The Autumnal Beauty of Central Park.... We say good bye to the Big Apple... Till we come again!

In the Land of Television: Day 2 LIVE WITH KELLY AND RYAN!

Off to ABC Studios on the West Side, at Columbus and 67th.  We needed to get there about 7am to meet cousins John and Margie.  Margie is a Cast Member with Disney, so she gets us VIP tickets, nice! 

We left home at 6:15am and were originally gonna take the train.  The temp was nice enough we walked the 25 blocks.  Very pleasant and a great way to start a day!  

Got to the corner, into the VIP area, and noticed right off... The Starbucks across the street is no longer there.  Well, dang, no easy access to coffee before the show.  (Jerry did find one a couple blocks away and got his Mocha!)

Margie and John showed up and we did the waiting game. Was fun catching up and kept us busy till showtime.

Went into the studio, got our seats and I spoke with Schully about her puppy (also named Oliver) and his instagram page.  Our seats are 2nd row, and as such, we aren't in the camera's view.  BUT, we don't have them in front of Ryan and Kelly, so we can see the actual show better.

About 3/4's of the way through the show, at a break, Kelly came to Margie and Margie had a couple bags of Goldfish crackers (which are Kelly's favorite).  They chatted, hugged and then I was introduced.  Kelly is very sweet and personable.  And, yes she is tiny.  Very friendly, gave a hug and, then, time for the next segment to start and off she went.

Great guests and fun conversation!  They even filmed a segment with another guest after the live show to be shown later.  K and R changed clothes so it will match whatever day it's being shown.
After the show, had a great lunch, stopped off at Pauley Perrette's bakery she is half owner in named after her mom, DonnaBells,  and, then, walked on down to Times Square where we visited the DisneyStore.  Bid adieu to John/Margie and headed home to rest up cuz we've got tickets to see "Come from Away".... very good!  Plus we had some NewFoundland-ers sitting in front of us.  A great time (PS show is based on the book "The Day the World Came to Town", based on planes enroute to USA during Sept 11, 2001.)
Whew.... what a day!

Crazy New Yorker, in Shorts and Sandals and dragging his suitcase!

 Folks trying out to be the dancer!

She was very proud of being from Newfoundland!   

In the Land of Television: Hurry up and Wait! Day 1

At CBS studios, we were seeing "Harry", with Harry Connick Jr.  This is a prerecorded show so things run a bit differently.  And, on this particular day, things were out of order and that added a new wrinkle.  Still, very fun, and Harry is such a super nice guy!  Ended up taking lots of questions from the audience that were not being filmed as crew set up the stage for the interviews.  An older gentleman in front of us (and I was thinking, who and why does this old duffer want to see Harry, seemed out of character looking at the audience as a whole) at one point had Harry's attention and he asked Harry "How would you like to open for Al Jarreau?"  I'm thinking, "What?"  Suddenly, Harry lights up and runs to him... You see, this gentleman, when Harry was trying to break into the industry, was a promoter who was helping him.  They would visit radio stations at all hours for airplay.  THEN, he got a job for Harry as opening act for Al... Harry was almost in tears. See, what a cool guy he is!

Once the show started (and between the takes and set changed) it took 90 minutes.  No cameras at all allowed.  Scenes will be shown on the 13th, 14th and 17th.  By the way, the band is SUPER... and Harry has written all their music!

Here's a tale of a 3, I mean 4, hour Food Tour!

Was gonna be a filling day as we were going on a walking Food Tour: West Village, East Village, Soho, Little Italy, Chinatown, The Lower East Side, and who knows where else!

Guess what?  It was a blast!

We met Dave at a Chocolate Store and another couple from Adelaide, Australia, Jo and Craig, joined us.  

But, before we started the tour, due to mis-timing we had an hour to kill before hand.  Jerry said "Any geocaches around?"  and, yup there was one!  Headed to it, logged our find, and then, we found the front of the house they used for "The Cosby Show" show was right around the corner... cool! Geocaching  shows you the oddest places sometimes!

Now the feasting begins

1.  Hot chocolate at Jacques Torres in Hudson Square

2.  Black pepper sausage at Pino's Prime Meats in Soho

3.  Pakistani Big Mac and soup at Lahore Deli in Soho

4.  Pepperoni Square Pizza at Prince St Pizza in NoLiTa

5.  Lobster Tail pastry at Fererra's in Little Italy

 Dave, our host!

6.  Pandan Ice Cream at Chinatown Ice Cream Factory in Chinatown - a colorful area for sure!

 Not sure if you can see well, but the exotic flavors of Ice Cream are Chocolate, Vanilla, etc.  We had Pandam, made from a green leaf.  Was pretty tasty!

7.  Cantonese Salt Baked Shrimp at Great New York Noodletown in Chinatown

-   View from the top of the hotel at 50 Bowery

8.  Sesame Pancake with Duck at Vanessa's Dumpling House in Chinatown

9.  Pepperoni Slice at Scarr's Pizza in the Lower East Side

 This is the cooked dough for the Thick Style Pizza.  Looked like Foccacia!  The owner, now in his 40's, was a 'stickup' kid in his teens, meaning, stick your hands up, I'm gonna rob you sorta kid!  Doing quite well now!

10.Pickles and Pickled Pepper at Pickle Guys in the Lower East Side

11.Bagel with lox and sour pickles at Russ and Daughters in the Lower East Side

 The  absolute bet Lox and Bagel I have ever had!!!! Fresh Lox sliced oh so thin... Like you could almost see through the slice!

12.Beer at McSorley's in the East Village

 Established in 1854... lots of interesting history... if you have a minute, google it!

 These wish bones are from WWI.  The owner gave everyone going  to war a turkey and said bring the wishbone back and I will keep it here and when you return you can claim it.  These are bones that were never claimed.  There were actually a few more, but they were not kept well and the Health Department made them remove them.  

13.Marinated Fresh Mozzarella at Faicco's in the West Village

As we headed to Faicco's, the drizzly rain started.  And, once in Faicco's I forgot to take pics of the  cheese... was quite good!

14.Hand Piped Cannoli at Rocco's in the West Village

THE END... with full tummies and a special memory!