NY must hate me..

I don't know why.. but every time i plan to do a big day of exploring in this city.. it decided to bring on horrible weather that prevents me from doing so!

Left the hostel in light showers. Didn't bother me as i didn't have far to walk to the subway.. so didn't get wet too much.

Headed back to the WTC site to see the preview model and museum on the other side. It was very interesting and very emotional. There were people there walking around the exhibition with tears in their eyes.
What they are going to do with the site looks amazing. Where the two towers originally stood, there will be two memorial pools in its place. The pools are actually like waterfalls in a way.. better to see the pic than have me try to explain it.. would get too complicated. But the unique thing is that inside both pools will be the names of those who lost their lives that day.
On the large site where the remaining WTC buildings were will be a memorial museum and some shops (i think).
The neat thing is that if you jump online to the museum's website, you can actually see a live camera view of how construction is going :-)
Better view that what i could get there.. in person!

By the time i finished at the museum, the rain had gotten stronger. And to top it off.. the wind started to kick in. Decided to try and walk to Wall Street to see the stock exchange building and then move onto Brooklyn Bridge (which was only a stone throw away from wall street).. of course because it was wet my map was useless (actually.. not useless, destroyed!) so i tried to find it off the top of my head..
Well.. i made it to Brooklyn Bridge only to find out that the Police had blocked off all pedestrian access due to the strong winds. By strong i mean super strong.. at one stage i was walking in the one spot and not moving due to the winds!
So asked the policeman which way was quicker to get to wall street and he said all the roads in that direction were closed and that they were telling everyone to either get inside or use the subway. So what a start to the day... first i get rained on (no point for an umbrella.. within 5 mins of the rain and wind starting, the streets began to fill with broken umbrellas!) and nearly blown away, then the 2 things i really wanted to do were closed down!!

Ended up jumping onto a train to Grand Central Station to visit the station but also to walk to the UN building. The station was really busy with people trying to avoid the rain, but also waiting to see if their trains to other cities in the US were cancelled due to the weather. After exploring the station for a bit, headed back out into the horrible weather to see the UN building. By now all 4 layers of clothing i was wearing was soaking wet.. not a fun day, especially when i had planned out the remaining clean clothes for the final few days.. and was now going to have to change this.
What should have been a quick 5 min walk to the UN building turned into a 25 min fight against the wind. By the time i got there, the building was on lockdown (wasn't planning to go in anyway.. i think they stopped letting public in a few years ago), all the nations flags were removed from the flag poles and the building just looked plain. But i still took photos.. after all, i had battled to see the damn thing! Walked back to grand central as all taxis were taken.. got even more wet. Grr..

Caught a train up to central park to go visit the museums. Had planned to see all 3 remaining museums around the park on this day.. only to find out that the Met was closed on mondays. Really.. could anything else go wrong??
Went to the Guggenheim Museum and was so disappointed.. 50% of the venue was closed due to installations of new exhibitions. It was a repeat of MOMA.. but worse! I think i was in the museum for just on 1/2 an hour.. 1/2 an hour for a museum.. what is going on??

Decided to walk through Central Park to get to the Museum of Natural History as the Met was closed. Hit Central Park and again.. more closures. No traffic which was good.. but half the walking tracks were blocked off due to the weather. Really New York.. why do you hate me???
Finally made it to the other side of Central Park (found the police precinct in the park which was cool) and found the MNH. Because of my city pass i got a free ticket to the planeterium which was super cool.. narrated by whoopi goldburg herself ;-)
Totally forgot that this was the museum that the movie 'Night at the Museum' was based on.. that's how annoyed i was at the day. But i perked up when i started seeing familiar things :-P
I found Jub Jub, Rex, the cheeky monkeys.. it was classic! I would have loved to have stayed there for longer.. but i still had so much to get done. But i would have to say the MNH was one of my favourite museums :-)

It finally stopped raining when i left the museum. Walked across the road to Central Park and hiked a bit more till i hit Strawberry Fields. Took a few photos, then back on a train to 50th Ave to make a quick stop at Wicked. Discovered that i wouldn't be back in time to try wicked lottery for the final time, so went to see if they had any tickets available for the matinee.. and they did :-) So bought my ticket and decided to head back to the hostel to get out of my wet clothes and try and dry them quickly for later.
Ended up getting distracted on the way home by the only and only... NAKED COWBOY!!
This guy has been MIA since i arrived on the 15th of Jan. Of course he makes an appearance just before i leave for home.. but i got my photo so it's all worth it ;-) The guy is a bit of a sleeze.. but all the women love him.. lol

Arrived back at the hostel, changed into clothes planned for Madison and put all my wet gear onto the heater to dry.. but of course.. today was the one day when the heater wasn't put on by management all day.. so my clothes never dried!

Headed to In the Heights to try lottery there and didn't win.. so headed across to Next to Normal. Have to say though.. the heights crew must have been super busy last night as the entire theatre had new images of Corbin as Usnavi in time for his first show.
Next to Normal lottery was packed. I knew there were seats still available to purchase.. but i wanted to try and win lottery. It got down to the final 2 tickets and i still hadn't been called.. I was so desperate to see the show one more time! Suddenly a guy in the line pulled out and didn't want his ticket. Because it was a single.. me being a smart ass said i'd buy it off him. The lottery guy just laughed and said the ticket was back up for grabs. So not cool!!
Another name was pulled out.. not mine. Now only one ticket was left.. He pulled out another name and was like 'oh, this is good luck. this person only wanted one and there is one left!... i think it's eliz..abeth bl..ox..som?'
OMG... i won the final ticket in lottery!!!! haha

Ended up back at juniors for dinner as it took forever to get my ticket. Grilled cheese and ham sandwich with a pineapple ice cream float.. yummy!! Then back across the road to the theatre..

Sadly Alice wasn't on (she had been off the past 2 days) but i got to see Jessica Phillips her understudy in the role instead. She is amazing! So strong.. you wouldn't think she was the understudy! She has a very different take on the character which was refreshing..
I think Jessica was great.. but i feel like the role was written/made for Alice. I don't know what it is.. but she seems to really REALLY bring out the character.
But it was great to see the show again.. no matter what the cast as they're all fantastic :-)

After the show i got to meet Jessica which was great. She's such a nice girl.. thought it was funny that i was actually one of the few who wasn't disappointed to see her name up on the board. After meeting Jessica, the security guy at the stage door took me backstage and i got to meet the production stage manager Judy. Spent a while talking to her about study, the show, broadway.. was great to hear an opinion from someone on broadway :-) Now i know what to expect from both theatre capitals.. London and New York.

Then it was back to the hostel to pack my bags and then get 2 hours sleep before my shuttle arrived for my flight the next day :-S