December 15, New York City

Goodness me, what a day!!! Our last full day in NYC and we had a number of things to do.

The morning started off with breakfast with the Aitken's at a diner down near the 72nd Street Station. It was yummy! The place also had amazing gourmet salads and so we marked it down to come back to later, possibly for lunch.

Our first stop of the morning was to the New York Historical Society. Dad particularly wanted to see their exhibit on New York in WW2. A short stroll down to the park and up to the museum, and after a stop to pose with Abe Lincoln (I think!) on the steps. We entered the museum. I managed to get us all 'Teacher Discount' by presenting my QTUH card (not sure where my QCT card has got to). We loitered in the lobby for a while looking at the exhibits on 9/11, and various artefacts from the New York History. We went and saw a video presentation about the Island of Manhattan that was very interesting.

After that we went in to WW2 exhibit. From it I learned:
1) That the FDR express way is built on rubble from Bristol. It was cleared after the Blitz, and then shipped to NYC as ships ballast.
2) At the end of the war US families were able to request the repatriation of the bodies of their deceased loved ones. Something like 170 000 were returned to the US for burial. This really struck a chord with me as my Great Uncle lies in the Black Forrest in Germany, and I wonder if Australians ever got such an offer.

After we'd finished there, we took the train down town to visit the Merchant's House Museum. This house is an amazing time capsule. It was owned by the same family from 1840 till 1936. Purchase by Seabury Tredwell and his wife Eliza, they had 7 children. The last one was born after they moved in. Gertrude (the last baby) eventually died in the house in 1936 and the house was turned into a museum. Entry cost $10, and you are provided with a folder to undertake a self guided tour. This was absolutely amazing, to see the actual furnishings the family owned, in their original positions. It was a bit of hiking and climbing and boy were the stairs steep!!

Next stop was Grand Central Station where Dad wanted to visit a display on trains ... but the queue was ridiculous and so we skipped that. I did manage to stop at Junior's and purchase a piece of Yellow Cake though (and enjoyed it later!).

From there we battled our way up 5th Avenue so that I could return to Tiffany to pick up some jewellery that was being adjusted. About this time I got very sick of crowds, and the way people push and shove. I can't get over how rude people are in crowds, or how they stop, or how they ram you with prams!

We then we back to the hotel for a rest, and to put up tired feet. And also to enjoy lunch ... or dinner ... it was 4pm by this stage! Yummy salads from the aforementioned diner.

At 6.30pm Mum and I headed back down to 50th Street to see Dead Accounts, we firstly went to Times Square, took some dubious selfless, and went shopping. Then it was back to the theatre.

The show was amazing, and the best part was that there were a number of empty seats closer than ours, and so we good to move to be closer. The story is about the relationship between a brother, Jack (Norbert Leo Butz) and sister, Lorna (Katie Holmes). He turns up out of the blue, while their Dad is suffering from kidney stones. The mother is also floating around (Jayne Houndyshell) and they are joined by Jack's friend Phil (Josh Hamilton) who happens to have a crush on Lorna. Eventually they are joined by Jack's wife/ex-wife Jenny (Judy Greer) and we find out that Jack has actually stolen $27 million from the bank he works at, by raiding the 'Dead Accounts'. The relationships are at the centre of the play and it isn't about the story of what happens with the money so much as how the characters react.

Leo Butz is the stand out in the play, whitty and quick and with so much energy! Katie Holmes was down trodden, and looked like she needed a hug. And there was food on stage, they ate ice-cream, drank coffee, ate 'Cheese Coney's', drank wine and beer and soft drink, and ate pizza. I was hungry by the time we walked out.

The used an interesting effect to change scenes, completely blacking out the theatre, then bringing up some lights to kind of gently crisscross the stage (like being lit coldly through the rafters). The actors would then change or put away food and generally prepare for the next scene. The stage would then go completely black, and then when the lights came up the kitchen often looked completely different.

I loved the show and would give it a 98 out of 100.

The best part was at the end when we went to stand by the stage door. All 5 actors signed out playbills, including Katie Holmes, and I even got a photo with Judy Greer. I was over the moon! Over the road we also saw Al Pacino.

How cool is NYC!