There And Back Again

For Christmas Sam got me tickets to see the play Newsies.  I was pleasantly surprised until Sam asked me to look at the address of the theater on the tickets.  The play happened to be showing in New York City.  What?  He had called my mom and arranged for her to fly out and watch the kiddos while we headed out to The Big Apple for a long weekend.

I was stunned, excited, and, honestly, anxious about it.  I've never been back East and going to such abig city seemed daunting and nerve wracking to me.  I checked out some books, researched online, and spoke with friends who have been and started to get an idea of what and how to do the things we wanted to do.  Some of my nervousness gave way to excitement.  There really is a lot to see and do and eat and experience. 

Before I knew it, the time was approaching and Mom flew out to hold down the fort.  She came out a few days early so we got to spend some much needed time together.  We had a great time getting some shopping in, visiting the Molly Brown House (so, so cool) and eating at The Grand Lux.  I love that lady.

At the Molly Brown House.

 

Beignets anyone?

I flew out first to Hartford, Connecticut, where Sam was working at the time.  I even took a cab from the airport to his hotel, which was one of the things I was most nervous about.  You mean I'm supposed to get in a car alone with a strange man and hope he takes me to where I need to go when I won't even be able to tell if we're going the right direction to begin with?  Not my idea of a good time.  Believe it or not, I made it to the hotel safe and sound and was so relieved to have that part of the trip behind me.

This is where things got exciting.  As you may have heard, a huge winter storm, Nemo, was heading straight for us.  We were told to expect 3 feet of snow and blizzard conditions.  After I spent a day hanging out in the hotel while Sam was at work (can I just say how glorious that was?) we decided to get out of dodge while we could.  We changed our bus tickets around and left for NY that night, trying to get ahead of the storm.  We knew there would be no getting out once the storm hit later that night. 

The view out our window.  What a lovely day I had reading to my heart's content,
napping, and watching life outside this window.  Oh the quiet.

Thankfully it all worked out and by 10:00 that night we had arrived in Manhattan.  Manhattan.  Crazy.  It really was.  Our adventure to find our hotel was just that, an adventure.  Suffice it to say that it involved luggage getting stuck in the turnstile of the subway, scrambling around in the dark, cold, and crazy busy streets of Manhattan with said luggage, and me tripping on a crack in the street.  In the crosswalk.  Of Times Square.  And totally eating it.  Thank you very much.  When we finally got to our hotel and room, I shut the door and proclaimed I was never going out there again.  To heck with New York City, and now where is the TV and the chocolates I brought?

I was D.O.N.E.

After some sleep, I did feel better in the morning and we did emerge from our hotel.  Off we went and at that point there was no looking back.  Yes, it was cold.  Yes, we got rain and snow.  But at least we made it there and it really was doable.  We were able to do all the things we wanted to do, just with extra layers of clothing on.  I must say, it was amazing.  Truly.  I loved everything we did and just marveled at all of the different cultures, the history, the total mass of humanity, oh and the crazy taxi drivers.  It was something else.

Now for the pictures.  It's going to be hard to limit myself here.  Oh what fun we had and what incredible things we saw!

Grand Central Station

On the red steps at Times Square.
This place was happening.  I can't imagine what
it would be like in nice weather!

Matzo ball soup at Carnegie Deli

Serendipity.  Though the snow was beginning
to really come down at this point, I couldn't not get their famous
frozen hot chocolate!

The Brooklyn Bridge.  This was probably one of the highlights
of the trip for me.  The view of  the NYC skyline was unlike anything.

The 9/11 Memorial.
This was such a moving and sobering thing, pictures
do it no justice.  It was all I could do not to cry and cry.



The storm beginning to move in.
We were so lucky to not be hit as hard as the surrounding areas.

The New York City public library.  It looked so pretty dusted with snow.



Can you imagine going here to check out books?



Ignore the hat hair, but these are Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed
animals that inspired his father, A.A. Milne to write the Winnie-the-Pooh
stories.  Oh, but these put a smile on my face!

This is at the Brooklyn Diner (best cheesecake) after we saw Newsies.
The play was SO FUN.  Loved, loved it!

Waiting for the subway.  After our initial wrestling match with
the system, we got it figured out pretty quick.
We even got to see a New York rat down there. 

Grimaldi's in Brooklyn.  NY pizza is very different and very delicious.
This pizzeria is coal fired and dates back to 1905--the first pizzeria in America.

The Charging Bull on Wall Street

One of my favorites of Renoir at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This place was amazing and you could spend a long time there!
We got to see Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Raphael--to name a few.

We had no idea "Washington Crossing the Delaware" was so big.
It really was powerful.

On top of the Empire State Building.

The view was almost surreal.  It's so hard to wrap my mind
around how many people live and/or work here!

The trip was an exhilarating adventure, and it was so fun to conquer the city with my best friend.  As fun as it was, I was ready to say good-bye to the hustle and bustle and head back to my "quiet" life.  Pet Shop Boys 'Go West' kept playing in my head all morning on our way out.  The mountains never looked better, and even "busy" I-25 was welcoming.  A big thanks to Mom and Dad who helped with the boys and made it possible for us to go.  Love you guys!