New York City

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For years, Mike and I had discussed the possibility of traveling to New York City for our anniversary during the first part of December. For whatever reason, we never committed to this idea until my sister decided to go to Graduate school on the East Coast. Given the fact that I had an additional day off paid during the week of Thanksgiving, we decided that was the best time to go. Mike had visited New York once in the past and seen many of the major sights. As a result, I left prior to him on Monday in order to have extra sightseeing time while he arrived two days after I did.

Day 1: (Tuesday, November 25th, 2008)

I took another red-eye flight from Seattle, which left at 23:00 PST, and arrived at JFK in New York at 07:00 EST. Although I slept better on this flight than compared to the one to Boston a few weeks prior, I still only received about two to three hours. Needless to say, the all-too familiar jet lag feeling began to sink in as soon as the plane landed. I absolutely detest this feeling, especially considering the number of times we have flown over the last 2.5 months.

From JFK, I took the Airtrain (www.panynj.gov/Airtrain/) to the Howard Beach stop. The ride lasted about 15 minutes and cost $5. From here, I bought a $25 unlimited seven day pass for the subway. Next, I got on the A line and took it all the way to the 59th Street stop, which took over one hour. When I had gotten on the train at the Howard Beach stop, the subway compartments weren’t too full, but that quickly began to change as we approached Manhattan. Finally, I transferred one last time at 59th Street to the C line, where I road to the 103rd Street stop. Fortunately for me,
Central Park Hostel and Inn was literally a minute walk uphill from the subway station.

Unfortunately, the room wasn’t ready (and wouldn’t be until 14:00), so I had to store my luggage in a separate room. Although the city was just at my fingertips right outside the door, I had absolutely no energy or stamina to go sightseeing on my own. As a result, I headed downstairs in the hostel to the lounge, where I surfed the internet for awhile. Eventually, I became so bored that I decided to go ahead and head out into the city for a bit. I had over four hours to kill until the room was scheduled to be ready, and I didn’t think I could tolerate anymore boredom.

I decided to grab a bite to eat at the well-known Zabar’s, which was a quick subway ride away. In addition to their famous grocery store, Zabar’s also has a small take-out bakery place that serves bagels, pastries, sandwiches, and soups for economical prices. I opted to try one of their plain bagels with cream cheese and a croissant. The bagel and cream cheese were delicious (and the cream cheese tasted homemade); however, the croissant was not so good. After eating, I wandered around the grocery store in my dazed state, unable to appreciate all that I was looking at. I did however see quite a large number of international cheeses and a huge meat section, both of which were very impressive.

As a side-note, I went the wrong direction on the Subway when I left to go to Zabar’s. Unlike every other metro system I have ridden on, the NY system has multiple lines that share the same platform, and the route maps for each individual line weren’t really posted anywhere. In addition, the signs do not clearly indicate which direction the train is going, so that was why I went the wrong way. Confusing, but I was eventually able to figure it out.

After leaving Zabar’s, I just couldn’t take anymore physical exertion due to my exhaustion, so I decided to go back to the hostel and try and take a nap on one of the couches. Fortunately, no one was in the lounge area when I began my nap, so I slept decently. As 14:00 neared however, more people began coming into the room and making quite a bit of noise, so I didn’t sleep so well after that.

The room was ready right after 14:00. The hotel was nice enough to upgrade our room the first two nights to a double at no additional cost. We had planned on switching to the double on the third night when Mike joined us, so it was nice not to have to make the change, as it would have been inconvenient. The room was large, in decent condition, and clean. We had our own private bathroom, and even a microwave and small fridge, which was a nice touch. You can't complain when you can get a room in New York City for $120 per night!

My immediate thoughts however were not on the room; I was imagining several hours of lovely sleep. I managed to get about three hours before Kimberly arrived around 17:30.

We were both starving, so we decided to head out immediately for dinner. In preparation for the trip, I had completed several hours of research on some of the best economical restaurant choices in the city. One of the places I had listed was
Empanada Mama, located in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood along with an impressive amount of other restaurants. Empanada Mama has a wide range of empanadas (over 40) plus a few other Latin American entrees. Luckily, there was one open table, so we didn't have to wait to be seated. Kimberly and I each ordered three different types of empanadas; ham & cheese, hamburger, shredded chicken, feta & spinach, broccoli & cheese, and beans & rice. For dessert, we ordered one Belgian milk chocolate and one Belgian milk chocolate & banana. All of the food was delicious, but my favorite was probably the shredded chicken empanada. The restaurant is quite small with only a few booths, so if you prefer not to wait, make sure to arrive early.

After eating, we took the subway to Times Square stop. From here, we walked through the streets until we reached Times Square. While the lights were bright, and the streets filled with massive amounts of people, I didn't quite understand what the big deal or hype was regarding Times Square. It was just "eh" to me.

From Times Square, we walked to Macy's, where I did a tiny bit of shopping for Christmas decorations.

We made it back to the hostel late that night, close to 22:00.

Day 2: (Wednesday, November 26th, 2008)

Initially, we had planned to leave the hostel at 9:00 this morning. However, that did not pan out as we didn’t end up getting out of bed until 10:15, finally leaving around 11:00. As we had not seen each other in several weeks, we had stayed up late the night before chatting until 2:00.

From the hostel, we walked through the neighborhood near our hotel (Upper West Side), stopping at a small store to buy some beverages and later at a Dunkin Donuts for breakfast before eventually making our way to the 103rd Street subway station, this one being several blocks away from the one located near our hotel. We took the A Line all the way down to the end of the line to the South Ferry stop. Unfortunately, the car we rode on had technical issues and we ended up being delayed probably ten minutes longer than we should have, so the entire ride took about 45 minutes total.

