Willdra’s Valiant Venezia Review

[willdra]

Start spreadin' the news, I'm leavin' today

I want to be a part of it

New York, New York

These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray

Right through the very heart of it

New York, New York~Frank Sinatra

 

Hey y’all! Welcome to another installment of where in the world is Willdra, and why in the world is this review so long? If you are new to my reviews, let me apologize in advance for the parts of your life that you will lose, and never regain from reading this. I also apologize to the kids who might get picked up late, and for the dinner that’s delayed. This will not be over quickly. There will be many ramblings and run-ons. You are gonna learn way more about us than you ever wanted to know, and hopefully you won’t hate it.

 

This time I am only traveling with W (a man who married me back when you could go to the pizza buffet and they had red cups at Pizza Hut). We didn’t have an entourage on this trip, our adult offspring and other cruise companions had their own ish going on at the moment. Maybe we will have company on the next cruise. Or maybe not. We’ll just go with the flow.

 

 

Before we get started tho,  I would be remiss (look at me using a college word), if I didn’t thank the reviewers who helped me navigate dem New Yawk streets. My brother from another mother, Jeff Jamman54, Mrs. Patti with the pictures, and my Who Dat homie Saint Greg. I can’t thank y’all enough for the words, information, pictures, and just sheer time that you poured into these pages of Cruise Critic for all of us to behold. Free of charge.  All of your info and intel was spot on and top notch. Your effervescence is unmatched my friends. Plop plop fizz fizz oh what a relief it is, a’int got nothing on y’all!

 

Thanks to those pioneers, we had a pretty decent idea of what we wanted to accomplish in New York City, and much of the homework and research was already done for us.

 

 

The month before the cruise had been a blur of crazy work, driving all over Atlanta, and listening to Blue Ivy’s mom. Thankfully this made the cruise come up so fast! W and I went from thinking of maybe going, to OMG it’s next week, to Oh Lordt we ain’t ready! Then suddenly on the morning of Saturday, May 4, my alarm blared at 4:30 am. Rude.

 

W and I had a different airport parking plan this time. A and Z bought a new house last year, and it’s ITP so we were leaving our car there and we would Lyft to the airport for cheap. Yes, we could’ve had one (or both) of them wake up and drive us, but we figured we would save that favor for another time when we really needed it. Also, Mother’s and Father’s Day were on the horizon and we didn’t want them thinking an airport ride was part of our gifts. Uh uh they weren’t getting off that easy. The devil is a liar!

[willdra]

The alarm was set for 4:30, cuz we needed to leave by 5:30, in order to get there by 6:30. W said that was too early, but his vote is silent, so we were leaving at 5:30. Periodt.

 

I already know what you’re thinking cruise cousins. You’re thinking that I’ve never made it out of the house in less than an hour. Welp, you’re not wrong. However. Due to unfortunate circumstances that were outside of my control, I had to get up and out of the house faster than usual over the past few months.   I’m not proud of this fact, and I suspect that my constitutional right to sleep in was violated (I’m having it looked into), but I did learn how to get out of the house faster than I ever have.

 

When my alarm went off, I jumped right up. I was still good and sleepy but it was time to hit the highway. I could be groggy and complain about being tired when I got back home and had to go back to work. Vacay is about waking up early and being happy about it. Ha.

 

Per our normal routine, W got up after my shower, and started his ritual. When he was done, I hummed “hmm mmmmm” at him cuz I was still marinading my mouth with mouthwash. He said “ok”. Then I laughed and choked on my mouthwash because how did he understand that, but he can’t understand when I say “Can you not splash the bathroom mirror when you brush your teeth” just as plain as day?

 

The assignment that W understood this (one) time was that my bags were ready to go. While W was loading up the car and checking the house to make sure it was still going to be there when we returned, I finished my last minute foolishness.

 

Y’all would be so proud of ya girl. I got it in. At exactly 5:23 I was walking downstairs to indicate my readiness to W. Even he was shocked. I strutted down all puffed up full of myself. That lasted a whole 10.6 seconds. Yeah. Right until I picked up my backpack.

 

One thing that I didn’t do was under pack that thing. It had me feeling like I was carrying a barge on my back. It was giving “You’re gonna be looking for a bell tower to climb into after this Quasimodo”. I didn’t have 1 second to spare trying to sort that out either. I would have to see what I could do in the car, but my suitcases were at the max. With no other options, I asked W if he would still love me if I had a hunchback. He said he would, so we locked up and left. I guess we will have to find out.

