Sept. 2010 NYC Trip

Okay, prepare for a long post...

Steve and I went to NYC for 4 days in September, it was my first time ever...and a dream come true.

This picture epitomizes how I felt everyday in NYC, I loved it! Smiling the whole time!

This is in Central Park on our 3rd day.

This was our first day, we took an overnight flight, got in at 6:00 a.m. but couldn't check in to our hotel until 1:00! So we look haggard, but we walked the streets...

Beautiful Cathedral right in the middle of a bunch of tall, boring sky scrapers.

Came across the Late Show, but we didn't go see it. Next trip!

One of my goals was to stand outside one of the morning shows, and what'ya know? We stumbled across The Early Show right when they were doing a segment outside the studios in Rockefeller Center! Donald Trump was there plugging a show.

Steve was brazen and took this picture of Donald Trump's "famous hair" from the back!

Donald Trump, Merideth Vierra, Hoda Kotb, some guy from SNL and Kathy Lee Gifford.

I always wonder what celebrities are like in real life...Merideth was very nice, my favorite. All the other stars there barely acknowledged the crowds of people, but Merideth was so awesome! Whenever she didn't have to be on-screen she would run around to the crowd and meet people and take pics. They would have to call her back frantically every time she was supposed to be in the next shot/segment. Then she would go right back to where she left off in the crowd. I even saw her say, "I'll be right back, I promise I'll come right back to YOU." And she did! This pic is not zoomed in, she was that close to me. She made it through about 3/4 of the crowd before they all had to go back in, and she apologized, as she was going in, to the people she didn't get to.

Very nice lady, kudos to her!

Inside a beautiful, old cathedral.

The set of the play "Wicked" at the Gershwin Theater on Broadway.

Before they play started.

We took a bicycle taxi back to our hotel after the play.

Riding in the bicycle taxi.

Right before "Wicked" started.

See the ball that dropped on New Year's 2010 in Times Square. Our hotel was one street away from Times Square, perfect!

Times Square...always busy. This was about 10:30 p.m. We had just stopped at a really crowded "famous" bakery called Magnolia Bakery. I'm holding the yummiest cupcake ever in that box behind me.

This pic is to show how crowded the streets are all the time. Granted it's Times Square, but really, the hustle and bustle of NYC was energizing! I never felt tired when we were out and about. We slept hard though!

I always see this building on TV Reality shows, so I had to take a pic. It's actually really pretty, it catches your eye amongst all the gray buildings.

This pic is to show how we got around town, the red double-decker buses (hop on, hop off) with tour guides. We got to see about every cool area in all of New York on these buses. And we could get on and off and explore! The only way to go!

I really liked Greenwich Village and the Central Park area.

This is looking down from the top of the Empire State Bldg.

Rockafeller Center lit up at night.

We were so excited when we stumbled upon Gordon Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen restaurant in Chelsea. We went right in and ordered dinner. This is a chicken quesedilla. Actually, I didn't like it much! Had some funky spicy flavors I am not used to.

All the other places we ate were awesome! We went to all the places that our seasoned NYC traveller friends suggested. And of course, we went to Carnegie Deli.

The Flat Iron Bldg.

Empire State Bldg. lit up at night.

Observation deck of the Empire State Bldg. It was windy!

Me on the double-decker bus.

This is Battery Park. The ball sculpture you see used to sit between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. It survived with just a few dents when the towers fell, so they brought it here to display.

This is our whole hotel room from the bed. The mirror that you can see the reflection of the bed in is actually a pocket door to the small bathroom.

Here's looking at our room from the TV corner.

This is the tiny entrance to our tiny boutique hotel we stayed at called City Club Hotel, just off of Times Square. We loved it though. Very clean and modern. Only 46 rooms and the staff was very nice.

Times Square...The big screen behind me is above the M&M's Factory Store that we were just in. It had the coolest ads running across it that we kept trying to catch with the camera. Didn't work, so I finally just held up my bag that had Summer's cute umbrella that I bought her there in it.

