NYC - Part 1

I'm back from my New York trip and it honestly seems like a dream. If I didn't have the pictures and purchases to prove it, I might think I had made the whole thing up during the night. It went by really fast! I have almost 200 photos, but I'll be kind and share only a few of them. :)

Wednesday was mostly a travel day. I left Burbank at 8:30 am and arrived in New York at 5:00 pm. I took a long shuttle from JFK to our hotel. It was great to be a passenger and just watch the scenery. I was the first to arrive by three hours, so I had some solo time to kill in The Big Apple. I set off on my own to a pizza place a few blocks down. I did some people watching and souvenier browsing, then headed back to watch LOST while I waited for the others. They arrived after 10 and were hungry, so I joined them for food at a diner around the corner. Then bed, very late.

Thursday included most of the touristy stuff. We purchased tickets for the Grey Line Bus Tour and made our way through the bustling streets.

Me, Janalee, Lori, and Mom.

During the ride I learned some cool stuff about New York: there are 8.25 million residents, the first subway was built in 1904, 65% of the people do not own cars, there are 70,000 taxis, and the top of the Chrysler Building shines because there are real diamonds in it.

Empire State Building, view from the street.

We arrived at the Empire State Building and went up to the 86th floor of the tallest building in the city. It was an extra $15 to go higher, but we opted out. It was still plenty high to take lots of pictures and enjoy some surprising peacefulness.

View looking northeast; the pretty pointy one is the Chrysler Building, but I have no clue about the thick black one.

View looking south; you can see the famous, triangle-shaped Flatiron Building near the center of the picture.

Funny photo op while exiting the building--Mom with King Kong!

We caught a yummy bite at Papaya Dog, a staple of the Manhattan diet. You might notice in the picture below that both directions of pedestrian traffic are crossing at the same time. That's because the DON'T/WALK signs are merely suggestions for New Yorkers. Kinda like how taxi and bus drivers believe lane lines do not apply to them. It sure kept us on our toes!

Next we were off to Chinatown for some serious shopping. This is where I got my new "Versace" purse (for only $30!), some cute silk shoes for Bekah, and two new pashminas.

Then the tour bus took us to the Word Trade Center site. We learned that the 7 buildings that had been destroyed on September 11th created a 16 acre hole. The whole thing was blocked off with gates and the nearby museum wasn't free, so we just mingled outside for a bit. We found a great wall mural on the firehouse across the street. There were a lot of people viewing it but we were all silent and still.

Heavily guarded gate around Ground Zero.

Firefighters' mural next to Ground Zero.

We also found St. Paul's chapel which was directly north of the site. It was not harmed in the blast or the subsequent fires. It became a shelter, gathering place, and kitchen for the countless firefighters and volunteers that helped rescue people from the wreckage. That beautiful church was free to enter and had some neat mementos and photos.

We rode the bus back to the hotel, then went to Danny O's Pub in Times Square for dinner. The best part of the day was going to Chickalicious for dessert. This TINY restaurant was featured on Martha Stewart. It only serves dessert and has only 20 seats. The slight wait was worth it for a high quality dessert. It was the closest I've ever been to fine dining and it was truly worth savoring.

Chocolate mini-tart, pink peppercorn icecream, and red wine sauce.

On Friday morning, Amy and I woke up a little earlier than the others to try to catch The Today Show at Rockefeller Center. The place was crawling with people trying to see No Doubt (performing later in the show) so we couldn't get anywhere close to the action. I snapped a shot of Meredith Vieira through the glass, then we headed off to the nearby NBC Experience Store to console ourselves with some overpriced souvenirs. I got a picture with the cardboard version of Matt Lauer but that was the closest we got to a real celebrity.

Rockefeller Center--more famous for the ice skating rink, but filled with umbrella-covered tables the rest of the year.

Back to the hotel for a quick nap. Then off to a corner deli for lunch (pastrami on rye...mmmmmm).

Some of the girls went to see The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, but Mom, Amy and I didn't want to pay for it. We rode the free Staten Island Ferry instead, got close enough to Lady Liberty to snap some photos, and enjoyed viewing the city from a distance. It was humid on the way over, and rainy on the way back, but really nice.

I actually saw The Statue of Liberty, in person. Very cool.

Then we headed back to the hotel to dress up for our big night. We braved the rain in our fancy dresses and shoes to a nearby Italian place. We enjoyed really good pasta and soft dinner conversation with the rain pouring outside. A truly lovely meal.

We walked back to Broadway for the best part of the night, and probably my favorite part of the trip: WICKED! Our seats were great and the performance was incredible. I cannot describe how good it was. I felt chills, I cried, I laughed (a lot!), and cheered like I was at a rock concert at the end. By far my favorite musical of all time.

Afterward, we found a small line of people waiting outside the theater next to an unmarked door. Inspiration struck us all and we decided to wait with them--what if famous people come out?! Sure enough, we got to see the actors who played Fiyero, Chistery, Madame Morrible, Glinda, and Elphaba. Oh yes! We met them, talked with them, congratulated them on such a wonderful show, took pictures with them, and had them scribble all over our playbills.

Janalee, Mom, Nicole Parker (Elphaba), and me.

My playbill with famous people's signatures.

A. MAZE. ING!!

They were so sweet and honestly very normal! We thought that if they hadn't just come out the theater door and if we hadn't seen their pictures in the program, we might not know who they were. They weren't picked up by limos or surrounded by bodyguards like in LA. Very calm and understated. Classy.

Okay, so that wraps up my first post about New York and I can tell I'm writing way too much. Sorry. But thanks for letting me share. Maybe if I get it all out on the blog I won't bore you with the details in person so much!