A trip to NYC to take in a weekend of Broadway shows with my mom has been on my bucket list for several years, and we finally made it a reality last weekend!
Mom and I flew in on Friday morning, flew out Monday afternoon, and managed to cram in four Broadway musicals, a trip to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, and a seven-mile round trip walk to the 9/11 Memorial. It was the best weekend!
{Views of the city as we were landing. I can’t fly anywhere without taking photos for my airplane nut, Mason!}
{Our first musical: Six. We had no intentions of seeing this musical, but we were meeting up with my mom’s college friend and she wanted to see it. So, why not?! So glad we did! The music and the energy were great. And our second-row seats weren’t too shabby, either!}
The next day we had two shows planned, but first: a trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
{A view of the city from the pedestal of the Statue. It was windy!}
{Looking up at the Statue from the pedestal. Way bigger in person than I imagined it would be!}
{Though we didn’t buy tickets to go to the top of the Statue, this would have been the spiral staircase we would have taken.}
{A selfie with Lady Liberty.}
{I noticed the life vests boarded up in the ceiling on our boat ride to Ellis Island. Easily accessible in case of emergency?}
{Ellis Island is where my Great Grandmother first set foot on American land almost exactly 100 years ago. Knowing that we were walking on the same floor she did and looking at the same tiled ceiling she did was incredible. It gave me a connection to my Great Grandma that I never had before. And we were able to find her name on the list of immigrants--no easy task as there were more than 700 panels of names! After spending the morning immersed in our family's history, it was time to head back to our hotel in preparation of our next musical. Easier said than done as a motorcycle parade with more than 1,000 bikes was heading towards us at the same time. That was something I had never seen before!}
{A matinee Moulin Rouge immediately following our morning excursion. This isn’t the first time we have seen this musical, and I imagine it won’t be the last. Everything about Moulin Rouge is perfect. A favorite of mine, for sure!}
{A couple of hours after we wrapped Moulin Rouge, we were in our seats for our next musical: Chicago. This has been my favorite musical for nearly 20 years. The songs, the dancing, the story. All of it is on point. And to see it in NYC as Broadway’s current longest running show had me with stars in my eyes. Except that the actors seemed to have been there since the first curtain. Something unappealing about watching a 59-year-old Roxy play the part of a 20-something. Whatever. It was still great!}
(The next morning we set out early with a long walk on a beautiful day to go to Ground Zero. Seeing the memorial was one thing, but walking through the museum filled me with emotions as we were immersed in stories, footage, relics, and debris. Photography wasn't allowed in the majority of the museum, which forced us to all absorb--without distraction--the sights around us. It was heavy, but a truly amazing tribute and recount of our nation's most devastating day.}
{Across the street from Ground Zero was this most peculiar building. Turns out it is a mall. This picture is of the inside, where the stores are located below the ground. So bizarre!}
{Our last of four Broadway shows: & Juliet. It was a witty and fun sing-a-long as most songs were pop hits written by none other than Max Martin seen in the picture above with fellow writers and producers of the show. They were sitting next to us. No big deal. I definitely think we will be seeing this one again!}
{Taking in the city. Times Square was one block over from our hotel, and it was nonstop packed. It didn't matter what time of day we were passing through, we were body to body!}
{The view from our hotel room. It was bright. It was loud. It was obnoxiously NYC. It was perfect!}
Let's go back!
