I had every intention of writing this post two months ago, but the computer went to the shop for a week and then before you know it two months have gone by! Mark and I had an opportunity to go to New York City for 4 days. It was my first time there and I had so much fun!! Before we left, we went to a black tie dinner at the Grand America for Mark's work.
We went straight from the dinner to the airport to catch the redeye. If there was one thing I could change about this trip it would be taking the redeye. There was a poor little 2-year old on the flight and he cried on and off the entire flight! Oh, and Mark sat right next to him. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. We landed at 6AM and got into a cab and headed for Manhatten. I wanted to sleep so bad, but I didn't want to miss seeing anything! It was trash day, so I just saw a lot of garbage on the street and lots of garbage trucks. I should have slept. Anyway, we got to our hotel but it was too early to check in. Mark had to take off for his meetings for the day so he walked me down into the subway, bought me a ticket, pointed me in the right direction and then left. I was still in a sleep deprived fog and now all by myself on the NY subway. With the help of some very nice New Yorkers, I was able to make it to my stop. I got a little turned around once I got out of the subway, but I finally made it to the Gray Line bus tour visitor's center.
I picked the tour that had the earliest departure time so that I could just sit down and have someone drive me around and point out all the cool things. It was a little rainy and pretty cold. All the pictures I took that morning looked like this:
The best thing about this tour was that I happened to meet these two wonderful ladies from Australia. I told them that I had just arrived in town and how tired I was. I asked them if I could tag along with them for the day so I didn't have to worry about where I was or where I was going. They were delighted! We went to lunch, went shopping, and walked around the World Trade Center sights.
I can't remember their names anymore, but they were the cutest ladies!
This is where we went shopping. This store is awesome! They sell name brand everything for really cheap. The aussie ladies bought most of their suveniers here.
This is the church right across from the world trade center buildings. It is where firemen and rescuers slept and ate during the search effort. The fence surrounding the church is where people left personal items, flags, notes, etc. for their missing loved ones. The building was not damaged at all.
This is the Freedom Tower.
One thing I really wanted to do, but didn't get a chance was to go to the Today's Show. Here are all the gates that they put up around the plaza just to the left. I so wanted to meet Matt and Anne.
Rockefeller Plaza
A fire station in Midtown with a tribute to the men and women they lost on 9/11. Midtown lost the most firefighters because they specialize in high rise fires.
On the uptown tour, I just happened to turn around at the right time and spotted the temple. It is not one of the sights they point out on the tour. I went back later with Mark and got a better picture.
I was getting cold and hungry so I decided to go to the Guggenheim Museum. The coolest thing about the museum is the building. The stuff inside...not so cool.
Yes... it is twisted up tinfoil.
This is the Jaquline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir in Central Park.
This is one of the two reflection ponds at the 9/11 Memorial Site.
The New York Stock Exchange.
The Staten Island Ferry. The cheapest way to see the Statue of Liberty!
We ate dinner one night at Angelos in Little Italy.
The stuffed mushrooms and chicken parmesan were excellent, but the cheese cake was not good!
The Lego Store is one of the coolest stores I've ever been to. They need to build one closer to us! Our kids love Legos! We definitely bought souveniers from here.
This is where the celebrities walk out after getting fired on Celebrity Apprentice.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. We didn't have time to go in. Next time, I guess!
Beautiful Central Park! I'm sure it's a lot more beautiful in the spring and summer though.
Top of the Rockefeller Tower. It was actually a clear day so we could see really far in every direction. It was pretty amazing!
I thought parking downtown was bad, but at least we don't have to park like this!
I wanted to go to a broadway play while we were there, but it wasn't on my MUST DO list. I thought that if I could get tickets for a reasonable price on the one day that we could go, then we would go. I asked the tour bus drivers, other tourists, people in Mark's training, anyone and everyone about where to get discount tickets. When they found out that I was trying to go see Wicked they kind of laughed and said, "Good luck!" I was determined to try, so I came up with Plan A and Plan B. We changed hotel locations for our 3rd night from Tribeca to Times Square. Our hotel in Times Sq. was within walking distance of the Gershwin Theatre, so Plan A was to get there right at 10:00 when the box office opened and hope that they had some discounted tickets for the shows that day. Plan B was to hop on the subway down to the Financial District and wait in the TKS line and hope that we were able to get tickets to any show that day. We got to the box office right before it opened and there were only 4 or 5 people there. While we were waiting in line, I decided to ask the man in front of us if he was trying to get discounted tix for that day. He said he had seen Wicked 8 times and it was a great show, he was going to see if they had the discounted tickets too. He gave us some other things we could try in case they didn't have any. He definitely seemed to know what he was doing. He goes up to the counter and I can hear the guy say that he doesn't have any discounted tickets to sell. The cheapest tickets are $150. He buys 2 tickets for the night show and starts heading for the door. We know that the tickets are more than what we had budgeted for, so Mark steps out of line and catches the man in front of us before he leaves. We asked him what he thought would be the best way to get some tickets. We start talking to him for a little bit and he asks us where we're from. Turns out that he grew up in a neighborhood close to where Mark grew up! He asked if we were Ladder Day Saints and we told him we were. He was too! We talked a little bit more and then he says to us that he has been blessed in his life and has put some money aside, but that he would give it all back to have a wife and kids (he's been engaged 3 times). He grabs me by the shoulders and asks, "Will you let me buy you tickets to the show? I really want to buy you tickets." Are you kidding me?! Is this guy for real? What's the catch? There was no catch. He walks up to the tickets window and buys us two tickets for the matinee show. They are $251.25 a piece!! I could not believe it! I cried a little bit. My trip had been pretty fantastic up to this point, but this was the absolute best part of my trip! Thank you Chad! We will never forget you!
Gershwin Theatre
Our Wicked friend also told us about this Belgian Waffle cart in Columbus Circle. It has the best waffles I've ever tasted! So delicious!
It's more of a dessert than a breakfast.
This was our last meal in New York. We had tried a few different pizza places, but this was the best by far, and it was only $2.50 for the whole thing. The only bad part about this meal was that right after I took this picture a stack of 8-10 metal pots fell over and landed on me. I got a few bruises and my shoulder hurt for a couple days, but I survived. None of the employees said one word to me! All I wanted was a "Sorry!" Oh well, it was still one of the best trips ever!!
