New York: Part 2

This is the view from right outside Matthew's door.
That green, yellow, and pink building in the right center is
the Empire State Building (Easter colors)

On Friday morning we headed out bright and early to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ferry.  I had made 8:00 reservations for the four of us (Stephen, Matthew, Daniel, and me), but Daniel ended up sick and couldn't go.  It was really hard to get up that early in the morning, but after seeing the line when we got back at noon, I definitely recommend getting up early.

When we got to Battery Park, Stephen realized he had his pocket knife.  The security is similar to an airport security so I slyly (or perhaps not as slyly as I think) dropped the knife into a bush.  We figured if we tried to take it through security, it would definitely be taken away.  By leaving it in the bush, hopefully no one would see it.  :-)

Us on the ferry

The Statue of Liberty was closed for renovation, so we couldn't actually go inside.  So we didn't even get off the ferry, just rode the ferry past her twice.  She was much smaller than I pictured.

Lady Liberty 

Matthew, me, Stephen, and the Statue of Liberty
poking over Stephen's head

I wanted to go through the Ellis Island Museum, so we got off at the next ferry stop.  My ancestry has been traced back to Ellis Island, so it was pretty cool to think that someone from my family had come through those doors.  I also thought it was fitting to come through this museum because I went to the immigration museum in Cobh, Ireland, which was the last stop for many of the boats before coming to Ellis Island.  So I'd been on the starting end, I figured I should see the end as well.

The baggage room.  The audio tour (pretty good) said workers
could recognize where an immigrant was from based on the
type of luggage they were carrying.

The room where initial inspections were done.

I learned some things about Ellis Island with the audio tour and exhibits.  For one, I thought Ellis Island was mostly a sad place, where families were separated and people were rejected.  And that did happen.  But there was also a hospital, where an immigrant was sent if they had an ailment that would heal.  They weren't just sent away and rejected, they were taken care of until they were well enough to enter America.  Most people passed through Ellis Island quickly and without much issue.

Manhattan from the ferry.  You can see the 911 Memorial
building being built (the tallest building you can see)

And Stephen's pocket knife was still in the bush.  :-)

We went back to take a nap after our early morning.  At this point Stephen started to get sicker and sicker with a stomach flu bug.  He threw up before we left, but wasn't going to miss the 911 Memorial.  You have to make reservations ahead of time, so there was no other chance for us to go.  He even threw up on the subway (on the platform) on our way there, but he was insistent that he was going.  He said there were enough trash cans in New York City, he wasn't going to miss the memorial.  So off we went.

Trinity Church off Wall Street

There is, as expected, a ton of security surrounding the memorial.  After going through all of it, having our ID's checked several times, and several other checks to make sure we'd gone through security, we entered a big open area.  The two waterfalls are in the footprints of the World Trade Center buildings, so they are a little farther apart than I expected.  (not that far, but not right next to each other).  It is a very peaceful and somber place.  The names around the outside are separated by building, company, first responders, or plane.  Family members were allowed to request certain names to be next to each other.  Some are next to friends, some family.  Because many of the people who died talked to loved ones after the attacks happened, there are even some names next to each other because of what they went through on 9/11.  People who had never met before, but came together to help one another.  

 

Memorial building still under construction

 

Inside the museum that is still under construction.
You can see tridents that were part of the facade
of one of the buildings.

The Survivor Tree

This tree was in the plaza and survived the destruction of 9/11.  It wasn't found until October 2011, and was badly damaged.  It was nursed back to health and then survived being uprooted in a storm and Hurricane Irene.  It's a symbol of perseverance for the many survivors of 9/11.

We stayed until dark, and the fountains were beautiful with all the lights on.  I want to go back when the museum is open someday.

After leaving Stephen back in Matthew's room, Matthew, Daniel and I headed for Chinatown for some Chinese food.  I wasn't entirely impressed by the food, but maybe I'm just spoiled living near San Francisco and having authentic Chinese places around here.

The next day we were flying out at 5:30 pm, which left us a little time in the morning.  I had wanted to try a bagel place called Ess-a-Bagel.  After finally finding it, we found out it was closed for Passover.  I did get a bagel that morning though, and it was pretty good :-).  We headed to Grand Central Station to see the new (ish) Apple Store there.  If you look closely in the left center of the picture below, you can see a white Apple light.  That platform above it where the people are standing is the Apple store.

 

 

You can see the blue shirts of the employees.

Grand Central Station.  From the Apple Store.

We ended up going back to Times Square to get an M and M's bag.  I left the first one in the Apple Store on 5th Avenue.  In 2004, my family, the Webers, and Stephen went to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon on vacation.  While there, my parents got an M and M store bag (it's like a gift bag).  They still have that bag and use it all the time to take lunches to school (they're both teachers).  It's getting pretty old and is pretty beat up, so I figured it was time for a new one :-).