 

When we put our destination into Waze, our travel time was only 40 minutes. W didn’t even look at me. He knew better. 40 minutes was unheard of to get down there. Like what kind of sorcery was this? I think W did something to Waze to make it say just 40 minutes. Fishy.

 

Y’all. There was absolutely no traffic. We had to touch almost every major highway in Atlanta and there was about 1/4 teaspoon of traffic all together. It was a dream. Since we were so early I told W we should stop to get food. This made him happy. Typical W.

 

So he pulled into a McDonalds. Excuse me. Did we just meet? Are you new here? He continued this bizarre behavior even with the super sized side eye that I was serving. My eyeballs were literally searing a hole in the side of his face like Homelander. He then had the cheek, the nerve, the gall, the audacity, and the gumption to ask me if I wanted something. Huh? That’s when I started to feel like he had it all planned the whole time. He didn’t miss a beat. He knew I was gonna say “no” all along. He had his order already out of the holster ready to go as soon as he drove up too. Didn’t even have to think about it. Traitor. Turncoat. I’ll let him have this one tho. This. One.

 

W got his food (I think I even heard him giggle a little) and I jumped out to throw away the trash after he was done. One thing I do not like is trash in my car. Especially fast food trash. I also did not want to think about how that would smell in the car after 2 weeks. Double yuck with cheese.

 

Right when we pulled into A and Z’s driveway, the sky opened up and it started pouring rain. Like huh? Why now Lordt? To make it even more fun, our Lyft driver was early and he was 3 minutes away. Perfect timing. We were gonna have to make it work.

 

After they got everything loaded up I asked W if he had his wallet, phone, and keys. He did. I double checked to make sure I was good too. I was.

 

When W got into the Lyft, the lights on the car lit up like he had started the car. W is notorious for pressing buttons on the key fob by accident while he’s trying to put it away. I looked at him and said “Did you just start the car?” I checked the app on my phone real quick and thankfully he hadn’t started it, but he did unlock it. I locked it back in the app while we were driving away. Thank God for technology. We also left a key fob with A and Z in case they needed to move the car while we were gone, so we will see how that goes too.

 

[SCOOBY3015]

Following 💖

[willdra]

Our driver was very nice. I paid a little more for an SUV since we had larger suitcases. We got to ATL at 6:44. I pulled up our boarding passes to add them to our Apple Wallets and immediately saw an issue. Precheck was not on my boarding pass! What in the Bell Biv Devoe is this?!?!!! We hopped out of the Lyft and as soon as I got on the curb I jumped into Southwest’s app to try to fix it. I did everything I could, and my Known Traveler Number was there still, but it wouldn’t put it on my pass. W’s was on his pass, but not mine.

 

With no other choice, we went on inside to check our luggage and see if we could get it fixed. As I was checking in, I had an option to enter it on the kiosk, but it gave me the same error. This was so bizarre.

 

We printed out our tickets and tags, then went to turn in our bags. When we got to the agent, one of my bags was overweight by 3 pounds. 3 pounds y’all. The agent said she could fix my PreCheck, but we had to rearrange the bags. Say less.

 

W had lots of room in his bags, so I just took out one of my packing cubes (Thank you God for packing cubes!) and threw it into his bag. This was so crazy cuz the bag was still going on the plane with us, but whatever.

 

After we overcame that inconvenience, Mrs. Phylis (we were  BFF’s by then) got to work on fixing my PreCheck. She asked me some questions and quickly realized they had my birthday wrong in Southwest’s system. How sway? I never changed it. After a few clickity clacks on her keyboard Mrs. Phylis handed me a new boarding pass with my PreCheck printed prominently on the top. Mrs Phylis saved my life. Thank you sweet baby Jesus that I looked at my boarding pass before we got to PreCheck! They really look to make sure it’s printed on there and they will send you all the way back to the ghetto in the ATL. They.Do.Not.Play.

 

W and I walked into Pre at 7:20. We exited 8 minutes later. God bless you and all of your future generations Mrs. Phylis!