Times Square has a fun toy store and this was a cool creation inside.

Manhattan Bridge at night.

This is a funny memory. We were on the "night tour" on the double-decker bus in Brooklyn. There was some sort of unexpected road closure because of some demonstrating for the mosque that is proposed near WTC site. So the bus driver had to take us down these tiny residential, tree-lined streets. The tour guide was a girl in her 20's. She was trying to be professional, but cracking up everytime she had to tell us to "DUCK!" because of the low tree branches we were driving though! People were getting whacked! It was pretty funny, all the passengers were laughing too. She even had to whisper it on the microphone because it was about 9:00 p.m. and tour busses never go down residential streets. The buildings were beautiful though, I was so glad we had to take that detour.

This is at a restaurant in the theater district called Thalia. It has american fare. We went on advice of a former New Yorker/foodie friend. It was the best! The atmosphere was super chic (that's what I was trying to catch with not using the flash) and the staff was (gasp!) NICE! The food was so good too. We went there our last night. I will go again someday...

Entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. Pretty!

This is Little Italy as we flew by on our bus. Next time I go to NYC, I will go there. We did hit Chinatown though and I picked up some Gucci sunglasses for $13. I'm sure they're knock-off's but I love them still! Favorite pair! We got the boys Ferrari watches too. Again, about $15.

Little Italy in near Chinatown, kinda funny.

We also saw "The Addams Family" on broadway. It was starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Newerth in the lead roles. I can't believe I still have this pic of the stage. I snuck one of the opening act w/out a flash and immediately an usher came up to me and demanded she watch me erase the pic from my camera or they would confiscate it! Geesh! Serious business!

Steve got this tiny, cool, metallic bottle of Diet Coke in FAO Schwarz, it was like $3.00! I told him I had to take a pic of him drinking from the mini bottle! I think he finished it off in 3 or 4 gulps. He just thought the bottle was so cool. It was.

This is right at a corner entrance to Central Park. I told Steve to take a pic of me with this guy dressed up, well, when I walked up, he didn't say a word, he just started draping the flag around me, putting the hat on and shoved the flame thing in my hand. I felt so dumb! Lots of people stopped to watch. But hey, it made for a good pic. He knew what he was doing.

This guy is made out of Jelly Bellies. The candy section of FAO Schwarz was my favorite.

Remember the movie "Big" with Tom Hanks? Here's the piano he danced on in FAO Schwarz!

FAO Schwarz, another "must see" on my list. It is kiddie corner to part of Central Park.

This is the Apple Store right in front of FAO Schwarz. The cool thing is, The people you see behind Steve are going down some stairs into the store. The stairs are inside this glass box thing that serves as the entrance.

Central Park.

This is Sarabeth's near Central Park. They are famous for their brunches...I should say, the food was very good, it had a pretty atmosphere...crowded, but worth the wait.

Trump International Hotel. So, I thought there was just one "Trump Bldg" but then I saw about 3 or 4! They all looked like this, gold in the front, so they were easy to spot.

We learned on our bus tour that this particular fire station's crew was one of the first responder's to the WTC attack on 9/11. No one returned, they all died. Quite sad.

On the Staten Island Ferry. Bad hair day, pouring rain!

We finally rode the Subway on our last day. Our bus tour tickets had run out. It was cold and rainy outside, but super hot and stuffy waiting for the subway and then on the train. Now I can say, "Been there, done that." I don't know how much I want to do it again!

Closest I got to the Statue of Liberty, taken from the ferry. It was really a sight to see though. There's almost a reverence as you go by it. You realize the preciousness of our freedom, it was a pretty cool feeling I got.

Didn't love Staten Island, ate at a great steakhouse right near the ferry port and then got right back on to go back to Manhattan. Granted, we didn't explore much because it was pouring rain!But, you gotta' ride the free ferry past the Statue of Liberty, right?