Our First Weekend in New York!

Bruce arrived late on Friday night in order to spend the weekend with us. Melissa was supposed to come also, but unfortunately she had to work. We missed her, but hopefully, she will be able to come next weekend! We had a fun weekend! Earlier Saturday morning we decided to go on our first New York subway ride to a souvenir shop in Times Square called Grand Slam New York. Here you see Amanda looking right at home on the subway platform.
It was quite interesting to go to Times Square--a lot more hubbub then we experience near our apartment. It was a lot of fun though and we passed by a huge line of people trying to get discount tickets for Broadway shows. And of course, as you can see--it is raining again!! It didn't dampen our spirits, though and we managed to have a really good day. We went to Macy's and rode the escalators up and down so we could do some browsing! We ended up eating lunch on the 8th floor at Au Bon Pain. It was very yummy indeed! It is interesting to us that when you sit down to eat, you will be eating with someone else! Since there are only three of us, we have found ourselves sharing the fourth seat at our table with another person! I think it is quite interesting that this wouldn't happen in Northern Virginia, at least I have never seen it, even if the casual restaurant was crowded. I'm not sure what the protocol is--should you speak to this person and be friendly? Anyway, that is something different that we've noticed! Here you see Amanda--we went to the large Capezio store in Times Square--where we purchased a Capezio jacket! Amanda was a good sport and let me take a picture of her--not to mention it was a great place to get out the rain!

There was a lot of merchandise in the Capezio store and there was a small bar and floor in the pointe shoe area--the store is on the second floor of a building in Times Square. It was also interesting--we were looking at the DVDs and noticed a DVD of Judy Rice (from SERBA) teaching ballet to girls! We thought that was interesting!
. Then Bruce and I decided that it was our duty to take Amanda to the oldest bar in New York City, so that's what we did (lol)! It is called Pete's Tavern and actually their food is quite delicious. We had a very good time and liked the atmosphere very much. A humorous event

happened while we were eating dinner. We were in our booth, which was right across from the bar when Amanda sneezed. Well all at once seven men at the bar looked at her and said "bless you" in unison. I guess you had to be there, but it was funny at the time and I think that Amanda received a little more attention than she wanted as a result of her sneeze. I guess you can't say New Yorkers aren't polite.
Amanda is looking forward to her classes tomorrow. She starts out with yoga, and in addition to her other classes will also have Leslie Browne for technique and pointe. She was in the movie "The Turning Point" when she was younger and I believe she also teaches at other ABT summer intensives! We hope that you are having a nice Father's Day!

Beth and Amanda