Pantless and Hobbles take on New York! Part 3

May 17, 2012
Thursday morning we set out to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  We didn't get as early of a start as we had hoped, as we have been sleeping in most morning despite our alarm being set for 7:30.  After a breakfast of Nutella/Banana French Toast and a Dr Pepper we took the red line subway to the end of the line. We found the ticket line not as long as we thought and seemed hopefully until they started announcing that the wait for the boat is 1 1/2 hour long at this time.   Poor Lisa's senses were assaulted several times by the woman's perfume behind us.  We even switch lines, only to have her follow us.  After we got our tickets they tell you to exit the building and get in line.  What they should have said was turn around and exit the building from the way you came in, as that is where the line for the boats ended.  Here is a helpful hint for those thinking of going to the Statue and Ellis Island, come in from the Jersey side or purchase reserve tickets.   If you know when you are planning on visiting the monuments go online and purchase your tickets for a certain time.  This will cut your standing in line time down to NOTHING!!!  The reserve line was completely empty, while we stood in line for an hour and half before even boarding the boat.
For the next year the Statue of Liberty is under renovation so there is no going inside of her at this time.  It's still worth a quick visit to the island and get an up close look at her and great view of the city.  And they have a nice gift shop with clean restrooms. 

 There she is Miss America

We then headed over to Ellis Island for a quick lunch (grilled cheese kids meal was perfect size and cheap).  The main area of Ellis Island has been turned into a museum.  You can take a guided tour, rent headphones or do what we did and wander by yourself.  Unfortunately by this time my feet were absolutely killing me and I would have given anything for a good foot massage, but instead I took full advantage of the benches they have around the museum.  The museum is set up well and they have moving stories of how the immigrants were treating once they arrived on the island, which was not very well to the majority.  They were quickly evaluated on health and mental state, even though the majority of them did no speak English and couldnt' communicate.  Their possessions were taken away and families were separated for days, months or forever without explanation.  Welcome to America!   But as you go through the top floor museum you'll read stories from people who found happiness and new lives in the States.  It is a great history lesson to go through here.  The only disappointing thing was we thought you would be able to look up family members who passed through here.   If you could we missed it.  I would think they have it all online now, but it would have been meaningful to view a passenger log or some sort of record with your family name on it while there.   Especially since Lisa knew of family names to look up that come through the island.

The exterior/entrance to Ellis Island

 The Great Hall

 Statue Liberty through a window in the Great Hall

We were the last boat to leave the island and head back to the mainland.  It was after 5 and Lisa and I were both tired and dragging so we we went back to the hotel for a rest before heading out to find some dinner.  Once back at the hotel and when Lisa changed, she noticed how sunburned she had gotten.  Poor thing it looked like someone had colored her chest, arms and nose with a red pen.  We didn't even think about sunscreen while outside near water all day.  She even had a keyhole cutout in her top that left a nice circle/heart shape on her cleavage.

Lisa's "tanline"

