New York Trip, Days 1 & 2

Our trip to New York started on September 20th. We flew from Burbank to JFK early in the day, landing at about 3:00. Plenty of time to get to our apartment and see some of the city... if only we had known what was ahead!

We chose to get a shuttle to drive us into the city--taking the subway would've been cheaper, but probably would take longer and we'd have to navigate those tunnels with luggage. We had no way of knowing that all the action at the United Nations that week would affect all traffic into and out of Manhattan. The streets on the east side were all blocked off or severely restricted which forced traffic to go all kinds of different ways. The result was that it took us THREE HOURS in that shuttle to get from the airport to our destination. THREE HOURS. It normally would have been a 60 to 70 minute drive. It was so bad!!

We finally got to the office where we picked up keys for our apartment--we rented an apartment through Roomarama because it was so much cheaper than a hotel. It allowed us to stay two more nights for the money we had saved for accommodations. We walked from the office to the hotel, giving us a tiny taste of all the walking we'd do in the coming days. We got settled in to the one-bedroom apartment, then made dinner plans--consulting google for a good pizza place nearby. Lots of pizza in New York, but we wanted to find one close and yummy. We ventured out and found our pizza--so good! The first of many tasty meals in a city filled with delicious food. We grabbed a few things at a local market for breakfast and headed home. It was a short night out, but after our long day of travel, we were exhausted!

Day 2:
We woke up late with no alarm--a fabulous luxury for any parent! We headed out to catch our tour bus. After getting unlimited 7-day subway passes and a good map (I highly recommend both for NYC!), we went to pick up our tickets at the Grayline Bus Tours office and hopped on the red, open-top tour bus. We took LOTS of pictures that first day, soaking in all the sights.

Times Square

Parsons School of Design (Project Runway geeks unite!)

Creepiest storefront mannequin ever!

New York Public Library (aka--the place from Ghostbusters)

The Flatiron Building

We loved catching several different views of the Empire State Building while on the tour. It's like the building kept popping up at us around every corner.

We got hungry, time for lunch, so we hopped off in search of a hot dog stand and decided to walk and explore a bit on our own too.

 Malcom loves his sauerkraut!

 "Restaurant and Social Club for Explorers and mad Scientists" (We didn't stop here but for pictures and I kind of regret it...!)

Beautiful neighborhood in Greenwich Village--such a sweet little place!

 We found this memorial in The Village, tiles painted by school children for 9-11. It was really neat.

A pretty church among the modern buildings--we loved this juxtaposition of old and new and it's EVERYWHERE in Manhattan.

A beautiful little bird house in a little garden in The Village. This is the kind of stuff we never would've seen from the tour bus, so we're glad we made our own way for a bit!

Washington Square Park

We did finally find our way back to the tour bus--we had actually gotten a little lost but enjoyed it still the same. We were glad for the rest, though, and saw a few more sites. When we got to the WTC site, we hopped off again.

This is how Malcom looked most of the time--happy as a clam, taking pictures of everything in sight!

This is the church right next to the WTC where rescue workers and volunteers would come to sleep, eat, and take a break in the weeks after 9/11.

Graveyard behind the church--some of the gravestones date back to the 1700's, and others were so old they were worn down and too faint to read.

Here is WTC1, one of four new skyscrapers going up. They'll all have that reflective glass on the outside--so pretty!

Here is a building near WTC. It is 54 stories tall, about HALF as tall as the original Twin Towers!

In a park nearby, we found some artwork and fountains, more pretty stuff to look at and enjoy. Like I said, this was the first day, so we were enamored with everything, took pictures of EVERYTHING, and generally enjoyed our freedom.

And here are the types of things Malcom would take pictures of, beautiful little details and architectural views throughout the city:

Back on the tour bus, more sights. And finally to Rockefeller Center. We bought passes to Top of the Rock to go up and see the city from on high. Beautiful!

 The Empire State Building

 Gorgeous cathedral Malcom couldn't stop staring at--looks like a doll house from up so high!

 The Chrysler Building, hiding behind MetLife--not a good view, but it's my favorite building!

 Central Park--such a big, amazing sanctuary in the middle of all this concrete!

We took our time up there, then came down in search of some dinner. We found a burger place with decent prices so we headed inside.

OH MY GOSH, those were the best burgers we have ever tasted! Seriously, they were perfect! And it was one of those TINY places that probably seated 20 people at a time and everyone had to squeeze in to make it work. But perfect nonetheless. Except for the fact that we wanted to try so many different restaurants while we were there, we would've eaten at "Island Burgers and Shakes" every night for sure (totally random and unexciting name, by the way).

We used the subway to get back the apartment and crashed in bed. Very eventful day, and it was only the first of four (non-travel) busy days!