NYC final thoughts

• We did see a few other places that I may not have mentioned specifically like the Plaza hotel and Rockefeller plaza.



• I am usually pretty good with directions, but not here. I could never get in my head where things were or how to get there.



• Everytime I got on the subway it felt like it was going the wrong direction, but we always ended up where we were supposed to.



• Lots of kids in NYC ride little scooters, in the park and on the streets. I guess they are much easier to store in an apartment than a bike.



• It is weird to see places on TV now and have a new context, because I have been there.

• Food/restaurant wise we did hit a few tourist favorites, but there were many places we wanted to try but couldn't fit in.



• It is a good idea to get ideas from friends who have been somewhere you haven't. We got lots of good advice and went lots of places we would never have know about or tried otherwise.



• 
  After I left Dave spent one more day in the city. He went to Coney Island and as a big rollercoaster fan was pretty disappointed with the famous Cyclone.



• People do not get out of the way for taxi's and taxi drivers really do drive crazy.

• I guess I am more adventurous, brave and smart than I thought.


• We have awesome friends who made an amazing trip, with no kids, possible...Thank You!

NYC day FIVE

I loved seeing "Wicked" so much that I wanted to see something else. So, we decided to skip the Statue of Liberty (I know, I know how can you go to New York and NOT go the Statue of Liberty?). We also missed out on a few other misc. things we had planned, but I guess that just gives me an excuse to go back one day. We knew that there was a line where you could get half-price tickets (see above), we also knew that this was only on the highest priced tickets. So, you could get good seats, but you do have to wait in this very long, very slow line. We knew this because earlier in the week we had come across a ticket booth in a small Times Square museum. We went back there (where there were 2 people in line ahead of us) to see what shows had tickets available. We had a few shows we were interested in "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying" with Daniel Radcliffe from Harry Potter for one, "The Lion King" for another. They were sold out as were several others. One of our options was "The Addams Family" There were tickets available but none of the lower price ones. Since we were very close to the theater we went to the box office to see what they had. We walk in, no line, ask the ticket agent what he's got. His answer, "I can give you 2 seats in the middle of the third row for (half of what we were quoted five minutes earlier)." Our response, "We will take them!"

We now had time to kill before the show so we headed off to the Carnegie Deli for the last of the "P's" Pastrami. We were shuffled in and stuffed between some other customers. We knew we would be having cheesecake too, so, we opted to share a sandwich (for a $3 sharing fee). The sandwich was delicious, much better than the corned beef our neighbors had (yes we shared with strangers) and we still couldn't finish one slice of cheesecake between us. We did alot of walking and saw many famous places, The Plaza Hotel, Trump Tower, etc.

We went to the famous FAO Schwarz where we found a few things to take home to the kids. We didn't wait in line for the big piano (I know we are lame). We were really tempted to make our own "Muppet". There were really cute and looked so fun! But, we didn't (again, lame I know).

Then we headed to our Matinee in the third row! It was almost too close, but so fun. This play was a much smaller production than "Wicked", but very cute and funny. It is the story of Wednesday Addams all grown up. She has fallen in love with a normal boy and invited him and his family over and begs for a normal night, which obviously is not going to happen! Was it better than seeing the Statue of Liberty? Who knows but it was fun and no long security lines, so I am glad we went!

(Two rows of seats in front of us and then the curtain!)

Then we wandered and shopped a little more. We went down Park Avenue. Used the bathroom at another fancy hotel, the Waldorf-Astoria. We went to Dylan's Candy Bar and spent way too long looking at, deciding among and even taste testing all the goodies! We spent so long here that by the time we walked down the street for dinner the wait was just too long and we really needed to head back to our hotel because I had to get up early to head to the airport.

We didn't do everything we had planned, but it is impossible to do it all. It was an awesome trip! (I might sneak in one more post of little things I left out earlier, interesting things I noticed and other random thoughts.)

