New York City here we come!

After leaving Washington DC this past August, we took the train up to New York to spend three days in "The Big Apple". (My first train ride!)

So here's an amusing story about when we first arrived in New York.  We arrived at Penn Station and gathered our belongings heading toward the subway.  (Which makes me laugh when I think about it.  But I won't go into the details.  Don't worry Amanda, this stays between you, me, Britt, and Bobbi.)  We were on the Subway a bit longer than I thought it would take, but it's ok because I'm following the directions.  Then we get off at the station which my directions told me to, but there was nothing in the area.  Well there was stuff in the area, but not the kind of stuff we wanted.  Amanda hailed us a cab (she's good at doing that) and we found our hotel.  Which wasn't as close to the subway that the internet told me.  Conclusion... I suck at picking hotels.

We had a discussion and decided we should change hotels, I called up Marriott and found us a room at the Courtyard in Times Square.  We decided it was worth spending the extra money to be close to everything we wanted to see.  The hotel clerk at our cheap hotel was super nice and refunded us all but one night of the non-refundable money we spent.  So we were excited!  And do you know how excited I was to be staying only a block or two from the Fashion District?!  Super excited!  And we were so close to everything it was amazing!!

We started site seeing right away.  So much to see and do but so little time!  I'm warning you right now, this is going to be a picture heavy post. :-)

We went to see the Statue of Liberty.  The crown wasn't opened when we pre-ordered our ferry tickets, but it is now.  But we did get to climb up it to the base because we had a monument pass.  Honestly I don't think I would have survived going to the crown.  And here's an interesting note... the line for the pre-ordered tickets was longer than the line of the non-preordered tickets.  Honestly, why separate the two lines?  Everyone goes into one line for the ferry, so why separate pre-ordered and on site purchased tickets? What's the point?

I highly recommend seeing the Statue of Liberty at least once.  But be prepared to stand in lines for the majority of the day.  We did the first ferry out because the thinking was "Who wants to get up early?"  Well, apparently everyone.

And we also visited Ellis Island.  You know how in the movie 'Hitch' there's a book that everyone who entered Ellis Island signed and the chick was able to view her butcher grandfather's signature?  LIES, lies I tell you!  There's no book!  That's right, no book.  Hollywood lied to us again!! But they do have an interest gift store that has some cool books.  This is cool if you have the time and know of an ancestor that came through Ellis Island there is a section that you can get the information.  Yay computers!  Yay family history!  I'm not sure how much it costs though.  I didn't pay attention since I didn't know of a name and I didn't have time to stand in the line.

We had lunch at Lombardi's Pizza and it was HEAVEN!  Heaven I tell you!  I wasn't able to eat pizza for weeks afterwards.  And then when I did I mutterd "It's not Lombardi's."

We also visited the World Trade Center site, which I posted about earlier and can be found here.

We ate at Serendipity.  Why yes, ate.  Because we were smart in this aspect, they don't take reservations for desert only, so we made a reservation for dinner!  My chicken diva was to die for!  And we still got our frozen hot chocolate for desert!

We walked through (and got lost) in central park on our way to the Met!

We did the split up and attack approach to The Met since there is so much to see and so little time.  I may have set off the alarm in the Japanese art area.  If I did it was totally by accident.  I may have been leaning in too much to get a good look at a screen.  And the screen in this picture may have been the one that I possibly set an alarm off while looking.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of me in The Met.

But we did eat a hot dog on the steps and pictures were taken.  The hot dog wasn't too bad for being from a vendor.  It may have been an old hot dog, because those just plump right up, but you couldn't tell while eating it.  This hot dog is in no way as good as the hot dog in Hawaii.  Miriam, you know what I'm talking about!

And then visited The Cloisters, which was on my list because I learned about it in my Art History class.

It was hot and we got lost walking around Fort Tyson.  I think I have a super power to get me and those around me lost while I'm travelling.  But in my defense the area wasn't well marked and somehow we missed the tiny arrow, so we ended up going in a circle.  But we powered through it and I thought it was worth it.

Brittani didn't want to go see a Broadway play with us so she opted to go to bed (she's the one covered up by the covers and pillow).  But Bobbi, Amanda and I were stoked to go see....

The Little Mermaid!  Yes, that's right we saw The Little Mermaid.  It was really cool how they translated it for the stage.

After the play we met up with Brittani to go have dinner at The Carnegie Deli.  Oh my goodness those sandwiches are huge!!  Amanda and I split one and it was more than enough.  We didn't eat until about 4 the following day because we were stuffed.  Well actually  we did get hungry before 4 but just didn't have an opportunity to eat.

Brittani loves the Empire State Building.  (Instead of going up the Empire State Building we went to The Top of the Rock).  And I love Mood!  I shopped at the same spot that Project Runway contestants go to!  It was so cool and I was stoked!  I could have spent hours in that store.

Brittani and I laughed that people in New York pull out an umbrella when it sprinkles.  I guess two Oregonians decided to be New Yorkers.  Eh, when in New York do like the New Yorkers, right?

We're in BRYANT PARK!  Now, I just need to get here when it's fashion week!

New York was a blast.  Thanks for inviting me girls!  I'd love to go back to New York because there's more to see and again I feel like now that I have the tourist stuff out of the way I can have a more leisure time next time.

Oh yeah and we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, that was pretty cool!  

We celebrated our fun at the airport but at the same time we were excited to get home.  But little did we know that this excitement would turn into this....

Our plane was delayed getting into Newark, which then made our plane landing late in Minneapolis.  But it's ok, because all other Delta flights were delayed at Minneapolis as well... except our connecting flight!  And the kicker part is the doors closed and took off only minutes after we landed.  So I had my first time missing a flight and my first time sleeping in an airport!  This trip was a lot of firsts for me!