All of my pictures are on my phone, meaning that I have no idea if or when I'll upload them to a computer. But here are a few to start with!
Monday I arrived and used the UBER private car service, which I highly recommend, to get to Jess' house in Brooklyn from LaGuardia. Shortly after I arrived and dropped off my bags, Patricia, Grace and I went into Manhattan to see the 9/11 memorial, which is incredible and very moving. Afterwards, we walked around a little while, waiting on Jess to get off work so we could meet up with her for dinner (at the BEST Italian restaurant I've ever been to, Pepe Giallo). We stumbled upon these lighted trees across from the memorial:
Tuesday, we took the subway back into Manhattan with Jess on her way to work, stopped and ate delicious NYC bagels with way too much (aka a perfect amount) of cream cheese, and then headed into Central Park. The leaves are changing right now, which means that CP is absolutely gorgeous and definitely my favorite place in the whole city. It is such a nice change of pace from the GO GO GO feel of NYC. Definitely more my speed.
We went to the Rockefeller Center afterwards to go ice skating, which was a lesson in humility. I never actually fell, but there were a couple of close calls. Also I realized that I'm not my teenage self anymore that can skate for hours and never want to stop. There was a lot of stopping. And groaning. And clutching my leg that insisted on bending at an awkward angle every time I went around a curve.
After ice skating, we walked around the area for a while, checking out the New York Public Library and Grand Central Station, both of which are beautiful buildings. Later, after an unexpected subway ride to 125th street (almost into the Bronx) where we learned the difference between an express and a local train, we met up with my friend Molly, who attends school in Manhattan, and her dog Murphy. It's funny how many people stop and ask someone who has a dog for directions. Afterwards, Patricia, Jess and I met up at the Russian Vodka Room for martinis, which, let's just say, made friends out of everyone in the bar.
Wednesday, we went back to the bagel place near Jess' work, then went to check out the Empire State building. We went all the way to the top, where we peered over the city like forgotten birds, a trip that was expedited by Jess' landlord working in the building and offering to get us a) discounted tickets and b) to the front of the line.
After the ESB, we went to the Macy's on 5th avenue for lunch, then made our way to Broadway for what I was most excited about: The Phantom of the Opera. It was SO wonderful and so worth the money. I loved it so much that I would have stayed for the next showing if I could have. It was definitely a dream come true and the best part of the whole trip, in my opinion.
After Phantom, we walked through Times Square, a place that you won't really believe until you're there- the screens were so bright that it was like day- just for the experience. There were people trying to get into the Guinness Book of World Records, there were people constantly hassling us about a comedy club, and we saw Batman and Spiderman walk by. We then made our way back to Jess' work so that we could get dinner somewhere before going to a local bar to hear her friend sing during open mic night.
The restaurant we ended up at, Trattoria Spaghetto, was awesome. We had been standing outside, reading the menu, when the owner came out, trying to get us to come in. We hedged, because we weren't sure how much time we had to eat, but we finally decided to go in, and he treated us like royalty. He kept our glasses full at all times, brought us an appetizer on the house, helped me with my coat, and brought us after dinner drinks again on the house, all while speaking with his delightful Italian accent. He definitely earned my business again if I'm ever back over there.
Thursday, my final day, we headed to the Staten Island ferry to see the statue of liberty. It was cold on the boat, but it was nice to be able to sit down. We passed fairly close to the statue and were able to get lots of pictures. While waiting on Staten Island for the return ferry, we met a woman who had been on the same ferry the day the planes hit the twin towers. She told us all about her perspective, and I really enjoyed listening to her. She, like the majority of the people I met while in NYC, was very kind and excited for our trip to the city and had lots of suggestions for things to do. Based on my own experience I don't know where the "rude New Yorkers" stereotype comes from- certainly most people are in a hurry there and might be brusque, but to this Texan, they were perfectly civil. One lady even went out of her way to help us when she overheard us wondering where something was.
Like I said in opening, I was so exhausted from my vacation- NYC walking is quite different than regular walking! By the end of the second day my feet hurt so badly that I would have paid someone to let me just sit down on the street. And the constant climbing/descending the subway stairs took a huge toll on my knee so that I was limping (in a quick fashion) everywhere. But I powered through, and I'm glad for the experiences I had. The city is a cool place, although not somewhere I could ever live!
Oh, and I had a run-in with the NYPD while there, too. In the subway station you sometimes encounter these horrible, counter-intuitive turnstiles that are the worst things in the history of subway stations. Upon entering a subway station and seeing only these turnstiles and no other option to go to instead, I walked up to one, scanned my MetroCard, and tried to walk in- only to have it not open. I tried in vain, with other people trying to help me, but my time expired and it didn't let me go. I went to scan my card again and it said "Just used", a stupid feature of the cards that requires you to wait 15 minutes before swiping your card again. Patricia, who had gotten through successfully, turned and opened the emergency door for me. Two cops stopped us before we got too far. One said to me, "Um, excuse me, is there a reason you went through the emergency exit instead of through the turnstile?" to which I happily responded, yes, there is. He told me that I "should have gone around to the other side of the station, even though it would have been out of my way". I responded that I was not a local and that I was from Texas so I didn't know, and his demeanor immediately became much more friendly. He and his friend then stood there and talked to me about Texas and Texas tv shows for 10 minutes before letting me go and telling me to "be careful out there". I guess it just proves that you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
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