 

After TSA, we got on the train back in gen pop. We took the short ride to Concourse C, then exited to Gate 10. Y’all already know I was going to CFA after I put my bag down. The line was long but it moved fast like CFA lines usually do. When I got back W said it took me 12 minutes. Good to know McDonald's man. Good to know. 

 

[willdra]

I ate, pecked out these notes, and very soon it was time for boarding. W and I got our stuff together then lined up. We were in A35 and A36. Southwest was actually having a good sale, not one of the fake ones, when I booked these tickets. Early Bird Check In was included this time, which was great, cuz I normally pay more for it. It is very worth it since they have the open seating policy.

 

When we boarded, I chose row 7 so we could have the aisle and middle seat. I only had one question as I sat down. Who’s Nana did I sit by? This lady said “Play with your X Box, don’t play with me!” She already had her little sandwich and her snack. She was ready for it all. It made my heart and my lips smile at how precious she was.

 

W and I piled in and I let Nana have both of the armrests too cuz I know she was tired from getting up, packing, getting her brunch ready, and getting to the airport. Get you some rest Nana. We are about to be in NYC!

 

As expected Nana was great neighbor. She stayed in her lane and didn’t take up any extra space. After she had her meal, she was out like a light for the rest of the flight.

 

Almost as soon as we reached cruising altitude, the flight attendants quickly took drink orders, brought those out, collected trash, then we were approaching LaGuardia. This was a quick flight. It was about an hour and a half total. 

 

Nana and her brunch

[willdra]

Since we were in the front, we thought we would get right off, when we hit the ground. It didn’t work like that this time. I don’t know why, but people in the front had bags in the middle to get. W was handing people bags from all around him. You can check 2 bags free on Southwest. Why bring them on when they can be checked? For free. Make it make sense.

 

Meanwhile we were still trapped in ROW 7 when there was a lady of very mature age times two, who was in a wheelchair earlier, getting one of the bags from an overhead bin.  She dropped it. I started looking around. Now who’s Mawmaw is this????? Can y'all help her puhlease??? Finally I told W “That’s enough. They gotta help themselves. I’m done with people making their problem our problem. This lady was with 2 other able bodied grown adults in her party. Why did they send her back there to get the bag? Then just watch her drop it? ” Nah, I didn’t sign up for this. I’m out. I made sure our neighbor Nana was straight, which of course she was, cuz she checked her bags, and we all dipped out. 

 

Again, for the people in the back. Southwest allows you to check 2 bags for free. Mrs. Phylis might make you shuffle your crap around if one of those bags is over 50 pounds tho.

 

We exited after my proclamation and walked a long way down to baggage claim. We waited a few minutes then the carousel started turning and bags started dropping. We got ours 10 minutes later, and happily exited the premises.

 

 

 

[willdra]

At around 11:51, we walked out to the taxi stand. I checked Lyft and Uber while we were waiting for our bags, and it was around 70-100 plus dollars to our hotel. The taxi was a flat rate of $60. I was also checking a week or so before we left home and Lyft and Uber we consistently more expensive. I know we could take the Subway but I only want to do that after I’m familiar with the area. I don’t want to run into a set of 400 stairs and not know how to find the escalator or elevator especially in New York. No bueno. Not today. The taxis are lined up for miles and you really just walk out, they load up your luggage, and you jump in. We sped off at 11:53.

 

Whew. The first thing I notice is….this is a different kind of driving up here y’all. This guy wasn’t flying. He was falling with style. I had to immejetly invoke my self preservation tactics that are reserved for W’s driving. Stay calm. Look at your phone. Glance up every now and then. Breathe deeply. Think happy thoughts. Pray. Repeat.

 

When we got in heavy traffic, and the swerving stopped, I could look up and get more views of the city. There was a lot of everything. Everywhere. There were so many things to look at, I didn’t know where to focus. It took around 40 minutes to get to our hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

We were staying at Fairfield Inn and Suites on 42nd Street in Times Square. I got it for $200/night thru our corporate Concur site at work since we can book personal hotels there as well. When we got there our room was not ready but they offered to store our bags, so we could go sightseeing while we waited for our room.

 

Before we left, I wanted to get some stuff outta my bag. By the time we finished, the Service Rep called us over, and said he had our room ready. Excuse me say what? He said “We upgraded you so you can check in now or you can wait to check into your room later. The upgrade is on a lower floor tho“.    A quick glance at W,  and we decided that were taking the room on the lower floor.  I didn’t even know that I’d picked a higher floor.  He really could’ve just given me any room, I really only check if I know I’m getting a one bedroom suite. Since I knew I didn’t get that this time, I wasn’t pressed either way.

