Anniversary in New York

Greg took me to my first Broadway show shortly after we were married. We saw Phantom of the Opera at the Fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis. That was the beginning of my love for theater. I buy season tickets to the Fox every year now. It’s one of my favorite things to do. Greg has been a good sport for most of our marriage, but he opts out of most of the shows now. He doesn’t love theater like I do. My daughters and friends are my Fox buddies now.

For years, one of my dream trips was to stay in the Plaza Hotel in New York and to attend a Broadway show.

I really wanted to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. In 2022, I heard that Phantom of the Opera was going off Broadway at the beginning of 2023. I HAD to see it before it was gone.

Our 36th anniversary was in November of 2022, so I thought it would be fun to celebrate our anniversary in New York. I approached Greg with the idea, (actually I just told him we were going), and he agreed (as if he had a choice). Greg really wanted to see the 911 Museum and the Statue of Liberty, so I made sure I worked those activities into our plans. When I called to make the reservations at the Plaza Hotel, the lady making the reservation asked me if we were coming for any special occasion. I told her it was our anniversary and she said they would do something special for us. My initial intention was to book the hotel for just one night, because the rooms at the Plaza are pretty pricey. But I got caught up in the moment and booked two nights instead. I booked one additional night at the Hampton Inn in Manhattan, which was much more in our price range.

We arrived in New York and took an Uber from the airport to the Hampton Inn. The Uber driver pulled up to a hotel, but it was not the Hampton. He didn’t speak very good English, so we had a hard time communicating to him that we were not in the right place. He indicated that we were where we were supposed to be, and insisted that we get out of the Uber. He drove off, and Greg and I stood with our luggage on the sidewalk on a dark street in Manhattan, wondering what we should do next. We decided to go into the hotel that was not a Hampton and ask them if they knew where the Hampton was. They told us that the Hampton was on the other side of the block. We went back out to the dark street and carried our luggage around the block to find the Hampton. We found the hotel, checked in, and walked down the street to find something to eat.

The next day, we set out to do some sightseeing. The hotel was supposed to be in walking distance of the 911 museum. I had the museum pulled up on my google maps. Greg just took off walking, but he was going in the wrong direction. A little back story…

I am terrible with directions. I can get lost just about anywhere. And if I am lost, I am really, really lost. If I am on a highway that tells the direction, such as 64 West, I’m thinking I’m going west, but I’m never 100% sure. If not for Google maps, I would never get anywhere. On the other hand, Greg has a great sense of direction. If he gets turned around, he can usually find his way back to get to where he needs to go. He was able to do that without Google maps. He is able to look at the sky and know which direction is north, south, east and west. I don’t know how he does that. Typically, I have complete confidence in Greg’s ability to find his way. But in this case, he was going the wrong way. Back to the story…

I called Greg’s name a few times and tried to tell him we were walking in the wrong direction. Greg had never been in New York before, but he was marching along as if he was a regular New Yorker. He was not listening to me. At all. Which is understandable, I guess, considering my ability to get lost. I finally just stopped walking. It took Greg several seconds to realize I was not walking beside him. He stopped, looked around, and then turned back to see that I was just standing on the sidewalk. That got his attention. He came back and asked what I was doing. I very calmly informed him that he was walking in the wrong direction. He looked at my google maps, and decided I was right. We walked in the correct direction and arrived at the 9-11 Memorial and Museum in a few minutes. The museum was very impactful. We learned details of the attacks, saw artifacts and heard a lot of personal stories.

That afternoon, we checked into the New York Plaza Hotel. I was a little nervous, because I had never stayed in a fancy hotel like this. I think I was afraid they would take one look at us and know that we were not high society enough to be in their hotel. But they were so nice! The hotel was decorated for Christmas and it was beautiful.

They carried our bags to our room. When we arrived in our room, there was some complimentary champagne waiting for us since we were celebrating our anniversary. Greg and I are not big drinkers, but we didn’t want the people at the Plaza to feel like we didn’t appreciate the gesture. We opened the champagne, poured some in the glasses, took a sip or two, and then poured it down the sink. It was the thought that counted.

The room was so fancy and the bathtub was huge!

We ate dinner at the hotel. When we went down to the restaurant, they greeted us using our names. How did they know who we were? Most of the time, when hotels know our names, it’s because there has been some kind of problem. We hadn’t caused any trouble yet, as far as I knew. I ordered a salad, and Greg decided to have a burger. He thought the “Impossible burger” sounded interesting, as in “impossibly good.” I eat a vegan diet, so I know an Impossible burger was a plant based burger, but I didn’t realize that was what Greg had ordered. Greg does not eat a vegan diet-in fact he is the opposite of a vegan diet. He refuses to try anything that is considered vegan. He eats meat. His diet consists of pretty much only meat. After Greg ate the entire burger, he commented that it was good, but it tasted a little different. When he told me that it was the Impossible burger, I told him that it was a plant based burger. He confirmed this with the waiter. I think he was a little unsettled that he had willingly eaten a plant based burger, but mostly I think he was just mad that he didn’t think it was awful. I thought that might inspire him to try some of the food I cook, but it has been three years since then, and he is still refusing.

The Plaza Hotel is across the street from Central Park. I’ve heard so much about Central Park, so it was really cool to see it. We walked across the street and walked around a little, so that we could say we had been in Central Park.

