So if you'll remember Taylor's Christmas present to me, it was a trip to New York for the 5th-9th of February. It came and went so fast! We had a blast, and here's a little run down of the trip.
Taylor flew out with the track team on Wednesday around 10:30 AM, and I flew out on my own on Wednesday at 8:30 AM. He tried to get me on the same flight as the team but there were some complications, but everything still worked out really well. Just had to wait at the airport for a couple hours for him to arrive. We had direct flights to NY which was super nice, and then buses transported us to our hotel right in the heart of the city! We stayed at the Hilton midtown, and it was only about a 2 block walk until Times Square was surrounding us.
We thought we'd be getting a king bed in our room, but were greeted by this sight:
We probably could have gotten it changed but we were too lazy. I totally felt like Fred and Ethel from "I Love Lucy" in our separate beds, but let's be honest. I slept great. There were tons of other track teams staying at the hotel too, so it was a party. Here was the view from our room:
We had to be a little careful what we walked around in, as in that we didn't just wear our underwear with the windows open. The building right across the street was an office and let me tell you, we could see exactly what those people were doing, and they could see exactly what we were doing. Even though we were way up high in the skyscraper, the office was just as high as the hotel and I felt like if both our windows were open, we could easily have a friendly little conversation. Of course, we could have just closed the blinds.. but I liked the sights! The streets in Manhattan are narrow! And they are all one way.
Once we got to NY we went out immediately for some dinner and to see Times Square, which was a pretty impressive sight in my little Idaho mind. The next morning I slept in while Taylor ran with the team, and then we went and hit the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center Memorial.
It was pretty frigid while we there.. temps in the low 20's most of the time. The top of the Empire State Building was partially closed off due to ice (super lame..but luckily it was the most boring side of it that was closed) and we still got great views. BRR!! This is at the top.
On Friday we took it easy so Taylor would be fresh for his track meet the next day, but we thoroughly enjoyed visiting 34th street and hitting up Grimaldi's Pizza, which was the best eating we did that whole trip. Goodness it was so yummy. We left stuffed and very pleased. It was a big pizza and we ate every last crumb.
Later we went and checked out The Armory, which is where the track meet was going on. That place is electric.. it is so fun to be a spectator there. I've always rather liked track meets, which is good, cause on Saturday I sat there for like 7 hours watching races. That was pushing it… but they play loud music during the races and I don't know if it effects the runners much, but it sure made me enjoy the day more. Somehow it makes it more intense and fun to watch. Tay ran the mile and did well, he got 3rd in his heat and 6th overall.
After the race, we went to the Metropolitan Museum which was astounding to me in size. We probably only saw 1/3 of it at best before we were just exhausted. It was pretty neat, but slightly boring too? Is that bad? I felt very uncultured while we were there. I liked the statues/ etc. but I got really tired of looking at little spoons/pots/artifacts from a million different cultures. We are really glad we went, but I think Body Worlds or the American Museum of Natural History would have been more up both of our alleys. We did have an unfortunate surprise though.. as we were leaving, we thought we knew where a subway was to get us back to our hotel…but we were VERY wrong. We ended up walking like 24 blocks to get back, and let's just say I was more than a little hangry before we even left the museum, so by the time we got back… hah. We did a progressive dinner that night and absolutely stuffed ourselves by the end of it.
My favorite aspect of the trip was seeing Wicked on Broadway….ahhhhmazing. Glinda was SO funny and Elphaba was fantastic. Couldn't have been more pleased with them, and I realized I'd been missing out on so much of the story! I knew all the music really well but you just don't get ALL the story from it. It's been stuck in my head for weeks now, and I'm totally ok with it.
Overall, things I like about New York:
1) So many good places to eat
2) clear air (kind of amazing it's cleaner there than it is in Utah!)
3) public transportation is so handy
4) lots of exciting things to do
Things I did NOT like:
1) Public transportation is dirty and a rat ran out right in front of me in the subway.. shudder ..
2) It was freezing cold every day and Central Park was basically an icy cold wasteland at this time of year. Perhaps my language is a bit strong there, but I'd imagine it is far prettier and more enjoyable when it's warm
3) Public restrooms are sometimes hard to come by, which is especially trying if you happen to really need one for some reason or another (…not that I speak from experience or anything…)
4) You are hounded on the subways and street corners for money constantly
Oh, and we really enjoyed visiting the shops in Times Square too. Especially M&M World!
I adore this picture.
We also learned that every time we entered the Hershey's store, we were greeted by a free piece of chocolate. We went in there every time we passed it :)
We are so glad we were able to go and feel quite blessed, but feel no need to return any time soon! We got to do and see pretty much everything we wanted and NYC was everything I hoped it would be. If we do return someday, we decided it will be when it's warmer :)
For now though, on to other adventures!
No comments:
Post a Comment