My family ended up switching plans and eating at an interesting restaurant called Basta Pasta, a Japanese-Italian fusion restaurant down on 17th--yeah, who would've guessed it? For example, Aaron had spaghetti with sea urchin sauce. The food was pretty tasty in the end.



As mentioned, we saw Aida on Saturday night and I ended up liking it more than I expected. One surprise was seeing Micky Dolenz performing in it. I kept expecting him to burst out in "Here we come...walkin' down the street...". The musical takes place in ancient Egypt times and is about a love story of a princess from Nubia who falls in love with the captain of the Pharaoh Army, enemies of her native country. The storyline itself was so-so---I was much more interested in the costume choices for the show. Much of the women's clothing had a slight contemporary look to it which I found different and interesting. If you're in New York, check it out--it's in its last run on Broadway!



Later in the night, I met up with Smithies again--Katie, Debbie & Li Mei--to go barhopping around the East Village. Met some new people and had an overall great time again.



Sunday was the day of the wedding---but first, of course, we had to check out the NYC Gay Pride Parade since it was literally a block away from the hotel. Do you know this parade lasts SIX hours in this city? Crazy! It was quite..ahem..entertaining...





The Chang-Wong wedding was oh so very chi-chi and very beautiful. It'll probably be the fanciest wedding I'll be attending all summer. The ceremony itself was simple and took place at a beautiful church on Park Avenue. Hester just looked amazing in her dress and the weather was perfect as we all exited the church.



The reception. First off, let me say, this'll probably be the only wedding I'll attend where the majority of guests wear one thing to the ceremony and another for the reception. I can see why. The reception itself took place at the fabulous Essex House Hotel across the street from Central Park. Most of the men had changed into tuxedos and the women into formal gowns. You can tell it's going to be a fancy reception when the h'ors d'eouvres in the beginning include items like foie gras w/cucumber and goat cheese & black olive mini quiche. At dinner, I found myself separated from my parents as I got placed at the big singles table (aptly named "Smoke's" after one of the big bars on the UPenn campus, where Hester & Mike went to undergrad---my parents weren't thrilled about being at a table named "Class of 1920"). Coincidentally, I sat next to a former Amazonian that I had heard so much about in the past few years, Ben Margoles. Anyhoo---dinner was absolutely delicious. We started off with shrimp & scallops in a puff pastry with beurre blanc, followed by an asparagus & arugula salad. Main course was a choice of striped bass fillet or a cut of veal. Dinner was a raspberry sorbet Baked Alaska, petits fours, chocolate covered strawberries AND the wedding cake. Yum! The whole event was rather upscale with a very good live jazzy-ish sort of band playing all evening. Quite a number of people danced, including my parents---it was my first time ever seeing my dad boogy down. He even asked me to slow dance! What a shock! Well, now I know what to expect whenever I get married... Congratulations Hester & Mike---I think your wedding was absolutely beautiful.