NYC day FOUR

While preparing for our trip, Dave read that while in New York everyone should try the three P's: Pizza, Pretzels, and Pastrami. So, on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art we tried a pretzel from a street vendor. It was yummy (another one later in Central Park...not so good). We enjoyed the morning at the Met. There were tons of sculptures. I loved the Greek section. I think that almost all the statues were missing body parts. There was hall after hall of every kind of art. It is fun to come across paintings that I have seen pictures of all my life.

Again, Dave found art work to pose with :)

As I was taking a break, resting my aching feet. Dave overheard some women talking about the following painting... One of them talked about how it was her favorite painting in the museum and how the subject of the painting had some mental disorder of some kind. Then I observed a man taking a picture of the painting and had to laugh. I told Dave he was taking a picture of it because it looked like him! We tried to get a picture of him taking a picture of it, but he walked off too soon.

So, Dave followed him and took his picture. He was trying to be sneaky about it. What do you think? Did he know his picture was being taken?

Then we spent some time at Central Park. Dave wanted to rent bikes, but I was really tired and we weren't sure where to rent bikes, so we just wandered a little.

That is the Guggenheim in the back ground. We didn't go there because we heard the building was more interesting than the art and although I loved the art we saw... it was enough.

Dave kept making me pose with random trees and flowering bushes. Not all of them are flattering and it became obvious I was tired of pictures with pretty bushes and trees.

We took a peak at the reservoir and found the castle near the turtle pond (where toddlers were feeding the turtles handfuls of goldfish crackers).

Then we headed to Dave's choice of the trip: a Yankees game. We bought cheap seats, but did not realize that they were on the back row! It was covered when there were a few sprinkles, but did nothing to protect us from the cold and wind.

The Yankees were playing the Blue Jays and although we did see three home runs, when it became obvious that the Yankees were losing and I was freezing ( I got hot chocolate instead of a hot dog!), we decided to head out a little early in hopes of making the last bus back towards our hotel.

We did make it to the bus station and since we would be getting back way too late for the hotel shuttle we called the car service they recommended. Our hotel was not far at all from the bus stop at the mall, but there was not a safe way to walk there. After we had waited for the service for 45 minutes we tried to call again and were told they had been there and left (hmm, I don't think so!) We huddled between the bus ticket kiosks waiting and waiting finally we called the hotel and got the number for another service. It was a long, long cold evening! Now, what to do to finish up our trip? Day 5 we change our plans to fit in more fun.

( Dave the next morning showing how we huddled trying to keep warm!)

NYC day THREE

We thought we would have a mostly indoor day to avoid the rain. So, we took the subway straight to the Museum of Natural History. This is the "Night at the Museum" place. But, we didn't find any miniature cowboys. The museum was huge and a little hard to navigate. We saw some monkeys and lemurs and this herd of elephants. I discovered something about myself at this museum...I am much more interested in looking at fossils and bones than taxidermied animals. I liked the dinosaurs and was disappointed that a special exhibit on dinosaurs cost extra (more than we wanted to pay).

From here we decided to hit "Bodies: the Exhibit". This was something Dave really wanted to see. There was no photography allowed, but this is the exhibit that shows real bodies...muscles, organs, etc. Many adjectives come to mind: interesting, gross, disturbing, emotional, educational...

By the time we finished the rain had died down and since we were in the area, it was a good time to walk the Brooklyn Bridge.

We found lots of these pad locks along the center of the bridge. They seemed to be a professing of love. Some were even engraved with names and dates. I don't really know details about the tradition, but it was fun to see.

Then we walked to Grimaldi's for some amazing pizza. We had heard we should get there early, there would be a line, etc. But waiting until late in the day worked out great. No line at all and the pizza was great! A yummy end to day 3. Up next: Yankees!

NYC day TWO

Day two, the morning of our 20th anniversary, I woke with hopes that we would not be taking our luggage into the city again! We ate breakfast and then hopped the Holiday Inn shuttle to our real hotel, in hopes that they would let us check in early and we could still have a full, fun day in the city. Well, the concierge at our hotel was amazing. He checked us in, told us all the best ways to get around and what was available when. So, we dumped our luggage and jumped on a bus headed to New York City. From the Port Authority Bus Terminal, we walked to the Museum of Modern Art. It was a really fun morning. I love all the bright, colorful stuff and it is fun to laugh at the crazy stuff. I loved the Picasso's. I am amazed at how much art work he produced, paintings, sculpture, pottery. They had an entire exhibit on Picasso Guitars...paintings, drawings, dimensional art work (not really sure what to call them) like guitars made of cardboard or metal.

