Jazz hands and Russian hats

Sunday was really our first proper day here and we had a nice little lie in and then arranged to meet up around 12ish as today was 'Chicago day'!
I was so excited about actually seeing Chicago on Broadway --even though it was actually 49th street but you know what I mean.
We headed up to a cafe place (Mother Burger) on 48th and 8th and met Helen there.. It was ACE to see her and we're all a bit astounded that this actually has happened and we are all here together!
The service was pleasant enough but very slow. We were getting really angsty about it as we absolutely had to be at the theatre by 2.20pm latest and it was approaching 2pm and we still had no food.. I went and chased it up and they had it out with us in no time thankfully. Though we did have to ask for the bill at the same time as the food arrived on our table!
We wolfed our food down and then headed off to the theatre - thankfully it was only a block away.
Our seats were just fabulous, front row of the mezzanine - centre left (yay well done me!)... H had managed to get herself  a ticket for the row behind us so we could keep waving our jazz hands at her! Unfortunately for her she had a very loved up couple directly in front of her who kept snogging.. I mean really guys. No need.
The performance was amazing, I was enraptured from the off. I had to really hold myself back from singing and dancing my way through it!  Cell Block Tango was just sublime and I nearly cried I was so happy to be there, with my darling Dan and my wonderful friends actually watching Chicago in NYC. It was a proper pinch yourself moment.
The Ambassador theatre is really old and only has one set of toilets so the interval was a bit of a battle to say the least. Thankfully, I got tapped on the shoulder whilst at the back of this stupidly long queue and got taken off to the 'secret toilets' where there was only a handful of people queuing!
Made it back to my seat just in time and a lot more comfortable ;-) hahaha..
The 2nd half was just as fabulous as the first and Dan even enjoyed it too...

We had reservations at Russian Samovar - a place that Ilya and Jason had previously found and loved and had made good friends with a couple of the guys that work there...- but before then we went for a couple of drinks in 'West End bar and grill' , which was a little bar that Dan and I had previously found!  R.S was literally 4 streets away so we had lots of time to relax and catch up.
Finally headed off to the restaurant and J and Ilya saw their friend as we approached which was great. They had been a bit gutted that he wasn't actually working on Sunday so they were really happy to see him if only briefly and he took us into the restuarant and showed us to our table.
Its a really great place, Russian Samovar. They have a pianist in there and it feels quite classy and like a world a way from a standard NYC bar/restaurant.  Helen and I did some great chair dancing and singalongs to some of the tunes we recognised. I personally suspect the pianist thought we were murdering them but at least we were showing that we were listening!! They did also have a singer on who was very good but seemed to need to sing everything off an iPad.. yet she works there regularly and by all accounts sings pretty much the same songs!  Ilya mouthed along to a number of songs too which was an achievement we were told as he normally only knows one line of every song!!!
We were looked after by Moon (another friend of J & I's) and he was just so funny. A real character.. He got us all shots and even had one or two with us.. btw, this place makes their own flavoured vodkas. They are delicious and I think we did a very good job of trying most of them whilst in there!
The cocktails were flowing too as was the beer for Dan and Ilya!  and more and more and more shots ;-)
Ilya chose a selection of Russian


appetisers for us all to share, which were delicious and then we all had our chosen mains. I had the hen. Now those guys love their garlic to say the least!   Woooooo!
Thank god we all had very garlicky mains so no-one was a stinker on their own.. hahaha..
Ahh we had a bloody great night in there and stayed right to the end. They also have some military hats behind the bar so just before we got our Uber, we had some daft pictures with those on and a final shot of vodka too!  (I ended up with the horseradish one .... hmmmmm not one I would rush to have again thats for sure!).
Definitely a place I would head back to next time I come to NYC and definitely one I am going to recommend to people..
We certainly all went back to our hotels full, happy and rather vodka'd up!!!