After that we picked up our luggage, took the subway to Penn Station and a train out to Newark.  We got to the airport a little late (only an hour and a half before take off, instead of the recommended two), because of weekend routes and construction closures on the subway.  Not that it mattered because the plane was delayed for an hour.  Then we circled over San Francisco until we were cleared for landing (about a half hour).  And then our shuttle was half an hour late.  So by the time we got to our car in San Francisco, we should have been home.  We ended up getting home around 1:30am, so a tough end to a long week.

I enjoyed New York and I'm willing to back, but it wasn't my favorite vacation ever.  For those who don't know me well, I am a planner.  Like a crazy planner.  I enjoy it, and then I don't feel like I missed out on anything.  Stephen says that this trip was God teaching me to let go of my plans sometimes.  There were definitely some rough, not fun times.  We both got sick, we were trying to coordinate schedules with Matthew and Daniel, and things just didn't all work out like I'd wanted it to.  But we made it, pretty much did everything I had wanted to, and I think I learned a little about letting go of plans.  But I didn't like it.

New York: Part 1

Our most recent trip was to New York City, New York over spring break (the first week of April).  I'm a little behind blogging our trips, perhaps I'll catch up after school is out :-).  But New York is still fresh in my mind, and I like to write these while I remember the little details.

We used airline miles to pay for the tickets, so we flew out of San Francisco on a direct flight to Newark.  On a side note, if you ever need to do a Park and Fly package out of SFO, we have really liked the Vagabond Inn Executive Hotel in Burlingame.  Free shuttle to the airport, free breakfast (oatmeal, yogurt, bagels, waffles, juices, etc).  Parking package much cheaper than SFO parking.  We ended up flying into Newark around 5:30.  A few days before, there had been a Groupon for a car service from any New York airport to anywhere in Manhattan, so we had a car waiting for us.  Which was pretty awesome.  It ended up about $10 more than it would have been for both of us to take the train in.  Score #1.

We stayed in a rented room we found off of airbnb.com.  I was a little nervous about this, but there were a lot of reviews and all of them were very good.  It ended up being an awesome deal.  $80 a night, a few blocks south of Central Park.  The Comfort Inn by Chinatown is $210 a night, just for reference.  Here's a picture of the room (there's a bookshelf and table to the left, a closet and the door behind where I was standing).  

We shared a bathroom with the owner, but it was very clean.  We never saw him, except the day we got there and he gave us keys.

We went to the famous Halal Guys halal cart (basically chopped up meat, rice, a pita, and some sort of sauce all in a pie tin.  Very tasty) and met Matthew and Daniel, Stephen's brothers, there.  From the halal cart we headed down to Jack Demsey's, the New York home of the Kentucky Wildcats to watch the national championship.  Stephen is, and always has been, a huge Kentucky fan, so this was very exciting.

It was absolutely packed.  After walking around for a while looking for a table, I asked a guy and a couple who were sitting at two booths that were connect if we could join them (they weren't together and there were a bunch of seats between them).  They said sure, so we were lucky enough to get seats.  The couple is actually from Lexington, KY, and I believe the older guy was an alum.  That's his white hat in the picture below.  Every basket or steal lead to huge cheers from everyone and bad calls were universally boo'd.

Matthew, Stephen, and Daniel at the entrance

The next morning we slept in a little (we were still on Pacific time), and headed to Central Park around 10.  We walked from our room, stopping to get a famous NY bagel :-).  It didn't seem that special to me, but I love a good bagel and cream cheese, so it was still good.  We had an app that made it very easy to tour Central Park, highly recommend it if you're going.

Bethesda Fountain, they were filming a pilot for a new show while we were there, so we ended up being shooed away.

Literacy Walk

Beautiful day!

Looking through one of the bridge's flower decoration

Turtles sunning themselves in the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Resovoir

It would be very easy to get lost in this, the Ramble I think it was called.

From there we headed back to our room and changed to get ready for the David Letterman show.  We had gotten a call the week before (after requesting tickets in January), and they asked Stephen a trivia question (which he got right), so we got free tickets.  

We ended up sitting on the floor level about 10 rows back from the stage.  It is pretty surreal to see the stage that you've seen so many times on t.v. in real life.  We got a long speech to get us ready, were they told us to "laugh now, think about it later" and not to do a "woo."  I didn't realize how much I did "woo" when I meant to be cheering.  I had never thought of myself as a woo girl before, perhaps I should work on that.  The show was ok, funnier in person than it usually is on t.v., but it was the experience we were going for anyway.

Afterwards, we hopped on a bus down to Times Square, had some dinner at Tratteria Trecoli (good Italian), and went to our Broadway show.  We saw Best Man, a political show that just opened.  We were going more for the cast than the show itself.  In the end, the play was pretty good and the cast was outstanding.  Take a look at the cast list below:

Not only was the cast amazing, but we were literally in the very front row, in the very center.  By theater standards these are "bad" seats because you have to look up a little onto the stage.  But I could've touched Angela Lansberry or James Earl Jones or Candice Bergen without even standing up.  Several times.  But then I would be kicked out.  So it wouldn't have been worth it.  Candice Bergen did make eye contact with me though!  At least I think she did.  Every time a new character was introduced, Stephen and I looked at each other like "can you believe this??"  These are people I've grown up seeing in movies and on tv, and there they were in person!  Pretty incredible.

