Monday-Day 4

               First, we woke up and went jogging in Central Park. We walked there, jogged for 20 minutes in the park, and then jogged most of the way home (distance from hotel to Central Park was 1 mile). The park is beautiful. I had been there before, but Ben hadn’t so he wanted to go. It felt really nice to be running here. And running back through the city to our hotel felt amazing. I don’t know why, but I had this second wind and I felt like I was flying back. And for some reason dodging all the people was fun too.

                We chilled at the hotel until we had to check out, then we adventured in downtown New York for the rest of the day. We found a good place for lunch, a place that had so many different types of food, and we could all choose what we wanted.  I got a very yummy salad. Wilson got a giant pizza to share with Krista. In the end, we all helped out a little (it was amazing, by the way), and he seriously didn’t eat for a full 24 hours. I calculated it, and he ate a minimum of 95 square inches of pizza. Zach’s pizza was only about 60 square inches. 

                After lunch, my dad, Krista, Ben, and I went to see Cirque du Soleil--Zarkana at Radio City. It was AWESOME! I can’t even describe it. If you have ever seen Cirque, you can understand how awesome it was. If you haven’t, you should find an opportunity to see it, and take the opportunity.

                We met up with everyone else in Rockefeller Square and walked around the shops there. We played a little Nintendo at Nintendo world. And I walked around in some expensive clothing shops with Emily for a bit. Then we pretty much just walked around the city, in and out of stores that looked interesting until we were ready for dinner.

                I had wanted Asian food the entire trip. Krista specifically wanted Japanese food. We found this little hole in the wall place that was amazing. I don’t even know what it was called. All I know is that we found it and were trying to decide if it looked too sketchy to go in. Then, this lady came out and said, “Take it from a native New Yorker, this place is awesome.” It was. It was hands down the best Japanese place I have ever eaten, and it was really cheap considering the food we got. Ben got 2 rolls of sushi for just a few dollars each, and it was good sushi. I am so glad we went there. For those of you who don’t know, both my parents served missions for our church in Japan, so we have a special spot in our hearts for Japanese food. My mom doesn’t make it super often, but we ate it enough growing up to love it. My parents said that place was the most authentic place they have eaten since they went to Japan. Yay for hole-in-the-wall restaurants!

                After dinner, we saw Spider Man- Turn off the Dark, the new Broadway musical! I’ll admit, I haven’t been really excited for it. But, when we got there, I got excited because I knew I would be seeing some awesome special effects. I thought to myself that even if the musical itself wasn’t great, at least I could say I saw a musical that marks history (because of the special effects).

                Honestly, I didn’t like the musical. It would have been a really awesome play, but not with music. In my eyes, the music killed it. Seriously, I don’t think there is much room for music in Spiderman. It needs packed action, not stops to sing songs that aren’t even that great. The special effects were cool, I’ll give it that. I also really liked how they incorporated so much of the comic. The set was made to be like the comic, which I loved. So it had pros and cons. It definitely would have been better simply as a play, but I guess it was worth seeing once. I wouldn’t go back and see it again. I can guarantee that without the music, I would have loved it. Once I disregarded the music, I liked it much better.  I love Broadway. I love beautiful music and acting—I love traditional Broadway. This just did not meet my Broadway expectations (I didn’t have high expectations for this show though, so it did meet my expectations for the show itself). The Spiderman story is good though, and it has deep meanings. I can’t wait to see the movie. It will be a much better Spidey experience.