At the beginning of November, Niki and I flew to NYC for a
Tim Minchin concert. Just for the weekend, a sort of whirlwind trip. It was fantastic, I love New York, and can see why people would live there. I would live there. It's a huge city, with everything you would ever want or need, with almost a small town feel. The people are friendly, and so many little shops and businesses. It's odd, whenever I travel I feel like the people should be different. I don't mean, like another culture or something, I mean different like in aliens from outer space different. This always leads to a little shock and sadness when they are just like us, but with accents and odd customs.
The Friday night we arrived was the Tim Minchin concert. He was witty, funny, touching, and a great artist. Everything a person would want in a concert. He sang
all the songs I wanted to hear, and few I didn't know, but am very glad he included. Minchin did two encores, and led the entire theatre in singing
Leonard Cohen's "
Hallelujah". He said he loved travelling America, getting large groups of atheists together, then getting them to sing Hallelujah. That got a good laugh. The crowd singing was actually a very beautiful moment. After the show we waited around to get my DVD/CD combo signed. He was very gracious, though limited in time, and signed all he could. I got to say a few words, nothing embarrassing as is usual when a person meets someone they admire, and he even gave me a spontaneous hug. The whole trip was worth that one concert, and if you can ever see the man in concert, I highly recommend him.
Saturday was our day to check out the
American Museum of Natural History and
Central park. After the Minchin concert, AMNH was by far my favourite stop. I especially loved the
"Hall of Human Origins". I talked to a PhD fellow about the mixing of Neanderthal DNA and human, saw lots of fossils, and generally went a little science crazy. The
Fossil Hall seemed like it would never end, with giant turtles and even an Albertosaurus. It was fantastic. We only spent about four hours there, but a person could spend days. It alone could be a reason for a person to love NYC. After the museum we walked back to our Hotel via a lovely walk through central park. Stopped by
Strawberry fields. We were lucky, as we didn't realize it, but Sunday was the
NYC Marathon, so everything would have been closed off or really crowded. Our hotel,
which was very nice, was close to Time Square, so we spent a lot of time walking to or from it, catching the subway there and whatnot. Saturday evening we checked out a comedy show at
The Comic Strip. The comedians were funny, but unfortunately a few in the crowd did not know how to be a good audience. Hint, when you are at a comedy club, if you do or say anything but drink and laugh, you are a tool. We grabbed a pizza slice on the way back to the hotel.
Sunday was our walking and Broadway day. We meandered from our hotel, down through Little Italy, China Town, occupy wall street, Wall Street, and finally Battery Park. It was a lovely, albeit tiring, walk. I ate like a pig all weekend, had a mini pie every day, and didn't gain a pound. I didn't see many overweight people walking around, and I think I know why. If you live in Manhattan, you walk. Lots.
The Lion King we saw at night. It was a great show and deserves all the accolades it has received. We even met a performer in Starbucks before the show. He noticed my poppy, as he was originally from Toronto. Asked what we were up to, and we said Lion King. He laughed and said he would be "2nd wildebeest on the left". Very nice fellow, wish I had taken a picture with him. We capped the weekend off with a visit to 30 Rock and going to the top of Empire States Building.
That is a quick summation of the weekend. It was a great trip, and I could probably type for pages on all the little reasons I love NYC. I suggest just planning a trip there yourself. More pictures below. :-)
Cheers,
Scott
