Ballet and Stephen Colbert

Today was my last full day in New York. And it was a great day indeed.

This morning I got an opportunity to take 2 ballet classes at Steps on Broadway. It is a pretty well-known studio. There are plenty of professional dancers who take class there. I persuaded Ivana to take the beginner class with me. I took the intermediate class as well. (Ivana waited for me in the lobby.) It was fun. The technique is somewhat different from what I am used to; the instructor gave me a few corrections, as well as a few complements ^^ It was great to take class in New York. After all the walking I did these past few days, I think my body really wanted to move. On a more exciting note, I got to meet (and take class with) Sierra Boggess! She is a musical theatre actress; I got to see her perform live the last time I was in New York. Instead of just watching her perform, I got to dance along-side her, which was a new experience. She seems really sweet and was nice enough to take a picture with me, so yay!

It's Sierra Boggess! And she takes ballet classes!

After Steps, Ivana and I headed to the Ed Sullivan Theatre for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert! If you do not know, Stephen Colbert is my favorite late-night talk show host, so it was a real treat to be in the studio with him. The guests were great (Rachel Maddow was informative and shared her views on current political issues and Ben Platt performed a song from his musical) and Stephen was very funny. But what I enjoyed more than I thought I would was the band. The live jazz music was phenomenal. I couldn’t stop cheering for the band and couldn’t stop from dancing to their music.

Why, hello Mr. Colbert!

 For our last meal for this New York trip, Ivana and I went to Serendipity. Although this place is mostly known for their desserts, I was surprised to find myself really enjoying their Steak Char Char. (I think my body was craving some red meat.) After a great dinner, we got the Frozen Hot Chocolate- after all, you can’t go to Serendipity and NOT get a Frozen Hot Chocolate.

Here’s to a great trip! Hopefully I will be able to come back real soon.

A Stroll Through the Park and Mr. Groban

Today was a very relaxing day. Ivana and I were able to take it slow and enjoy ourselves. For starters, I slept in... on a Sunday!

The first item on our agenda was to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I visited the Met the last time I was here, but the museum is so grand and there are so many different exhibits, that it's near impossible to go through the entire museum in one day! This time, I went through the ancient Greek and Roman exhibits. The craftsmanship, the fine attention to detail, and the patterns were truly breath-taking.

Side note: today was the AIDS Walk in New York and so a lot of the streets near Central Park were closed off, which meant that we couldn't take the bus to the museum. So we ended up walking from our hotel- through the park- to the Met. It was a long walk (we are estimating about 2 miles) but it was still nice. Today was a gorgeous day and so it was a nice detour. Otherwise, we might not have even visited Central Park.

After the Met, we headed back down to Time Square to watch our second musical of the trip: The Great Comet (ie Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812). I got to watch another one of my favorite artists perform: Josh Groban. A true talent he is; he sounds just as good live as he does in his recordings. (No autotune or voice-box use for him!) A highlight of this trip indeed!

It's Josh Groban!!

If you can't tell from this, the musical is very interactive, from the set-up of the stage and audience seating, to the music and the show itself.

After the musical, we headed to Trattoria Trecolori for a good Italian dinner. It's in the middle of Time Square and was just a block away from the Imperial Theatre (where The Great Comet is). We even got dessert!

Though it seems like we didn't do "as much" today as yesterday, it was still very enjoyable. Usually, I try to pack in as much as I possibly can during these trips, to ensure I get my money's worth. However, it was so much better to take things slow and just savor the now.

Also... Hamilton! I didn't see it on Broadway, but I still couldn't resist visiting the Richard Rodgers Theatre and seeing the marquee!

Getting Reacquainted with New York

According to my previous blog, it has been almost 3 years since I was last in New York. This time around, I get to do all the things I missed out on last time. That means visiting different museums and exhibits, eating a variety of food, and watching new shows.

So let's begin with today. It was a full day indeed. At this point, I have been up for 40 hours (minus a few cat naps on the plane and in the hotel). Ivana and I left Los Angeles around 11pm Friday night, I was unable to fall asleep on the plane, and it didn't help that I had the middle seat. With all the stuff we did today, it's no wonder it truly feels like a long and full day.

Once we arrived at JFK around 7:30am (EST) we took a shuttle down to Grand Central Station. From there we traveled up to our hotel, dropped off our luggage, and dove in head-first to our New York Adventure (part 2). We got street food (Italian sausage dog and chicken kabob) and then went to the Guggenheim Museum. Last time, we didn't get a chance to go in because of their hours. This time, we made sure we had plenty of time. We admired the architecture as well as the artwork. The artwork was more modern than I had expected.

At this point, I hadn't eaten in 15 hours...

The Guggenheim Museum is a huge spiral!

After the museum we headed to Lincoln Center, the performing arts-hub of New York. We went to the Metropolitan Opera House and watched American Ballet Theatre perform Don Quixote. It was a great experience. Though I have seen them perform before, it is different to see them on their home stage. The athleticism of the dancers was just amazing- and so beautiful.

The Metropolitan Opera House

After the ballet, we headed towards our hotel. At this point, both Ivana and I were pretty exhausted and needed a little cat-nap. On our way, we stopped by a local pizza place and picked up a pizza to eat for dessert.

New York pizza!

The last performance of the evening was the Broadway musical Anastasia. It's a new musical, based off the 1997 animated movie. I grew up really enjoying that movie, so the musical was a treat. Plus, Ramin Karimloo, pretty much my favorite musical theatre performer, debuted the new antagonist role, Gleb. The last time I saw him perform live was when I was in New York 3 years ago- he was the lead Jean Val Jean in Les Miserables.

It took us a day, but I think I am refamiliarizing myself with the public transportation system here. "When in Rome..."