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New York City, June 11-15, 2014
Here are some photos from a recent visit to the Big Apple (while Merle is visiting the Philippines).  I went with family friend Paula who preferred to not be in any of the pictures (yeah, sure!!).
I arrived Wed June 11.  Here, I travel to Manhattan with what are clearly my closest friends.
Once in the city, I checked into the hotel, got a slice and went to see my first show, Kinky Boots.  Not only did it rock, and the performances were great, but I had a front row seat!!  Woo hoo!
I noted that after the shows, dedicated fans waited by the stage doors to see their favorite stars.  I saw that the Woody Allen new musical Bullets Over Broadway was playing nearby, and I was able to see one of the stars, previously on Scrubs, Zach Braff.  He was very nice to the people in the crowd, mugging for pics for about ten minutes.
After all that, I was able to rendezvous with my cousin Brian who happened to be in NYC the same week.  I met him at a club where he was with some friends of his, Richard (not pictured), Jerry, and Robert.  We had a great visit taking advantage of not taking a cab and walking back to our respective hotels.  And mugging free!
Thursday, June 12, I started my day with a visit with ZBT frat brother Marty Wolfson whom I hadn't seen for about 30 years.  I suspect we both changed a little, but it was a great visit.
Since Paula was to arrive the evening of June 12, I bought a NY Pass to see some of the touristy stuff in the city.
I saw lots of famous people in Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.
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Some people have told me I look a little like Robin Williams. 
 
Dunno.
Although Maya Angelou recently passed, she was still kind enough to take a picture with me.
The wax reproductions are supposed to be lifesize, as shown here with Yao Ming, who at 7' 6" is one tall Chinese mo fo!
In this museum, there was even a wax figure of someone taking a picture of another wax figure.  I have to admit, that I, along with several other museum guests, were waiting for this lady to take her picture...until someone realized she wasn't moving!  Good one!
After that, I took advantage of NYC's bike sharing program, Citibike, to get around the city.  It actually worked pretty well, where you'd pay the fee for the day, and you could take a bike out for 30 min, but then, just turn in the bike to another station and get another bike.
Aside from keeping the adrenaline going (dodging taxis), it was a good way to see the sights.  At the point where this picture was taken, I was across from a Madison Park.  There was an event there where people were lined up for probably three city blocks to get a hamburger from a new franchise called Shake Shack.  Crazy.  Apparently the burgers are so good, there were even a few cows in line....
Had a chance for a walk through Washington Square Park to see the arch there.
Then, off to the upper west side for a visit to the Natural History Museum. 
 
I did not see Ben Stiller.
There are some big dinosaur skeletons in the front lobby.  So apparently, mankind does walk with the dinosaurs.
Many of the exhibits are like the wax museum for animals.
This tortoise was very lifelike, except for the fact that he was stuffed.  The exhibit noted that this one lived to be 101 years old...
 
but then probably after his final birthday party got hit by a car crossing the street.
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:)
For this snake, the cause of death was listed as...
 
 
back pain.
Thursday evening, Paula arrived.  Next day, we visited the 9/11 memorial.  As one might imagine, there were lots of security guards around.
The new One World Trade Center behind me, the third tallest building in the world.  It's also somewhat difficult to get a perspective of the footprints of the previous twin towers, but they were pretty big.
Friday night, we saw Aladdin.  They had some amazing new technology to have scenes on a flying carpet, leaving everyone scratching their head wondering how they did that.  The show was pretty great.
Saturday matinee, we saw Casa Valentina.  Very good play.
Saturday evening, we saw Pippin.  Both shows were great, although Pippin had sort of a weird ending.
Sunday am, while Paula slept in, I went on a bike ride in Central Park.
I had a chance to see some other sights, like the Guggenheim (left), and the Metropolitan Art Museum (below), with enough time for a photo, but that was about it.
Had a little stroll around the park also, a calming place, aside from the Central Park Father's Day run.  Some of those guys were pretty amazing, running faster than I was riding the bike!
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Then, oh well, back to real life.
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