Fun, Fireworks, Film and Hair.

Its been a hectic and amazingly fun couple of days for me! My dear friend Sarah Nilsen came to visit me here in Brooklyn and the fun didn't stop all weekend. Sarah is moving to New York very very soon and this was her chance to get some quality time in with her new city home and meet her new roommate, my friend Rachel!! I'm happy to report that Rachel and Sarah got along like a house afire, which is great as setting up your friends is always a little stressful. I introduced the two through e mail and phone several weeks ago because I knew they were both looking to move around the same time and needed roommates. Rachel is soon graduating from culinary school and Sarah will be attending Fordham for a cutting-edge social work program. I'm so proud of both of them and happy that they'll be together. I like to keep my friends as condensed as I can. If it were up to me we'd all live in a compound somewhere centrally located, with access to mountains, rivers, the ocean and the county fair. Also none of us would have to work, ever. Also before getting into all the fun we had I have to congratulate my roommate Laura for being accepted into the NY Teaching Fellows program. All my friends are terrific achievers.

Sarah arrived by Megabus friday afternoon. Word on the street was there would be fireworks at Coney Island so as soon as she had settled in and had seen the apartment we headed down. Sarah loved Coney and we had just enough time to ride the Wonder Wheel before it was time to get a good seat for the show. We watched from a table at Ruby's and were not disappointed. The show was wonderful and the crowd was tons of fun.

Me and Sarah on the Wonder Wheel

Saturday was the world famous Mermaid Parade at Coney. UNFORTUNATELY I had to work so Laura and Sarah headed down to see what was up. I heard they had a lot of fun people watching and had seen some crazy things. I hope I get to attend the Mermaid Parade some time. As soon as I got off I went down to meet them and we all went to the Brooklyn Cyclones game against the Long Island Yankees. We all love minor league baseball, and this game also had a fireworks show at the end. The game was good, we staked out some seats and I got some dinner after waiting in a long slow line. The line was awful but I did overhear one of the worst/funniest quotes ever: "Our seats are so good! Its like watching the game on an HDTV!" Oh New Yorkers. Once again the fireworks did not disappoint. I wish I could have seen the crazy mermaids but baseball and fireworks is nothing to sniff at.


Sunday Sarah and I made plans to go to the TKTS discount ticket booth and try and get tickets to see Hair on Broadway. Sarah loves Broadway shows, especially Hair, and was hoping to see it before it closes next week. You can get tickets from this booth for 50% off some days, especially if you show up early. We got there in time but Sarah surprised me by treating me to some really good seats I wouldn't have been able to afford any time soon. She had it all planned so I couldn't refuse. What a treat! After that we met Rachel for brunch at a bistro called Marseilles. Rachel and Sarah met for the first time and were fast friends. Also Sarah's friend Casey from high school met us. She lives in Brooklyn too. Brunch was amazing. That's no surprise either, considering Rachel chose the spot. We were right around the corner from our theatre so we had a chance to relax in the outdoor seats before our matinee.

The show was terrific. I had never been to a show on Broadway and was definitely not disappointed. The show is fun and bright and a little interactive so I had several Hair cast members touch my hair and one told me I was very pretty in the middle of a dance number when he jumped over my seat. After the show we waited by the stage door and I got my playbill signed by the entire cast! After such a successful Sunday we headed back to Brooklyn. We went for an evening walk in Prospect Park to see and hear the weekly drum circle held there before finally heading back to the apartment to rest up.

For Monday Sarah said she wanted to ride the Staten Island Ferry because it sounded like fun and was free. We also decided to try and make our own little tour of the city. I did a bit of googling and found a guidebook to the New York of film so we planned to find a bookstore and see what we could find from the book. We got up Monday morning and headed to the city and were happy to find the book quickly. We got a little brunch at the Gee Whiz Diner and found some places of interest in our book.

The ferry was lovely and we enjoyed the nice weather and took some pictures. After our ride it was time for some inventive sightseeing. We headed to Greenwich Village, a neighborhood I hadn't yet visited to find the house from the Cosby Show! Even though the Huxtables lived in Brooklyn, their house is on a quiet street in Manhattan. Somebody lives there, which is intriguing to me and I firmly believe it still looks just the same inside. so don't even try to tell me differently. Right around the corner is the apartment building from friends! Bet you didn't know they were neighbors! Next my book told us the Waverly theatre, a movie house mentioned in a song in Hair was in the area. We stopped at Starbucks for a drink and then found it, but we didn't find Frank Mills. Oh well.

Huxtable House

Friends Building

The Waverly was conveniently by a subway stop so we got on the train across town to the East Side. We were right by the UN and thought we'd try to stop in if that was allowed. We got through the airport-like security and into the UN lobby which was very very quiet. We didn't go on a tour or anything but there was a really interesting exhibit in the lobby about the Earthquake in Haiti, the UN workers who died and the UNs efforts to respond to the emergency as both aid workers and victims.

After the UN we walked up a hill, which you don't see every day in Manhattan, to find the apartment that Marilyn Monroe shared with Arthur Miller. Sarah also saw on a map that we were close to the Queensboro Bridge on 59th street so we decided we'd go that way since we were feelin' groovy. Har. The East Side neighborhood where Marilyn lived was very pretty, very clean and quiet. Lots of fancy apartment buildings and more dogs being walked than there were people. I never saw so many dogs and am certain they are all wealthier than I'll ever be. There was a tiny park, really just a bench on a patio, by the bridge but it was a lovely view and we sat for a moment. As soon as we were seated we realized how tired we were getting. I had to be on the Upper West Side for a meeting that evening so we decided to jump back up before we got too comfortable and head uptown.

59th St Bridge

We stopped for a bite to eat at Texas Rotisserie and were revived a bit. I went to my meeting and Sarah and Rachel met at Riverside Park for sunset over the Hudson. Once I was done I met them and Sarah and I came back to Brooklyn for some VERY much needed rest.

I'm so glad we got that book and I'm going to read it cover to cover now and find even more cool things to go and see. I'm also really glad I got to visit Greenwich Village and the East Side. Oh, AND a Broadway Show. So cool. I'm so excited that Sarah will soon be living here too.

Here's a link to the book we got.