 minutes. It was a great way to travel, although not as cheap as one would hope…..then again, nothing was cheap in Sweden!

The Arlanda Express to Stockholm

 Figuring out what we are going to do in Stockholm.

Going into Stockholm

We got into the city around 11:30 and started wandering. The first thing we wanted to see was the Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace. This started at 12:15 so we had about 45 minutes to find where we were going. We saw some beautiful buildings on the way! Unfortunately we didn’t get to the Palace soon enough to see much, but Kevin was able to get some decent photos and video with his camera (good thing, because I was too short to see anything!).  

Overlooking Stockholm from the Royal Palace

Standing with one of the many guards at the Royal Palace. They were much more friendly than the guards at Buckingham Palace!

The beginning of the "show"

Up close and personal!

Getting toward the end of the "show"

The Swedish Flag and the canons - don't worry, they were not fired!

After the “show” was finished we walked around the area called Gamla Stan for a bit. We saw some beautiful buildings and did a little shopping. There was a street called 

that is full of tourist shops, so we spent a bit of time there. After some shopping we had some lunch – an Asian Buffet – and then we walked some more. We didn’t get to see too much of the city, but we got a nice glimpse. I wish we had more than a day to explore, but I will take whatever I can get!

Lots of people and shopping on Vasterglanggatan Street

Trolls and Vikings were everywhere!

 A very cool viking statue in Gamla Stan - The Old City

This building is called Stadshuset - aka City Hall. This is the building where the Nobel Prize Festivities take place. 

This is called Riddarholmskyrkan, which is best known for royal burials. I just thought it looked nice!

This is Storkyrkan - a 700 year old cathedral used for Royal ceremonies.

The clock tower attached to Storkyrkan. 

Another view of the tower

We had some trouble sleeping on Tuesday night, due to the lack of darkness, but it was well worth it! We took a taxi to the ship around 10am, and our driver was wonderful! He spoke great English and gave us a little history tour of the city on the way to the port. We got back to the hotel around 2pm and went straight to the airport, although our flight did not leave until 5:30pm.

This trip was a first for both Kevin and I, so I am glad we were able to do some exploring together! Kevin often stays in his hotel room the first time he is anywhere, so I am glad he was comfortable to do some wandering. Most people we encountered spoke brilliant English, so that was definitely helpful! It was a very interesting city, from what we saw, and I would love to go back again! 

San Juan

We arrived in San Juan around 3pm on Saturday afternoon. It was pouring down rain so we hung out in the hotel for a while and then ventured out around 7. We had a fantastic dinner at a Thai restaraunt, complete with Puerto Rican Beer and a Mojito! The city was celebrating Saint John so their was a parade happening when we finished dinner. It was very cool to see a celebration like that in a differnt country...although technically Puerto Rico is basically a part of the U.S. We walked over to the beach and saw some of the area around the hotel and then crashed around 10pm.

The beach at night.

Sunday morning we woke up around 8:30 and went off to the ship. Work didn't take too long, fortunately, since we had to check-out of the hotel at noon, even though our flight was not until 8:45pm. We packed out bags and stored them at the hotel until about 6pm. Meanwhile, we had some great Mexican food along the beach before we went into Old San Juan. We had planned to go to the Bacardi Factory, but we heard a rumor that they were not open on Sunday's (come to find out the rumor was incorrect). Instead we just walked around the area. We walked around the El Moro Fort for a little while and then stumbled upon the place where the Pina Colada was created...of course we went in. We finally go back to the hotel around 6pm and then went to the airport. It was a quick trip, but we had a great time!

Very Caribbean!

Oh how I love the beach!

Beautiful ocean front lunch!

The reflection was awesome!

The Birthplace of the Pina Colada - Barrachina Restaraunt

So Delicious!