Lisa mentioned Carnegie Deli for dinner as they are suppose to be famous for their cheesecake. While she napped and I iced my knee (as it finally began to show since of pain and swelling) I looked online at the menu.   NOTHING but meat.  Carnegie Deli is famous for pastrami on rye and cheesecake.  Not really vegetarian friendly.  I decided to look through our guide books for something else in the Hells Kitchen area as we had good luck there before and it's close to Carnegie Deli for dessert.  I found a recommendation for an Italian place called Nizza http://nizzanyc.com/  They had a lot of pasta, pizza and salads that were more suited to Lisa and plenty of meat and pasta for me.   We decided it was a good plan and headed out to there for dinner.   It's a dark little spot close to the theaters, so we thought it would be perfect to go around 8 when the shows are going on.  We got a table right away.  I ordered the Chicken Saltimbocca that was over garlic spinach.  It was the best meal of the trip.  
We then headed out to Carnegie Deli for dessert.  When you walk in you get a huge whiff of MEAT.  The deli portion is in the front and then the restaurant is in the back.  On the way to our table we passed several skyhigh sandwiches.  Not realizing the cheesecake would be just as big, Lisa and I both ordered a piece of NY cheesecake.  We should have shared one piece instead.  Lisa wasn't impressed by the dessert at all.  I thought it was good, but nothing to write home about or tell others to come for.   I would have taken a Fat Witch brownie or Milk and Cookies over it.  But still something to check off our list. 
May 18, 2012
Friday was our last full day in NY and we decided to make the most of it.  We started off by heading to Zabars http://www.zabars.com/ on the Upper West side before venturing into Central Park.   It wasn't quite what we were expecting, the little cafe attached to the store was out of bagels (grant it was close to 10am by now), so we had to go back into the actual store, as the other bagel shop, H&H, had shut down or burned down (we couldn't really get a straight answer from anyone on the street).  Funny thing was I was watching You've Got Mail this weekend and there is a scene in at H&H and Zabars. We ended up getting bagels and cream cheese (fresh) and walked towards Central Park.  We found a bench in the shade close to a dog park ,so as we had our breakfast we oooh and ahhhed over all the dogs going by.  For a crowded city, there were a ton of dogs being walked everywhere we went.  Lisa and I would of course squeal in delight, while the owners (or walkers) would quickly drag them in the direction away from us.  Only a few let us attack their dogs with love, while mostly people acted like we were trying to steal them whenever we tried to make contact with them.   Also a note that I never once saw a stray cat in the city.  Only a few in windows, but never saw a stray running the streets. 
Lisa feed the birds while we ate and then we headed towards the Park.  We walked down Central Park West until we got to the Dakota Hotel.  This is of course where John Lennon lived and was killed and where Yoko Ono still lives today.  We walked passed all the pedicabs and entered the park at Strawberry Fields.  I sort of thought Central Park http://www.centralparknyc.org// would be like Golden Gate, and it is and isn't.  It is, as it's smack in the middle of the city, has streets for cars to cut through, and lots of people laying around enjoying the day.  But it is HUGE!!!  It also reminded me a bit of being in Giverny, France at Monet's Garden where every turn there was something pretty to take photos of.  It was very easy to navigate and just wander the park and admire the beauty of nature.   We found the Bethesda Fountain pretty quickly which lends you by the lake and the boat house.  While taking photos of the fountain I overheard a pedicab telling his fares to go see the Bow Bridge, so of course we followed.  On the way there we saw a bride on the way to her wedding which was taking place on the other side of the bridge and right on the lake.  Apparently, this bridge has been in many movies and TV shows (Sex & the City to Spiderman).  I found a bench in the shade and just sat back and enjoyed the view of the lake with boaters rowing by. 

 Bethesda Fountain

 The Lake

 The Boat House

 The Bow Bridge

The Bow Bridge

We continued walking pass some street performers and heading down towards the Mall.  This is an area canopied by Elm trees.   Again it's in a lot of movies and TV shows based in New York City.  The one I always think of is in When Harry Met Sally and they are walking to the Met Museum and it's all pretty in fall colors. 

The Mall

We wandered the park some more, stopping at the dairy gift shop and pass where the ice skating rink usually is onto the Gapstow bridge before exiting the park.

Gapstow Bridge

At this point we were both hungry as it was after 4 and we found another good Italian place around 5th Ave.  I had the Penne de Vodka, another great meal, but too big of a portion size for me to finish.   After lunch we walked towards Rockefeller Center to go to the Top of the Rock.  It was easy to find and we got tickets for the next group with only fifteen minute wait.   This time we did purchase a map identifying all the buildings you are looking at from the top.  In the elevator ride up to the top you get some weird light show on the ceiling. Once you are outside you see all of Manhattan and beyond.  The Top of the Rock gives you great views of Central Park since its closer then Empire State Building.  I didn't know there were 3 levels to the outside viewing area, so I ended up taking the same set of photos over and over.  But nothing like one guy I stood by who just held his shutter down for about five minutes and must have taken 500 photos in one spot, WHY?  

