My Birthday Weekend

So, I never did tell all about my birthday weekend in the Big Apple. So here goes.
My weekend
By Chris Breecher

First of all, I drove in Manhattan for the first time. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Of course we weren’t near any of the big touristy places. However, while driving around Union Square trying to find a place to park both Liz and Andrew called me. Liz called to let me know that she was outside my work and wanted to take me to lunch. Sorry, nope. Then when Andrew called, I picked up the phone and said, “Happy Birthday to Me. I can’t talk. I’m trying to park in Manhattan.” He quickly let me go. Finding a place to park really wasn’t all that bad, just a few times of circling the blocks, looking carefully at all the signs to see what hours we would be allowed to park on certain streets.

After parking we went to Tonda’s work and then the three of us went out for a late lunch. After lunch Chris and I saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was a very good movie. I think I liked it better than the third movie. Maybe this was because I had just reread book three before that one opened and noticed all of the inconsistencies. With this one I was only a few chapters in to my re-read. Therefore I didn’t notice as many things that were changed. I was surprised though at the number of small children at the movie. It has some very dark moments and I don’t think I would have brought my young children to see it.


After Harry Potter we met up with Tonda again, but this time just to drop our stuff off at her apartment. We then headed to Times Square to go see Spamalot. Andrew had told me about this show and I knew I wanted to go. However, Chris was somewhat resistant. I had made him watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail at some point and he was less than enthusiastic about it. However, this past spring he borrowed the Spamalot soundtrack from a co-worker and he immediately liked it. I jumped at my chance to go see it and we booked tickets!

The show was an absolute blast. Much of the script was taken from the movie, but there also was new material. After the show we went to the stage door to get autographs. I was really wanting to get Tim Curry’s, but he didn’t come out. Instead I got autographs from David Hyde Pierce, Michael McGrath, Alan Tudyk, and Sara Ramirez.

After we had gotten all of the autographs that we could, we headed back to Uniopn Square for a late dinner. We'd had a hotdog before the show to tide us over, but by this point we were very hungry. I must say, one good thing about New York is that there is an abundance of eating choices at 11:30 at night.

The next morning we went out to brunch with Tonda. On the way there we passed by my mom's old high school. (It's across the street from her apartment.) She asked if we had ever been inside. After saying no, she decided we should go in,. Who knew schools were open on Saturdays! We only looked around the lobby an the auditorium, but it was still pretty cool.

After brunch we headed back to Times Square, this time to see Wicked.

I’ve wanted to see this show ever since I first heard of it, a year and a half ago. So when Chris and I decided to go to New York to see Spamalot I knew that we had to see Wicked as well. Unfortunately it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. Perhaps if I had been more familiar with the music I would have liked it better. However, it just seemed to be rather slow. There really weren’t as many catchy numbers as there usually are in a Broadway show. Now don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it. It just wasn’t all that I was expecting.

After the show we headed over to Rockefeller Center. We wanted to see the Christmas Tree. We figured that although the lights wouldn't be on for another week, it still would be neat to see the tree. Well it turns out it was all covered in scaffolding. And one side had a giant advertisement for Swarovski since they make the star that goes on top. So much for photo opportunities there.

Our final stop was for some dinner before heading home. We had no idea where we wanted to eat, so after wandering around for a while we found a steak house. We perused the menu outisde, and although it was expensive, we decided to go in anyway. They were able to find a table for us in the back. (Most of the tables would soon be filled with people who had resrvations.) I mentioned to Chris that I felt really underdressed as the restaurant was a little swanky. He told me I shouldn't because the woman sitting behind me was in overalls. It turns out that everyone in the back room where we were sitting was dressed in jeans. Since we were behind a partition, no one would ever have to see the "rif-raf" that we were. After dinner we headed home, and the next day Chris went to work and I went to a new LSS with Mel for a class and to check out the store.

And here ends the tale of my birthday weekend.