New York City...Center of the Universe
This week was probably one of the best weeks that I have ever experienced. When Rhiannon and I met, we were hellbent that we would be moving to New York City and living our best lives working in theatre. Our first trip to New York City was in 2018. It was a magical trip. I proposed on that trip. We also realized that we didn't want to actually live in New York, we were worried it would lose it's magic. Instead we made a pact to return to the city at least once a year. The following year, we returned. This time we brough her mom. It was another magical trip. Then Covid happened and we didn't make it back to The City until 2025. That trip was a disaster. We were worried that maybe Covid changed us (or the city) too much. We decided that we would give it another shot after Mariska Hargitay announced her Broadway run. Thank God we did. I am going to split this trip into 3 different blogs. This one will focus on everything we did. So buckle up! It's going to be a long one.
SUNDAY-MAY 31ST
We started our trip by heading to New York on Sunday. The drive took about 12 hours. We created a playlist before we left full of any song that reminded us of the feelings of The City that we loved so much. We joked on the way about the song we wished would play as we see the skyline for the first time this trip. We thought it would be so funny if the Knicks song was playing. It was not the song that was playing. As the skyline came into view the songs were in the middle of changing. O-o-h Child by The Five Stairsteps began playing over the speaker and I became a puddle of tears. This is the song that Mariska bows to in Every Brilliant Thing. What are the odds that her song was the one that welcomed us into the city?
Anyway, we dropped our car off and hailed a taxi to our hotel. Checked in and then left right away to go take pictures at The Hudson Theatre. I cried on the street seeing Mariska's name and pictures on the building. We also took a quick trip over to the Imperial Theatre to take pictures of Lea Michele on the marquee. Our hotel was right across from the Imperial. We found a little pizza shop by the hotel so we stopped for pizza and sat outside watching the sun set around us and letting it sink in that we were back.
MONDAY- JUNE 1st
We got up early on this day and hopped in a cab to go to the American Museum of Natural History. Our cab driver was so nice and funny. He told us a story about how he was going to Chicago once and didn't realize he had a connection in Detroit. He got off the plane thinking he was in Chicago so he left the airport to find his friend. He missed his connection and had to wait 5 hours for the next flight. He then got so excited about GIANT SHRIMP he had in Chicago. Best cab ride the entire trip!
We got to the museum and when we walked in we were blown away. It was massive stone cave. We had tickets for an 11am exhibit THE END OF THE AGE OF THE DINOSAURS so we went to the 4th floor so we would be close to the exhibit. As we stepped off the elevator, we were met with our first dinosaur, a stegosaurus. Rhiannon was so excited. Dinosaurs are her thing! When we came into the room with the T-Rex, I thought Rhiannon was going to pass out. She was so excited! It is the first complete T-Rex skull discovered and is the world's first mounted T-Rex. We spent 2 hours discovering so many dinosaurs. My favorite Dino that we saw was the plesiosaurus. Throughout the exhibits we were able to touch so many dinosaur bones and eggs. We also saw the Blue Whale and SO MANY crystals and geodes. I think we ended up spending about 4 or 5 hours in the museum. I walked the entire time. 6 months ago that would not have been possible. In fact, when we first started talking about going to the museum, we were looking at renting ECVs or wheelchairs. This was the first time that I really saw how much this journey has changed my life.
Leaving the museum, we stopped for our first hot dog of the trip. We got it with relish and deli mustard. It was the best hot dog I have ever had...whether it was because it was the first thing we had eaten all day or if it was truly that good...we may never know. We sat on the outside of Central Park for a while, people watching before we headed back to the hotel where we had to get ready for our rooftop date. We went to Haven Rooftop bar on W 47th. The elevator up was super tiny but when we stepped off on the 10th floor, it was beautiful! We were sat on the edge of the restaurant where we had a great view of the sun setting. It was pretty overcast so we didn't get the golden hour we were hoping for but it was still a beautiful moment watching the city become dark around us. The food was incredible. We ordered their sliders and truffle fries. Rhiannon ordered the Solstice drink (vodka, peach schnapps, lime juice, champagne, and strawberry puree) and I got the Blueberry Bliss (blueberry syrup, Sprite, and lemonade). On the way back to the hotel, the buildings around town were lit up in rainbow for the start of Pride Month!