Central Park

Empire State Building

Prometheus at 30 Rock

After the Top of the Rock, my feet just didn't want to walk on anymore.  I seriously felt like I must be missing a toe or something horrific as I seriously couldn't stand on my own two feet.  But it was our last day of sightseeing and we were only 10 blocks away from Grand Central Station, so we shuffled over there.   On the way we stopped at Bryant Park, where Fashion week is held and Project Runways contestants showcase.  But today is was typical NY park where people read newspapers, played chess and met up with friends.   Behind the park is the NY Public Library with the two lion statues guarding the entrance.

 Bryant Park hotel/park

The Lion "Patience" guarding the NY Public Library

Grand Central Station is the center of transportation in the city.  For some reason I thought it was much bigger on TV (but then again doesn't everything look bigger on TV).  It has upper scale restaurants on the top level and simpler food on the bottom.

Glimpse of the Chrysler Building

 Exterior sculptor Transportation 

Interior of Grand Central Station

We wanted to end our trip with something special and since we weren't impress with the cheesecake at Carnegie, we decided to pass on the cheesecake from Juniors (also claiming to be the best cheesecake in NY) and headed to Serendipity instead, where I know they have the best ice cream.   We caught the subway to 59th St which drops you in front of Bloomingdale's and passed Dylan's candy shop and Magnolia Bakery on the way to the little campy storefront.  The interior is just as I imagined, you don't really know what is for display and what is for sale.  It's like some eccentric old woman's closet.  But it's worth it.  We had 45min wait and got to play with the cutest little Pomeranian while sitting outside.   Unfortunately, we got sat next to a table of 4 screaming kids.  One of the waiters even had to come tell them to quiet down or leave.  But once we ordered our ice cream or in my case their famous Frozen Hot Chocolate with peanut butter added, nothing really mattered.  I don't remember exactly what Lisa ordered, but it included chocolate ice cream with peanut butter and a ton of hot fudge.  It was sooo good and the perfect way to end out trip. 

 Exterior of Serendipity

Lisa and I enjoying our ice cream

We got back to the hotel after midnight, probably when most New Yorkers are just starting to head out for the evening, and started our packing up for our return home.  I didn't notice it during the trip, but apparently Lisa bought so much such that we had to have me sit on the suitcase to close it.  Luckily we had our olive oil purchases shipped home so there was nothing breakable in there.   Saturday we woke up and finished repacking our suitcases, hoping everything would return home with us in a timely manner and headed to the street to meet the airporter.  I was so exhausted by the time we boarded the plane and got in our seats, I fell asleep almost immediately on take off and didn't wake up until the last half hour of the movie the Vow (just in time to catch a glimpse of a shirtless Channing Tatum though). We arrived in Sacramento, after a slight delay through Denver and happy to see our luggage did too! My mom picked us up and I was happy to be home to see Lulu and Charlie greeting me with kisses and dog hair.   It was a great trip and I can't wait to go back and see everything I didn't have time for.

Pantless and Hobbles take on New York! Part 2

May 15, 2012
Tuesday morning we decided we would head off to the Metropolitan Museum and try to see if we could catch a Broadway show.  We had breakfast at the diner in our hotel.  I had the yummiest lemon ricotta pancakes!

We first thought we would try to see if the hotel concierge could get us a deal on a show.  We wanted to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert as Lisa isn't really into musicals, but figured that one would be fun enough with all the disco/dance music in it.   Well don't waste your time with the hotel concierge.  Apparently they work with brokers and trying to sell us tickets for more money then the brokers paid for.  WTF is the point?  So we ended down to Times Square to see if the theater or half price ticket booth would have something for us.  The line at the half price booth was so long and we realized the theater was literally right across the street, we just went directly to the source.  We ended up getting balcony seats (not at half price, but still pretty cheap).  http://www.broadway.com/shows/priscilla-queen-desert/ So we ended off to the Met for some different art.

