Other Things We Did in NYC

I now tell of all things not J.K. Rowling related that happened while we were in New York City.

Because I was nervous that our flight might be delayed (and we might miss our 7:00 PM event), I booked the earliest flight possible on Friday morning – 6:15 AM. Of course, the down side was that we had to wake up at 4:00 AM to get there on time. We got on the flight with no problems and made our way to New York. When we landed at around 8:00 AM, we got a cab at the airport (our first cab ride in NYC – not as exciting as it sounds). We were staying right across the street from Carnegie Hall, but we could not check into our hotel until 2:00 PM. So we checked our bags and randomly walked around the city. We saw St. Patrick's Cathedral...

The inside of the church is so beautiful. The Gothic architecture is stunning and the shrines around the sides are incredible. It's so wonderful that these older, historical churches are still around and thriving.

We then walked over to Rockefeller Center and took a peak at NBC Studios (and also found out that the show, 30 Rock, is not filmed there. Weird).

By this time, we were getting a little exhausted. We hadn't got a lot of sleep the night before and just wanted to take a nap in a comfy hotel bed, but it was only 11:00 AM and our room wasn't ready yet. Ugg. So we decided to sit around in Central Park for awhile. We sat on a bench for about a half an hour and chatted. As we were talking, I glanced over to the hot dog stand next to us and there was Jerry Springer buying a hot dog. I squinted to make sure that it was him and then pointed him out to Shawn. Other people on the street started noticing him and yelling, "hey, Jerry!" I didn't have time to snap a picture, but Shawn did say hello to him and engage in a short chat about the Indians.

Shawn: Hi, Jerry. Go, Indians.
Jerry: Yeah, that game last night was horrible, but we'll get 'em next time.
Shawn: I hope so.

Poor, Jerry. His prediction was woefully wrong, but it was nice of him to express his support for the hometown team (he is from Cincinnati, but since the Reds are out of the running he must be transferring his support to the Indians).

After our minor run-in with fame, we trudged over to Times Square.

Here's Shawn at the M&M store in Times Square...

Here's me in Candyland at the Toys 'R' Us in Times Square...

After we had killed enough time, we were finally able to get into our hotel room. Both of us took a much needed three hour nap and then woke to get ready to meet J.K. Rowling that evening.

The next morning, we slept in a bit, ate breakfast, and then checked out of the hotel. Neither Shawn nor I had ever been to F.A.O. Schwartz, so we decided to head over there before we had to catch a cab to the airport.

The store was really neat. They had a great selection and it was very different from other toy stores we had been to (it's much more upscale). We bought a set of Melissa & Doug nesting blocks for the baby's room.

Shawn also got to channel Tom Hanks by taking a spin on the giant floor piano (side note, if you wanted to buy this piano, it costs $250,000! This "toy" costs more than a house!)

We also saw some more famous people in the store. Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary was there signing his new children's book, Puff the Magic Dragon, and playing music. Here he is setting up (not a very flattering picture, sorry, Mr. Yarrow).

Then we ran into one of the biggest celebrities of all, Madeline, from the books of the same name. Here she is shopping (though notably absent are all her friends in the two straight lines).

The visit to F.A.O. Schwartz was not totally devoid of Harry Potter. They had a cool HP shop on the second level with great costumes, toys, and accessories.

Afterwards, we got in a cab to head over to the airport. Our flight left at around 4:30 PM and it was a pleasant trip home. Shawn and I got to read a little and nap. When the flight attendant came around with drinks, we both requested Diet Cokes. "You guys aren't on a diet are you?" he asked. "Not really," I said, "but all that sugar's not good for you." "Well," he said, "I hope you're not on a diet, you guys are the fittest ones on the plane." Thank you, kind sir! You have now gone down in history as the greatest flight attendant ever!

We landed back in Cleveland around 6:30 PM and made our way back home. Overall, the trip was great and we had a wonderful time. New York is a great city and we had a great time visiting! We're glad we got the exciting opportunity to meet J.K. Rowling and to experience NYC!

-- Lisa