I was surprised at the size of some of the art work that I have seen pictures of all my life. Some were tiny, some were huge and we could get so close to all of it.

Monet is another artist who painted a lot of paintings, I love his waterlilies and other well known work, but it was cool to see lesser known (at least to me) work and unusual colors.

Dave was not impressed with the wall of Campbell's soup cans but I thought it was fun.

He liked to pose with the artwork, like this statue of an "athlete".

There were alot of great Van Gogh paintings including "Starry Night". But, for some reason I really liked this one...the colors, the texture, I don't know, but I like it.

This on the other hand....art??? I guess it takes all kinds. Maybe I am not a deep enough thinker to appreciate this or blinds on the floor or a pile of candy in a corner.

Dave was amused by this painting. Again, not sure about the deeper meaning and I am not sure what makes it special.

Dave posing again in the sculpture garden. We had lunch at the museum and spent most of the day there. We went to a couple of other museums, but this was my favorite.

We had dinner at Ellen's Stardust Cafe, where the waiters sing. We sat right at the spot where they would climb up behind Dave and walk along the back of the seats. I tried to include our singing waiter, Dave, and the harmonica player, but never got any really good pictures. Dave had them sing "Sea of Love" in honor of our anniversary. We did some wandering before and after dinner. We walked through St. Patrick Cathedral and Time Square. We had treats at Magnolia Bakery and wandered through some shops like M&M World.

The highlight of the day and maybe the trip was going to see "Wicked" that night. I loved it. The songs, the story, the characters... Let's just say day two was a major success. Forecast for day 3...rain!

NYC day ONE

When we heard that Dave might have the opportunity to take a class in New Jersey the first week of May, I started scheming to see if there was anyway we could make an anniversary trip to New York out of it. The week before the class was spring break. So, I didn't have to worry about school, just someone to look after the kids. With some kids here and some kids there, kids at home and kids at friends, some complicated packing for a band trip and some of the best friends ever we made it work!
So, on a very stormy morning Dave and I headed to the airport where the power was out. With generators in security we finally got on our way. We arrived at Newark airport at about 4:45. Our hotel was one way and the city the other. We decided to drag along our luggage and head to the city. With out a real plan we headed to the Empire State Building. We tripped over our bags as we inched through the line and finally made it to the 86th floor. It was a little cold and very windy, but the view was amazing. Before we left home I some how got Dave to believe it was his idea that an iphone would be really useful on such a trip. So, with the aid of the Internet we hopped a train in search of our hotel. We were staying at the hotel where Dave had reservations for his class, so it was in New Jersey. We were assured that there was public transportation near by and that it would not be a problem. Google transit told us just which trains and buses would take us to our hotel. We arrived at the train stations to a traffic jam of taxis and car services, but headed on to our bus stop. It was after 8:00 and we were a little uncomfortable with the area where the bus stop was. Lots of shady characters milling around, a crazy man on the bench at the bus stop. When another check on Google transit let us know there would not be a bus for over an hour, we headed back to the train station for a taxi, only to find everyone of them gone! Shortly there after we did find one, with a driver who wasn't sure where he was going and apparently neither did we, because when we got to the address...no hotel. We had the driver drop us at a nearby Holiday Inn and paid him his exorbitant fee. Our hotel was part of the Holiday Inn franchise and when it became obvious there would be no shuttle available till morning we were able to transfer our reservation for one night.

When we reached our room, I broke down. I was seriously thinking that I had made a horrible mistake. I was not adventurous, brave or smart enough to make this work. This was not going to be the great 20th anniversary trip I was expecting. Hopefully, a good night sleep and a shuttle to the right hotel the next morning would begin to turn things around!

Brett quote of the day

Isn't it true that Pluto is so small that when people tried to land on it their spaceship tipped over?