The weather was overcast with a chance of rain so we figured this would be a good day to hang indoors of the museum.  Well apparently so did everyone else! I also found out since returning Tuesday was Museum day!   Luckily the Met has only a suggested price of $25, but you can pay whatever amount you want or nothing at all.  Since it was already afternoon we figured we would only pay $10 each.  They do have a good system for tickets.  Its a little foil button you put on your clothes, so the guards can see you paid.  But with the crowds we had that day it would have been easy to get around without paying.  

The first thing you should do when visiting the Met is decide what you want to see.  The museum is HUGE!   I would really suggest visiting the site online first, as I think they have one of the best sites that have an interactive map and thumbnails all of art on display.  http://www.metmuseum.org/   We did not do this and quickly got lost.   I would say their map and layout in person isn't the easiest to navigate.  We found the Greek sculptures quickly and started having fun as usual.  We behaved a little better here than we did at the Louvre (but not much).  We then take a few wrong turns to the European Paintings where we finally found Renoir, Monet, VanGogh, and Degas.   I then wanted to see the Egyptian Temple of Dendur they rebuilt.  I wish we had more time and wasn't as crowded to see all the artwork properly, but we had a show to get home and get ready for.

 Apparently everyone thought is was a good day to stay inside the museum 

Lisa admiring the Greek sculptures

 Renoir

 VanGogh

 Degas

 I just loved the casual pose of this guy

Temple of Dendur

We decided we would try to catch a cab home instead as it will be faster than walking 8 blocks to the subway.  Unfortunately cabs didn't want our business.  Lisa flagged two down and both asked where we wanted to go and they said no.  I didn't know that was possible.  Apparently, they aren't suppose to do that.  We asked our hotel people when we returned (after taking the subway home) why this happened.  He said next time don't tell them and just get in the cab and then tell them.  They are required by law to take you anywhere you request.  But this wasn't the end of our cab problems.  We also asked the hotel information if we have a show to be at by 6:30 what time should we come down and try to catch one in front of the hotel. His helpful answer was "well it's 6 o clock".  WTF does that mean, we'll have trouble or not.  He really couldn't give us a good answer and just kept saying well you should take the subway.  We were going to be dressed up and wearing heels (at least Lisa was).  So we figured if we caught a cab at 6pm we would be fine.  Well we showed up and asked the doorman to catch us a cab.  It took him 25 minutes to finally get one to pick us up, as they all already had fares from Penn Station a block away.  Either way we got to the Theater in ten minutes and it only costs $6 + tip.

 Finally in a cab

Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Luckily we knew exactly where the theater was and got there in plenty of time to get a drink (along with souvenir glasses).  We were pretty high up and noticed the theater wasn't completely full, so by intermission we ended down to the front row in the balcony (mostly because I couldn't see due to the high hair in front of me).  The show was silly, campy, fun, great costumes and good looking actors!  After the show while we were all dancing and clapping, the actor who portrayed Felicia said last time he was the lucky one to announce the legalization of same sex marriage on stage and tonight he was happy to announce they would be performing a marriage on stage of a couple who have been attending Broadway shows.  It was a touching, beautiful moment to be part of. Lisa and I both cried like little babies.  It was truly something special to be a part of.
Afterwards we were one of the last people leaving and having a great conversation with the guy selling all the merchandise and he told us to go check out the High Line on our way to Chelsea the next day and where to get the best NY bagels (Zabars, more on that later).

May 16, 2012
The High Line http://www.thehighline.org/ is an old frieght train railway. No trains have run on the High Line since 1980. Mayor Bloomberg preserved it as a public park and the first section opened in 2009. It runs from W 30th St to W 12th St.  It's an easy, quiet, pretty way to walk 18 blocks in New York.  No stop lights or traffic to wait for.  We took it down to the Chelsea Market off 16th St. 