And to top it all off....here is a video of some of the live music from the celebration:

Disney World

I arrived in Orlando around 1am Thursday morning and was so happy to finally see Kevin. It had been about 4 weeks since he left and we were both ready to be together again. After a little glitch at baggage claim, I finally got my bag and we were on our way to the hotel. We fell asleep around 3am, slightly dreading the early morning. We finally got up and going around 9:30am and went down into the lobby for breakfast. After breakfast, we went to purchase Disney tickets at the hotel concierge. We got sucked into a 90-minute presentation, but got a great deal on tickets. The presentation was not on our hotel property, so we ran up to the room and were on our way. We arrived around 10:45am only to find out our "tour" did not start until noon (this was news to us). We had planned on starting the tour immediately and getting to the park around noon....no one told us the tour didn't even start until noon. SO, we decided to get a refund for the tickets and try to find other discounted tickets. We didn't have much success, so we decided to go to the park and attempt to get the Florida Resident Discount, considering Kevin has a FL Driver's License. This finally was a success! We got two 3-day passes for less than two 2-day passes at the other discount stores. We entered the Magic Kingdom around noon and our day of fun began!

Paying for Parking

Just through the main gate

Such an incredible castle!

We started in Adventureland and rode Pirates of the Carribean. Then we went over to Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain. We got a FastPass for Thunder Mountain and waited 80 minutes for Splash Mountain. We managed to get through Splash Mountain without getting too wet and then we went straight over to Thunder Mountain. We walked right up to the front with our FastPass and as soon as our train pulled up the rain started. We ended up riding the whole roller coaster in the pouring rain and got soaked! We were able to run to cover and grab a bite to eat, but we were drenched. It was quite the adventure!

Soaked after the rain storm!

The Parade continued in the pouring rain.

The rain finally tapered off, although it continued to drizzle for most of the day. This did not stop us! We rode The Haunted Mansion, Snow White, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear, Stitch, and more! The park started emptying out around 8pm and we were able to get right on many of the rides. We watched the Parade at 9pm and then the fireworks at 10pm. It was a truly magical day! The rain put a small "damper" on the day, but we prevailed and made the best of a crummy situation!

So magical!

On Friday we went to MGM (now called Hollywood Studios). We got to the park around 10am and went right over the the Star Tours ride, followed quickly by the Indiana Jones show. At the Indiana Jones Show I was chosen to be an "extra"! It was awesome to be right in the middle of all the action!

On the tram to the park

The entrance


My "audition" with the "casting director" to be an "extra" in the show. I had to laugh like Minnie Mouse!


In costume (second person from the right). It was soooo HOT!

After the show we went over to the Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Roller Coaster. Both rides were incredible so we did them multiple times! We had lunch around 2:30 and then rocked out at the Block Party Bash! It was like a parade, but much more audience participation, dancing and music. We had a blast. We tried to go over to the new Toy Story Ride but the wait was 1.5 hours! So instead we went on the Backlot Tour and the Great Movie Ride. We had to leave a little earlier than I had hoped in order to meet some people for dinner in Melbourne, but we had a total blast! Kevin had never been to MGM before and I think he really enjoyed it....more than the Magic Kingdom. This park was geared more towards older folks, which is why I didn't like it as much when I was a kid. Many memories came back to me and I can't wait to go back again! Now that we can get discount tickets, maybe we will go more frequently. AND remember we still have one more day to use before the end of the year! I think we will go to Epcot, since Kevin has never been there either!

Eating a mouse ears ice cream before the roller coaster. You go from 0-60 mph in under 3 seconds! So awesome!

The centerpiece of MGM. This must have been a new addition, because I don't remember this from when I was a kid.

Before we left for the day, we went into the Honey I Shrunk The Kids Playground. I have many fond memories of this from when I was a kid!

I can't wait to return later this year! Disney is so Magical, and although things ARE over priced, it is well worth it! It is an experience you can't get anywhere else!

All Clear!

Just a quick post....

I had my last doctor's appointment today! I am 5 1/2 weeks out from surgery, and everything is all healed. The doctor and I are very pleased with the results. I can't believe how amazing I feel and how easy the recovery was (I know this is a lot easier to say now). This was by far one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life! I would recommend it to anyone!

Getting the "boot" from the doctor was symbolic today since I am leaving on another trip tomorrow. The closure from all of the surgery activities is great and I am so excited to go on more adventures with my new body! I leave tomorrow for Orlando. Kevin and I will be spending two days at Disney World and then we are off to San Juan and Europe. Stay tuned for more info and pictures!