The Special Ed Mix: Day 12: NYC (5)

Despite going to bed at like 3am, I dragged myself out of bed by 7am trying to be first in line at battery park by 8am. Unfortunately, crown tickets for the Statue of Liberty were sold out until November, so I just had to settle with pedestal access.

Boarding the ferry for liberty island, all I could think of was that Godfather part 2 scene where young Vito and the immigrants stood up in unison as the boat entered the harbor and came into view with the Statue. And to people riding the ferry from Staten Island to Manhattan, it’s just old hat.

Ellis Island

Lower Manhattan

The original torch

An abomination

Ellis Island, New Jersey, Lower Manhattan

Upskirt. Sort of.

People are small

Ellis Island, Main Building, Great Hall

Once again, all I could think of was Godfather part 2.

Americans and their guns

That was 5 hours touring Liberty and Ellis Island.

Random juice truck

Moonshake: banana, mango, papaya.

Pretty refreshing

I didn’t originally plan on this, but I decided to go to a Broadway show. Thankfully the TKTS discount booth guy had a helpful guidebook previewing the current shows because I didn’t do any research beforehand. I settle on “Fela!” produced by Jay-Z, Will Smith and Jada-Pinkett Smith.

Kefir

Tastes pretty much like your standard yogurt drink.

Significant piece of rock

Caracas Arepa Bar

Pabellón Criollo. Venezuelan chocolate milkshake

The beef was good, but too small of a portion. Overpriced at 15 bucks. The milkshake was terrible; it was no different from a slurpee from 7/11.

Because of the 5 hours spent at the island and Caracas Arepa Bar being a little out of the way in East Village, I only had 1 hour until closing at the Museum of Natural History.

Jowen is right on. Once you’ve seen one dead stuff animal, you’ve seen them all. This museum had more prehistoric displays than the Field Museum in Chicago, but otherwise this visit did almost nothing for me.

Shake Shack @ Upper West Side

Single shack burger. Cheese fries.

I decided to have some shake shack again. This time I opted for the single shack burger. Still an awesome burger. The cheese fries was just a glop of process cheese that was merely ok. The back of the bun is closed to catch any juices that would otherwise leak into your wrapper and hand.

The entrance of the Dakota

At this point, the lack of sleep over the last couple of days was catching up to me, so I crashed out on a bench in Central Park.

Where I crashed.

Park meet skyline.

Fela! @ Eugene O’Neill Theatre

Fela is “based on events in the life of groundbreaking Nigerian composer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti, depicting Kuti as the target of 1,000 soldiers determined to put an end to his public performances at the legendary Lagos nightclub The Shrine.” The show has received 11 Tony award nominations (3 wins).

I enjoyed the show. The actor who plays Fela is the main driver of the show while the actress who plays Fela’s mom has a key moment near the end. So if the male lead stinks, this entire play is sunk unless dance troupe is extra-spectacular.