New York, New York!

Let the sight-seeing begin! We set out bright and early Sunday morning. When I say early, I mean before the crack of dawn early. We left the house around 4:00 AM for our flight, and arrived in New York around midnight their time. The late hour did not result in a sleepy city, however, but the town lived up to its reputation of flurried activity at all times.

Our hotel was definitely posh. Doormen and security guards and concierges, the whole works. Our room had even been upgraded to one with two beds, two bathrooms, and a very classy feel to it. Monday morning we set out for our tour. They took us around on and off a bus, showing us the highlights of the city, from where John Lennon was shot and where Yoko Ono currently lives, to Central Park, Ground Zero, Wall Street, and Rockefeller Center. They also took us on a boat ride around Liberty Island and Ellis Island. It was a lot of information, but a good introduction to the city. That evening we went out to a very fancy Italian restaurant where the waiters were ridiculously attentive and the food delicious. We went out that evening to do a little light shopping, around the neighborhood of 5th Avenue :) . We found some nice things at Sax, where I felt a bit like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.

Tuesday morning we set out for the Museum of Natural History. We saw the incredibly large dinosaur skeletons, such as the t-rex, and nice butterfly exhibit. For lunch, we were on a mission. The tour guide had pointed out to us where the soup kitchen was from Seinfeld's episode about the Soup Nazi. We were determined to eat there. We made it to the restaurant, but just as we got there two men were locking it up. We discovered one of the men was THE soup nazi ! Of course we got a picture with him, (who was just as he had been portrayed on the show), before being forced to eat lunch somewhere else. That evening, we went to our first Broadway show! Jersey Boys was playing, the story of Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons. The music and story were both really enjoyable and a lot of fun.



The next day we hit the MET, the city's well-known art museum. We saw works of art from Greece, Rome, Africa, China, India, Europe, and America. It was a pretty impressive museum. Only a few stories high, but extremely spread out and extensive. Afterwards, we wandered around for a bit and ended up at Rockefeller Center with the ice-skaters. We went to the top of the building, and though not as tall as the Empire State, it has much shorter lines, and you can see the Empire State from the top, which you obviously couldn't do if you went to the top of that more frequented site. That evening we went to another show, South Pacific. It was pretty cool how into their characters the actors got, and our seats and the music were amazing. I believe it was that evening where we had the craziest of all our crazy taxi drivers. The city is full of taxis, around 14,000 I believe, and you never know what you're going to get when you're lucky enough to successfully hail a cab. (I definitely honed my hailing skills over the week; by the end we often got the first one I hailed. This as oppose to the beginning of the week when it was pouring rain and not a single cab would stop). So anyways, this night, we happen to get into a cab with a serious crazy. We had been in cabs with reckless drivers before, but this driver, according to my mom, reminded her of the psych patients she used to take care of at the hospital. He talked to himself the ENTIRE time, around 15 minutes, about weird things like third world countries and Obama and the governments and random signs he saw on the streets and mumbled it all into one large soliloquy which he thought made perfect sense, but in actuality was the craziest thing we had ever heard. Needless to say, we were quite relieved to exit that vehicle safe and sound.

The following day we were able to sleep in a bit, which was nice. We then met up with a friend of mine who is going to grad school in New Jersey. He caught the train in for a few hours and we wandered the streets for a good hour before finding a restaurant for lunch. I think the experience is sufficiently embedded in his memory that he will definitely remember the name of the street with the restaurants next time :) Indian food was amazing, as usual, and it was really good to catch up. We wandered around a bit, and stopped in Central Park to take the classic carriage ride through the 6 sq. mile park. That evening we went to our final performance, an evening of Mozart with the Philharmonic. It was pretty impressive. They had a guest pianist, who would play the piano with the orchestra, and when he wasn't playing he would be conducting. One of the pieces was interesting, it was the first time it had ever been performed by the Philharmonic. Another piece was one of two pieces Mozart wrote in a minor key. We crashed early that night, as the next morning we left our hotel while some people were still enjoying the night. We left at a modest 3:30 AM. Good word it was early. After another long day of traveling, we finally made it home after a successful and enjoyable week spent together exploring a fabulous new city.