From my eyes…

Oh blog, how I’ve missed you! It’s been far too long since I’ve made a post on this site. I’ve been busy trying not to drown at work and then off being a jet setter.

I spent last weekend in New York, loving all the pizazz of the Big Apple. I’d always wanted to go, so when my oldest friend and travelling pal Angie called to say she would be there, I bought a ticket pronto.

After a horrible drive to the airport that included over an hour delay and convincing myself I was going to miss my flight, I made it through security and was seated at the gate trying to catch my breath, when they announced that there was a 45 minute delay. Of course.

I made it in to NYC around 11 pm on Friday and took a cab ride to the hostel we stayed at. My eyes were wide the whole time, just trying to see all of the city at once. Man, I thought Chicago was big. New York is never ending. 
 
We stayed in a hostel in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Yes, I did pretend I was a character from Sex in the City, and conversation often drifted back to discussing whether or not certain Friends characters would hang out in specific places. 

Saturday morning, Angie had her interview. I was left to entertain myself for the day. I had planned to stroll through Central Park after finding a place to grab some coffee, and then to venture down to Times Square and Rockefeller Center. When I got out of the elevator some guy asked me if I was on my own for the day, and asked if I wanted to hang out. He seemed nice enough, so I said sure. He was down with what I’d thought about doing, so it worked out fine. We walked for about 30 minutes when I realized that there was absolutely no way the shoes I was wearing were going to get me through the day. We found a Starbuck’s for my coffee and ended up sitting inside a minute to thaw. Mark, my new friend, is from California and me with my AZ blood were just not used to being outside that long in the cold.

We chatted over coffee and I learned that Mark is from South Africa, but his parents were from Germany. He has a very interesting accent.  Angie and I had a great time with Mark. 

After coffee we headed off to a shoe store so I could get something more comfortable for the rest of the weekend.  I ended up with these adorable new Diesel shoes and I was much happier from that point on. And I’m sure Mark was relieved that the complaining about sore feet stopped.

We headed to Times Square (where there was a Sketchers store and I later returned to purchasae a second pair of new shoes and then sold Angie my Diesel shoes. I just liked the Sketchers much better).

Walked through Rockefeller. I was disappointed. Everything was so much smaller than I’d expected.

Then we got in touch with Angie and decided to meet an hour or so later at Ground Zero. We walked through Grenwich Village, Soho, and Tribeca before finally finding our way to the memorial location. It was different than I thought. I didn’t think it would be too emotional until I got right to it and read the stuff I was sure would be posted. In fact, it was opposite. While I walked up the street to get there I started to get mildly naseous and I couldn’t shake the vivid TV images forever engrained in my mind from that day and the weeks after. You know, the ones with the ash covered people running down the street to safety as the buildings fall in the background, the screams and tears that went with it, ugh, I couldn’t shake it and wasn’t sure I was going to be able to stay at the actual site for too long. But when I got there I was disappointed. It is a train station. Nothing more than any other I’ve been to. There are a few pictures up and a small wall of drawings from kids who lost parents, but nothing like I expected. I was saddened and angry that more wasn’t done to remember the tragedy.

After that, we headed to grab a late lunch. We stopped for pizza and to warm up and then we were off again. We decided to hit up the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island - both favorites of mine due to the fact that I am a nerdy history fanatic.

We headed back to Times Square to see it at night.  It was way cooler at night time. Like Vegas, but outdoors! We ended up going to see a show on Broadway - the REAL Broadway. We saw the new Andrew Lloyd Weber muscial, The Woman in White. Thanks again Mark! It was a good story and of course I loved the music, but I felt like they cheated with the set. It was all on projector and they just moved some white walls and changed what scene was projected on it. It was an interesting concept, but I am hoping that not all theater adopts this style of set!

We headed home after the show. Oh, and this is when we tried to take the Express Subway. It’s express alright, so express that only two people at a time can make it on before the doors close. That means one of the three of us was left standing by her lonesome on the platform wondering what to do next. Yep, you guessed it - it was me. It worked out ok, though I laughed so hard I nearly peed my pants!

Sunday was another long day. We had planned to meet Mark at 9:00 and head to Serendipity for breakfast. He was late, so we ditched him and figured we’d catch up later. We took a looooong, freezing walk to get there. Poor Angie’s pants were soaked as were her shoes and socks and I was sure she was going to need to visit the hospital for hypothermia.

The path we took to walk to the restaurant passed by Trump Tower and the pretty side of Central Park. The part along side our hostel was ugly and I had been confused about why it was so popular. But then we passed the good part. I took too many pictures and made poor Ang stand out in the cold even longer.

We finally made it to Serendipity, where we had to stand out in the cold for another 30 minutes before they opened. We finally made it inside and enjoyed some hot chocolate and mocha while we waited for our food. I thought it was overrated. Expensive and not that great. The ambiance was really fun though.

After breakfast, we headed over to Loehman’s for some shopping. Mark was there and we said our good-byes and exchanged contact info so I could email him the pictures I’d taken the day before. He headed off to some museums he wanted to visit and we focused on our shopping for the rest of the day.  Loehman’s ended up being a bomb for me and I think Angie got like one thing there. Boo.

Next stop was China town. Man was that ever exciting! Thankfully a friend of mine had given us several tips to shopping in Chinatown. I was so greatful to her helpful advice and recommendations all weekend, especially when it came to the shopping. At some places if you asked for a Coach bag, or Prada or something they would walk over and tap the wall and a door you would never have noticed opens and you have to go in a secret back room! Or at some places it was to the second floor, or the basement. It was so thrilling! After we shopped we went and grabbed some sushi for dinner. I decided over dinner that I needed the Coach wallet to go with my new Coach bag. We headed back to the shops and had a rather suspicious person take us to a shop to get the wallet….we didn’t buy from her. I’m fairly certain it was an undercover cop situation. We went on to the next place and I ended up buying an even better wallet. What’s more, when I transferred my stuff over to it I realized there was a checkbook cover in it, too! I feel all snobby now with my fake Tiffany ring, Coach purse and new Seven jeans. The Seven jeans weren’t all that when I got home though and I am trying to find them a new home. They are just too short and too bell bottomy for me. Boo. I was so excited when I’d bought them.

After shopping we realized I really needed to get back to the hostel to get my bag so I could make it to the airport in time for my flight. We thought we’d had it all settled by jumping on the subway, but soon realized we had ended up in Queens - when I returned to class and told my kids this they all laughed at me, being from the ghetto themselves they thought it was just hilarious that their white girl teacher had gone to Queens at night.  I eventually made it back to Manhattan and to the airport in plenty of time to sit and wait for my delayed flight to take off. I even managed to find my car in the freezing cold and drive myself home without falling asleep!

It was a really fun time. I would love to go back in the summer some time.

Click on NEW YORK on my sidebar under Albums for more pictures of my weekend!