Friday was a little overcast, but I was determined to make the most of my day. I had actually done almost everything on my list, except visiting the Met, which I had already decided to put off until another visit. So I decided to visit one of my favorite places, the United Nations building. I walked down 45th Street from my hotel. The UN was not that crowded when I arrived. There was a fast-moving line through security, but overall it was not too bad. Since I'd been there before, I decided to forego the tour and instead just hit the bookstore. Of course! And what a bookstore it is! It's really several bookstores, as well as an international shopping extravaganza. :) I spent quite a while there, but had to leave because of the lack of respectable eating options. I ended up not even buying anything. The only things I really wanted were either books that were too heavy to bring home or things that were too expensive.

Anyway, I was eager to get back to meet my sister for our lunch plans. We walked around the corner to 'wichcraft, a delightful sandwich place that was the concept of Tom Colicchio. I had a delicious meatloaf sandwich, and my sister had an onion frittata sandwich. YUM!!! We then walked around the corner to Barnes & Noble. How can we resist any bookstore? My sister bought a couple of things and then had to head back to her meeting.

I decided to rest for a little while, since I knew that it would be a long day. But I couldn't stay down for long. I really didn't have a destination, so I just kind-of wandered around the surrounding streets, looking in some shops but not buying anything. I even ended up at Barnes & Noble again. I felt the overwhelming need to buy a hot dog from the corner vendor. It just seemed like a "New York" thing to do. It was OK but not that great. I should have gotten a bratwurst instead.

My sister came back from her meeting, and we got ready for our night out. We braved the subway again (not novices anymore!) and made our way to Times Square. Lorei had never been to Times Square before, so it was something new for her. It was also pretty much new to me, since it had been at least 10 years since I'd been to NYC, and the whole place had changed. It was packed, as expected, and SO HUGE! We found the Hershey's store, which I'd been wanting to visit since I saw it on Project Runway. The store was even more crowded than the street! Also, the music was way too loud and completely unnecessary. After looking at everything in the store, I settled on Hershey's Kiss cookie cutters and Bubble Yum lip gloss. After all, I figured, I can get the candy almost everywhere.

Then it was time for us to find somewhere to eat. This turned into more work than we anticipated, though we should have. After all, it was a Friday afternoon just before curtain time. We really wanted Chinese food, but the Chinese restaurant was packed. So was the next restaurant we ducked into. We ended up in front of Junior's, which is a New York legend. My sister remembered seeing the restaurant on Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Junior's is a diner/deli-type place with a HUGE menu. They are well-known for their bakery, especially the cheesecake. The restaurant was so full that I almost got smacked in the head by the revolving door because we couldn't get all the way inside. We offered to sit outside (it was COLD!) so that we wouldn't have to wait. We were soon seated, after a little confusion with our name, and we looked over the very extensive menu. We ended up ordering sandwiches, which turned out to be enormous. In retrospect, we decided that we should have shared. In fact, we were so full that we decided to put off dessert until after the theater.

Another advantage of eating at Junior's was the fact that it is just around the corner from the Shubert Theater, where SPAMALOT is playing. We got to the theater pretty early and couldn't figure out why people were lining up to get in. So we went into the gift shop and took some pictures instead. Soon we were allowed to enter the theater. We had to climb up some relatively steep stairs to get to our seats, and then we decided to climb all the way down to use the restrooms before the lines appeared. On our way back to our seats, we decided to stop by the concessions table and see what they had available. My frugality earlier in the day proved to be justified. We ended up spending a lot of money at Spamalot. I bought a shirt that says "Fetchez la vache," a button that says "Ni. Ni. Ni.", a program, and a small rabbit with big pointy teeth. Our seats had a good view but were very uncomfortable. There was barely any leg room. Even my knees were touching the seat in front of me--and I am short. But the show was GREAT!!! I love Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and this was almost like that but a MUSICAL! It was so funny and silly and fun. It really made me happy just to be there in that theater.

When the show was over we went back to Junior's to get a slice of cheesecake and a black and white cookie. We pushed our way into the crowd in Times Square and took in the atmosphere. It was crazy; I can't even imagine being there for New Year's Eve. A regular Friday night was packed enough. We took the subway back to our hotel and ate cheesecake in bed. A perfect ending to a perfect day. :)