The Great White Way

I think that we went to Times Square almost every day during our vacation.  All of the theaters for the Broadway shows were located here, many shops and restaurants were here, and most subway lines had a stop here.  It was a short walk from our hotel to Times Square, so that made it easy to get to.  There was never a shortage of activity in Times Square.  On the first day that we were there, we saw a lot of children's characters in costumes.  The first one we saw was Elmo.  Of course the kids wanted to "go see" him, and they did.  Elmo was friendly to the kids and gave them a hug- and then he turned to me with a money bag for his tip.  Yep- all of the characters in Times Square were there as a job and expected tips.  It was hard telling the kids NOT to go see Hello Kitty, Mickey Mouse, and Cookie Monster- especially since we usually encourage them to do so at places like Disney World.  There were also people there who just flat out asked for money.  One guy had a sign that said he needed money for booze and weed.  The most interesting, though, was the guy with a guitar who was wearing his underwear, a cowboy hat, and boots.  On his underwear was written "The Naked Cowboy".  A little ways down was another guy with a headdress banging a drum.  His underwear let us know that he was "The Naked Indian".  That's something you don't see in South Georgia.  If someone tried to pull that here they'd be "The Naked Inmate".  Times Square was always good for people watching.

Right off of the main square were the two theaters that we went to to see our Broadway shows.  The first show that we saw was "The Lion King".  It was really well done.  The second show that we saw was "Annie".  It was also spectacular.  Melanie went later in the week to see "The Book of Mormon", and she gave it high reviews.  She stated, though, that it was most definitely NOT for kids.