Happy RENT Day!

Laura and I went to New York today for a day in the city and to see RENT.

We drove into the city, like big girls. I drove and am proud to say we got to the theatre with no problems....thanks to my trusty GPS. We made great time, it took just under 2 hours.

We had lunch at The Hard Rock then strolled around Times Square.

The police were setting up for New Year's Eve. There were blockades in place ready for the chaos that will descend upon the city in a few days.

The 2008 sign is already on the main marquee in Times Square... no ball yet though. I guess they don't bring in the bling until New Years Eve.

I have never been to NY this close to New Years so it was really cool to see all of the prep work that goes into the New Year's Eve celebration.

We saw the show. It was great! We actually got to the theatre a little early so we got to see a few of the actors arriving. That was cool to see them as real people in real street clothes. This was Laura's first time seeing the show on Broadway. She was so excited and was all smiles, I think I even saw a tear or two at the end. RENT, it is my all time fave and I think is a Broadway must see. The movie doesn't do the live production justice.

After the show we walked around a little more looking for an authentic slice of NY pizza. We found a cute little bistro in the theatre district and had a quick bite before heading back out into the crowded streets. We made our way to Toys R Us. If you have never been, it is a Toys -R-Us mega store! A 3 story ferris wheel is in the center of the store. There is also a life size 2 story Barbie Dream House, animated Dinosaurs and thousands of people packed in like sardines.

No star sightings this trip. However walking down the street we saw a car escorted by NYPD. All night long we were trying to guess who was in the car. Most of you know I enjoy a star sighting more than anything so my eyes were all over for a glimpse of a celeb. I would have been happy to see a "D-Lister" but no luck this time.

We really wanted to see Rockefeller Center. The tree is still up and who knows when we will get back to NY during the holidays. We hailed a cab... like we were New Yorkers. Jumped in the cab and told the cabbie where we wanted to go. He said "Oh, No.. too crowded.. not going there, get out." We seriously thought he was kidding. I even asked him if he was joking... Anyway, we got kicked out of the cab. Can you believe that? I guess he didn't get the memo that his job was to take people to where they wanted to go. He was the "Cabbie-Nazi". "No ride for you!"

(Reference Soup- Nazi on Sienfeld)

Our show was on 41st street and we had to take the Lincoln Tunnel out of the city back to the NJ Turnpike. It took us 45 minutes to move 4 blocks in the car. That is how busy the city was. Normally Brad and I are in and out with no traffic. Ugh Tourists! :-)

We passed the time by looking into apartments and dreamed about how cool it would be to live in the city. Then once traffic started to move we drifted back to reality and back to life in the burbs.