on to Saturday, December 6th...finally!

after taking the morning slow at Andy's while she did some school work (she's working on her master's), we got back into the main part of the city and began searching for a place to eat lunch. i asserted again that i wanted it to be local. and since we were short on time--we were on our way to a Broadway play--i saw a cart and suggested that we grab a famous New York City hot dog. mmmm-mm, tasty!! :) that was one of the few excellent hot dogs i've had!

though my napkin is hiding it (wish Andy would've told me to pull it down--silly of me, i know), i'm about to take my first bite...

after a good amount of looking online a month before we left, i realized that we weren't going to be able to see Wicked (me and Karyn's first choice) without paying MUCH more than our wallets could stretch, even in the name of a splurge/an early Christmas present. we'd pay a whole lot for seats that were "partial view" or in the "nosebleed" sections of the theater, and there only a few left, at that. i considered going to see Phantom of the Opera again (i like it so much), but i already saw that back in '95 in Orlando, and Karyn had seen a 'less official but still good' version of it already. her sister-in-law told us about a less-known play that she saw and loved, and after reading a brief description, i was quite intrigued. but then, after doing a little more looking, i saw that it had closed in July. shoot. i went back to the drawing board, read about The 39 Steps (at the Cort Theatre), and was interested. Karyn said it sounded good; she wasn't picky--she was leaving it up to me. thankfully, Andy was able to get us all cheaper tickets. ...our seats on the 2nd row of the mezzanine level were really great! and we all ended up LOVING the play!!!! it was amazingly excellent!! so clever & entertaining! the cast of only 4 played 40 (i'm pretty sure) different parts! we were so IMPRESSED!! i highly recommend it, if you have the opportunity to see it!


it was important to Karyn to go shopping on Canal St., and Andy seemed eager to go too. it didn't sound that exciting to me (call me crazy--i know one or two of you will--but i don't have a thing for name-brand bags, purses, watches, wallets, scarves, perfumes, jewelry, etc.) but, i was happy to have yet another New York City experience. and i have to say, it was more fun than i thought it would be. we even had the "scandalous" opportunity of being whisked to the 'back-back' room where they kept all their real name-brand bags & purses...! :) i got to witness how good a deal-maker Andy is. even Karyn was more smooth than me (if you want to know the story behind this statement, feel free to ask and i'll tell). i got caught up in the 'Canal St. fever' some, and ended up buying some knock-off Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses that are bright red and purely for fun. i also got a rather good deal on t-shirts for the kids. and, i couldn't help but get an ornament as well. (me and Peter started a tradition when we were first married to get an ornament from every place we visit.) ...by the time we'd made our way down most of the street, i was annoyed by those trying to lure you into their stores, i was a little tired of the crowds of people, and, once again, i was STARVING. the other two were as well, but they were having more of a blast... :)

we were right near Little Italy, so we began walking along one of the streets, waiting for one of the restaurants to jump out to us. i didn't want to have to wait and Karyn wanted gnocchi. other than that, i don't remember why we passed so many places to eat...! now that i think about it, it did seem like the host at Caffe Napoli did kinda-sorta jump out to us (can't recall if we were walking by and he had the door open, hoping to bring people in or if we opened the door and then he pounced--nicely--on us), so that's probably why we ate there. it was packed but they had an empty table for us in the basement that we squeezed around. the service was a little on the slow side, but we understood, and we exercised a little more patience. ;-) besides, it was a relief to be SITTING and also to use a restroom! all of our dishes were simple, expensive, and VERY YUMMY!!! and the opportunity to people-watch was definitely in abundance--like always in NYC--and it didn't disappoint. ...we got our plethora of 'bundle-ups' and bags and headed out shortly after finishing because we still had another destination on Saturday's agenda.........