Columbus Circle/West Side Story

Today, we checked out of the Marriott Marquis. This hotel holds a special memory for me since it's the first hotel in New York that I stayed in 20 years ago. It feels like "home" every time I come.

We walked out of Times Square and found that the weather was beautiful. And, there were some chairs available! We sat down, and I was in Heaven. Truly, it was as relaxing to me as anything else I've ever done. I would choose to sit in that spot any day, even over a massage, a spa treatment, etc.

Rob suddenly said, "There's the Naked Cowboy!"

I had mentioned to him previously that I had never seen the Naked Cowboy.

This is a guy who wears his Hanes-like underwear and a guitar. He sings songs about being the Naked Cowboy, and takes pictures with people. I had read about him in People magazine years ago. He's a Times Square icon now, so it was fun to see him.

We went to the M&M Store and the Hershey store, and continued our stroll up to Columbus Circle.

Gina was anxious to visit the two story Williams Sonoma, which did not disappoint.

We went downstairs to Whole Foods and picked up stuff for lunch. Claire and Gina actually wanted to try sushi, so we bought some of that.

We ate outside by the fountain where we watehed the most bizarre wedding ensemble take photos.

The bride looked like she was 20, and the groom looked like he was 40. The bridesmaids dresses that we first saw were bright red and looked like they came from a prom in the 80s. Then, someone else was in a teal dress, someone in a puke olive green dress, and someone in black. It was so tacky that we were tempted to think that it was fake. But it was, in fact, real. Cathy said that they had to have come from a borough - no one in Manhattan would have dressed like that!

We got home to Cathy's and rested up a bit before Cathy, Brennan, and I headed out again. Rob had bought us tickets to "West Side Story" - we were soooo excited.

The show was fantastic. I had never seen a revival before, and it really harkened back to an old-time Broadway. They had made it somewhat bilingual, which was very authentic, but other than that, they had kept the Jerome Robbins choreography. The Maria was a 21 year old Argentinean opera singer. She and Tony were fantastic together. The dancing was vibrant, the singing was perfect, and we bawled our eyes out at the end. It will be really hard to ever top that.

It's nominated for a bunch of Tonys, which are tomorrow night!!! We thought about going to Radio City Music Hall tomorrow to stand outside the Tonys, but I think with the kids, it will be easier to just watch it at home. I am really excited by watching them this year, though.