 

We checked in and went up to our room. The hallways and our room were itty bitty. There wasn’t a lot of extra space to work with. The hotel was nice tho and it felt very safe. They kept the entrance locked at all times and the keycard was used to access everything, even every floor on the elevators. It was like that in LA as well. We got situated in the room a little, I took pictures, then we ventured out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pirate4me2]

Whoo hoo, perfect way to help me deal with my PCB (post cruise blues)! I’m here for the journey!

[willdra]

We had 3 pm reservations for the Empire State Building tour. Our other reservation was at 8pm for Moulin Rouge. The hotel was very close to both venues so we could walk. It was chilly outside, and W had the nerve to say he was glad that he was smart and brought his jacket. Hmmm that was funny cuz I had to almost fight him to make him bring it. He kept saying “I’m not bringing a jacket, it’s gonna be hot”. Sir. New York ain’t GA or FL! I promise you it will be anything, but hot, it will not. He finally came to his senses when he saw that it might rain on Sunday.

 

We walked out of the hotel shortly after 1pm heading into Times Square. After about 10 minutes, W started walking really slow. I know right. W already walks slow, so this was cold molasses slow.  I asked him what was wrong cuz I knew something had to be wrong. He wouldn’t tell me. He kept saying “nothing”. We passed a CVS so I asked if he needed anything out of there, and he declined. Now I know W. Something was rotten in the cotton. A few minutes went by and he finally said he felt like he needed food. OK, now we’re getting somewhere. He was about to make me put dem skippity paps on him if he didn’t tell me. I don’t know why he tries to pretend that nothing is wrong when it is super obvious that something is very wrong. You are not 22 anymore man. Just tell me so we can fix it and move on.  We stepped aside (a must if your are on the sidewalk and you need to stop to look for directions on your phone), then found a place to get pizza.

 

NY is a pizza lovers paradise. There was pizza in every direction. You literally could go about 10 feet in any direction, and boom. Pizza.  Huge varieties of pizza. I felt like I could ask for some dumb combination like tuna salad pizza, and they would have it. Since W’s no fun, we just got some plain Jane pepperoni, with extra heartburn. They heated it up so it was almost burning a hole in the box like a lava rock, then packed it up to go. Once we got the volcanic pizza, we realized there was nowhere to eat in the restaurant, so we took it outside. We went to eat in front of the Macy’s on 34th St in Herald Square.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

We found a table and quickly dug in. After that first bite, I knew why Jesus wept. Y’all. New Yawk has been gatekeeping this pizza from us, and they are so wrong (and right) for that.

 

While we were out there eating,  a “choir” came up and started having a whole church service by us. It would’ve been fine except they couldn’t sing. At all. Not one drop. Remember that scene in “A Christmas Story” when the fam went to the Chinese Restaurant at the end and the staff started singing Deck the Halls? That’s what I heard. It was good and terrible. They were so bad, W wouldn’t even turn around and look at them. He said he couldn’t do it and keep a straight face. I wanted to just go up and tell them “I don’t know who told y’all to do this, but you need to go back and fight ‘em cuz they are not your friend, and they might hate you a little”. It was a shame too, I wanted to like them so bad, cuz they had confidence and they loved the Lord. I don’t know if he loved that sanging tho. Shiver.

 

We ate fast so that we could get out of there before our ears started bleeding, since I was fresh out of ear bandaids.

 

We stopped in the Harry Potter Store on the way to the Empire State Building.  It was attached to “Harry Potter The Exhibition”. When I was in my planning phase, I considered purchasing tickets for the exhibition, but the reviews aren’t that great, and there are so many other authentic New York things that we wanted to experience, it just didn’t make sense. Needless to say, I was not surprised when everything was pricey in the store, so we about faced, and walked right out.  There are so many better options to procure HP merch. This a’int that. Pass.

 

 

 

 

 

[jimbo5544]

Hooked me, I am along for the ride.  We do have to work on that pizza thing tho......

