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I'm going to give a full trip report, if you're not interested in every tiny little detail then the gist is I had a great time, LOL.

The trip started June 27th; my friend S and I took the Acela train to NYC. I think we probably could've just taken the Northeast Regional, but she'd never taken the Acela and we bought the tickets early enough that it wasn't that huge of a price difference. We arrived a little after 11 and went to try and find our friend, who had left her car at her sister's in NJ and took the train in.

First complaint - I could not find a map of Penn Station posted ANYWHERE. And where she told us she was, and what signs we could see, none of it made sense. We finally went outside and found her across the street. When I left Sunday I realized where she had been, but man was that frustrating. Would it kill them to have a map up?

Anyway, we took a taxi to our hotel, The Manhattan Club. It was too early for our room to be ready, but we were able to leave our bags there. The hotel was really nice - a little pricey, but there were TWO bathrooms which was worth every penny, LOL. We were also on the 25th floor so we had a nice view. I would definitely stay there again, even though they charged me for an $8 bottle of Fiji water I didn't drink so that's annoying.

We left the hotel and went to a ramen place down the street, Kin Ramen. It was delicious! Highly recommend. After lunch we walked to the TKTS booth to see if there were any shows we wanted to get tickets for (we had tickets to two shows on Saturday already). We got there around 1:30 and The Great Gatsby had a 2pm matinee, so we booked it over to the theater, only to walk in and find out they'd accidentally sold us tickets to the 8pm show instead. The box office called TKTS and we bought tickets there for the matinee (went after the show and got a refund from TKTS). The show was pretty good! The sets were gorgeous too, and the theater was beautiful, very 1920s.

After the show, and after we got the refund from TKTS, we took the subway down to Greenwich Village. One of my friends loves a tea place there; we went and it was literally just a hole in the wall with jars of tea and coffee out. I got some coffee (had some this past weekend and it was delicious). The place was called McNulty's. Went to a few other places she wanted to go to, and while walking I realized we walked right past Bedford St. For those of you that watched Friends, when they would show a building that was supposed to be their building, it was on Bedford St. So we went and took our picture in front of it (and took pictures for other people too). Then we ended up eating dinner at the cafe on the first floor, called Little Owl. It was really good!

I think after that we just went back to the hotel and got our bags and checked into the room. Unpacked, relaxed, went to bed.

Friday morning we had tickets to a guided tour of the 9/11 museum and memorial. We took the subway down, got there early and were able to join the earlier tour. It was really well done. After the guided tour, we walked around some - my only regret is that in the museum part that goes through the day itself and the aftermath, I spent a lot of time in the day itself section, most of which I did know, having lived through it and watched a lot of documentaries since. I didn't spend as much time at the aftermath section, because at this point we'd been there about three hours and hadn't done the outside memorial yet and were starving. I plan to go back and take Jack, maybe next year he'll be old enough.

We took a cab to Chinatown for dim sum - we went to the Golden Unicorn. Everything was really good, although one thing I really wanted to try was congee and they didn't bring it out until after we were done and couldn't eat another thing. I did try chicken feet though! They were pretty good (no one else would try them, lol). We also tried durian pastry - it wasn't as bad as I'd heard but I also would not get it again. It is definitely pungent. We didn't finish the order. Oh and turnip cake, I don't think I'd had it before but it was good. I would go there again.

After that, we walked to the lower east side and went to Economy Candy and got a ton of stuff; we also went to a pickle place my friend would go to with her grandparents growing up and a bialy place near there too. We got whitefish spread and had a little snacky when we got back to the hotel - the pickles, whitefish, and bialy were great! After resting at the hotel a bit, we took a cab down to an Indonesian restaurant called Wayan. Now, why we took a cab on a Friday night is a mystery to me, especially when we'd looked at our map apps and it said it was an hour drive. I thought we'd decided to take the subway but when we walked out of the hotel and the doormen asked if we needed a cab, my friends said yes. $60 for a cab, late for the reservation, and we could have spent less than $10 instead. Anyway. The food was really good, but the place was LOUD. If you are not young, lol, request to sit outside or at least not in the back room. My throat actually hurt a bit from practically yelling to have a conversation. I'm getting old, LOL. I can't remember if we did anything else other than just take the subway back (I wasn't doing a cab again, lol).

Saturday we were up and took the subway down to Veselka for brunch. Most of the food was wonderful - I got a platter with pierogi, galumpki, and borscht. So delicious! Luckily my pierogi came boiled, because it turned out the 'fried' was deep fried, which I'm not that big a fan of. My friend wanted to try the breakfast pierogi so ordered one for the whole table - honestly they weren't good. The waitress asked how we liked them - there were 8 in the order and we each ate one. They were SO bland. Everything else there was great, I would not recommend those though. I really want to take Jack there, I think he'd like it (although I thought he'd love the one in London but he said the pan fried pierogi were too greasy and only ate a couple - I think he was also embarrassed because he'd bragged to his cousins that he could eat a whole platter of pierogi by himself and then he only ate a couple). I used the bathroom and realized after that I had lost $20 - I remember sticking a $20 in my bicycle short pocket that morning and it wasn't there when I came out (I was wearing the shorts under a dress to stop the chub rub lol). Oh well - funnily enough, when we got there and I was unpacking I found a $20 in my capris that had been there for who knows how long and had been washed, so I guess that $20 was meant to go to someone in the city that needed it!