TUESDAY-JUNE 2nd
We were going to take this day to go on a self guided SVU tour. However, I woke up and started crying instantly because today was the day that I was going to see Mariska Hargitay in person. I decided that I could not do Mariska Hargitay things on Mariska Hargitay day. So instead, Rhiannon and I walked over to the NBA Store and looked around. As we were walking, we got the notice that the Knicks Game 2 Watch Party tickets were released. We were 168k in line. Needless to say, we did not get them. We did, however, end up finding the last Jalen Brunson vinyl pop at the store, so you know we had to get it.
On the trek back to the hotel, we noticed that the TKTS Red Steps in Times Square were pretty empty so we sat on them for a little while. This was our first time ever sitting on the steps. It was a moment. We then went back to the hotel to get ready for the show. I am going to take a moment to tell you that I will have a separate blog to discuss everything surrounding seeing Mariska, but I will give a little here as well.
We got to the theatre and were told that this was a great night to be there. We weren't sure what that meant. We were told that this was her official opening night and EVERYONE from SVU was going to be there. Rhiannon and I stopped breathing to try to stay calm. We went inside and made friends with the girl in the line behind us. Talking to her helped us stay calm. Some of the people that we saw in the audience that night were: Kelli Giddish (Amanda Rollins), Aimé Donna Kelly (Capt. Curry), Chris Meloni (Elliot Stabler), Octavio Pisano (Joe Velasco), Peter Hermann (Trevor Langan and Mariska's husband), Jodie Foster, and Katie Couric. Then before we were able to realize what happened...Raúl Esparza (ADA Rafael Barba) walked on the stage and sat just across from us. Rhiannon began shaking. One thing about my wife is she LOVES her some Raúl. Others who were there that night that we didn't see were: Neil Patrick Harris and his husband David Burtka, Peter Scanavino (Dominick "Sonny" Carisi...I hate I didn't see him), Danny Pino (Nick Amaro), Noma Dumezweni (Chief Tynan), and Kathryn Gallagher.
After the show, we went to the stage door and got perfect spots. However, with it being opening night and all of her friends being there, Mariska came out with her family, thanked everyone for coming and then left for her party.
WEDNESDAY-JUNE 3rd
After the night we had, we took this morning slow. We hung out at the hotel until it was time to head to the Imperial Theatre to see Chess. Seeing Lea Michele was another emotional moment for Rhiannon and I. We met because of Glee, so the fact that we were about to spend 3 hours in the room with someone who was so important in our love story was a lot to process. Rhiannon and I were also fans of Chess before we even met, so this was a bucket list show that we were both about to cross off our lists. We had seats in the third row and held eye contact with Lea Michele so many times. I cried more watching Lea than I expected to...but being in the presence of such talent...how could you not become emotional? Her voice is otherworldly. I was not really a fan of what they did with the book of the show, hearing this music live is something I will never forget. We stage doored, but because it was a matinee, no one came out.
Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and got ready for the Knicks game. We found a watch party at Virgil's BBQ on W 44th. While we were here, I got a message that the tickets for Every Brilliant Thing were selling out fast. We had plans to rush the next day, but when I saw how few were left, we went ahead and bought the tickets right out...we got Orchestra seats. The food at Virgil's was great but the atmosphere was even better. We were sat right by a TV. There were a few other tables around us who were there to watch the game as well. We all kind of stayed to ourselves until the final quarter and then we all started talking and discussing the game. By the end of the game, we were all on our feet watching and yelling. We won! On the way back to the hotel, we were greeted by "GO KNICKS!" or "KNICKS IN FOUR" or high fives. The Knicks have really brought out the best in everyone!
THURSDAY-JUNE 4th
We slept in again this day. We tried to get tickets to the Madison Square Garden Watch party again this morning. We did not get them. So, we bought them online from StubHub. I was going to be in that arena no matter what. Around lunch we headed to Pasta de Pasta on 9th. We saw them on Tik Tok. What drew us in was that they had $10 pasta bowls and tossed the pasta in a cheese wheel. If you know anything about me, I LOVE CHEESE. It is my favorite food. This was the best pasta I have ever had. The noodles were made fresh, the alfredo was rich without being overpowering, and the meatballs I added to my dish melted in my mouth. They were like butter. Rhiannon got an order of lasagna and it was the cheesiest, most perfect lasagna I have ever tried. I will think about this meal for a long time...and every time we go back to NYC, you best believe we will be making a stop at this restaurant.
That night we went back to see Mariska's show again. The audience this night was awful. She had to restart the show 3 times because some people in the audience were just screaming out random words when it came time for the audience participation. Mariska ended up having to stop the show and ask the audience to stop shouting random things out and only speak if you were given a card to do so. Once she started again, she was able to make it through without much issue...until the end when someone else screamed something out during an emotional point of the show. SIDE NOTE: People really need to learn to sit in uncomfortable silence without needing to fill it. She did come out and sign this night...again, I will have a whole blog about my interactions with her.