 View from the High Line

 Artwork on the High Line

 The High Line

 New and old graffiti on the High Line

Before heading into the Chelsea Market, Lisa needed her daily Starbucks fix, it was at this time sitting down and relaxing that Lisa thought it would be helpful to figure out where we need to take the subway to the 9/11 memorial.  Good thing she did this as she realized I did NOT print out the actual tickets.  I didn't read the whole confirmation (which they make very clear is NOT your ticket and won't be accepted).  So I started to panic a little as this is the only thing I really pre-planned and setup a reserved time for.  I called my mom who luckily was at my house watching Charlie, forgetting its probably 7 or 8am with the time difference and having to walk her through forwarding the tickets to mine and Lisa's email and then having to find a place to print them out at.   There isn't a FedEx or Kinkos near by, so luckily with all the traveling I do, I thought of asking a hotel to use their business center.  Starbucks directs us to the Dream Hotel around the corner.  This is a really, really nice hotel.  I ask the front desk is they have a business center and the nicest man says no but if I sent it to the hotel email, they will print it out for us.  If you are looking for a swanky modern hotel, contact Ayo Akinsete at the Dream Hotel. They were truly so helpful and nice to us, even after realizing we were not staying at their hotel.  They printed our tickets and we were on our way to lunch.

 

Dream Hotel Lobby, you can see the bottom of the pool in the ceiling http://www.dreamdowntown.com/

The Chelsea Market is a great foodie place to go.  The Food Network studio and filming is on the upper floors of the building (unfortunately they don't give tours).   We had lunch from Friedman's Lunch followed with a trip to the Fat Witch Bakery for some yummy brownies.

 Lunch at Chelsea Market

After lunch we figured we would head down to the Staten Island Ferry before our meeting time for the 9/11 memorial.  We took the subway to the end and got there right in time for the next departing ferry.  A large crowd just pushes their way onto the boat.  The boat though is HUGE, you would think by looking at the crowd you won't get on.  But once on and people rush to the front for the best vantage point of sightseeing, you'll notice plenty of empty space.  The boat literally takes a half hour to go from Manhattan to Staten Island, passing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  Once docked at Staten Island you have to disembark and then just turn around and get on the next ferry going back to Manhattan.   I'm sure there is stuff to see in Staten Island too, but we just went for the free ferry ride and photo ops of the Statue and Skyline of Manhattan.  I would think its very pretty at sunset or night.  But we just headed back to the mainland.

 Statue of Liberty from Staten Island Ferry

 The Staten Island Ferry

Brooklyn Bridge from Staten Island Ferry

 Battery Park/Staten Island Subway station

We decided to walk up to the memorial as the people at the Dream Hotel said it's only about 10 minute walk.  That is for people whose feet aren't feeling like one big throbbing mess.  Lisa and I were both dragging a bit by now and had plenty of time to walk to the memorial at a slow pace.  We hit a flea market where we both bought some pretties (mine was leather, hers was made from some hard seed/nut).  We wandered up pass the Bull sculpture off Wall Street.  Lisa found some political people to argue with as I wandered across the street to the Trinity Church.  For someone who isn't religious I always love to seek out churches on trips as it seems they are architecturally interesting to me.  And it seems all the money the church collects goes into the gold and stain glass of these churches, so for a photographer I will continue to wander inside of them. 

 A sculptor used fallen tree roots from 9/11as a sculpture next to the church

 Interior of Trinity Church

Interior of Trinity Church

We found our way to the memorial pretty easy, but by this time my feet were starting to really hurt.  I didn't wear the new walking sandals enough at home to get my feet used to them. I wasn't getting blisters, more like my arches and calves were so sore and aching and not wanting to move anymore.  We had some time to rest on these concrete blocks they had around the park, so I decided to take full advantage of it.  As Lisa went to use the restroom at the hotel behind us a large group of elderly woman, a few with canes, apparently thought I looked like I should be part of their group and took up all the empty space around me to rest.  I just remember thinking great Lisa is going to love this.  I thought she was going to pee her pants from laughing (even though she did just use the restroom).  She took a few photos of me surrounded by these women.  All you can to is laugh!