From the South Ferry subway station, we walked through Battery Park to the ticket line for the Ellis Island ferry. Luckily, as we had the Citypass, we were able to bypass two different lines, although we still had to wait about 30 minutes before we were able to board the boat.

Although entrance to Liberty Island and Ellis Island is free and run by the National Park Service, the boat that is required to gain access to the island is not, and is run by a separate company called State Cruises. From the ferry terminal at Battery Park, the boat first stops at Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty is located. We both opted to purchase the $6 audio guide tour on Liberty Island, which was definitely worth the cost. We spent about 30 minutes on the island, listening to the audio guide and staring up at the big statue. As we were short on time, we did not walk up inside the statue. The only way to access this now is by a reserving a ticket, which is free, but requires people to arrive very early at the ticket window as it is given out on a first come, first serve basis.

From Liberty Island, we took another ferry over to Ellis Island. As we approached the island, we had awesome views of the New York skyline and also of the massive structure on Ellis island; we were both surprised by it’s large size. Ellis Island processed nearly 12 million immigrants who came to the United States between 1892 and 1954. Our $6 audio guide that we purchased on Liberty Island also included a tour at Ellis Island. After picking-up the audio guide, we headed upstairs to the Registry Room, which was in immaculate condition and quite breathtaking. It was amazing for me to think that I was following in the same footsteps that a few of my ancestors had taken more than 100 years in the past. The audio guide did an awesome job of creating a visual scene in my mind as it would have appeared for the immigrants. We also walked through several of the backrooms, including the examination rooms. The audio guide, although interesting, was long and taking quite a bit of time, so we had to cut our tour short in order to allow enough time to finish the rest of the sightseeing we wanted to accomplish that day.

We took a boat back to Battery Park, where the sun had just set. As a result, I was able to get some great shots of the buildings and tree branches in the park with an incredibly beautiful purple sky as the backdrop. I had wanted to eat an early dinner at a place called Adrienne’s Pizza Bar, but we really had to get going, so we decided to find a quick place to eat near our next destination, Canal Street.

Prior to our trip, Kimberly had been informed by a friend at school of the many highly discounted stores that lined Canal Street. More specifically, she was looking to buy some Pashmina scarfs as Christmas gifts for a few friends and family members. We walked into several stores, but she didn’t see anything she liked, so we kept going. Eventually, we saw a Sbarro’s Pizza, where we stopped in a for a quick dinner. After eating, we walked into the store next door, which happened to have a good selection of Pashmina scarfs. The man wanted $8 per scarf, but she wanted five scarfs, so we talked him down to $30 for all five; quite a good deal!

From Canal Street, we took the subway to Rockefeller Plaza, located nearby to one of the Magnolia Bakery locations. The line was literally coming out of the door, but that did not detour me. I had been looking forward to some of their famous cupcakes for months, and I would not be satisfied until I left with several in my hand. Many of their desserts and cupcakes were already sold out for the day, but there were a few cupcake flavors still available. I ended up buying the following types: red velvet with cream cheese frosting, vanilla with chocolate buttercream, and vanilla with whipped icing. In addition, Kimberly bought herself a red velvet cupcake and a magic cookie bar, which was divine. My favorite cupcake was definitely the vanilla with chocolate buttercream; it was so rich but so delicious!

From Magnolia Bakery, we walked down the street, stopping for a quick glance at the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza, which was all decked out in it’s full holiday splendor. We also stopped in at the nearby American Girls Place, which both Kimberly and I had been looking forward to visit. When I was a young girl, I had an American Girls Doll (Molly) and was obsessed with all of the other dolls and books, so being able to see all of the products in person at once was quite impressive, even at the age of 25. If I had been there 15 years prior though, I’m sure I would have had a heart attack; it’s a little girls paradise!

From the American Girls Store, we opted to walk approximately ten blocks to Bloomingdale's, as we thought it would more fun to see the city above ground versus riding though the subway station. Unfortunately, along the way somewhere on Park Avenue, a bunch of dust particles flew into my eye, causing immediate excruciating pain. The first thing I thought of was "oh no, not another incident like the one in San Francisco". For those of you who follow my blog, something flew into my eye while we were walking around San Francisco, and it took nearly an hour until I was able to find eye drops to sooth my eye. Just as the pain started to accelerate, I mentioned how wonderful it might be to actually find a nearby drug store, and "poof" one appeared before our eyes. Thankfully, it was still open so I was able to buy some eye drops to assist with my problem. I immediately made a beeline to the eye drop section and grabbed the first box that came into my range of view. After purchasing the eye drops, I immediately opened the box in the store and drowned my eye. Magically, I was instantly better.

We continued the walk, arriving near Bloomingdale's about five minutes later. I had checked their website for the holiday hours, and it had indicated that they were open until 22:00. Being that it was only 20:00, we decided to first go and check out The Gap and H & M. Afterward, we walked to Bloomingdale's, where we found that the entrance doors were locked. I swear that I had read that it was open until 22:00, but maybe I had mistaken 22:00 for 20:00. We both thought that it was ridiculous that stores like The Gap and H & M were open later than a massive department store.

It was getting late out, and we both had to get up early the next morning for the parade, so we headed back to the hostel via the subway. Unfortunately, as I have mentioned previously the NY subway system is not the easiest to navigate or understand, so we ended up waiting for a train on the wrong platform for nearly ten minutes. We both eventually got to the correct area, but not before becoming extremely irritated and agitated with their system; the ones in Europe are so much more efficient and user-friendly. We finally got back to the hostel around 10:00 and began preparing for the next day, which was to be a long one.