Not too shabby for our first full day in New York :-).

The next day we moved all our stuff to Matthew's dorm room (where we were going to be staying the next three nights).  We moseyed around a little and then Stephen and I headed for the Museum of Natural History.  It made me want to watch Night at the Museum :-).  

This is what a mosquito looks like magnified.  Can I just say, ew.

GIANT blue whale

We headed back through Central Park to catch the last few sights we hadn't seen the day before (we ran out of time because we had to get to the David Letterman show).  Plus, I wanted to eat a hot dog from a food cart in Central Park.  Seems like something you can do while in New York.  So we got our hot dog (and roasted peanuts, also good), and headed to the Imagine memorial.

From here you can see the apartment where John Lennon lived (and Yoko Ono still does) and was killed.  There's a "docent" who gives a little history lesson every once in a while.  We sat near here on a bench and ate our hot dog while we waited for Matthew and Daniel.

We tried to go see the carousel, but it's closed for renovation.  And by renovation, I mean all the horses are off and they've stripped the base down to the wood.  Oh well, next time.  

We took the subway to 5th Avenue and walked down 5th Avenue.  Stephen wanted to get a book from the Barnes and Noble.  

Rockefeller Tower

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Then we headed for the Empire State Building.  Matthew is going to King's College, a Christian University in the Empire State Building.  As a "tenant," not only did he get half price tickets, he also got to skip every single line.  Every single line.  If you've ever been up to the top of the Empire State Building, you know this is a big deal.  We were like VIP's.  Whenever anyone saw our tickets, they would say "oh, you're a tenant, right this way" and let us pass everyone.  I always hate those people when I'm in line.  But it's pretty awesome to be those people.  We got up there right before sunset.  Here's some views:

Stephen messing with Matthew or Daniel looking through the binoculars

After that we headed for Katz's Deli.  I didn't know anything about it and Matthew didn't make it seem like anything special.  But it's the deli in When Harry Met Sally and is famous for it's pastrami.  I had half a pastrami sandwich and matzo ball soup.  It was very good.

 At this point, I realized I had a bladder infection.  For any male reading this, or any female who has never had one, let me tell you, it sucks.  Like majorly.  I called Kaiser and they were able to write a prescription and send it to Walgreens in Vallejo (apparently that's where the call center was).  Once it was in Walgreen's system, we could pick it up anywhere.  But then the Walgreens we were going to ended up be a 24 hour store but not a 24 hour pharmacy.  We were staying with Matthew in his dorm room, and he shares a jack and jill bathroom with his roommate.  And 19 year old college boys are not known for clean bathrooms, either.  (No offense Matthew!)  With a bladder infection, I was desperate for my own bathroom.  We ended up walking to a nearby hotel and staying there for the night.  And then took a taxi to a Walgreen's that had a 24 hour pharmacy.  We slept until 11:30 the next day, so we didn't quite get to everything I'd hoped we would.

The next morning we couldn't get back into Matthew's building until he got back from his classes, so even after sleeping in we had to stop at a coffee shop.  It ended up being a really great little shop called Berkli Parc, and it's owner actually went to UC Berkeley.  I had a breakfast sandwich and a tea, Stephen had a flavored coffee, and they were all really great.

After leaving our stuff in Matthew's dorm, we headed for Times Square.  

The ferris wheel inside Toys R Us.  Yes, inside.

The "cars" of the ferris wheel.

Inside the M and M's store

Matthew and us in Times Square

We hopped on the subway and headed for the flatiron building.

In Madison Square Park there's a place called the Shake Shack that's famous for it's cheeseburgers and shakes.  The cheeseburgers were kind of like In n Out, but the buns were better.  The shake was probably the best I've ever had, though.  I had the caramel one, it was amazing.

Madison Square Park and the Shake Shack

Then we got back on the subway and headed up to 5th Avenue and the Apple Store.  Some people travel around to all the baseball fields or national parks.  We hit Apple stores.  We've now been to the Apple store in the Louvre shopping area in Paris, Covent Garden and Regent Street in London, San Francisco, Cupertino, and the Apple Store on 5th Avenue (we did go to the Grand Central Station one, too, that will come later).

Standing under the stairs looking up

Stephen, Matthew, and Daniel

Brothers!

Mirror room in FAO Schwartz

Giant peeps (stuffed animals)

The ceiling of the mirror room in FAO Schwartz

That night for dinner we went over to Brooklyn and had pizza at Grimaldi's, which is literally underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.  The pizza was good, made with a coal heated brick oven that we could see really well from our table.  I had wanted to walk across the bridge at some point, but it was dark and cold and we were all tired.  We never did get back to do that, but maybe we will someday.