My group of elderly women

We headed into the memorial a little early than our time.  Not really knowing what to expect, but it is like a huge park with 2 fountain/pools that sit in the original spots of the Twin Towers.  I really wish I took some video footage here as there is no way to convey the size of these pools and the feeling of being there.  I couldn't even imagine the chaos and horror of being around this area during the attacks as it's literally downtown in the middle of everything.   But I believe they did a wonderful job creating something meaningful and beautiful out of something so awful.  You really couldn't rebuild on top of the spots without remembering what once stood there, so I think the fountains were very appropriate tribute.  They are building two new Freedom Towers and the museum isn't open yet.  I would have loved to see it from above and at night, but it's definitely a sight to behold and remember those who were lost in such a tragic senseless manner. 

9/11 Memorial 

 The survivor tree - the last living thing removed from ground zero

South Pool with the museum and Freedom Tower

Pantless and Hobbles Take on New York! Part 1

Ok, obviously I haven't been keeping up with my New Year's resolution of updating my blog at least monthly (or let's be honest, many of the other goals I set).  And it's not from lack of stuff to post.  Just plain laziness on my part.   Blogs take a long to update, especially when you haven't been on it for 6 months....
With that said I have been posting my life on Facebook, but I know not everyone is one it (Fonda, Rhonda and Dad I'm talking to you).  So I figured I would update my blog with all the fun and adventures I had recently vacationing with my best friend Lisa in New York City.
I took over 900+ photos (not even counting some of the crazy fun ones Lisa took too) and finally narrowed them down to my favorites (a manageable 100).  I've posted those on Facebook.  But since a lot of your are busy people and didn't have time to follow along with us on our vacation I will try to highlight the trip in several posts.   I think one long post for a week in New York would just bore you all and even I would lose interest in typing.  So instead I'll try to break it down into sections (combining a few days into one post).  That way you can read at your leisure (or attention span) and I can post more photos overall.  I'll also throw in some helpful hints that we could have benefited from knowing a head of time.
Let's start at the beginning.... Last year maybe around Sept, October or November, Lisa called me up and said she wanted to go to New York and had gotten a credit card that offered her miles and she was going to turn them in for our flights to New York.  Poor Lisa hasn't been on a true vacation since our last trip together to Paris in 2004.  So obviously she was well overdue.  I've always wanted to see New York and even thought I would spend my 40th birthday there, but with knee surgery in Aug and finances not allowing that to happen, I was more than happy to join her on our next crazy adventure (our Paris trip was dubbed the adventures of Crazy Hair and Sexy Body by a cartoonist outside of the Louvre).  We both agreed that we were no longer the same crazy, sexy kids we were then and would have to come up with a new theme to our trip (Pantless and Hobbles quickly became our theme, as Lisa took her pants off whenever we were in the hotel and I of course had nothing but aching feet the whole trip due to not wearing in broken in shoes- no blisters, just sore and aching muscles every time I moved.  Surprising, my knee didn't hurt me, just swelled up around Wed).
May 13, 2012
Our flight left Sacramento on Sunday, May 13th (Mother's Day) at 7am.   Great start to the day for my mom to drop us off at 6am.   Luckily I slept the majority of the flight to Washington Dulles airport (5 1/2 hrs).  We wandered the airport looking for something to eat, as we didn't even get pretzels or nuts on the whole flight (Thank you United for your service).  After a 3hr layover we boarded our flight to New York.  It was one of the smaller planes you have to board on the tarmac.  We landed in New York after 6pm.  Went to baggage claim.  We made note of a sign for an airporter $12 one way to Penn Station which was across from our hotel.  After frantically searching our carry on for the luggage tags as we noticed you have to show them to get out of the baggage claim with your bags.  Luckily we found them as our bags did NOT arrive with us on the plane.  I went into the lost baggage office and was quickly told to fill out the paperwork along with several other people arguing about their lost luggage from our flight.  I gave the woman at the counter the paper and she quickly dismissed me saying I'm done.  Humm, no how about where are our bags and when can we expect them.  Now I'm sure this is the worst job you can have at an airline, but you need to also realize you have just lost people's luggage with valuables instead and not just dismiss them like it's their fault.  Luckily Lisa is pushy enough to get more answers out of her, which really was just call the 1-800 after the 11pm flight from Washington comes in.   (Thank you again United for your service)
We went to the airporter ( http://www.nyairportservice.com/ ) and waited for the woman in front of us bitch and complain that she can't wait for the next bus.  We approached with smiles and a comment about the rude lady and they gave us a deal of $18 roundtrip to/from Penn Station to the airport and told us we'll be on the next bus. Much cheaper than a $60 one way taxi ride.  Being nice pays off.  While on the bus Lisa and I were super excited to see all the buildings come into view from the bus window and I had to turn and tell the guys behind us who obviously could tell we were tourist, that we live near SF, so big cities aren't new to us, We struck up a great conversation with them and they were so nice and helpful we ended up exiting the bus a stop early with them, as we didn't have our luggage to lug around (Thank you again United for your service) and could walk the 12 blocks to our hotel while seeing some sights.  We arrived at our hotel (The New Yorker Hotel http://www.newyorkerhotel.com/) and checked in, telling them our sob story from the airline and to let us know if our luggage shows up.  The front desk lady then decided to find us a room with a balcony (we had already been upgraded to a suite, thanks to Lisa's client who worked his contacts in New York).  When we got to our room on the 22nd floor, the suite reminded me of an Embassy Suites room, with a separate living space from the bedrooms.   But the balcony was, well more like a rooftop terrace with amazing views.  Madison Square Garden was literally a stones throw away, Chrysler Building and Empire State Building were within walking distance.  If you step up on some blocks and looked to your left you could see the Hudson River.  It was AMAZING and perfect location!