Day 3: (Thursday, November 27th, 2008)

Kimberly and I had planned on waking up today at 6:15 in order to leave for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade by 6:30. However, as seemed to be the trend on this trip, we woke up late due to being exhausted and ended up leaving around 7:00. We took the subway a few stops down to 72nd Street, where we got off the train with masses of other people in an attempt to find a good spot for the parade. 72nd was already quite crowded, so we decided to check out the next few streets. These too were quite full so by the time we got to 75th we just decided to stay put as we knew it wasn’t going to get any better as the streets went on.

The sun was out, but that wasn’t any indication of the weather; it was quite bitterly cold, and even though I was properly dressed (long johns, jeans, two pairs of socks, hiking shoes, two shirts, a big winter jacket, gloves, scarf, and a hat, I was still freezing cold and the occasional wind gust wasn’t helping. We had nearly two hours until the parade began, so we just stood there with the thousands of other people. Mike eventually called as he had landed at JFK at 7:00 and was on his way into the city, where he would eventually meet us at the parade. I had brought some food and a blanket and towel to sit on, but there was no way that was going to happen as we were all smashed into one another like sardines. I also realized that I had forgotten the grab the batteries that had been charging the night before, so I was unable to take any pictures for most of the parade (Mike later brought the batteries when we met up with him).

Finally, the parade began about five minutes after ten. Although we were unable to see any of the people walking on the ground, we were able to see all of the large balloons and some of the floats. It was interesting, but certainly not exciting for me as I would have rather been laying in bed watching the parade from the warmth of my bed. Mike eventually showed up around 9:30, and although he tried to reach us, the crowd was so thick with people he wasn’t able to get to us. Instead, Kimberly and I shoved and pushed our way through the line in order to meet up with him. We watched the parade for just a little while longer, taking a few photos. We probably left around 10:00 in an attempt to miss the onslaught of people that would be taking the subway as they left after the parade finished.

We were all quite tired, so we went back to the hostel, hoping to take a short nap. That nap accidentally turned into two hours of sleeping, so when Kimberly woke up at 13:00, I knew we had to get up. Mike decided to stay at the hostel and catch up on sleep as he too was unable to sleep the night before on the airplane.

From the hostel, Kimberly and I took the subway a few stops down, getting off at 82nd Street in order to visit Central Park. Although our hostel was located just one block directly up from the park, it wasn’t in an area that we wanted to visit. All of the sights within the park we wanted to see were quite a distance from the hostel’s location, so we thought it was much smarter to take the subway. One of the first sights we saw was Belvedere Castle, which provided a beautiful view of Turtle Pond and of the New York skyline. We also saw The Lake, Bethesda Terrace, in which crowds were gathered watching two street performers, and Strawberry Fields, where the John Lennon Memorial was. I was impressed with the size of the park, but not so much of the grounds. That may have been because of the dreary gray weather or because of the fact that most of the trees had lost their leaves and that that most of the foliage was dead-looking. In a future visit to NYC, I would like to visit in spring or summer so that I could hopefully obtain a different impression of the park.

From the park, we took the subway again, this time stopping in at Zabar’s again for lunch. I had been there two days prior by myself, and I thought it would be a good place for lunch as they had quite a large selection of sandwiches and pastries. Kimberly ended up with a veggie pannini and I with a croque monsieur panini, which was really good!

After our quick lunch, we hopped back on the subway again, this time traveling down to Greenwich Village in an attempt to find the apartment that was used for the exterior shots of Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment building in Sex and the City. For those of you who don’t know, my sister is a HUGE fan of Sex and the City, and it was very important that she visit several of the big landmarks from the show. As we arrived on the streets of Greenwich, we almost instantly became bewildered as the street was divided into at least six or seven streets that diverged from one intersection. We had a very difficult time finding the apartment and went the wrong way. Lucky for us, going the wrong way ended up helping us as we ran into a really nice man who offered to walk us directly to the apartment. He had no idea that a building in his neighborhood had been used in the show, so he said he wanted to see the apartment himself as well. We arrived just before the sun set, so we were able to get a few good shots.

Afterward, we gave Mike a call and told him to wake up and meet us down in Chinatown for dinner. As he made his way into downtown via subway, Kimberly and I walked continued to walk through the Greenwich neighborhood for about ten minutes until we reached the Washington Arch, which is located in the corner of Washington Square Park. The park was currently undergoing renovation, so we were unable to walk through it or stand next to the arch. However, by the time we arrived, it was dark out and so the arch was beautifully illuminated by white lights and reminded both of us of the Arc de Triompe in Paris.

Next, we found a nearby Metro stop, and traveled to Chinatown, where we met up with Mike. We stopped in at a few stores, buying some more pashmina scarfs before walking to our chosen restaurant for the evening, Hop Kee. At first, upon arrival we thought the restaurant was closed as the street level of the building was dark, but then we realized that the restaurant was located in the basement. We entered, and saw that we were the only white people, so we figured we had come to a good place. We all ordered egg flower soup, Kimberly ordered shrimp fried rice, and Mike and I ordered wontons (crispy and delicious!) chicken with pineapple (a very sweet & sour chicken) and chicken chow mein. The total for all three came to $50 with tax and tip, so not too bad. The meal was decent, but nothing too spectacular nor memorable.

