Day Four: Tea and Sympathy

New York City, NY

We slept in a bit late today, then decided to head back to the West Village to have English Tea at a very cute place called Tea & Sympathy. The food was incredible as was the tea! We did a little shopping in the tea shoppe next door, then walked into the Village for more shopping. The weather was warm enough that we didn’t even need coats! On the way, we came upon a memorial to the victims of 9-11, a collection of handpainted tiles hanging on a chain-link fence on a street corner – it was very emotional to read the tiles from children and adults alike. We kept walking and walking and shopping and shopping, eventually making our way through SoHo and Nolita into Chinatown where the girls put their bargaining skills to work. Savannah was so good – she set a price and wouldn’t budge! The shopkeepers kept trying to get her to pay more, but she just walked out if they wouldn’t meet her price. Sometimes they would chase her down the street, agreeing to meet her price! She wound up buying two purses and a ring! We did have a couple of sketchy Chinatown experiences, going behind hidden doorways, up staircases, into rooms filled with “fakes” – handbags, luggage, sunglasses, etc. Those places always creep me out, but it does make for some good stories! Once we were finished shopping, we hopped in a cab back to our hotel to drop off our bags, then walked a couple of blocks over to Ise Sushi for dinner – yummy! Then, it was time to get a cab to the Theatre District for Rent. We bought a couple of t-shirts before the show started, then sat down. The sound in the first act was really off, so at intermission I asked the sound guy if he could turn up the vocals – he thanked me for letting him know that we couldn’t hear. 🙂 The second act was much better! After the show, we waited outside the theatre to meet the actors. We took pictures with Roger and with Mark. The girls were in heaven because “Roger” was this incredibly good-looking British guy with the best voice! But, before we saw those two actors, Morgan thought she saw another guy from the show and asked if she could take a picture with him. He smirked and said, “Yes,” and then he and everyone standing around started cracking up because he wasn’t even in the show! Morgan was a little embarrassed, but we all laughed it off, and, again, it made for a good story! 🙂 Once we were convinced no other actors were coming out, we headed over to a cafe a block or two over for hot chocolate and dessert. We ended up sitting in there talking until after 1am! There was a sketchy guy sitting at the table behind us who was making astrological charts, so we asked him to read our palms. He gave us a couple of vague predictions, then we caught a cab back to our hotel to pack and get some sleep.