New York City Trip - Part 1

Wow. That is the first word that comes to mind when I think about our trip to New York City. As soon as we got into the taxi at the airport, the driver had the windows rolled down for us. The beautiful cool breeze that greeted us was a welcome change from the hot and humid weather we left behind in Florida. My brother and his fiancee, Maggie, had flown in from DC to join us on our trip. They met us at the airport and rode with us on our cab ride to the hotel. We took a tunnel, a bridge, and the back way through parts of New Jersey on our way into the city from the airport. Driving in New York City was a wild experience that we hadn't encountered before. The dashed lines separating lanes were merely a suggestion as we drifted from one lane to another. And all the people.

There were more pedestrians than I'd ever seen in one place before. Huge groups of people were waiting for the crossing signal to change from the red hand to the white person, while a few impatient natives tried their hand at "Frogger" and dashed across traffic.

By the time we got to the hotel, I was really starting to appreciate the aggressive driving style our taxi driver employed, and I could feel myself converting to that "big city" state of mind. Chris and I realized that the manners we were taught growing up in Tennessee and Virginia, respectively, were going to leave us stranded on the first floor as everyone else pushed us aside on their way into the elevators. We finally made our way onto one, and up we went... It took off so fast, it was like a ride at an amusement park. Once we made it up to the 33rd floor, we couldn't believe the view overlooking Times Square. If you look on the top right of the picture above the Toshiba sign, you can see where they "drop the ball" on New Years Eve.



Our mission for the first night was to get all dolled up and stroll a short 20 blocks to Cafe Fiorello, a restaurant that was recommended to us. We had the most unique thin crust pizza I have ever seen. It was pretty much hanging over all sides of the plate and was teetering on the edge of the table as well. This wasn't a good thing because I have a pretty good record for spilling food on myself.

(I took this with Maggie's point and shoot.)

On day 2, we started our jam packed tour of the city. Getting tickets for the sightseeing open-air tour bus was the best decision of the trip! We got great seats, had the beautiful wind blowing in our faces, had someone explaining the history of everything as we rode along, and best of all didn't have to drive or walk to all the great touristy spots. Of course you could hop off and on at any stop, so we got off at a few to see some of the sights and take lots of pictures. Here we are all ready to go! (Courtesy of Maggie)



Our first stop was the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. By the time we got our tickets, found the line, then found the END of the line, we realized it would be another 4 hours before we could actually get to the statue. This was as close as we could get from the mainland.



So we decided to cut our losses and sell our tickets and get a couple of the famous "dirty water hot dogs" I was told we just had to try. Maggie snuck this shot of me. (I'm not sure why she was the only one with pictures of us. I was busy taking shots of all the sights I guess, hehe.)



And now to one of my favorite parts of the trip. Since the ferry to the Statue of Liberty didn't work out so well, we decided that the next best thing would be to take the "water taxi" tour around the south part of Manhattan Island. We got really close to the Statue of Liberty and the famous Brooklyn Bridge.





Here is a shot of Michael, Maggie, and me with the Statue of Liberty in the background so we can prove that we were really there. =)



And the New York City skyline from the water taxi. If you look closely you can see some famous bridges on the right side.



I just loved some of the bridge pictures! New York City really gave me a new appreciation for architecture.





The water taxi tour guide told us "BMW" was the best way to remember the order of the 3 bridges we saw, which stands for Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg. Here are a few shots of the Manhattan Bridge. I love the classic look of this one.







And one last classic shot of the Brooklyn Bridge.



Stay tuned for more from the trip!