The BEST of NY

So I'm finally posting the rest of the NY trip. Besides running the marathon we got to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. My parents were kind enough to play house with our kids while we were gone. THANKS mom and dad!!! I had never been to New York City so I wanted to see all the standard NY stuff....

Our view from the plane coming into NY. I just thought this picture was kind of cool and would make a good advertisement for SW airlines.

Our first stop when after we checked into our hotel was Time Square. It was pretty neat to be able to see all the stuff you see in the movies and then realize it's always much smaller and less 'grand' than you see on TV. It felt a lot like being on the strip in Vegas. We found a great little authentic Italian restaurant for dinner called Bella Napoli where we were the only people in the place and everyone spoke Italian. It definitely had a 'mob' feel to it :). The food was great!

Mark felt very loved since they posted his name on some giant electronic screen.....just for him :) We took a walk to Rockefeller Center and stumbled across the Fox News Channel Studios and had to get this picture for Mom and Dad (total Fox News junkies) . I tried to find where Shepherd Smith, Glen Beck or Neil Cavuto might be exiting the building but no luck :) Watched the ice skaters at the infamous Skating Rink in Rockefeller and saw some interesting characters. It is way smaller than it looks on TV. We definitely got our fill of the subways and my thought after a few days of that..."I love my gas guzzling SUV that I can get in anytime I want all by myself!" We also had a few cab rides. The first one from the airport was your typical scary and not so customer service oriented foreign cab driver. A couple days into our trip we actually got off at the wrong subway stop but figured we weren't very far from our hotel and decided to walk. Needless to say it wasn't a very nice neighborhood and I was sure we were going to get an authentic NY mugging so we hailed a cab and this driver was totally nice and when we got to our hotel he said "It's on me". How nice is that? On our frequent subway ride on the #7 train we passed by this area where everything was covered in graffiti but in a very 'artsy' way. It was actually kind of pretty. The day after the Marathon we did some more sight seeing. We headed over to the sight where the World Trade Centers once stood. They had everything kind of covered up and this was about all we could see of the construction that is going on. It was very sobering to walk down the street where so many people literally ran for their life that day. We also took a Harbor Cruise where we got lots of great pictures and I actually learned a lot about the city thanks to our authentic NY tour guide. Below are some of the best....

The NY skyline...

Ellis Island I love this one..

and this one...The Brooklyn Bridge. more NY skyline..

Some other stuff we did:

• Had a NY hot dog and Gyro from a street vendor
• Finished my race in Central Park so I'll check that one off the list too.
• Managed to find the only hole in the wall Mexican restaurant in all of Time Square
• Ate some NY pizza
• Heard enough fire truck and police sirens to last me a lifetime
• Rode the Staten Island Ferry (just me)
• saw Grand Central Station
• figured out what all the codes, colors, shapes, and numbers mean on the subway system.

Stuff we didn't do:

• Go to the top of Empire State Building. I really wanted to do this but when I found out it costs $20 a person I passed.
• get mugged (yeah!)
• ride bikes though Central Park (ran out of time)
• buy a fancy purse from a street vendor..there were plenty of them but I'm just not a 'purse' person.
• see a broadway production

I was glad I got to experience NY city but after 5 days there I was very happy and grateful to come back to my quiet home and big car in San Diego!

Happy 5 year anniversary to us!