[willdra]

We were still a little early, but we walked towards the Empire State Building anyway. Our ticket time was 3, we got there around 2:25. We inquired, and the doorman said it was close enough, and he let us in. I’d reserved the tickets through CityPass. In CityPass, you can pick the number of activities you would like to do. I did 2 since we already had Moulin Rouge and The MET booked separately. I knew we wanted to go to Empire State and we would choose one of the other activities on their list for Sunday. We were thinking it would be the 911 Museum and Memorial.

 

Anywho we walked in and went thru security with a big group. We stripped down, took everything off (not everything just jackets, bags, and phones), and walked thru the scanners. I set off the alarm, but I guess I looked innocent cuz the security guard just glanced at me and started doing something else. Oh ok it’s like that. Mkaay.

 

So we walked thru and put our jackets and bags back on. We were able to separate from the group at the entrance to the scanners. They held them back to account for everyone. Thank goodness. We did not want to be stuck behind whatever that was they had going on (not that we were that much better). I scanned my CityPass, and the gates opened. I turned around to hand W my phone to scan his pass, but he had entered with me. The alarm was kinda going off too, since both of us walked in, but it was very quiet. For a split second, W almost turned around, but I told him to just come on thru. If security approached us, we could scan him in, otherwise we would keep it moving. Nobody even looked at us. We kept it moving.

 

I started to wonder tho, “Why do we have to be Lucy and Ethel everywhere we go?” Does this happen to other people, or is it just us? We have been in this building 10 minutes, and we have already setoff 2 alarms. Sheesh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ninjacat123]

Woo hoo!! Here for more fun👍😁💃🏻

[willdra]

We walked on in and started exploring. It’s very neat inside. First you explore the history of how the building was built. They have some little film clips and excerpts. Then there’s a movie screen with clips from different movies featuring the building. There’s a photo spot to take a photo with King Kong which was popular. We didn’t want to wait in line, so W and I snapped a shot of King Kong between people going in. Next we got on the elevator going up to the 80th floor. The elevators have screens in the ceiling that show this video of construction workers working on the building. Cute.

 

The 80th floor is an indoor observation area. It was apparent upon arrival up there that we were no longer in the polite, wait your turn, please, thank you, excuse me, south anymore. People got in front of us, went around us, and did their thing. We just moved down to an open space or waited for someone to finish. We were in no rush. We took a lot of pictures all around that floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

After that we got on another elevator that took us to the 86th floor. This is where the outside observation area is. It was Funky Cold Medina up there y’all! Fuhreezing!! My hands were instant icicles. We took pictures expeditiously then made our next plan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ninjacat123]

We saw Moulin Rouge here in Charlotte!! Great show!!

[willdra]

We had a little free time until Moulin Rouge at 8, and I wanted to go ahead and ride the Statin Island Ferry.

 

We sat down inside while W took a very long time mapping out our route. I asked what the delay was, and he said he was trying to see if we should buy subway passes. Everything was close to us it really wasn’t going to be cost effective. He was also trying to see if he could prepay for the passes. I told him that our bank sent me a notification as soon as we landed at LGA saying that wherever I saw the OMNY sign, all I had to do was tap my phone to pay for train rides. No ticket was necessary. He said he didn’t get a notification. I wasn’t surprised, cuz W really doesn’t use his phone like that.

 

Sitting there was futile, so we walked out of the Empire State Building after he figured out which train we needed to take. Supposedly. His signal was going in and out, so as much as I hated it, we looked liked tourists for a minute. We finally got to the entrance to the station at Herald Square, and it only took us like 5 minutes to walk there. We got down to the entry, I tapped my phone, I got a green GO, and an arrow, then I walked thru the gate. I turned around and Ethel had stopped at the window to talk to the ticket agent. He was over there trying to ask them what to do cuz he’s still stuck in 1976. I told him to tap his phone like I did. He went to the OMNY and tapped his phone, but he had to use Apple Pay, which still worked. Then we were both in. Finally. So I look at him and go “Alright what’s the next step?”  We had to search for the R train. We found it after a minute. It was down the stairs and to the right but going against some heavy, angry looking, pedestrian traffic. Pure chaos. Dios mio.

 

Once we got down the stairs it calmed down some. The train arrived fast but it was packed. We squeezed on, and all was well. At the first stop a lot of people got off. Good. I asked W what our stop was. He looked at me. That meant he didn’t know. Nice. So he dug out his phone and checked. I know him. You gotta keep asking or he will have us riding this train like we’re the conductors all night. He said it was like 10 stops. After 2 stops we got seats and the ride was much better. It thinned out a lot with each stop.

