I have to record a little more of New York, for posterity's sake and all. :) We flew in on Thursday afternoon, dropped off our luggage at our man-pee-smelling-hotel-room (we complained but to no avail- good thing we're all used to living with boys) and headed straight for Times Square. What a spectacle. I've seen it in so many movies but it was really amazing to be there. We saw Captain Underpants in cowboy boots with a guitar. We took a pic with Spidy and laughed at the shameless signs some panhandlers were holding (I'll just be honest- I need money for weed)! We couldn't decide what show to see so we asked a guy on the street. He said he had just seen "Memphis" and it was awesome. So we bought the tickets and had just enough time for Margharita pizza and caesar salad before the show. I didn't realize the theaters were so small and it was amazing to be so close. Somehow I ended up sitting behind a woman with the biggest head in the world- good thing my girlfriends didn't mind me snuggling up to them so I could see over that cranium!
Oh wait and I forgot to say that when we landed at the airport and were waiting for our luggage (because I brought the biggest suitcase known to man!) a random guy asked if we needed a ride. I was in the process of saying yes when my girlfriends said, "um no." So we probably wouldn't have ended up in a ditch but he may have charged us an obscene amount. My girlfriends showed me the line where people wait for respectable cabs. phew! Then I left my wallet in the cab- luckily Karen saw it there and grabbed it! I had to text Curtis right away and tell him to rest assured. I had almost had us kidnapped and lost my wallet within the first hour! I'm such country folk!
The next day we saw the Statue of Liberty, visited Ellis Island, the 9/11 Memorial, ate at Little Italy and checked out the Empire State Building. The weather was perfect! Ellis Island was my favorite. The only thing I knew about it was from that scene in "Hitch." :) The murals with pictures of immigrants, their stories and clothing, musical instruments, poetry made it all come to life. I found myself teary eyed through most of it. I didn't realize that the place had been abandoned for many years before it was turned into a museum. I would definitely recommend fitting a trip in if you are in NYC. Oh and we had this super long wait to get back on the ferry. There was a beautiful field right there so Jen and I played a game of smash ball. We felt like a bit of a spectacle b/c all the bored line people where just watching but mostly we didn't care because it was just so fun to play. (Did I tell you that I love playing games and one of the lamest things about being an adult is how little you still get to play games?!?) Later on the ferry some guy came up and asked me who won. :)
Friday was such a long day that I was a little nervous about Saturday's race. We did drink like maniacs to keep hydrated (hence a visit to almost every bathroom in the city!!). We survived the race and afterwards this awesome band was singing some Stevie Wonder. There were robot people and drag queens dancing and we had to join in. It took a long time for us to figure out how to get home but we finally took the subway and ended up right at "The Shake Shack." Excellent burgers and fries!! I was toast by this time and we soon headed home for long naps and showers. ahhh!
Saturday night we ventured out for some shopping (they have H&M in NYC!) and ate at "Serendipity." We also headed back to Little Italy to get dessert at "Ferraros." I think I loved it more than any of the other girls. I got a Lobster Tail which is basically a pastry filled with cream. aw yeah.
Sunday we packed up and headed to midtown for church. Okay so I only ever look at a couple of blogs of people I don't know. One of them is "natthefatrat." I just think she's cute and love her writing style. Actually she reminds me of my old pal from Michigan, Mary. :O Anyway, we were on the elevator up to the chapel (it's actually above the temple in NYC), the doors opened and she was the first person I saw. I couldn't help staring for a minute and then I just told her as I walked by that I knew her from her blog. See- I'm not a real New Yorker. Can't be cool even with a blogger! We only stayed at church for the sacrament and the headed off to Central Park, walked through Rockefeller Square, met a crime Lord, froze to death while eating lunch (weather took a turn for the worse and these Texans were not prepared), and finally headed back to our hotel to catch a cab.
One thing that I really liked about New York was how friendly everyone was. Many people offered to take pictures of us and we chatted with dozens of people (usually asking directions). We met this cute New Jersey couple outside of "Memphis" and then we were saying "sqy-rirrel" with an NJ accent and they loved it. We took pics for them and them of us and then we talked about the city. Another guy was helping buy our subway passes and somehow it came out that we were Mormon. Jen made sure to clarify that we are Christians too. Love hanging out with that girl! One time on the subway this cute group on teenage boys saw us taking pics and asked us to take one of them. They told us they were a basketball team and were gonna be famous someday. As we were leaving the Empire State Building a guy said good-bye and I smiled. He said "You have a beautiful smile!" That just doesn't happen to me often in Katy. :) We had a long talk with a vendor on the street who is a Russin Jew. We saw some gay guys hit on a straight guy and watched him get really angry about it. We ran into a friend from Texas- in our own hotel no less!! weird. Once a car drove by and the driver was yelling at the top of his lungs in this awesome east coast accent! The cab driver who took us to the race kept asking me to GPS it on my phone. He did not know how to get there and my phone is just a lame flip phone. We were a little worried about that but he did get us there on time. On the ride to the airport I sat in front with the cab driver. He seemed sort of down on life and so I mostly listened. He told me he hated the hectic life in New York and that he was disgusted with the leaders in the country. He also said he believes that anyone who has made a million dollars has done something wrong. Interesting :O
So many seriously colorful characters. Oh and it was also interesting that on the streets half the people were speaking a language besides English- such a melting pot! I loved noticing everyone's clothes: lots of ankle boots and thick tights and scarves (stuff we don't get to use much in TX). I really would love to go back. It's an awesome girls trip!
