BEA Recap - Day 2

As much fun as I had on Day 1, I was really looking forward to Day 2 of my New York/BEA Trip. Kathy and I had a ton planned to do that day including some "touristy" stuff.

We woke up at the crack of dawn (not that we really slept much anyway -- you know how it can be when you're staying in a hotel) and headed to the Good Morning America studio. We arrived at 6:15 (just like our tickets said) and got in line. Thank goodness that it was a beautiful day because we waited outside until after 7:00 (we could have arrived at 7:00 without tickets and been in the same situation.) Then we were ushered into a big "holding" room that had some cameras, two chairs, and a monitor showing GMA.

I kid you not -- we stood in this room for almost two hours and saw no Robin, no George, and no guests. (Well that's not entirely true, they did come in for about 2 minutes and recorded a 15 second take.) It wasn't until 8:50 that they moved us outside for the cooking segment with Cat Cora. Of course, Kathy and I were still pretty far back but we did catch glimpses of the co-stars.

Kathy and I decided to stay until the end of the show because the co-hosts were supposed to visit with the studio audience. George waved good-bye and left within a minute of the end of the show, but Robin was extremely gracious. Here's a photo of Kathy and me with Robin (Kathy's less than thrilled with the picture because her eyes are closed, but I still think it's cute!):

I was so disappointed with the entire GMA experience, but I think it's one that I will end up laughing about some day -- I kind of already am!

After a nice walk and a lovely breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien (where we were served by a daughter of a friend of Kathy), we headed back to Times Square for the King Tut Exhibition. I was so excited to have this opportunity because I have always been fascinated by King Tut and ancient Egypt. I have to admit that this is the one non-book event that I was most looking forward to. Kathy and I went all out and got tickets that included the 3D movie and the audio tour, and it was well worth the cost.

I was blown away by the King Tut Exhibit -- it was truly amazing! If you ever have the opportunity to go, do it! I couldn't believe the display pieces. They are absolutely gorgeous, so well preserved, and so incredibly detailed. Here are some of the pieces that were on exhibit:

After we finished looking at all the artifacts, we headed back to John's Pizza for lunch -- I told you the pizza was really good! Then we hung out in Times Square and the M&M Store where we met up with Lenore. Lenore convinced us to walk to the Javits Center from Times Square. It was a pretty hot day, but it was a nice walk (plus the company was terrific!)

We arrived at the Javits Center just in time to get in line for the Editor's Buzz. I really enjoyed last year's Editor's Buzz and I love getting a sneak preview at the "hot" new releases. I'm not going to list all of the books again because I'm sure you've seen some great summaries of the events on other blogs (like this one.) I'll just summarize and say that all of the books looked interesting, but I'm especially excited about ROOM by Emma Donaghue. In fact, one of my mini highlights was seeing Ms. Donaghue behind me in line to get into the panel -- she had on the coolest coat!

Kathy and I decided that the hassle around seeing Barbara Streisand (this year's Keynote Speaker) just wasn't worth it. We debated about going to a Broadway show, but we decided to be more social and attend the teen author event at Books of Wonder. The store was absolutely adorable and there were tons of book bloggers there. It was wonderful putting a face to all of the blogs! About 10 of us decided to grab a bite to eat so we headed down the street to Rosa Mexicano and had a very fun dinner!

At this point, I was getting pretty tired since I'd been up since before 5:00 a.m. I was anxious to catch a cab and get back to our hotel, but Natasha convinced Kathy and me that we could just ride the subway. I was a little leery about navigating the subway system, but Natasha was a pro. It was so quick and easy (and much cheaper than a cab!)

We arrived back at the hotel where I just wanted to crash, but I decided to iron my clothes instead. I actually didn't mind because I was getting ready for Day 1 of BEA and the tea with Adriana Trigiani! I was so excited about the everything that I had a hard time falling asleep, but I did manage to get an okay night of rest!

And that pretty much wraps up my Day 2 in New York!