Natural History Museum/Broadway

Cathy took the day off today, so we enjoyed having her with us.

She suggested a place called Cafe Lalo for breakfast. It is where a great scene in the movie "You've Got Mail" was filmed. It is the scene where Meg Ryan sits at the cafe with a book and a rose, waiting to meet her secret email pal. In walks Tom Hanks, and they sit and talk together. It's one of the best scenes in the movie, so we were excited to go there.

The food was great, and pastries were tempting. Ok, we gave in to the tempation. I had a croissant stuffed with gouda and spinach with a Mediterranean salad. Then, I split some chocolate mousse and an eclair with the girls. The windows were open, and the day was absolutely perfect. We came at an off hour, so we practically had the whole place to ourselves. There was a lady there admiring Vincent. Her granddaughter was born two days later. We struck up a nice conversation.

I have to say that New Yorkers get a very bad wrap regarding friendliness. I would not say that they are WARM, but they are certainly helpful and willing to engage in a conversation. We have had many people open the door for us since we have a stroller. The exception to this is where it is busy, or on the subway. And, then, it is not that people are unfriendly, they are just focused on getting to where they need to go.

After Cafe Lalo, we strolled a few blocks, and went to our destination for the day - the Museum of Natural History. As I mentioned the other day, this is the museum that "Night at the Museum" is based on. After walking through all of it, it is easy to see that the floorplan of the real museum isn't like the one in the movie, but all of the best ideas came from the museum - Teddy Roosevelt on a horse, the T-Rex, Sacagawea, the Easter Island dum dum, the monkey, etc. They were all there. It was fun to imaging everything coming to life at night.

The dinosaur wings were spectacular. I had never seen so many dinosaurs in one place, and with such diversity. There was a HUGE one that looked exactly like a modern day armadillo.

The highlight for me, though, was going to the new Planetarium. Words cannot do justice to this building. It is a glass cube, about five stories tall, and inside, nearly floor to ceiling is a huge ball. That is the planetarium. We walked in at our showtime, and sat back to a great show all about cosmic collisions. Cathy, and I were captivated - we grew up going regularly to the Denver planetarium. Vincent laid on Cathy's lap, and was mesmerized the whole time.

After the museum, we headed back uptown to regroup for a little while. Cathy offered to babysit the kids so that Rob and I could go out on a date. Hmmmm, where in New York can you go on a date - BROADWAY!!!

I could happily see every musical around, and Rob has willingly joined me at many of them. However, he was really hoping to see a play, and it was more than his turn to have a pick.

We decided on "The 39 Steps", which is one of his favorite Hitchcock movies. I love Hitchcock, too, but had not seen this particular movie. It sounded great.

We got on the subway, and it felt very strange not making sure that four children had made their way with us. But, we quickly adapted. Instantly, we were New Yorkers - walking with purpose and focus, and looking above or below people's heads, but never, ever, directly in their eyes.

We got off at 42nd Street, and easily found our theater. We picked up our tickets, and looked around for a quick bit to eat.

Cathy had recommended Junior's, and promised that the cheesecake was even better than Lindy's. The restaurant was too full to take us, so we went to the takeout window, which lies on Shubert Alley. It took so long for our Swiss steakburger and cheesecake to arrive, and we had very little time to eat before showtime.

We took the food out into Shubert Alley, and we were quite a site. As we hadn't planned for a date night, we were still in the shorts that we had worn all day. In the same alley, there was a theater that was doing a Noel Coward play starring Angela Lansbury and Rupert Everet. Quite a few people around us were all dressed up. We looked like bums as we balanced our take out box very carefully with one hand, and cheesecake with another. Let me tell you, it is not a wise thing to eat a steakburger with one hand!!!

The cheesecake was amaing. I have to agree with Cathy that is the best around.

We actually finished in time to go to the theater, and we had about ten minutes before the show started. It was in the Helen Hayes theater, which was a great little theater built in 1912. It was much smalller than most theaters, but very charming. This one had cranberry red walls, white dental molding, and a gold proceniam.

The show was set in the 30s - a time period that we love. It featured four actors playing 150 roles - wow!!! It was absolutely the most FUN that I've ever had on Broadway. They took Hitchcock's storyline and added physical humor. I keep replaying it over and over in my head. It won two Tonys, and is the longest-running comedy on Broadway.

At the end of the show, we put in a call to Cathy to check on the kids. They were enjoying hot chocolate, popcorn, and a movie back at home, so we still had a little time to stay out.

We strolled over a block to Times Square. This time, it was dark, so the neon lights were that much more brilliant. We stood there together, almost silent, taking it all in. In Times Square, you really feel that you are at the center of the world - the crossroads. There was something almost sacred about it as it makes you realize your smallness in comparison with the world. It's hard not to be humbled.

We walked on to the subway, now feeling like locals with our ability to ride the subway like a pro.

That humility came back, though, when we got off at our stop, 168th street. We took a different exit out of the subway stop, and accidentally turned the wrong way. We walked for several blocks, everything feeling increasingly unfamiliar and increasingly scary. We definitely stood out like a sore thumb. We finally realized that we were lost and were grateful to find a policeman that pointed us in exactly the opposite direction of where we were heading.

We hoofed it back in the right way, and were relieved to see the red gate at Cathy's building. When we told Brennan and Cathy where we had been, they told us that we had almost walked to the Bronx!

It was nice to be back, and we started planning our adventures for the next day.