 Our hotel with Madison Square Garden right outside our door.  Along with a Starbucks and subway station

 I got the bed next to the window with views of Chrysler Building and Empire State Building

 View from balcony, you can just see a sliver of the Empire State Building on the left upper side

 View from balcony, Madison Square Garden and the Freedom Towers glittering in the far background

View from balcony, can't figure out what buildings these were with the lights towers, but they are near Times Square and would change color throughout the night

After taking pictures and ooohhh and awwwing from our room, we decided to head out and get some dinner.  We didn't really consult a map and just started walking in one direction.  After a few blocks of nothing but chain restaurants we found ourselves close to Times Square.  We decided to grab some food at The Counter, somewhat of a build your own burger chain, but better than Olive Garden. We headed to Times Square afterwards and this is definitely something you stop and see for about five minutes and then move on.  It had a very Vegas-like feel to it and was still super crowded at 11:30pm on a Sunday night.  I'm not sure what the point of the stairs in the middle of Times Square, I guess people watching would be interesting.  But really with the amount of chain stores, restaurants and nothing but advertisements, I don't see the big deal.  But we checked it off our list of sights to see.

 We are officially in New York

 Lisa causing trouble already 

Times Square, pick a Broadway show, any show! We ended up at Priscilla Queen of the Desert whose theater was right there in front of us!

