It's All About the Pretzel Croissant

...but more about that in a moment.

We began our day, um, a little on the late side. After a slow wake-up, some planning (see below, that's G planning all over my bunk), and ticket-procuring, and breakfast downstairs at the Pod Cafe, it was...12:30.
We'd already decided to spring for the hop on/off bus tour to get the lay of the city. We knew only other tourists would be on the bus, and of course that was true. Lots of Southern accents, and lots of foreign visitors who didn't so much follow the narration given by the guide. (Sometimes they talked loudly through it, but to be fair, so did my fellow Americans, but on their cell phones, which is worse, methinks).

To say that the bus tour, and of course really NYC in general, is full of iconic sights may be cliche, but you know, cliches exist for a reason. For someone who's never been here, I must say I did feel a little thrill as we passed all the big hitters: Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Times Square, Wall Street, Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building (embarrassing confession - until today I had collapsed those two into the same building in my mind, even after Jay's amazing Chrysler building dress on Project Runway.) I could have taken pictures of them all and posted them here...but instead, I just took pictures in my mind and for blog purposes here are a few of the sillier moments of the day:

So, near Times Square, there are some flagship candy stores. Hershey's (also of PR fame), and M&M are right across the street from each other. In Hershey, I wanted to buy just one small RPB cup pack, because that's my favorite favorite. Nope, no can do. Everything in the store was huge, gimmicky, and not worth the cash. Oh well. There was a cart outside selling much simpler versions for under a dollar.

We declined to pay $9.99 for the real thing, but anyway there we are on a Hershey Bar. I tried to look surprised. I'm not sure why.

Across the street at the M&M extravaganza, there were walls of every color imaginable:

But since they cost a ridiculous $11/pound, I opted instead to eat a blue peanut one that had fallen down in the grating that catches all the rejects:

Yep, I really did do that. One small, kinda gross, act of civil disobedience. (Later, when I tried to take a picture for my pal D in the Swatch store of a watch that I thought she would like, I was scolded by two employees, so I guess everything evens out in the end).

Whisked away from the Times Square mayhem by our friendly red bus, we chose City Bakery for lunch, upon various recommendations from guidebooks and friends. Yum. Expensive, but yum. The highest yum rating went to our new favorite food item here in NYC: The Pretzel Croissant.

It even has it's own website, here. Now I know, it may not look like much, but in person, it would be hard not to heart it - salty and sweet, soft and crunchy. Wish I could bring some home to share with you all.

Next up was some shopping, including this little store with $98 camisoles and a very funky pink rug:
And then a few more sites...here is my ground zero picture, because the actual site didn't strike a chord with me. It's full of construction, and it's not very clear where the towers were when you just look from the side. It's ringed by chain link fences with green security cloth so you can only see in through small gaps. Instead, I walked a bit away and took this photo. The crane sticking up is where the towers would have been. The two big buildings are way behind them.

This is from the inside of St. Paul's, a church nearby where the community gathered and the rescue workers slept. The things that look like leis are chains of paper cranes sent from Japan. The guy on the right is a 9-11 rescue worker signing books that people were buying like crazy.

On to Wall Street, where I gave the bull a good swift kick in the ___. That's for my IRA.

We headed back to the Pod, had a (very) brief rest, and then back out for a classic NYC dinner,

followed by hot street cart nuts for dessert, and then our first show. We got tickets to Tony-award winning Passing Strange, which was excellent. On the way home after the show, we walked right by 30 Rock (another a-ha moment for me- I didn't know the show was named after 30 Rockefeller Center, but now it ALL makes sense!), and we flirted with the idea of going up to the observation deck at Top of the Rock. But not for long, since it cost $20. Sheesh! Instead, we will all have to be content with this photo of what might have been...

Goodnight, friends!
E&G