From the restaurant, we headed out of Chinatown, and traveled to Rockefeller Plaza. Although Kimberly and I had been there the night before, Mike had not so we wanted to show him around. We also wanted to visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral, but unfortunately, it was closed upon our arrival so we added it to another day’s sightseeing schedule. Instead, we enjoyed some of the lighted displays in the plaza, before Kimberly headed back to the hostel and Mike and I to the Top of the Rock. The fee for this was $20 per person, but since so many sights in New York didn’t cost money, we figured the expensive cost was okay. After going through a lax security line, we watched a few movies on the history of the building, Rockefeller Plaza, and one on the NYC Rockettes. Next, we took the elevator to the 65th floor in something like one minute, which was quite amazing. The views from the top were absolutely stunning; the vast amount of lights the city produces is unbelievable, but also impressive and beautiful. This was a time I wished I had had my tripod with me, as the night shots would have turned out much better, although I was able to capture a few good shots. After enjoying the views for 20 minutes, we headed back to the hostel as it had been a long day for us both and we were quite tired.

Day 4: (Friday, November 28th)

We left our room today around 9:45 and took the subway down a few stops to the 82nd station where we walked to the Museum of Natural History. We arrived just as the doors were opening, at 10:00. Since we had the New York CityPass, we were able to bypass the regular ticket line and instead enter through a shorter line. Our ticket included a showing of Cosmic Collisions, so we signed up for the 10:30 showing to get it out of the way. After waiting in line, we had just enough time to take the elevators up before the show began. The presentation was interesting, informative, and physically interactive. The show takes visitors on a trip through time and space to explore cosmic collisions, all of which occur as you are sitting in a chair looking up at the ceiling. After the show, we walked through the 4th floor of the museum. One of the first rooms we visited was the dinosaur exhibits, which was filled to the brim with too many toddlers and strollers. The massive amount of children in the room was astonishing and a bit too much for me; needless to say, we didn’t stay long in this room. We made our way through the museum, visiting floor by floor. Some of the displays we liked most were the primates, African animals, and the Pacific Northwest Indian section. I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting of the museum, but whatever it was, I wasn’t overly impressed. While some of the exhibitions have recently been renovated, I think that most are geared more towards children, and not so much towards adults.

From the museum, we took the subway to Grand Central Terminal. Prior to visiting the main floor of the station, we stopped in at the casual dining area (food court) where there was more than a dozen different food vendors to choose from. After walking around the entire perimeter of the huge room, I decided to eat an Italian pannini, Mike choose some southern barbecue cooking, while Kimberly opted for some Mexican food. After finishing my sandwich, I also got some dessert from Ciao Bella Gelato, which was very delicious! Next, we walked up the ramp into the opulence of Grand Central Station. The size of the room was enormous and was filled to capacity with people walking in every direction possible. I made sure to snap several photos and then we looked through a small Christmas bazaar that was located in a side area of the station. Amazingly, the train station serves about 125,000 commuters each day and entertains nearly 500,000 visitors every day.

From Grand Central, we walked down the street to the Chrysler Building, where we quickly peeked inside the interior of beautiful Art Deco building. When construction of the Chrysler Building was completed in 1930, it was the tallest building in the entire world, and the first man-made structure to stand taller than 1,000 feet. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and is said to be regarded by many New Yorkers as their favorite skyscraper in the city. That bit of information was easy for me to believe as the building has not only a gorgeous and unique interior, but also an interesting architectural exterior and definitely stands out in the New York City skyline.

We headed back in the direction of Grand Central, passing it as we walked to the New York Library. Along the way, I took many pictures of the architecture and many skyscrapers in the area. Unfortunately, the library was undergoing some sort of exterior renovation so part of it was covered. We walked inside to the gorgeous lobby and walked through some of the public rooms. Kimberly enjoyed seeing the library as it played an important part of Carrie’s wedding in the Sex and the City movie.

While at the library, we suddenly realized that Mike had not brought appropriate clothing for the show we were going to attend that night. We quickly figured the closest major clothing store (Bloomingdale's) and then headed in that direction, but first stopped at the Flat Iron Building. This building is considered as one of the first skyscrapers ever built, having been completed in 1902. What the Flat Iron Building is more famous for however is it's triangular shape. Strangely, there was a small area across the street from the building that had table and chairs for the public to sit in. The reason why this was so strange was because it was placed in the middle of the road, an unusual spot for an impromptu park.

As we were unable to visit Bloomingdale's a few nights prior, we had not had the chance to visit yet, so we had no idea of the type or prices of clothing the store carried. As soon as we walked in and saw the price tags, we pretty much turned right back around. Many of the simple black slacks were marked at nearly $200, and even with a sale of 40% off, that was still way too much money! Instead, we decided to head to Macy’s, where we were much more familiar with their pricing structure. However, as it happened to be Black Friday, we were greeted at Macy's with hoards of people; I have never in my life seen a department store so crowded. We were literally crammed worse than sardines as we walked the main aisles; needless to say, this did not make for a fun shopping experience. It took nearly an hour for Mike to find and buy a pair of slacks, shirt and a tie.

From Macy's, we took the subway uptown to the Guggenheim Museum. Initially, prior to Mike’s shirt fiasco, we would have had enough time to spend at least two to three hours at the museum, which stays open late on Fridays. However, because of the shopping ordeal, we only had about one hour at the museum. Once we arrived, we were greeted with a long, massive line. After standing in line for ten minutes, we decided to leave and come back another day when we had more time available to devote to the museum. As taking the subway back to the hostel was tricky, we instead decided to take a cab. Since the cabbie was able to drive directly through Central Park, the ride only took about seven minutes and cost $9. It would have taken nearly 30 minutes to ride on the subway, saving the time was crucial as we needed to get ready for the show.

About five months prior to our trip, we had purchased tickets to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, which featured the famous Rockettes. We aren’t huge fans of Broadway shows, but we figured we should see some sort of show while in New York, and the Christmas Spectacular sounded fun and perfectly timed for our trip.

