We left for our honeymoon as the sun rose on Tuesday morning. We boarded our first Porter flight in Ottawa, touched down to change planes in Toronto, then arrived in Newark around noon. We breezed through quick customs line and picked up one suitcase right away. The second one (with all of my clothes) didn’t show up after half a hour, but just as we filled out a missing bag report, one of the luggage handlers unjammed the trolley to unearth one last little grey suitcase – my stuff!

Stephen, my big brother, has been working on Fiddler on the roof for the last few weeks, rehearsing before kicking off a tour. He was waiting fr us once we finally emerged from the baggage claim, and brought us on the shuttle, to the train, and then from Penn Station to our hotel. We were really happy with the hotel – the FlatIron – it’s shiny and new, the helpful front desk staff let us check in early, and in addition to the gorgeous aquarium in the lobby, our room was a decent size, very clean, with an all marble bathroom and a TV in the mirror!

After dropping our bags, we headed out in search of some food. We walked downtown through Union Square, checking out all the buildings, listening to the faint honking of horns, the chatter of endless passersby, with the scent of honey and fresh autumn air filling our senses. New York is bustling, busy, and never dull.

We arrived at S’MAC, a gourmet Mac and Cheese restaurant where you can choose toppings for your macaroni, either from a recommended list or build your own. We opted for the sampler so we could try 6 different kinds. I liked the Buffalo chicken and the pizza varieties the best (the 4 cheese was good too!)

Steve took us on the subway uptown to Times Square and we walked around for a little while, getting some fruit smoothies to offset the greasy noodles. There was a cool music store called Colony with album cover prints and sheet music, a store entirely dedicated to M&Ms, and countless food stands selling everything from pizza and pretzels to bananas and falafels.

We stopped in on a lottery for the Book of Mormon (it’s a hit Broadway play sold out through November) where they drew 11 names for discounted tickets in the front row or in boxes. Then we went around checking out the other theatres and shows, and Stephen bought us tickets, as a wedding gift, to one of my favourite shows pretty much ever.

WICKED is a about the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz, a sort of other side of the story type of thing. The music is dynamite and I was a bit worried that the guys were only going to it because I really wanted to, but once the the music started, and amazing set came to like with dancers in splendid costumes, winged monkeys hanging from the edges of the stage, and the characters were spellbinding – no pun intended. I adored both of the main characters – even their comedic delivery was great – and in the last song of the first act, “Defying Gravity,” Elphaba (the witch) is flown up while singing and it appears that her skirt billows out in smoke and her voice- wow. The whole thing was just unbelievably good.

We headed out afterwards to Times Square to dissect each bit of the amazing show, and wander, and take in the masses of people, the sky high billboards lighting our way.

Day One in New York was incredible. It was almost a sensory overload but the best kind – where you can’t believe your eyes and ears and taking it all in as quickly as you can is the most fun thing you can do. We ended the night by bidding good bye to my brother who was flying out to Alaska in the morning, and grabbing cheese sandwiches and lack and white cookies from a local deli near our hotel.

I felt really lucky that my brother was there to meet us and start integrating us into New York life. Tomorrow we are on our own!