In honor of Judd’s recent birthday, it’s now time to make good on a promise I made back in May of 2008 to fully detail the exploits of the Judd’s NYC Graduation Celebration Extravaganza. And now, the rest of the story.
The occasion was to celebrate Judd’s college graduation. After many years of fits and starts Judd had finally succeeded in attaining his bachelor’s degree and felt we should celebrate in style.
The weekend began on Thursday night when I had Judd over for dinner. The plan was for him to stay over so we could leave at our leisure the next day directly from Worcester.
On Friday we took off a bit after noon and drove down to NYC. We got to the hotel, the Affinia Dumont, just before dinner and checked in. The hotel was great. It was a suite with two double beds and a pull-out couch. There was an initial misunderstanding with the room as Judd had booked a suite with an additional separate king size bed, but we seemed to have a different room when we arrived. It turns out that we had the additional bed, but it was that he had booked the adjoining room, so we had to go in the door next door and then open the locked shared door.
That evening Judd and I had dinner at the restaurant attached to the hotel, the Barking Dog, while we waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. Pretty ok for a basic meal, but nothing special.
Once everyone arrived we headed out in search of a karaoke bar. We ended up at Sing Sing Karaoke. We proceeded to cram 8 of us in a 6 person private room and then sang our heads off all night. Don’t worry, we kept our throats well hydrated with a number of rounds of drinks. I think I should have realized it was time to cut things off when at one point, rather than leave the room to get the next round myself, I simply handed my AmEx to Cate to buy the next round with. The damage wasn’t that bad. :)
On Saturday, after plenty of water and sleeping late, we headed out to walk around the town, see 5th Avenue and go to various shops and stores. In other words, be tourists.
That evening we went to Ninja restaurant. Ninja was incredible! It was a combination of theatre, fine cuisine, excellent service and great atmosphere. We ate in the Ninja Castle portion of the restaurant. Words really can’t do it justice so I’d recommend looking at the website and then visiting yourself. I’m looking forward to going back there someday.
Sunday morning we had a quintessential staple of NYC, the Sunday brunch. We found a nice little restaurant and enjoyed various confections, pastries, breads and savory treats.
Well fed we headed out to see the Museum of Sex. If you’ve never been, it’s worth going at least once. It’s interesting to see how sex and all things sex related have changed over the years.
On Sunday night we went out to see Rent, which was in it’s final season. It originally was supposed to have closed June 1, 2008, so we were getting to see it in the final weeks. Given the incredible demand because it was closing they ended up extending the run through to September 7, 2008. Our tickets were phenomenal – Center Orchestra, Row A (which is the 3rd row from the stage). It was a great performance and the second time I had seen Rent on Broadway.
Later that evening some went out to Greenwich Village for a blues club, and others just hung around.
Finally, Monday morning rolled around and we packed up the cars and headed home. Overall, an incredible weekend.
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