Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Wrapping it up, New York style.

Alright, ladies and gentlemen. This is the last entry for my October vacay:  New York. From what I had heard, it was a helluva town. That the Bronx was up, but the Battery was down. But I preferred to make my own assessment of the renowned city.

The morning we went to New York, we woke up bright and early (technically it was still dark, since it was like 5:00 a.m.), and Casey's aunt (as well as his mom) was kind enough to take us on a day long tour through the Big Apple. That woman knows her way around the city. 

We saw nearly all of the major attractions, starting with Times Square. It was just as cool as it looks in the movies. Namely, Enchanted.

We stopped at F.A.O. Schwarz to check out the Big piano and other fun toy stuff. And to get my picture taken with a man-toy soldier who looks like he is ecstatic to be at work and dressed as a man-toy soldier.

I had my first Subway ride. It was thrilling beyond description. And dirty. Very dirty.

Central Park was beautiful. And gigantic. And beautiful. And a little dirty. But not as dirty as the subway.

We stopped by the 911 memorial. It was much bigger than I had expected. Reading the names on the memorial was quite an emotional experience for me. I am glad we went.

After a bit of cajoling, Casey convinced me to go to the top of the Empire State Building- and I'm glad he did.  

The view was spectacular.

We went to many other places, including China Town, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, etc. I even had myself a cannoli. Yum. We also saw Sarah Jessica Parker as well as Snooki (although someone had to tell me who she was. I'm so out of the loop.).  The last thing we did before we left, however, was go see a Broadway show. What better one to see than the longest running musical on Broadway: Phantom of the Opera. (Notice my cute NY hat? Awwww. I look like a tourist.)


And there's the stage! The performance was fantastic. Although Christine's voice kinda bugged. But whatev.

After the show, we hopped in the car and drove on back to VA for the night.  I waved goodbye to the beautiful city which I had so easily fallen in love with. The energy of the city was so alive. I will totes be back to visit, for sure (see what I did there? I'm still trying to be cool.).
At the end of the day, I had concluded that New York was, indeed, a helluva town.  And I love it. 

See? I have proof.

On the ride back to Casey's mom's house (Friday), we started hearing rumors of a hurricane coming through on Sunday-Monday. We were scheduled to leave on Monday night. Luckily, the airline (bless you, Southwest) was able to move our flight up to Sunday afternoon, and we BARELY missed the huge Hurricane Sandy. Glad we got out of there when we did.

Whew! I'm finished with that exceedingly long update. It was quite a fun and adventure-filled trip.
Next you will hear all about Bali. A very relaxing and extremely wonderful vacation.

(Here's another little sample of it for you: )

If you need me, I'll be over here trying to convince myself (unsuccessfully) that I love the cold weather.

10 comments:

Desiree said...

New York City is my all time favorite city! I'm so glad you go to go:) Did you love all the cute knock off "Prado" and "Kate Spate" stuff for sale on the streets? That's one of my favorite parts of New York. When I first saw Serendipity (the movie) I laughed my butt off because I am Molly Shannon in that movie. I would get so excited about fake watches and bags that I didn't even care if they had the wrong name on them;)

Sarah said...

You did ALL THAT in one day? I'm impressed!

It sounds like you heart NYC now. Did you get a shirt that proves it? :)

Unknown said...

Des- haha! Yes! I totally loved the knockoff stuff. (And I love that movie. So cute.)

I DID buy a shirt, Sarah! I'm going to update the post with a picture of the shirt. Right now. Hehe

the mom said...

Totes. I can't believe you used that word again. LOL.

Sounds like a fun adventure, right up your alley. Except for the dirt. Though it did give you something to blog about - a nice theme that ran through your blog a bit.

Thanks for the entertaining commentary to your photos.

And I am SOOO glad you got out of there before Sandy made her grand and destructive entrance.

paul said...

I've often played guide to a whirl wind tour of San Francisco. It's great fun. I'm glad you had a guide. I've never been to New York but would love to. I here it's quite the place. BTW the San Francisco subway is pretty dirty too. Not on the cars but in the stations but golden gate park is pristine.

Jennifer said...

Sounds like Casey's Mom and Aunt were top-notch tour guides. :) Feeling the energy of that city is definitely an amazing experience all on its own. I bet it was fun to see so much all in one day, and especially with such great company.

Unknown said...

Paul- San Francisco is at the top of my list for one of the next places I want to see! Maybe I'll hire you to be our tour guide when we go. I have no doubt you will provide hours of entertainment :)

Irene said...

WOW!!!! gosh, you sure did go to and see a lot of places and things. What a fantastic trip you had. You look so dang cute or beautiful in all of the pictures. and you really look happy :-)
I can hardly wait for your post on Bali.
Sure love you

paul said...

We're only an hour and a half away from SF but when we go there we usually get a nice hotel room for the night. We'd treat you right.

Brandon said...

I've only ridden the subway in Japan and Malaysia, and both were quite clean. (Japan much more so than Malaysia, though). I'm surprised to hear that New York was so dirty, even in the park. Sounds like there is so much to do and see in New York. Did you find it overwhelming?