We got ready at the hostel, left, and then arrived at Rockefeller Center around 19:15. The show did not begin until 21:30, but we were told to arrive one hour early, so we decided to get a bite to eat beforehand. Kimberly was looking for something cheap, and Mike and I were looking for a full dinner, so we parted ways temporarily. Mike and I took a taxi to a nearby midtown French restaurant called La Bonne Soupe, which was recommended in one of our guidebooks. Luckily, we only had to wait five minutes before being seated. For dinner, we ordered a cup of Soupe à l'Oignon (French onion soup), I requested the Poulet au Citron (citrus chicken dish), Mike ordered Lasagne à la Francaise (lasagna with béchamel stuffed in a crepe), and we both had a glass of hard French apple cider. Our dinner entrees also arrived with a salad, which was unexpected and came with a delicious dressing. My chicken dish had an incredibly flavorful sauce and Mike said that his lasagna was very good.

After dinner, we quickly walked back to Radio City Hall, and stood in the very long line of people that were awaiting entry for the show. Fortunately, we didn’t have to stand outside in the cold for too long before the line began to move. We were all blown away when we walked into the sumptuous lobby; it was filled with red fabric-lined walls and gold leaf mirrors and molding with a gorgeous crystal Christmas tree in the center; it was truly a magical sight. From here, we walked up several flights of stairs in order to reach the mezzanine level. The views of the stage from here were actually quite good and the seats were fairly comfortable. We sat and waited in our seats for the show to began while the rest of the guests filtered in.

About ten minutes before the actual show began, a few Christmas songs began to play on the piano, which helped to put us in the mood. When the show finally began, the curtains went up and the Rockettes were out, kicking their legs as high as they could. The show had a total of 12 scenes, most of which included the Rockettes, but a few that did not, including an amazing 3-d presentation of Santa riding in his sleigh above the streets of New York. All three of us were incredibly impressed with the show; the sets, lighting and costumes were all done top notch. The dancing of the Rockettes was amazing and it was obvious that an immense amount of time and energy had gone into their practice sessions. We left feeling that the $60 we had spent on each ticket was well worth the cost. The show finished after 23:00, and we headed back to the hostel.

Day 5: (Saturday, November 29th)

Our first stop this morning was at Chelsea Market, which is home to the Food Network Television channel and several high-end food markets and restaurants. The building was formerly the Nabisco factory and much of the character from that time period still remains. This was one of the events I was most looking forward to on our trip as I am a huge foodie. I had also seen the market several times on the Food Network and it looked like the kind of place I would love. I figured that we would spend about an hour here, but we ended up staying for nearly 2.5 hours. We had lovely and delicious cupcakes at Eleni's, browsed a great Italian market called Buon Italia, wandered through several specialty food markets, had a gelato sample at L'Arte Del Gelato, and grabbed a filling soup lunch from Hale and Hearty Soups. It was a great experience and the only disappointing part was that the market was much smaller than I had originally envisioned.

From the Chelsea Market, we took the subway to the Empire State Building. Mike and I had visited the observatory at the Top of the Rock a few nights prior and had only waited about five minutes to go up. However, the situation with the Empire State Building was much different. All in all, it probably took us over one hour to finally reach the observatory. I assume that the massive lines were attributed to the fact that entrance to the Empire State Building was included with the CityPass, which is quite popular with visitors. Initially, we thought the line would take only 15 minutes to get through, as we thought we could see the end of it ahead of us. However, we soon realized that the line actually meandered around the building multiple times, through many different corridors. Standing in the line for such an extended period of time was quite exhausting, and was only made worse by the fact that behind us was an obnoxiously loud three year old who wouldn't stop wailing. Once we finally made it to the top, we were rewarded with amazing views of the city and a fiercely cold wind; actually, I should refer to this wind as "bone chilling". Needless to say, we didn't stay on the observatory for too long as we couldn't withstand the cold temperature.

Next on our to-do list was visiting the Tribute WTC Visitor Center. Unfortunately, we had a difficult time reaching the museum as the directions in our guidebook were completely unclear. We could obviously see Ground Zero from where we were, but it took forever to find the small museum. Once we did, we were barely able to get in as they were within 30 minutes of closing. I believe that Mike and I were two of the last visitors they allowed in the building that day. The museum we visited was small, but was built to honor the thousands of victims who lost their life on that fateful day. There was hundreds of photos of the victims, along with several artifacts from the site, including a section of an airplane window from one of the planes that crashed into the buildings; that was quite eerie. In regards to Ground Zero itself, it was still surprisingly a massive construction site with cranes and metal fences and barricades everywhere. We were able to peek inside one of the fences, and it appeared that they were working on the foundation for the new buildings. More information on the progress of building another massive museum can be found
here.

Afterward, we took the metro up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. During the walk to the museum, a fight suddenly broke out across the street from us between five to six young men, one of whom who ended up getting his head slammed into a glass window of a store. There was dozens of people lining the street, and with the exception of the three of us, no one stopped to see what was going on. In fact, Kimberly immediately called 911 as it was obvious that whosoever head was slammed into the glass had massive bleeding. However, the men immediately dispersed off in different directions after the fight, so when the cops arrived three minutes later, no one was to be found. I found it frightening and quite alarming however that all of the locals seemed to be immune to this sort of violence; no one seemed to notice what was going on.

Once at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, we were informed that we were not allowed to bring our bags with us inside. We were also told that they did not have a bag check for liquids or foods (which we happened to be carrying). This posed a huge problem, since we weren't anywhere near our hostel and certainly didn't want to waste the time going all the way back. The museum employee's finally seemed to grasp our problem, and stated that they would personally hold the bags at the front desk for us until we left.

