We met up at 10:00 that morning and took the train down to Rector Street to try to see the Yankees ticker tape parade, because the stupid Yankees won the World Series. As I mentioned yesterday, this is probably the biggest display of my true love for my husband. I hate the Yankees. Really hate. The only reason I even enjoyed the World Series this year is because our local Philly cheesesteak place offered a World Series special. Mmmm, cheesesteaks. But, Eric was excited that the Yankees won, and I knew that if he had been in town, he would have tried to go to the parade. Since Amanda was game to check it out with me, I decided to go in his stead, just like with the Olympic Festival.
I mentioned we met up at 10:00 a.m. The parade began at 11:00. I knew there was no chance we'd get close to the front of the street for the parade, especially considering that people were starting to line up by 5:00 a.m. I wanted to do this for Eric, but I just don't care enough to get there that early. Of course, by the time we got down there at 10:30, they had already closed off the entire street where the parade would take place. The cops were on their bullhorns announcing that everyone may as well go home because you won't be able to see the parade. Awesome.
This is a small sampling of the people the cops were saying would not see the parade.Amanda and I would not be deterred, so we continued north to try to find a stop to wiggle our way in. We eventually found ourselves up near Ground Zero. The crowds were still intense, but we managed to make our way closer. However, the closest we could get was still a good solid half-block away. That's the best we could do. So, we just hung out, tried not to get trampled, and gawked at the Yankee crazies. People were INSANE about this parade. They were climbing in trees, on buildings, on garbage trucks, and even on police cars to try to get a glimpse of the parade. People in the surrounding buildings were hanging out windows and throwing toilet paper and newspapers down on the crowd. It was nuts.
A couple of fans in the trees
Crowding on top of a garbage truck
Climbing on a building
Note: I didn't take this picture. I found it on Twitter, but what a great shot of New York insanity.When the Parade actually started, we were able to see the teeniest tiniest bit of the very tippy top of the floats. Great. So, we stood there about five more minutes, then we looked at each other and were both like "okay, that's enough."
We fought our way back through the crowds and then got back on the subway to Bryant Park for Phase 2 of Very New Yorky Day. We stopped for soup at Hale and Hearty then found a good spot around the ice rink at Bryant Park, which was celebrating its Grand Opening that afternoon. The Grand Opening festivities featured singers from Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" show, plus some great ice dancing acts including the Olympic team from the country of Georgia, as well as a national champion ice dancing team called the Haydenettes. It was a very nice show.
The Haydenettes opening the show
"White Christmas" singers
Some sort of performance art on ice. I like to call it "crazy connected girl ice skating."VIDEO: Crazy connected girl ice skating
Georgian ice dancing teamVIDEO: Georgian ice dancers
After the show, I treated Amanda to some hot chocolate and a birthday cupcake from Crumbs, where I had another run-in with Yankee spirit:
Yankees cupcakes at CrumbsDon't worry, I didn't eat one of those. I was hoping they would have my favorite Grasshopper cupcake, but no such luck. So, I tried a cookie dough cupcake, which was also tasty. Amanda and I sat and talked for quite some time before parting ways so I could go home and get the dog to "camp." Then I spent a lonely evening at home (it's so quiet in the apartment with both my boys gone!), packing and getting ready for Florida.
Pretty New Yorky day, no? Stay tuned for more New York fun in tomorrow's post!
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