Ok... the NYC trip. It was fabulous. I had such a great time. New York is the coolest place. It's so busy and active and alive. It's exciting just being in that kind of environment. There was so much to do, and even though we packed a ton of stuff into the four days we were there, we could have done a lot more, given more time. The pictures are in my flickr account for those that are interested - just click on a photo in the right sidebar!

Sunday:
We woke up early and hit the road to Newark Airport. We arrived at the airport around dinner time, and grabbed a shuttle into Manhattan. After checking in to the hotel, we hopped on the subway to Times Square. It was amazing. At 11:00 on a Sunday night the place was packed and lit up like a Christmas tree. Stores were open, sidewalks were crammed with people. It was so surreal.

Monday:
Our first stop of the day was the Staten Island Ferry, which gave us a great view of the Statue of Liberty and the lower Manhattan skyline. Next we rode the subway to Coney Island, where we ate Nathan's Famous hotdogs and crinkle fries and walked along the boardwalk. It reminded me a lot of the boardwalk in Myrtle Beach. We went up to Washington Square park to peoplewatch and then wandered through Greenwich Village. We stopped for a snack at a tiny cafe, and then we hopped on the subway again to head to Yankee Stadium for a baseball game. Derrick caught a ball in the stands and I got a great picture of the sunset. When we got back we were starving, and went to a deli down the street but they were out of hot foods so we ended up having various muffins and baked goods for a very late dinner.

Tuesday:
We woke up early to get to NBC studios in time to get standby tickets to the Conan O'Brien show. Since we were already there, we went on the NBC tour which takes you through some of the studios like Conan's and the SNL studio. Then we shopped in the NBC store. After that we walked down to see the Ed Sullivan Theatre (Letterman's studio) and Hello Deli (Rupert wasn't there). We walked down 5th avenue and checked out all the upscale designer stores, churches, cathedrals, Radio City Music Hall, Trump Tower and FAO Schwarz (the huge toy store). We went to Grand Central Station for lunch, and then the New York Public Library which was beautiful. We sat in Bryant Park until it was time to go back to Rockefeller Plaza to line up for Conan. We were lucky - we just made it into the show (only 2 more were let in after us). We saw the taping of Conan and it was so cool! After the show we went up the Empire State building. The view was unbelievable. We stayed up there to watch the sunset and then all the city lights came on. After that we went to dinner (I had beer battered fish & chips and we split a NY style cheesecake slice). We tried to go to Macy's but it was closed, so we went back to the hotel. I tried to stay awake for the Conan show, but I didn't make it, I was so tired!

Wednesday:
Our first stop was the Upper West side, to see the outside of the restaurant from Seinfeld. We ended up having lunch there and then wandered around for a while and checked out the Columbia campus. Then we took the subway south to the World Trade Center site. We walked from there down the coast of the Hudson river to Battery Park. I got a milkshake (it was so thick) and we found the sculpture on display there that used to stand in the WTC. After that we walked up to Trinity Church and St. Paul's to see the memorials for the victims of the WTC. It was so sad. Next we walked up Wall street. It was amazing to see all the old skyscrapers, the stock exchange, such beautiful architecture. Lower Manhattan was amazing, all those buildings that have stood the test of time. Next we took the subway across to Brooklyn so we could walk back to Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge, which took us right to the courthouse and city hall. We went to a Thai place for dinner (yum) and went over to Times Square again since it was close by. It was, unbelievably, even busier the second time around.

Thursday:
This just happened to be our 4th wedding anniversary, so the day was supposed to be a bit more laid back and relaxed, but it didn't really work out that way. Our first stop was Central Park. We wandered through and got lost, the park is huge and the maps are less than helpful. We did see the Obelisk and a few statues. Eventually we found the lake, so we rented a rowboat and paddled around for a while just relaxing and taking in the sights. It was so strange, being in such a quiet, "cottage-y" atmosphere and seeing skyscrapers peeking over the trees. It was beautiful. We went to Tavern on the Green for lunch, but once we saw the prices on the menu we ran away. Literally. We tried another restaurant in the park, but there was an hour long wait, so we went to the cafeteria in the Museum of Natural History. By this point we were exhausted from walking back and forth across the park all those times! We wandered through the museum for a while, checking out the dinosaurs, mammals, space, earth, and human origins exhibits. The marine life exhibit (i.e. the squid and the whale) was closing right as we got there, too bad! We went back into the park afterward with hopes of going to the zoo, but we got lost again trying to find it and then I realized it was closed by that time anyway, so we ended up just sitting in the park watching the world go by. We went back to the hotel to get ready and then went out for dinner at a really nice restaurant. I felt about 10 times cooler just sitting in there, and as the guidebook says "the bathroom alone is worth the trip", I've never seen such elaborate public washrooms. The dinner was amazing (chicken, asparagus, dates and noodles). After dinner we wanted to go out for drinks, but the pub we liked from the guidebook wasn't so great in real life, so we walked along until we found another one. I had a martini and Derrick had a Smirnoff and the two drinks cost 16 dollars, can you believe that? So, needless to say, one drink was enough and we headed back to the hotel.

Friday:
The drive home. Boo!

So that's everything, I think. We crammed as much of NYC as possible into four days of nonstop walking. My feet are still sore. Seriously. It was exhausting, but so much fun and I'm so glad we went!