The Museum of Metropolitan Art is enormous and would take probably days to fully appreciate all of the sections and exhibits as it is one of the world's largest art galleries. We started our visit in the Egyptian Art section, making our way to the American Decorative Arts section, then to the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, before we finally gave in. Kimberly's feet were killing her, Mike was sleeping in the main lobby, we were all starving, and it was quite late out anyway; definitely a good time to call it a night for sightseeing. My favorite part of the museum was probably the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts as there was several immaculately preserved period rooms from France and Italy. It made me feel as though I was walking through a palace somewhere in Western Europe instead of a museum in New York City.

For dinner, we decided to head downtown to the famous Lombardi's Pizza. Lombardi's is known around the world as being the first pizzeria in the United States in 1905 and serves authentic, wood-fired pizza. Unfortunately, we had to wait nearly 45 minutes to be seated, but I figured (and hoped!) it would be worth the wait. My presumptions were correct as the pizza was delicious. Mike and I chose to add pancetta and a sweet sausage to the pizza, which was incredibly delicious. Kimberly, a vegetarian, decided to get her own calzone, which she said was good, but not great.

From the restaurant, we headed back to the hostel via the subway. For some reason that night, we had to wait for what seemed like forever for a train to stop. When one finally appeared, all of the cars were full expect for one, which we found quite strange. As soon as the the train stopped, we quickly realized why; the compartment was empty because someone had puked all over inside. That was absolutely a disgusting sight to see, but we were still able to squeeze our way onto one of the full cars.

Day 6: (Sunday, November 30th)

Today we left the hostel around 10:00 and took a quick taxi ride to the Guggenheim Museum. We could have taken the subway system; however, as the upper East Side and upper West side are separated by Central Park, access between the two via public transportation is extremely time consuming. The taxi ride only cost between $5 to $6, so it’s very reasonable, and much quicker (only five to seven minutes).

Entrance to the museum was included in the Citypass, along with a free audio guide tour. The Guggenheim Museum was opened in 1959 and it's permanent collection includes Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art. Upon entering the museum, we were greeted with a visually interesting interior; there is a gentle spiral walkway that slowly makes it way around the interior of the building, leading all the way to the very top. Viewing this spiral from the entrance level looking up towards the ceiling is quite fascinating. We began our visit on the first floor, where we toured a temporary photography gallery featuring work from Katherine Opie, a contemporary American photographer. Afterward, we walked through the Thannhauser Collection, where the oldest works of art are housed, including Renoir, Picasso, Gauguin, and Manet. We continued touring the museum, winding our way up the spiral rotunda. The entire museum only took about two hours to see, which was refreshing compared to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Natural History Museum, which could theoretically take days to properly see. Afterward, we went down to the ground level and grabbed a quick bite to eat for breakfast.

We took another taxi back to hostel, where Kimberly grabbed her bags as she was leaving that morning to go back to school in Vermont. We all boarded the subway train together, and we said our goodbyes when Mike and I got off at 59th Street station. The goodbyes weren’t too sad though as she was coming home to Seattle only 2.5 weeks later for Christmas break.

Mike and I then headed to Rockefeller Plaza, where we stopped in at the Magnolia Bakery. Although Kimberly and I had gone to the bakery a few days prior, Mike had not and he wanted to see the delicious desserts himself. Instead of ordering cupcakes, we went for an array of desserts including a slice of white chocolate cheesecake with macadamia nuts, chocolate marbled cheesecake, a magic cookie bar and a bar of cherries jubilee (cream cheese and cherries on a base of graham cracker crust). The cheesecakes were insanely delicious and I really liked the cherry dessert.

Afterward, we walked around the block to St. Patrick's Cathedral to view the interior. They were allowing visitors inside even though mass was occurring. The church was originally opened in 1871 and has been immaculately cared for. We were only able to view the interior from a distance though due to the mass that was going on.

After visiting the church, we took the subway down to Union Square. As we approached the ticket gates, I reached into my jean pockets as normal in order to grab my ticket, but was unable to find it. I immediately began to panic as I still had two more days to use on the ticket. I searched everywhere in my purse and in all of my pockets and also Mike's; unfortunately, the ticket was not to be found. I was incredibly angry with myself as this meant that I would need to buy three additional separate daily tickets for our remaining time in the city. I hate needlessly wasting money, so it put me in a really bad mood.

I had read about a holiday market that occurred in the south end of Union Square, so being a Christmas freak, I thought it would be fun to check out. There were dozens and dozens of stands that together, formed several semi-circles. Since it was a holiday market, I assumed there would be lots of holiday decorations; unfortunately, there were very few stalls of decorations and most were selling specific items such as purses, blankets, candles, etc.

Feeling disappointed, we left and took the subway to the Lower East Side. I had wanted to explore the neighborhood and it’s distinctive shops, and hopefully find a few unique decorative items to bring home. Unfortunately, we saw few shops and instead encountered heavy rain showers, cold wind chills, and lots of walking. Surprisingly, I was able to find some cute candle holders at a hardware store, which I thought was quite random. We eventually headed over to Greenwich, where I did manage to find a few interesting decorative stores, but did not walk out with any new purchases.

Later, we went back uptown to Macy’s where my mission was to find a cocktail dress for the two holiday parties Mike and I would be attending in December for the companies we work for. One hour and 15 dresses later, I had finally decided upon a satin teal dress with a silver decorative brooch. While I spent forever in the dressing room, Mike had somehow managed to sleep in the waiting area while dozens of people walked around him; quite amusing but I'm telling you, the man can sleep anywhere!