May 14, 2012
Before we left my friend Shelly suggested we take a food tour, as she did it and loved it.  They offer many different neighborhoods, but we decided to do the Greenwich Village one as it seemed best suited for Lisa who is a vegetarian and would require the less amount of substitutions.  http://www.zerve.com/FoodTours The tour was a great start to our vacation as we walked around the neighborhood, sampling the food and learning the history and interesting facts.  Our tour was lead by Barri and started off at Joe's Pizza.  This is suppose to be the best pizza in New York and has a wall of photos from visiting celebrities and was in one of the Superman movies.   The pizza was crisp and thin and just perfect amount of cheese and sauce.  Not too greasy and flavorful.  It was so good Lisa and I came back on Wednesday night back from downtown on the way back to the hotel, along with another stop at Milk and Cookies from the tour.   The tour is 3 hours, but you really wouldn't notice as you are walking around a quaint neighborhood (reminds me of areas in Italy), eating great food and seeing some buildings you recognize in tv and movies.  I planned it to be around lunchtime so we wouldn't have to worry about food before or afterwards which worked perfect.  We went to O & Co. ( http://www.oliviersandco.com/ ) on the tour and Lisa and I came back after the tour ended and stayed about another hour tasting more combos of oil and buying whatever we tasted.  Justin and Laura there were so nice and fun, they didn't even really get mad when we decided to split our order up, even though they had already rang it up together. Again being nice and having a good attitude got us far on this trip.

 Tour group at Joe's Pizza

 Little infamous Beatnik club below a restaurant in Greenwich Village

 Lisa and I enjoying our tapas at Centro on Bleecker and 7th Ave

 The best cookies!!!  So good we came back for more a couple days later

 Smallest apartment (75 1/2 Ave) in New York.  Today show did a segment on this place

 The exterior apartment on Friends

 Greenwich Music School and typical street in the Village

 Murray's Cheese

Rocco Pasticceria, where our tour ended with the best tasting cannoli

After the tour we headed back to the hotel for a rest.  During the tour we asked our guide for a dinner recommendation near us as all we found before was chains.  She had suggested ending out to Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. It's a small area near the Theater District, so you have a lot of up and coming chefs and restaurants in this area.  We first exited the subway at 50th St to try to find the Ed Sullivan Theater as I wanted to get a photo and some merchandise from the David Letterman show.  We found the theater pretty easy off 53rd St, but of course it was closed up for the evening and we wandered the block over and over and could not find Hello Deli where Rupert sells memorabilia, even though there was a map on the front of the theater where to go (we tried again later on in the week and finally realized we wouldn't have found the deli as it was on the wrong side and all closed with no real signage.  The doorman next door said he is only open between 12-4 if we are lucky, he is doing so well he doesn't really need to be open more hours.  

We headed over towards Hell's Kitchen in search of food.  There was a lovely drunken woman in front of us with her friends that kept falling almost every other step and rolling in the gutter.  Whenever her friends tried to help her walk she would push them off and then end up falling again.   I bet she looked pretty the next morning.  We ended up finding a tiny place to eat called Hummus Kitchen. These restaurants are so small we actually put our name in a different restaurant (Thai something) thinking it was all one space.  But no they were two different places, only figuring this out when I noticed people walking into Hummus Kitchen and getting sat, while we were told in the other space 45min.  Luckily Lisa went in and we got sat right away.  The service was friendly and entertaining as we were right at the server station.  The food ended up being really good (we shared hummus of course, Lisa had garden vegetable soup I had chicken kebab).  The waiter told us next door (not the Thai place) was holding drag bingo.  Got to love New York!
We decided since the Empire State Building was only a few blocks from our hotel we should hit it late at night to avoid the lines.  The building is open until 2am, with the last elevator up around 1am.  We headed towards it around 11:30pm.  It was perfect, NO lines, minimal kids, and beautiful night views of the city.   It was very windy on one side of the building, so a lot of my first attempts at photos were blurry.  We didn't buy the map pointing out the sights, so I really didn't have much idea what was what in the dark, but decided to just take photos from each side and see what I get.  We headed home after about an hour and called it a good first full day in New York!

 Entrance

 Skyline

 Those bright lights are from Times Square and the park is Bryant Park (for your Project Runway fans)

 Macy's is the on the lower right of the photo. Our hotel is in the middle right across from the bright lights of Penn Station

The Met Life (clock) Tower, Flat Iron Building at the center, Freedom Towers glitter in the upper right hand side