Manhattan

I LOVED NEW YORK! It was everything I imagined it would be and so much more. I'm still having NY withdrawls several days later.

My sister-in-law (Sheila) and I left early last Thursday morning. We met at the airport and boarded our plane. We were beside ourselves with excitement. We were nervous, anxious, and just couldn't get there fast enough. Once we arrived, we found our driver and headed to the hotel. We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria. It was gigantic, beautiful, and elegant. We dropped off our luggage and headed out. We had maps in our hands, cameras in tow, and looked just like a tourist. We nervously hailed our taxi and headed to Little Italy and China Town. China Town was busy, smelly, and interesting. Fish, duck, chicken, and God only knows what else were at every corner. You can buy any type of spice, fruit, perfume, or purse imaginable.

Little Italy was more my kind of place. The streets were a little quiter, cleaner, and quaint. Pizza, wine, breads, and Italian music filled the streets. We found a cozy little table at one of the many Italian restaurants, sat outside, enjoyed a glass of wine, and people watched. (One of my most favorite things to do.)

After dinner we headed back to our hotel. We ended up walking (probably a total of 2 miles!) and enjoyed all the sights.

Interesting way to park your car huh? Glad for my own garage.

We made our way back to the hotel and I was extremely proud of ourselves. Reading a map is not one of my most favorite things to do, and I get turned around very easily. But when all you have is yourself to rely on (and not a husband who always knows where he is at and where he is going no matter where in the world he is) it's amazing how you can do anything!

The next day we made our way over to see the Statue of Liberty. We rode on a ferry boat to see Ellis Island, the Manhattan bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, and of course the Statue. She was beautiful, tall, and greener than I had expected.

It was amazing seeing her!!

We didn't actually get to go through the Statue of Liberty. Apparently you have to wake up at 4am, get in line by 5, and hope that you are one of the lucky ones to get a ticket. Maybe next time...

I hailed us a taxi (I was so nervous to do this at the beginning of our trip but found myself to be a pro by the end) and we stopped by ground zero.

There was so much construction going on. It was loud and just not at all what I had expected. I know  9/11 happened almost 9 years ago, but I guess I wanted to see a place that was quiet. A place where you could pray or bring flowers I guess. I wanted to pay my respects and what we got were a bunch of sweaty construction workers, cranes, and jack hammers. I guess we should have gone to the 9/11 museum instead...

Times Square was next on the list. I loved walking through all the chaos. There were millions of people, gigantic bill boards, taxi's honking, and us taking it all in.

See us???

We desperately wanted to get on the Subway. We tried, got a little intimidated, and said maybe next time..

We also walked around Rockafeller Plaza. Wish we could have seen the Today show. Maybe next time...

Okay, I thought I could get all this done in one post. I was mistaken. Stay tuned for more...