 

[willdra]

We exited on our stop and walked a little bit to the ferry entrance. The Staten Island Ferry is free. You literally just walk in stand behind a whole lot of people, wait for them to open a big door, then pile on. I watched a couple of really good YouTube videos on riding while we were planning, so I knew to get on the ferry, go up the stairs, then go outside on the right side. That’s the side that would be facing the statue. That’s exactly what we did.

 

We were in front of the people sitting on the benches, but apparently they sit there planning not to see, cuz nobody was paying them any attention. At first, I was trying not to block anybody and being all polite, but then I noticed that the people on the benches weren’t even trying to take pictures or see the statue really, so then I relaxed. Everyone loaded the boat like cattle going to slaughter. W said it was giving every zombie apocalypse movie he’s ever seen. After everyone was on, we shoved off and within maybe 7 or 8 minutes our girl came into view. I took a minute to appreciate her before taking pictures. When we got closer, I got some decent pictures. After W and I got the shots that we wanted, we moved inside to give others a chance to take pictures too. It’s not all about us. This time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

We enjoyed the rest of the short ride over and exited leisurely when the ferry docked. When the ferry docs, the move is to run around and try to immediately catch the next ferry back. We saw people falling down, racing, and risking it all trying to catch that thing. There are police officers there to lock the gates and send people back when the ferry fills up. They need them too, cuz this one guy started arguing with them about letting his family on with him. Sir. You can wait with them. They don’t have to go with you. There are other options. Like are you seriously about to risk getting injured, arrested, detained, and/or fined for this ferry business? Insanity.

 

I told W we weren’t even gonna walk fast. We get there when we get there. We found seats and waited for the next one. They come every 30 minutes. The one we were on went out of service so they were only running one at that time. We found somewhere to sit until it was time to get on.

 

We boarded the ferry going back at 6. This was a lot less crowded than before. We sat outside and we had a clear view. Now going back, the boat is farther away from the statue, so the views of her aren’t as good. The ride takes a good 35 minutes so give yourself time if you are pressed. We were not. At least that’s what we thought.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

W said we would get back to the hotel right at 7, so we would have to get something to eat on the way back. We exited when the boat docked, went down into the subway station, dinged our phones, and we were on the train in no time.

There was a noticeable smell coming from something or someone so I looked around to make sure that I wasn’t sitting in or by it. W knew what I was doing, so he leaned over and whispered that it was coming from a guy across from us.  I can’t even describe how bad it was. Like something died a long long time ago, but nobody buried it. After we sat down away from him, the smell went away a little. Then it came back again when the guy got up to leave. Uggghhhh what the heck did he do to smell like that??? Whatever it was please don’t ever let me mess around and do that. That was the most offensive smell I’ve ever smelled in my 54 years of life. Jesus be some Lysol and nose plugs. Por favor.

 

 

 

[willdra]

We got off at around 6:45 and walked back to our hotel from the station. It was a quick 10 minute walk, so W’s estimate was on point. For a change. We dropped off our bags, freshened up a little,  then went to get food on the way to the show. Google Maps was showing about an 11 minute walk to the theater. Along the way, we spotted a burger place and ducked in there. It was called Burger Mania, and I was so skeptical at first, but it won, cuz they had seats, which is very unusual. The burgers were hot, fast, and one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. I’m not even a huge burger fan. I get my fix at GBJ and honestly that’s about it. This Burger Mania burger would have me coming back if we lived there, and that’s saying a lot for me. The fries were good too.

 

On the other hand, W got me a bottle of water to go with my burger, but I don’t know who he thought I was, cuz there was no way I was drinking spring water. I would rather put a straw in the Hudson River and just drink that. Hard Pass. I turned up my nose at his spring water, and drank some of his Diet Coke. Put that pond water in your pocket Ethel, cuz I ain’t drinking it.

 

Even tho that day was jam packed, we were still excited to go see the show. We decided to see Moulin Rouge this time cuz we saw Hamilton already back in February with A and Z when it was in Atlanta at the Fox Theater. Also as a bonus Boy George was playing Harold Zidler while we were in NY so we had to see that.