I woke up early Saturday morning to go snarfing. Well equipped with Eeyore, Stu, and a snarf map melydia made for me, I ventured into early morning NYC. It took me about half an hour to properly get my bearings (I kept going the wrong directions along the long blocks, heading toward the river instead of Times Square). I found a few snarfs but once I finally got myself oriented, snarfing was much easier. I even found a couple bonus snarfs and a nice giant Ovechkin in the window of the (closed) NHL store that made me feel right at home.

Times Square

Ovie!

Radio City Music Hall

I picked up some souvenirs and watched vendors in Little Brazil set up for a street fair. I ran into a Harry Potter trash can. And I spent some time appreciating the fire station located right next to my hotel. I spent about an hour trying to find some neat little place open that sold bagels. I was hungry for second breakfast! I thought that would be easy in NYC, but I finally gave up and just hit a Starbucks.

Engine 54

I had just enough time to grab some ice from the ice machine and change before meeting the gang in the lobby to go to the Harry Potter Exhibition. Now that I knew where I was, it was a short walk. And soon we were standing under the Flying Ford, waiting to go inside.

Unlike the Exhibition in Chicago, the time on our ticket wasn’t the time when we got to see the Exhibition, it was just the time we were let into the building to wait in the long line. That took quite a while to get through, but it was worth it once we were inside. Seeing the Exhibition a second time was fantastic. I wasn’t quite as anxious about noticing every detail (last time I literally pulled out a pen and paper and took notes on some of the costumes and props–everything from Sirius’ double shirt collars to the star print on the Gryffindor bed curtains). This time I just went at my own pace and enjoyed it, trying to notice things I hadn’t noticed the first time, by squatting down and looking at the potion bottles under the desk or standing on my toes to look down into the display cases from the top. My favorite prop this time around was Helga Hufflepuff’s cup. It wasn’t quite what I imagined when I read the book, but I love that if you look at it from the top, the inside of the cup appears to have a flower pattern. That’s very Hufflepuffian. There were a small handful of new costumes and props from the Deathly Hallows, as well, so those were nice to see. It felt… complete. I’m very glad I saw it again.

After a difficult time making decisions in the gift shop and wondering how I was going to fit anything in my suitcase for the return trip, I headed back out. My friends had tickets to Pompeii the Exhibit and then wanted to do a big dinner; I had other plans. I took off for more snarfing! Due to my inability to walk in the correct direction 7 times out of 10 that morning, I had only found a dozen snarfs. I was determined to make up for it in the afternoon! Though my feet were killing me, I hit the streets again.

I walked for miles all the way over into the Fashion District and back. I found myself on Fifth Avenue looking across the street for a snarf melydia had described as “NYC landmark plaque on stone pedestal thing. Can be seen from the front doors of the Saks Fifth Avenue store directly across the street from the marker.” I couldn’t see anything of the sort while standing in the doorway, so I crossed the street and found myself in Rockefeller Center for the first time! I hadn’t even known I was nearby. And then I realized the snarf I was looking for WAS Rockefeller Center. *facepalm* So I snarfed and enjoyed the sight. Then I turned around, thinking I could find a bench to sit down on for a few minutes (I was in such pain).

Instead, I saw a two-story LEGO store! Of course I rushed right in. Amazing pick-a-brick wall (yeah, I filled a cup) one of the employees told me was one of the two largest in the world (the one at the Mall of America is apparently big but not curved like this). It was so neat standing at a LEGO store in Rockefeller Center looking at a small LEGO Rockefeller Center. I bought myself an NYC LEGO keychain for my keychain collection as well. The store had some great displays, including a dragon that went in and out of the walls all around the store.

Then I really did have to go sit down for a while. I finished off all the beverages I’d been lugging around (I was buying bottles of gatorade right and left) and tried to figure out if I could even make it back to the hotel my feet hurt so much. I decided to keep going but resigned myself to only getting about half the snarfs on my list.

The ones I did get to were awesome, though. There were some marvelous churches, the New York Public Library, and more than a dozen bonus snarfs on the street I chose to go down on my way home, which I took as a sign that heading home was the right choice.

Library Lion

St. Thomas Church

West 54th Street Houses

Here’s what my snarf map looked like at the end of the day:

I got back to the hotel and asked for a plate and fork. Then I microwaved my doggy bag from the night before for dinner and took a long, cold shower. One little black dress later and I was all set to see a musical on Broadway!

Seeing Dan Radcliffe in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was a strange but wonderful experience. When he was raised up on the window washer board at the beginning, he seemed so close and it hit me: this is a guy from the MOVIES right here in front of me. He’s in the movies and now… he’s in the same room, only feet away. Weird sensation. I thought Dan did a great job. He didn’t blow me away by his performance, but he was a good actor and singer and he was perfect for the role. I also really enjoyed seeing John Laroquette! The fact that he was also in it was one of the deciding factors for me even going on this trip. I enjoyed the musical (yeah, it was sexist, but that was a different time and it was tame compared to Mad Men! LOL).

After the show, we headed to the stage door to see if we could catch a glimpse. The place was packed with wall-to-wall fangirls. After the person with the iPad lowered the device (which was acting like a jumbo-tron for me) I realized I was so far back this was pointless.

I took a walk back to the hotel with Kacy and her daughter through Times Square at night. It was beautiful in a loud, blaring, highly-commercial sort of way. Which is what you want from NYC :-)

I headed back to my room, put my feet up, and tried to work out what I wanted to do Sunday morning. I packed up but I didn’t make any decisions before falling asleep.