Two Days in New York

This trip was arranged so that we could watch baseball, but we managed to squeeze in several other New York activities as well. Some highlights of this trip included seeing the Yankees play at Yankee Stadium, sitting in the front row for a taping of the David Letterman Show, and seeing Les Miserables on Broadway.

Quick Tips:

Before visiting New York, remember that things are more expensive than what they probably would be at home. Make sure that you have arranged a hotel in advance and then ask the concierge for a good, reasonably inexpensive neighborhood restaurant that you probably wouldn't otherwise find on your own.

Best Way To Get Around:

Subways are obviously the easiest way to get around New York City and in many ways are synonomous with New York itself. I would advise against trying to drive in the city as parking is nearly impossible to find and if you do find a spot, you might need a PhD to understand that parking rates--as many lots--have an entire board dedicated to charges.

We booked this hotel through Microsoft''s Expedia website through one of their special deals. Expedia said that the Barbizon was a 4 star hotel and we believed them. When we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised at what we found but by no means was this a 4 star hotel in accomodations or service. The hotel has a storied history of being a women''s boarding hotel and only opened up to the general public (read as: to all travelers male and female) in the last 20 or so years. In it''s history it''s played host to some of the most famous women on Broadway and the information book you''ll find in your room will give you all the details you could ever wish to know. Although a very neat, old hotel, we were somewhat disappointed in the size of the rooms. Imagine a room big enough (in width) to barely hold 2 twin beds and still squeeze in a TV and mini bar and a small bathroom. The view from the window was more or less non-existent as it looked directly across to the other part of the hotel, but we didn''t spend much time at the hotel so this wasn''t an issue for us. The Barbizon does have a health club/pool but it is actually run by another entity and they charge a "nominal fee" for use which we didn''t bother to ask about; we were much more interested in getting out and exploring the city. The concierge (when available) was reasonably helpful and was able to take care of most of our questions without any trouble.

If you''re looking for a grand old hotel that you can occasionally book reasonably cheaply through Expedia or Travelocity or some of the other travel sites, the Barbizon would be worth a shot, but if space is what you desire you''d be better suited to look elsewhere.

We were in New York primarily to watch baseball and had headed out from the hotel early in the morning for a 1 o'clock ball game against the Seattle Mariners. We took the subway out to the Bronx, arriving about 10 AM and realized that we were there much too early even for the gates to be open. So, we wandered around the back side of the stadium and picked out a good spot to watch the players arrive and walk into the stadium. Many of them were friendly enough to come over and talk or sign autographs before heading into the locker room. Once the gates opened, we headed straight for center field to Monument Park. After standing in a reasonably long, single file line, we were allowed to descend the stairs behind the center field wall to see the home of the memorials and plaques to the Yankee greats. There is also a neat "Welcome to Monument Park" sign that provides a nice backdrop for a photo to remember the stadium by. We were quickly ushered through as the crowds were pushing down from behind us, but on the way out you pass up the stairs right next to the bullpens and get an otherwise unobtainable view of the bullpens and the field. We chose to sit in the upper deck behind home plate for the game and I must warn you that the seats were narrow and the upper deck very steep; it certainly isn't for the faint of heart. The game was great and we certainly enjoyed visiting this classic, old ballpark. If you're a serious baseball fan, you'll feel the ghosts of hall of famers long past at this park, so go early and enjoy the ambience.

Les Mis is perhaps my favorite musical of all time, and when I knew for sure I would be headed back to New York, I immediately called Ticketmaster to see what tickets would be left for the shows while I was there. We got lucky and got seats second row, center stage. Having seen this show all over the world, I was looking forward to finally having the opportunity to see THE Broadway cast, and I was certainly not disappointed. The cast put on a very first rate performance that left me wanting to go back and see it again. If you're looking for a show to see on Broadway either with family or on your own, Les Mis is a fairly clean, fun show with gorgeous music and nice acting. Since it's been running for quite a while now, tickets aren't too difficult to come by (we bought ours about a month prior to leaving for the city and still got great seats). Although a bit pricier than seeing a traveling cast in your local Broadway series at home, it's worth it to see it on Broadway.

When we had originally planned to visit New York we thought a month or two in advance that we would try and get free tickets for a taping of David Letterman's television show taped at the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway. About a week before we left for NYC, I received a phone call from their productions office telling me that some tickets had opened up and that we could have them if we could answer a simple trivia question about the show (I should note that tickets are often quite difficult to get, often the tickets are gone for shows months in advance, but if you're intersted in going, put your name on the waiting list, cross your fingers, and wait for a call back). The trivia question was easy and we were told when to be at the theater. Upon arriving at the theater we were herded through a line and ultimately into the lobby of the theater to pick up our tickets where we also received directions about when to be back for the taping. As luck would have it, the guy distributing the show information that day was from a town about a half hour away from where I'm originally from in Missouri and pulled us over to the side and placed little blue dot stickers on our tickets. The dots as we later found out, put us in a special line upon returning that allowed us to be the first seated and right down front in the theater. We were told that they give out those stickers on the basis of those fans that look the most enthusiastic when picking up their tickets. So, if you want to see Letterman from the first couple rows, look happy and enthusiastic when you pick up your tickets. After being given a pep talk about what to do and not to do during the taping, we were ushered into the theater and into the front row. The theater is much smaller in person than it looks on television and, yes, it is every bit as cold on the inside as you may have heard. This particular day they had a comedian who warmed up the audience and then the CBS Orchestra played a couple charts before Dave himself came out to welcome the audience and tell a few jokes and take questions from the audience. Then it was show time. The guests on this show were Jordan from CBS' Big Brother and Tom Selleck. The show was a lot of fun and we managed to get the sides of our sunburnt heads on television. It was a lot of fun and it amazed us to see how they tape the show. For example, they really do shoot straight through, no retakes even though the show is shot hours ahead of when it airs on CBS, and they do even pause for commercial breaks during the taping. The CBS Orchestra fills in the commercial time along with some of the funnier clips from Dave's shows over the years on monitors around the theater.

If you're a Letterman fan and are going to be in NYC, check into tickets, you might get lucky and will have a memorable experience seeing Dave in person!