FRIDAY-JUNE 5th
This was the craziest day of the entire trip. It started out with us not having been paid by Rhiannon's job. After talking to her job, they said it should hit by end of day...so we borrowed some money and went to DUMBO. When we got there, the cab's system said we didn't pay but our bank account showed that it did come out. So we ended up having to pay him AGAIN (that first charge is still pending in our account...ugh). It was very frustrating but then seeing the Manhattan bridge down a cobble stone road quickly fixed my mood. We then walked over to the Brooklyn Bridge and began our trek across. This has been a bucket list item of mine for well over 10 years. I love bridges, heights, and city skylines...so this was perfect. While we were in the middle of the bridge, I took a moment to look around and saw the two bridges that I will be running in the NYC marathon and they are pretty far away from each other and I think that was when I realized just how far 26. 2 miles is. Instead of getting intimidated by it, I got excited!
When we finished the Brooklyn Bridge, we went to the SVU court house (the NYC Supreme Court). I became very emotional being infront of this building. It was massive and had been such an important part of my life. We took several pictures before getting hot dogs. I ordered it wrong, I guess, because the hot dog was spicer than I could eat. I know that isn't saying much, but even Rhiannon had trouble and couldn't finish it.
Well, then we checked and still no paycheck. We knew we had to go to Madison Square Garden by 7 and it is 2pm. It was a 3 mile walk to MSG, so we decided to start walking and we would just take our time getting there. I checked and my phone was at 2%. We found a tea shop and stopped there for a while to charge my phone. While sitting there, I decided that we were going to take the Subway for the first time ever because I did not want to walk another 3 miles in 90*. It was overwhelming getting into the Subway, but once we were on it...it was so easy. I don't know why I have been so afraid to ride the subway, but we will be taking it from now on. We came up in Penn Station and had 4 hours to kill before we could get into The Garden for the watch party, still had no money and my phone was dying. We stopped at a bar that had charging ports. We ordered the cheapest thing on the menu and sat there charging my phone. We were also on the phone with Rhiannon's job and our bank trying to figure out what happened. Finally, we left Penn Station and went up to MSG and hung out with other Knicks fans. While we were out there, Rhiannon's check hit!!!! We went back to Penn Station, rented a portable charger, ate a cookie, and got gatorade to hydrate.
Going into MSG for this game was another dream come true. It was a beautiful arena! The arena treats the watch parties just like a game. There was entertainment. Chanting. The organist. A halftime show. It was so much fun! Watching the game with 19k other Knicks fans was exactly what I thought it would be. The energy was electric. When the Knicks won, the arena SHOOK with excitment! Leaving the arena was a different story. There were around 30k (from the watch party in the Garden, a sold out concert, and the out door watch party) people trying to get around the streets of The Garden. They had the sidewalks barricaded. Things were so cramped, I wasn't sure we were going to make it out. Rhiannon and I were fighting for air. The man in front of me almost fell, but I caught him and kept him up. I finally got us to a
barricade and asked the cop if he would let us out so I could get in the taxi right in front of us and he said no we had to go back to the crosswalk. I told him there wasn't a way to get through and he laughed and said "oh well". People were passing out and throwing up. One girl's hair was lit on fire. I made a decision to go back to the crosswalk and open the barricade myself and get us out of there. We walked down the middle of the street for a few
blocks until we could safely get back on the sidewalk. We finally made it back to the hotel about an hour later. It was a very scary moment. The cops said that we "knew what we were getting into" but that just isn't true...we had no idea that we were going to be hereded into a barricade by the NYPD while trying to leave a game. THEY knew what was going to happen, they should have planned better. This was on the NYPD not the fans who were just expecting to see a game and go home.
SUNDAY-JUNE 6th
Rhiannon and I got up early and packed the hotel room. We went to get our car and started our trek home. Getting through the city on a Saturday morning was so easy. Times Square was EMPTY at 8am. It was erie. As we were crossing the George Washington Bridge, I found myself crying once again. This trip was everything and so much more than I expected. The City's magic was back and in full force.
The next two blogs will cover: Walking the Brooklyn Bridge and Mariska Hargitay (I am not ready to process this. I want to hold on to these feelings a little longer before sharing them).
If you made it this far, thank you for staying with me!
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