The Bronx is up, The Battery's down

My whirlwind tour of New York was loads of fun.  Exhausting.  Energizing.  The wedding was beautiful.  The two grooms have been together for twenty years and were finally able to be legally recognized as married. Sadly, it's not legal in their home state, how unfortunate.  But the love shared, joy expressed, both made the day celebratory and glorious.  I'm so happy to have been there.

And I highly recommend stopping by St. Ann's in Brooklyn Heights if you ever get the chance.  What a gorgeous church--they're currently looking for about $40 million to help restore the sanctuary.  One of you can surely cover that, right?

My mother and I also enjoyed a couple of delicious meals.  The first was at The Place, a cozy restaurant in the West Village.  I completely out-ordered my mom by having the corn risotto and then the seafood chowder.  You ordered SOUP as your main course?  Yes, meanie.  I am currently in a land-locked city. I wanted some fish, dammit! And I got it piled high in the bowl.

Our second meal was brunch at DBGB Kitchen and Bar.  Loved the pastry basket, loved the service, and apparently, the busboy loved *me*.  I even spoke loudly of my happy marriage and lovely children and still got some serious stares.  Jean-Luc (the guy was French and we all know that every French guy is named Jean-Luc or Pierrre), you'd better watch out because while Ryan agrees that I'm a sight to see, you'd better have been staring at the food in my teeth or my skirt tucked into my underwear, and nothing else!  Consider yourself warned.  Oh, and speaking of Ryan, our adorable waitress shares my husband's name--she put up with us asking about all the ingredients in the gumbo as well as the delicious mustard sauce.

We also saw a show!  No tickets to be had for The Book of Mormon (surprise, surprise) so we went to Seminar.  It was a smart, vulgar comedy about a writer (played by Alan Rickman--you know the guy.  The quiet, handsome Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility.  The cute fellah from Love Actually.  The greasy Severus Snape from The series-that-shall-not-be-named.)  who has four students seeking feedback on their work.  Anyone who has been in academia should see the play--I had flashbacks to courses in which some were praised for no apparent reason while others decimated for equally absent reason.  It was a 90 minute play, just about right. My booty was throbbing and the gal next to me was practically leaning on my shoulder. Guess she had a long day, too.

After the show, people waited outside for Rickman and Jerry O'Connell (playing one of the students) to emerge from the theater.  People were taking pictures with their phones and iPads.  I didn't bother because I had already gotten my picture taken with Alan (yeah, we're on a first name basis).

See how easy that was?  I didn't have to chase him down.  And he looks so realistically detached from our obvious bond! Oh, what an actor.

I would say, though, that the two grooms were a bit sweeter than Alan.  What a great trip!