From Macy’s, we took the subway down to Chinatown, and then walked to Joe’s Shanghai, which was located several blocks from the station. Joe Shanghai’s came highly recommended from both my guidebooks and also on Trip Advisor, so I figured the place would have good food. If that wasn’t any indication, then the long line of people waiting for a seat in the restaurant should have been. Luckily, we only had to wait about five minutes until they were able to squeeze us in at a larger table with other guests. Although it may sound strange, the restaurant only has larger sized tables for five to six people, so multiple groups might sit at the same table. It was slightly uncomfortable to be sitting across from strangers, but the food more than made up for that. We ordered crab and pork steamed dumplings, sesame chicken, kung pao chicken, and pork lo mein. The soup dumplings were new to us, but insanely good and we had a fun time learning to eat them the proper way without squirting the soup juice everywhere. The meat dishes were good, but the best of the whole meal was definitely the pork lo mein; I’m not exactly sure what they put in the noodles to make them taste so good, but they were out of this world delicious; definitely the best chow mein either one of us has ever eaten!

During the meal, Kimberly happened to call us. She should have been back in Vermont by that point (it had been about four hours since she was supposed to have been picked up from New Jersey) however, she was still sitting in her friend’s car in New Jersey and could actually see Manhattan from the car window. They had traveled one and a half miles in two hours, so it looked as though her travel time would be extended for much longer than she had originally expected.

From Chinatown, we took the subway back to the hostel, which unfortunately took over one hour due to multiple line changes and having to wait for the subway cars.

Day 7: (Monday, December 1st, 2008)

Having stayed up too late the night before, Mike and I slept in until 10:30 this morning, only to be woken up by the lovely sounds of the fire alarm going off multiple times. A staff member of the hostel spoke over the loudspeaker that they were in the process of testing the fire alarms and that it would continue all morning long.

We headed out at 11:15 in order to arrive in time for our 12:00 pre-booked tour at the Tenement Museum. The Tenement Museum. We arrived just in time, about five minutes prior to the tour start time. However, when I went to pick-up the tickets that I had reserved over the internet, I was told that they could not find our reservation for the day. They did however have a reservation for us on the following day. Looking down at my printed confirmation, I saw that the tour was in fact for the next day. While in a hurry the night before, I had mistakenly looked at the schedule for Tuesday instead of Monday, and thus traveled all the way down to the East Village on the wrong day. We attempted to get on another tour that day, but they were sold out for several tours.

I was highly irritated with myself, but since there was nothing we could do about the situation, we decided to find a place to eat in the neighborhood. We decided on the well-known
Katz’s Delicatessen as it was only a few blocks away and highly recommended. When we walked inside the restaurant, we were each given a ticket, which we were told to keep with us at all times until we left and paid for our meal. If we lost the ticket, we would be responsible for paying a $50 fee. We went up to the counter, and looked at the vast array of choices we had in front of us. Mike ordered a hot dog and I requested a plain pastrami sandwich (i.e. no mayo or mustard, which is typical for me). While Mike’s hot dog was reasonably priced ($3.10) my sandwich was a bit over-priced at $13.95. We also each ordered a can of pop, which cost an astounding $2.50 each! While the food was good and the ambiance interesting, I didn’t think the high prices were necessary and felt that the restaurant was taking too much advantage of it’s popularity by over charging it’s customers for the food.

From the restaurant, we traveled via subway to the Merchant House Museum. This museum is a three story preserved house that was built in 1832. It belonged to the same family for over 100 years and still contains original furnishings and other objects from the family. Entrance to the house included use of a guidebook, which described in great detail the items in each of the rooms. Being a history buff, I loved the house, even more so because it seemed to be so untouched by the history of time.

From the Merchant House Museum, we headed further downtown to the Financial District. Our first stop was Trinity Church, which was built in 1846 and is a Gothic Revival Episcopal church. The church’s location in the middle of all of the hustle of bustle of Manhattan seemed strangely out of place, but had a beautiful interior with colorful stained glass windows.

From here, we walked down the famous Wall Street to the New York Stock Exchange. Although we were obviously unable to go inside the building, we took several photos of the exterior and watched some of the nervous stock brokers inhale their cigarettes outside.

Across the street from the Stock Exchange was the Federal Hall National Memorial. This beautiful building, whose appearance bears a resemblance to the Parthenon in Rome, was once home to the first city hall of New York. We weren’t sure if it cost money to go inside, so we walked up the stairs and discovered that it was free to view the interior. The National Park Service was offering guided tours at set times that day, but it didn’t fit into our schedule, so we opted not to take one. Instead, we walked around the interior of the building, viewing a recent exhibition they had just created about some of the former American Presidents.

Next, we walked North a few blocks to St. Paul’s Chapel. The small church was completed in 1766 and currently houses several small displays and memorials to victims from the 9/11 attacks. I was surprised by the color of the interior of the church which was painted a soft pink and blue; nothing I have ever seen in a church before, but it was quite beautiful.

From the church, we took the subway to the closest stop to the Brooklyn Bridge. Like many other visitors to New York City, we decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge was much longer than I expected, and it took us about 30 minutes to cross from Manhattan to Brooklyn. The views from the walk were absolutely gorgeous, especially of the Manhattan skyline. The weather cooperated in a wonderful way, since the sun decided to come out just as our walk began. Unfortunately, the clearing of clouds also equaled lots of wind, so much to the point that it became difficult to walk at times. About halfway across, something flew into my eye and the constant wind did not help the excruciating pain I was already experiencing (what IS IT with crap flying into my eyes while traveling?). I attempted to put eye drops into my eyes, but the wind made that task quite difficult. We eventually made it to Brooklyn, where we stopped in at a small restaurant for some pizza slices. The sun was just beginning to set, so we ate quickly and headed to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, where I had planned on taking photos of the lower Manhattan skyline. The walk took about ten minutes, and by the time we got there, the sun was down completely and the buildings were lit up beautifully across the water. Although I had wished that I had my tripod with me, I was still able to get a few good shots.

