New York City

We love NYC! We love this city

We were on our way to our lovely little Lutheran sanctuary. We got the start of true NY hospitality with our cranky non-english speaking new york shuttle bus driver and chris and I were in a 4 person manwhich weaving through the honking streets. Being the good little lutherans we are, we had separate rooms but they were very nice and clean, ( thanks for the recommendation Jane and Liz!) and Chris suspiciously took the one overlooking the ladies gym. After some tv initiation we headed out for some dinner and to explore the NYC nightlife. Took me a while to get my bearings and I jumped at almost every strange looking thing we saw, which is a lot of jumping for NYC. By the end of the trip I would be more alarmed at seeing normal looking people or things. We walked past union square, right near our hostel, which was a pretty hip and happening place with freaks, street kids, skateboarders and the like. Walked all the way through chelsea (gay district) to the meatpackers district to a find a restaurant recommended by liz but it was closed due to gas problems. dammit! So we settled in for a nearby RnB diner. We had survived our first night without a mugging,yay! Chris had envisioned the when Homer goes to NYC simpson episode.

On our second day, we awoke late from our humble abode and headed to the Union square markets- a foodies delight! No wonder adam and Jane love it. Had some home made organic brownies and apple cider and headed up to the Empire state building. We were in luck as it was unusually quiet for a Saturday and only took us 1 hour to get to the top (usual time 3-4 hours!). It was great as you get a 360 degree view of new york, but we recommend paying the extra for the map because we didn't have much of an idea of what were looking at! Then decided to get a hop on hop off bus tour from the friendly migrant workers. We got to see all the sights including Will and Grace building , Rockefellers, ground zero, friends apartment, apartment where heath ledger died, soup kitchen from Seinfeld, from the comfort of the top of our open double decker bus with commentary from our wranga tour guide.

Jumped off the tour at Central Park for a special request- a horse drawn carriage ride! We had a very pretty horse and a spanish driver, all dressed up in a tux and top hat! took us on a tour of the park and saw the zoo, carousel,show ground area where they have an ice rink in winter, tango dancing lessons, human carriages, skaters, hulahoopers, musicians, beat boxers, magicians and many a busker. Central park is a truly magnificent park that has a certain magic in the air that is indescribable, plus its the site of a lot of Sex and the city scenes! Chris got hypnotized by this magician from the bronx and he did the all handkerchief out of my dress top and a coin trick with chris. We did the happy dance with some hippies playing the bongos before continuing back onto the bus for the night tour this time. We both got our very own raps from a rapping home boy with an irish hat on before getting on the bus for our tour with our Woody allen look and sound alike tour guide. Had a tour of NYC nightlife and then downtown brooklyn, getting to the lights of new York from the brooklyn side and the statue of liberty, whilst our tour guide recited Yates.

Had our uptown tour the next day and saw more famous sites including where john lennon was shot, barbara streisand and jerry seinfields residence. But what chris was most excited about was we saw where the ramones recorded, hung out and 53rd and 3rd! Unfortunately the yankees were not in town so had to settle for the NY mets at shea stadium. Had a dawg and a beer whilst watching the game. Narrowly avoided a punch up some NYorker who stole our seats, the METS were doing well the last half but unfortunately they choked in the second half, with all of the brooklyners yelling " you soiiiik mets! " and chanting absurdiites, apparently they choke a lot.

Then went to the south ferry and got to see the Statue of Liberty up close and personal from a party speedboat - the shark! Nothing like seeing the statue of liberty whilst the sun is setting, whilst singing YMCA. Finished our last night in Little Italy, having a slice of NY pizza, the best we've ever had. Our NY experience was not over yet, on our way to the airport our driver hit a hot dag stand and started a spitting match with another driver, now theres that new york aggression we heard so much about! Now we know why so many people have those we love NYC t-shirts, its one amazing experience, with 20 countries all in one.

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