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Published: November 7th 2008
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Last week I went to New York City for the first time ever. I know, I know...I've been all over but I'd never made it there before. I went to visit my friends, Jen and Ryan, who live a block from Union Square. My journey started with going to Charlotte to stay at Helen and Doug's place while they were at the beach and then flying into Laguardia on Tuesday. I took the M60 bus to the 125th Street Station, figured out the not-so-logical Subway system, and Jen came to find me. We headed out into the cold, rainy day to walk through the streets of NoHo, SoHo, the West Village, and Union Square. It made me miss London and all the hustle and bustle of Oxford Street. We ended our walk with a visit to the Magnolia Bakery--Yummy Cupcakes!
Wednesday I chose to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on the ferry and I enjoyed learning about the history of the monument and seeing it up close. I had a ticket which allowed access to the monument and, after climbing about 160 steps, I was able to see the spiral staircase and the framework of Lady
Liberty. I never made it to Ellis Island (although the ferry almost stopped there on the way back to Battery Park) but that's okay...there's always the next time I'm in NYC. As I wandered back to the apartment, I walked to the World Trade Center site. Not very exciting, just a construction site at this point.
The weather on Thursday was considerably improved and I took the clear skies as a sign that I needed to visit the Empire State Building. I bought my ticket online, printed it out at an internet cafe, had lunch with Jen across from the Flatiron Building, then headed off to see what I could see. It was very windy at the top but the views were very good. I could see all the way from Staten Island to the Bronx, and from New Jersey to Long Island.
Jen and I had planned to go to Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and see other Midtown sights, then head to Central Park, but we still needed a couple things for Halloween costumes so we started out going to shady Canal Street. On the way back we stopped at her sister's gallery and had lunch at
Mooncake--a little Vietnamese place that I would highly recommend. We were still looking for costume parts when we went to Times Square and after finding them, we sort of ran out of time to go to Central park. We came back through Grand Central Station and then had to get ready to go the the Halloween Parade.
The NYC Halloween Parade is about 20 blocks of craziness. We met up with Jen's sister and her boyfriend Mark and Ryan's friend Christine to watch the parade. I think I can now safely say that I've seen just about all there is to see. The "Most Creative Costume" award, I think, has to go to the group of guys who dressed up as bowling pins. They weren't in the parade, but the costumes were good nonetheless.
Saturday brought more great weather and I got up early and went to Central Park. The fall colors were gorgeous and it was just a great morning to be in the park. The NYC Marathon people were setting up so all the roads were closed to cars which I'm quite sure made my experience in the park even nicer. I walked from Columbus Circle
at the southwest corner of the park to northwest of the Reservoir, passing the skating rink, the pond, the zoo, Bethesda Fountain and Terrace, Strawberry Fields, Loeb Boathouse, Belvedere Castle, and the Great Lawn. After all the walking, it was time to experience a NYC diner so I met back up with Jen and Ryan and we had a late brunch.
They took me to McSorley's Old Ale House which is this ridiculously old bar in the East Village which didn't even allow women until the 70s or so. They had photos and random memorabilia from historial figures on almost every available wall surface. This was followed by a bit of research into Ukranian restaurants. We ended up eating very heartily at the Ukranian East Village Restaurant. It was an interesting but tasty experience and I've learned from two things from it: 1) I like borscht; and 2) I definitely don't need to eat at all for the entire day leading up to eating Ukranian food, nor the entire day following. As we were all full from dinner we had a pretty low-key evening and ended up watching "Death at a Funeral" back at the apartment.
My last
day was jam-packed. We met up with Jen and Ryan's friend Sarah who had been in town for the weekend from Boston. She lived in Durham, NC while Jen and Ryan lived there and I had met Sarah before when I visited--two Halloween's ago to be exact! Then I went off on my own to see the Chrysler Building and do my last bit of sightseeing. Mark, Jen's sister's boyfriend, was running in the NYC Marathon so I met back up with Jen and Ryan and Katie to watch part of the Marathon and have lunch. Then it was time for me to go!
On the way to getting the bus, I got my last NYC bagel and had Pinkberry (quite tasty with Fruity Pebbles and white yogurt chips, if I do say so myself). I made it back to the 125th Street Station to take the M60 back to the airport, but because of the Marathon, the buses were definitely not running correctly. I ended up walking about six blocks to the "temporary" bus stop and finally an M60 arrived. It took us on a scenic tour of Harlem and the Bronx before dropping us at the airport.
Me and the Ear
A plaster form used to make one of the ears. With quite a bit of running between the security line and my gate, I made it on the airplane and before I knew it, I was back in Charlotte ready to make the drive home. All in all, it was a great trip. I'm ready to go again....
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Pam Boles
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HEY MARY MARY!!! :)
I sooo miss seeing you, I read your NYC blog and drank it up...I love the way you tell stories...very jealous by the way...I have opportunity to go with a friend at Christmas, but my husband would give birth to something if I even thought about it, so....another time I hope...wanna see the statue of Liberty before I die...so, I see you haven't skipped off to London yet...are things panning out with the job this year a little better than last we spoke...hope to hear from you soon :) I do miss seeing you Mary...u are a sweetheart...love you, Pam