M&M&M's adventures - New York day 2

We must have been extra tired after all the walking yesterday and all forgot to set alarms. We woke up at 8.45am and had tickets to the a tv show taping of The View. As priority guests we were meant to be there at 8.30am... Whoops.

The instructions had asked us to wear some flashy clothes as if we were going to a Broadway play. So after dressing up, we headed uptown to the ABC studios located near the Lincoln centre... There was a chance they may still let us in...

We got in and it was loads of fun being there. There was an audience director who was hyping up the audience and giving us cues on when to clap. 

Today's special guest was Ed O'Neill promoting Finding Dory

The taping took just over and hour for the show and another half hour for the after show live Facebook feed. The live show brought up issues related to gun laws and the recent Orlando shootings. Then they had a special guest Ed O'Neill (Married with Children, Modern Family and Hank the octopus in the recent release movie Finding Dory). 

After the show they brought the couch out and it was an informal live stream after show and audience members were prepped to ask questions of the View members and they also responded to their Twitter feed.

After the live taping finished, we were quickly ushered out of the building.

We were lucky to come upon some markets outside the Lincoln centre. Apparently these markets are only on Thursdays so we were in luck. I bought a homemade chocolate chip cookie and an apple donut (which was breakfast considering we didn't get any in all the rush to get to the tv studios). There was also some freshly squeezed apple cider (it was called cider but was a non-alcoholic juice really). It was a cloudy brown colour and really sweet and was probably from some sweet red apples. 

The day was a bit overcast with patches of drizzle or rain so we weren't too keen on being outdoors. We decided to explore the west village a bit. We had thought to go and grab lunch at Cafe Lalo which is the cafe in the movie "You've Got Mail". 

We ended up walking past a Jewish deli named Zabars which is also in the movie. We stopped and got some lunch. The cafe is attached to a market so we browsed and got some Jewish food to share. We bought a potato and onion Knish as well as a spinach triangle and potato latkis (which is a fried potato fritter). It's nice to share be able to share our food as it means we can try more things. 

After lunch we walked to the Museum of Natural History. Admission to the museum is an interesting thing. Admission is $22 or $27 for admission and one special exhibition. But under the sign of pricing is a note that you can talk to the cashier and pay whatever you like for admission but if you want to go to a special exhibition it's $25. I thought that was great because let's say I arrive very late and can only stay 30mins or and hour there, I can tell the cashier I only want to pay $5 or $10 which is an appropriate amount given the time. Or if you are from the Bronx and don't have much money then they make sure that the museum is accessible to everybody. 

Inside the museum, we each did our own thing and arranged to meet up around 5pm so we had a couple of hours to explor on our own. I went to the exhibition of "the World Inside Us" which was all about the ubiquity and necessity of bacteria in our lives. 

One of the current theories about the increase in childhood allergies is that it's linked to the rise in babies born via Caesarian section. Babies born C-section are not exposed to the mother's natural bacteria that starts the development of the immune system. I thought the exhibit seemed to have an agenda in promoting natural births... 

I wandered around the museum for a bit before meeting up with my friends. 

I really did enjoy the Museum of Natural History but didn't have nearly enough time to see the whole museum. I would recommend at least 4hours to visit. 

But my brief visit made me think a bit about my bible college days and studying the history in the Bible. The museum had displays of artifacts dating back to the Persian empire, the Greek period and other artifacts that correlate to biblical historical context. We have so much evidence that the events in the bible occurred and I was seeing so much of it with my own eyes. It just convinces me more and more of Biblical truth. 

After the museum we walked through the western side of Central Park. I really liked the turtles in the lake cos they were just sooo cute. 

Near 65th street along Central Park west are a couple of buildings of interest. We walked past them taking photos of the building facades which were the ones in "3 Men and a Baby" (The Prasada) and "Ghostbusters" (Spook Central).

La Prasada

Spook Central

After that it was time to pick up our tickets and go to the theatre. We had booked discount tickets to see The King and I and it was such a great show. I had seen it before but Marika was keen to see something at the Lincoln centre and I was keen to see Daniel Dae Kim (Chin Ho Kelly in Hawaii five o).

Afterwards we waited by the stage door and the stars came out. Managed to have a brief chat and take a picture with Daniel which I must say was probably the highlight of my trip this far...

So being so hyped up after the musical, we decided to have a late dinner?/supper at Ellen's Stardust Diner as Michelle had never been before. 

All of the waitstaff at the diner are aspiring actors, singers and musicians. The tips go towards their music and acting classes. Whilst you eat, they put on a bit of a show for you. They would sing popular Broadway and pop hits. The atmosphere in the diner is a lot of fun. 

What a long day we had... After that we stumbled back to our hotel pooped. Ready for some rest and to have another busy day tomorrow...