From here, we walked for what seemed like nearly 20 minutes to the closest subway stop. We took the subway back to Manhattan where we had dinner reservations at a French restaurant called Les Halles. The restaurant is best known for it's former head chef Anthony Bourdain, who is now a travel show host on the Travel Channel. Being a huge fan of Anthony, I was extremely excited to eat at his former restaurant, and even more looking forward to the experience because it was French food, my absolute favorite cuisine. We ordered onion soup for an appetizer, I had the Coq au Vin, Mike the cassoulet, and for dessert, crème brulee and profiteroles. Unfortunately, my high hopes for the restaurant were sorely disappointed. The onion soup was strange, with a slightly sweet flavor, nothing like we have ever tasted in any of the dozens of others we have had in the past. Mike said his cassoulet was good, but not necessarily outstanding. My coq au vin had a very strong sauce, but again, almost a little sweet. I’m not sure if the taste was coming from the tomato paste or possibly the wine, but whatever it was, I didn’t enjoy it. For dessert, the crème brulee was good, but not my profiteroles. The pastry that the ice cream was sandwiched between was dry and almost tasteless; other profiteroles I have eaten in the past have had the ice cream stuffed inside, similar to cream puffs. Basically, we spent nearly $100 with tax and tip for a meal that really wasn’t that good. The French restaurant we had eaten at a few days prior that cost half as much had tasted twice as good.

We traveled back to the hostel via subway, feeling very disappointed with our experience at Les Halles.

Day 8: (Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008)

On our final day in New York, we had planned to wake early in order to take the subway up to the Bronx to see Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately, we were exhausted and woke up late. Since we had a 12:00 tour at the Tenement Museum, we knew we would not have had enough time to go to the Bronx. I wasn't disappointed as I really didn't care whether or not I saw the stadium, but I was more concerned with Mike's feelings. However, he informed me that he had seen the stadium on his first visit to the city, so it wasn't a big deal to him either.

Instead, we headed directly to the Tenement Museum. We barely arrived on-time for our 12:00 tour; in fact, we had to find our tour group outside on the street below the apartment. The Tenement Museum is a museum like no other I have ever visited; it tells the stories of the families that once lived in the apartment building at 97 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side. Tour guides take visitors through the former apartments of these families that have been restored to appear as they would have during the applicable time frame. We chose to go on "The Moores" tour, which was an Irish Catholic immigrant family who lived in the building during 1869. The guide did an amazing job of setting the scene for the life of the Moore family, even describing in great-detail the wake that occurred for their young daughter who died of illness. These tours are a great way to learn about a period of time in New York that so much of us know so little about. The one hour tours may be pricey to some ($17 per person), but I assure you that they are well worth the money. In fact, had I known how awesome the tour was, I would have signed up for an additional one had we had more time.

From the Tenement Museum, I had wanted to visit the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace. However, after stopping in at a sandwich place close to the house, we realized that there was no way we would have enough time to devote to touring the building. Instead, we headed back to our favorite place in New York City, the Magnolia Bakery. We wanted to buy some more goodies to eat before we left and also to obtain some cupcakes for our exchange students back home, which we would carry with us onto the airplane.

We then headed back to the hostel, where we grabbed our bags and began the long subway journey to the airport. It was a good thing that we had not gone to the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, as we may not have had enough time to get to the airport. Our flight left on time and without any problems until we arrived back in Seattle. It was at that point that we were informed that they had to leave one of our bags behind (along with several dozen other suitcases) as the airplane was too full. Of course, this occurred on what has been one of the only times we have actually checked luggage. I was obviously quite irritated, but we ended up getting my luggage two days later when it was delivered to our house.

In conclusion, aside from the freezing cold temperatures, we had a great time during our stay in New York. My initial impression of the city is still what lingers longest in my mind; it's huge and massive size. It is nearly impossible to grasp the size unless personally experienced. One might not think of just how big an island in New York could possibly be, but I guarantee that all first time visitors will be shocked by it's size. I was astounded by the amount of time it took to get from our hostel (located in the Upper West Side) down to Lower Manhattan via a subway ride. In hindsight, on a future trip to New York, I would choose to stay at a place in midtown, as all of the sights we saw were located south from where we stayed.

New York is like no where else on Earth; it's a fascinating place that contains millions of people, thousands of restaurants, hundreds of attractions, and a ridiculous number of tourists trying to absorb it all. While there are many other cities in the world that share commonalities with the things listed above, there is just something so incredibly different about New York. At all the same time, it's gritty, dirty, beautiful, exciting, crazy, brash, kind, interesting, confusing, challenging, and rewarding. I would say that it is a great example of controlled chaos at it's best.

While I can't honestly say that I fell in love with the city in the same way I have with Paris or London, it does hold a certain mystique that I find fascinating; one of the biggest cities in the world that is in every way a thriving and successful American metropolis.

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Photos

Amazing purple sky
We were rewarded with this beautiful view when we arrived back in Battery Park after visiting Ellis Island

Kimberly standing in front of Carrie
As in Carrie Bradshaw, of Sex and the City!

Rockefeller Plaza
And it's unlighted Christmas tree (unfortunately, it was officially lit the night we flew out).

Most Delicious Cheesecake Ever
Purchased from the lovely Magnolia Bakery

So typical New York City...
Old and new, mingling together side by side