After breakfast we took a cab to the Harry Potter store. I got a few things, including a t-shirt for my niece (she's a Slytherin) and a keychain that I had actually bought in London at the store in King's Cross - I bought a Time Turner keychain and one with a Ravenclaw scarf and then let my friend S pick which one she wanted, and she picked the time turner. So I bought myself another one, LOL (and sadly she broke hers earlier this month, but didn't buy herself a replacement). I tried Butterbeer and it was really good! I also wanted to get the cup - we're likely going to go to London for Thanksgiving (I hope) and do the HP studio tour, this way we won't have to bring back the cup lol.

Anyway, after the store we went to the first show of the day - Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! My friend J had already seen it but S has been trying to see it for YEARS. I think it starts off a little rocky, they condensed a lot from the first 3 years and not that well IMHO. But after that it really picked up, and the staging is amazing. I really really enjoyed it. I think the only thing I didn't enjoy was that they needed more bathrooms, lol.

After the show we wandered around and ate at a place called Havana Central. Really good food and the drinks were strong lol. I'd recommend them.

Then to the last show of the weekend - Suffs! This musical was GREAT. My friend J loved it even more, she's planning to bring her daughters to see it at Thanksgiving. Jenn Colella is in the cast, I kept thinking her voice sounded familiar all show (she was in Come From Away). Unfortunately they didn't have a Great American Bitch t-shirt in my size, but I got the pin. And may order the shirt - we agreed to wear them to vote this November!

My only complaint doesn't have anything to do with the show, but with the theater. It was at the Music Box, and we had seats in the Mezzanine. We'd sat in the Mezzanine at all the shows we went to, but these were by far the worst. Yes, we could see the show clearly. But the seats were SO close to the ones in front of you that at one point I was trying to move my feet around (I got blisters near my toes), and I literally got cramps in my thighs. It was awful - we had gotten into the show early and the first half is REALLY long, by the end of the first half I was literally just sitting there praying for intermission. I had a water bottle in my hand and kept squeezing it so I wouldn't cry out, it was horrible. At intermission I stood up and it was better - and I talked with my friends about switching with J since she was closer to the aisle (3rd seat in) in case I needed to get up and leave during the second half. The two guys sitting at the end, James and his boyfriend (whose name I didn't catch unfortunately) were the sweetest people alive, they offered to switch seats with us so I was on the aisle the second half. Luckily standing up for the 20 minute intermission really helped so I didn't have to leave. I wouldn't see a show there again, though, if I wasn't in the orchestra or a box seat.

We made our way back to the hotel after. There were SO many people in Times Square, we ended up walking the 8 blocks or so back. No way we were getting a cab when so many shows had just let out. Packed up some things, went to bed.

Next morning we went to a diner nearby, Applejack - it was fine, nothing to write home about. Came back and our friend J left (she had to drive home to VA from NJ). S and I finished packing and left our suitcases with the concierge and then went out. I had been trying to get macarons from La Maison du Chocolat all weekend - the one near the hotel didn't have macarons, but the one at Rockefeller Plaza does. We walked down there (and as an aside, Sunday was the first day we had any humidity - the weather had been absolutely GORGEOUS the previous three days, low humidity and in the low 80s. Perfect weather.). Went to the chocolate store and had their hot chocolate, which is literally just melted chocolate and it is amazing, costs $10 but worth every penny. Then I bought a bunch of macarons and chocolates! We also walked around Rockefeller Center some - I got a t-shirt for Mr. Kris, SNL is his favorite show of all time so I got a long sleeved SNL shirt and an Olympic pin for myself. Then S and I split up - she was staying in the city a few more days with her cousin, and was going to try and see a matinee (she saw the play Appropriate, which J had seen on Wednesday with her mother, both said it was excellent - that was closing day, though). I went back to the hotel, got my things, and headed to Penn Station for my train back.

A wonderful weekend - the only bad part is that sometime while there I picked up bad cold or flu - luckily neither S or J caught it, but I was supposed to bring Jack to the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg Monday morning, and come back on Wednesday. I had to cancel and break his little heart, I had a terrible fever for two days (not Covid, I checked). Mr. Kris ended up with it over the 4th so the rest of the week was kind of a bust but at least I wasn't at work!

If you made it to the end of this, thanks, LOL. I can't wait to go back to NYC, maybe next year, and take Mr. Kris and Jack with me.