We didn’t stay long in the park, though. It was really cold, it was getting dark, and I’ve seen enough Law and Order: SVU to be cautious about being in Central Park at night. I didn’t want to see any dead bodies, and I certainly didn’t want to become one. That night, we went to the theater and we saw Phantom of the Opera. It was wonderful! I’m so glad I had the opportunity to see it in New York before it went off Broadway.

We had some time to walk around Times Square and take some pictures.

The next day, we had plans to take the ferry to Liberty Island, and then we had tickets to go the theater again that night to see Beetlejuice. We had breakfast in the hotel dining room. They knew our names there too. Weird. We weren’t wearing nametags or anything.

I have a confession. I love little jars like this.

I have been known to take unused jars of catsup or jelly off room service trays that people have placed outside their room when they are finished with their meals. I mean…they’re just going to throw them away anyway, right? I bought a really cute Nutella one in Portugal and one with pumpkin jam. I haven’t been able to bring myself to open them and eat the Nutella or the jam yet because the little jars are so cute. But I left the ones at the Plaza on the table. I wanted the staff to keep remembering our names because we were guests at the hotel, not because I was caught stealing little jars. Knowing my passion for these little jars, the kids sent me this advent jelly calendar one Christmas. It was so fun eating one of these on toast every morning. Aren’t they cute? I may be a little obsessed.

Before we left for the day, we stopped at the concierge and asked him for recommendations for a restaurant for that night, since it was the day of our anniversary. The concierge asked us about the type of food we liked, and he said he would take care of it. Well, ok then.

We left for the day. We toured the Statue of Liberty and walked around the island for a while.

We were able to get some good pictures of the Manhattan skyline from Liberty Island.

We went to the Statue of Liberty Museum.

We hopped back on the ferry and went to Ellis Island. Greg looked in the Ellis Island archives for his ancestors who came to the US from Germany many years ago.

When we arrived back at the hotel, the concierge saw us walk in and motioned us over. He handed us a piece of paper that had the name of an Italian restaurant and the time of the reservation.

We got ready and left for the theater. At the Plaza, when we stepped outside the hotel, there was a man in a uniform and he asked us if we needed a taxi. When we said “yes,” he immediately flagged down a taxi and motioned us over. Wow. I’m sure we would have been standing there forever waiting on a taxi if we had tried to flag one down. We got in the taxi and went to see the show. It was so good! Greg liked it so much he was willing to see it again when it came on at the Fox in St. Louis.

After the show, we tried to get a taxi outside the theater, but there were hundreds of other people attempting to do the same thing. I don’t think we had the right skills to get a taxi in New York outside a theater after a show. The show ran longer than expected, and we were running a little late for our dinner reservation, so we desperately needed a taxi. Greg saw a pedicab, and decided we needed to take that. I thought it sounded like fun, so off we went. The driver gave us a blanket and he gave us a little mini tour of New York, playing Christmas music and pointing out some of the sights. Some people waved at us as we rode by. I’m not sure why they were waving, but Greg acted like a true midwesterner and waved back.

We ended up being late for our dinner reservation, but they held the reservation, mostly because it had been made by the concierge at the Plaza. When Greg asked the pedicab driver how much to pay for the fare, the driver said “$225.” Excuse me, what? ” $225 dollars?! Well, I guess that was a lesson learned. We went in the restaurant with our pockets significantly lighter than they were before the pedicab ride, but the restaurant staff was very friendly and attentive, and we had a really nice dinner. The restaurant staff arranged for a REGULAR cab back to the hotel, and we spent our last night in luxury at the hotel before heading to the airport the next day.

This trip was so much fun. We were able to have an experience that we had never had before. I’m all about budget travel and getting good deals, but every now and then it feels good to splurge a little. Especially for special occasions. I’m so glad Greg and I took this trip. However, when I take a trip, I don’t really check it off and say, “Ok, I’ve done that. I’m satisfied.” Taking a trip just makes me want to go back and do it again. Hopefully, I can do a trip like this again sometime in the future. But I may be done with pedicabs.

Tips:

1. To splurge on a really nice hotel experience, check out the New York Plaza Hotel. Find more information on the Plaza at http://www.theplazany.com.
2. The staff at New York Plaza Hotel remembers your name even if you have not caused any trouble.
3. I think you can swim in the bathtub in the rooms at the Plaza if you would like to.
4. Google maps is more accurate for getting around New York than a man from the midwest with a good sense of direction who has never been to New York.
5. Just because you walk in Central Park does not guarantee you are going to see Mariska Hargitay or Christopher Meloni of Law and Order: SVU. Disappointing, I know, but true.
6. Pedicabs are a fun way to see some of the city, but be prepared to pay a lot for the ride.
7. I recommend going to the 911 Memorial and Museum. Tickets can be found at https://tickets.911memorial.org
8. We booked our tickets for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island through Statue City Cruises. Go to http://www.cityexperiences.com.
9. There are a number of ways to book Broadway tickets. A lot of times, if I know the name of the show I want to see, I just google the name of the show, adding “New York” and some options to buy tickets will pop up. Other options include newyorktheaterguide.com, or http://www.broadway.com. Also, if you know the name of the theater, you can google the name of the theater and buy tickets there. Example, for the Majestic theater, you can find tickets at https://shubert.nyc/theatres/majestic/