For Christmas, my wonderful boyfriend Ryan got my cousin Sam and I tickets to see Wicked on Broadway. I have obsessed over the musical for years, and I was so excited to finally see it live! On Sunday, we took the train into the city for the day and had a blast.
Despite my love for Boston, I don’t consider myself a “city person”. I typically detest the smells, crowded streets/roads/subways, and jacked up prices associated with any major city. Especially New York. However, this outing into the Big Apple was my first in a while, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had and how little stress I felt.
We started off with brunch at Marseille, a gorgeous French restaurant on 9th Avenue. I had done lots of research on Yelp beforehand and drew the conclusion that this place was delicious and reasonably priced, which were really my only criteria!
They gave us cute mini spiced muffins and hearty bread to start off. I probably could have filled up solely on those smothered in the yummy jam they served on the side. I had a delicious mimosa, too. They must make their own orange juice because it tasted super fresh.
The moment I saw “Nutella Croissant” on the menu, I nearly drooled all over the table. I just had to have it. Sam refused to split it with me, so I was forced to endure flaky, chocolatey deliciousness all on my own. How awful! The croissant was about the size of my head, and I couldn’t have been happier.
For my meal, I ordered the Mushroom Pain Perdu - parmesan brioche french toast with mushroom ragout, topped with two eggs and a rich red wine sauce. I loved that there was just a hint of sweetness to the french toast while the rest was very savory. The red wine sauce was strong without being overpowering, and was probably my favorite part of the dish.
I know it doesn’t look like much from the photo, but I left with a very happy tummy!
We back tracked over to Times Square and decided to be touristy for a bit. I was excited to go to M&M’s World for the first time, and it was great! As you might imagine it’s very colorful inside, and there’s M&M merchandise and candy everywhere. My favorite element was the candy dispensers on the wall. They showed off every color and flavor of M&M imaginable, including ones that I’d never even heard of! I was tempted to buy some of the “Sparkle Collection”, but I resisted.
It was finally showtime! I found out that the Gershwin Theatre, where Wicked has been performed for years, has the most seating out of all the Broadway theaters. It’s no wonder they needed that much space to accommodate an audience for this show – it was packed! We sat in the first row of the mezzanine and had a great view overlooking the stage.
For those of you unfamiliar with Wicked, it’s a very clever story. It’s meant to be a sort of prequel to The Wizard of Oz and tells the tale of a woman named Elphaba, better known as The Wicked Witch of the West. It’s all about her life before Dorothy came to Oz, and how she really became known as a wicked witch. It gives explanations for many of the major elements of The Wizard of Oz, such as the ruby red slippers, the Lion/Tin Man/Scarecrow, the strange departure of the Wizard toward the end of the story, and much more. It’s also got a steamy romance and tons of hilarious moments, so I’d highly recommend it. Even if you’re not the biggest Broadway fan, it is a really incredible production.
I might have teared up a little at the end.
We had some time to kill before catching our train back home, so we walked back to Bryant Park, next to the New York Public Library. I had been there before during the summertime, but the set up was completely different than it was last time I had visited! They had a huge Christmas tree, an ice skating rink, and small kiosks lined up in a row that sold crafts and food. Most of the kiosks were closing up as we got there, but we managed to take a peek into a few of them.
Our last stop before boarding the train was a tiny cupcake shop we had spotted earlier – Baked by Melissa. And by “tiny cupcake shop” I mean both that the shop was small in size, and that the cupcakes themselves were mini! I had tasted these adorable little sweets before but had never seen the shop, so we made sure to stop in and take some to go. Baked by Melissa’s cupcakes can be shipped all over the U.S. and they have tons of creative product ideas for companies and events.
Even though my legs are still sore from all of the walking, I had a wonderful day with Sam and I’m so glad we were able to spend time together. New York isn’t a city I visit often, but based on Sunday’s visit, I’d love to go back soon with friends to do some more touristy activities that I’ve missed out on.
Love to read about everything I allowed you and Sam to do
also, did you know that this site added an ad for football lego’s at the bottom of your post? really weird. didn’t know they could do that.
Really? How odd. They clearly need some help figuring out their target audience if they’re advertising here. I can’t see the ad, can you take a screen shot and send it to me? I’m just curious now.