NYC V

The final day had come. We were split - kind of ready to come back home to normalcy, but we were also really enjoying the New York "life"! We still had somethings that we wanted to accomplish on this day, so we were off early to get started! Since we heard that the lines at the Empire State Building get extremely long during the day, we went there first. All I can say is thank goodness we went early, and thank goodness we bought our tickets online. The lines were already REALLY long! Even with prepaid tickets toward the end we still had to wait in line. It was worth it though because the views from the 86th floor are so amazing! It was really cool to actually get a feel for how everything is laid out since you can't see a thing around all the huge buildings when you are on the ground walking around! We took lots of pictures and then headed back down.

We then walked around the area there - 34th Street where the big Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is held each year, saw the HUGE Macy's store (we did not go in though), went to Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. By this time is was around noon and we need to be getting to the airport around 4:30 or 5:00. So the debate was on for what we wanted to make sure we saw. The decision ended up being two bakeries, John Lennon's apartment, Strawberry Fields in Central Park and then to just walk around our hotel and get some last minute souvenirs.

The walk to John Lennon's apartment where he was shot, was one of our favorites. We were in a more residential area, so we got to experience more of where a typical New Yorker lives. Also the bakeries that I wanted to go to where very conveniently located on the way. They were the Buttercup Bake Shop and Levain bakery. The cupcakes at the Buttercup Bake Shop where of course delicious. We decided to try three of them b/c the decision was so hard (I promise that we made ourselves only sample and then throw the rest away! This was our lunch!) the German Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and I can't seem to remember the last one. The best part about the bakery was their slogan, "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first." How perfectly does that fit us! hahaha!!! We then began our walk towards the apartment. As most of you know Sam is a HUGE Beatles fan (I mean, if we had to have a song in our wedding, you know he must LOVE them). We found the apartment and Sam had to take many pictures and "have a moment"! It was crazy though b/c still to this day they have to have this place secure with guards and gates. There was also a crazy man with his crazy hippy van parked right out front protesting the shooting. I just thought that was crazy after so many years. The memorial in Central Park and Strawberry Fields was really cool though and was way worth the long walk.

After spending sometime at Central Park we headed to the next bakery (I know, we are pigs...remember this is still "lunch"). It was the Levain Bakery. They are world famous for their chocolate chip cookies and that's pretty much all they sell. The bakery was just in a basement of an apartment building, but it was packed! The cookies were absolutely HUGE! Its like the size of a biscuit/pancake. I have always heard about these cookies, but I just did not realize how big and thick they would actually be. I should have taken a picture, but I think we were getting pretty pictured out by this time! I can honestly say that it was the BEST cookie I have ever tasted (and I have tasted A LOT of cookies...aka: cookie monster!). No wonder everyone is always trying to recreate these cookies!

By this time we decided that our legs just could not take any more and that we really didn't have enough time to try to take something else on. So we took the subway back near the hotel, walked around, and had dinner at Angelo's Pizza (Its the pizza joint above where the David Letterman Show is filmed). It was a good last New York meal, and it was to a taxi to get back to the airport.
We got to see pretty much everything we set out to see. We did everything on the itinerary and more. The things we wish we would have done: more Broadway, the US Open, museums, Liberty Island, and Ellis Island. That's about it; pretty short list! I hope you enjoyed taking a walk back with us on our vacation! Here are some pictures!

Empire State Building at night

The view from the top! John Lennon's apartment building

Strawberry Fields in Central Park

John Lennon Memorial

NYC IV

Anyone still out there? Have my long posts run you all away? If you are still reading, here is the forth day of our vacation! We decided to sleep in this morning, and after breakfast headed to the subway to go to the Soho area. I really enjoyed this area and all the fun shops. It was a really nice morning to just take a stroll through the streets and look in all the little shops. From there we headed into China Town. One word - CRAZY!! I knew this was the place for some really good "fake" items (aka: purses, jewelery, sunglasses, etc.), but I had no idea how absolutely crazy it would be and how many other tourist would be there trying to find the same "bargins" as me. I won't go into the story, but I can shamfully say that I feel into the "trap"!!! All I will say is it might have been the scariest experice of the trip, if not my life, and included us stuffed into a big white, 250 degree van full of knock-off purses!!! There, I said it! I am not proud of it, nor very smart for falling into the "trap"!

Anyways, after looking around China Town for a bit, we headed to Little Italy! If you know Sam at all, you know that he was in heaven! He has been wanting to go to Mulberry Street for a long time! I really liked how the street was blocked off to cars and how all the resturants had outdoor seating like Italy. We took our time here and looked in EVERY resturant to see how old it was, and then tried to imagine it many years ago when the maffia was there! We even brought home some homemade sauce from Uncle Vincent's resturant. This resturant has been in their original building and location for >100 years! I took Sam's picture with cousin Vincent, who now owns the restaurant. This will probably be the only picture he cares to frame of the trip!! We weren't able to eat there though because we had our hearts set on Lombardi's Pizza. This is the original brick oven pizza joint in the US; it was DELICIOUS and all that we had hoped for. Sam insists that it is the best he has ever had! This is a must for anyone traveling to NYC soon.

After a HUGE, and very tasteful meal we headed off to find more food at our first of three bakeries that I had picked out to go to. I had a HUGE list of bakeries that I wanted to visit, but since we were walking almost everywhere and did not have a month in the city to get to all these places, I narrowed it down to three that were convenient to where we would be going. It was called Sugar Sweet Sunshine bakery. I got a Sassy red velvet cupcake with dark chocolate icing and Sam I believe got what was called a "Bob" cupcake (a yellow cake cupcake w/ chocolate almond buttercream). Now we were officially stuffed!!!

Don't worry though b/c we did plenty of walking heading back over to Battery Park so that we could catch the Staten Island Ferry. After much debate we decided to do this "free" ferry ride rather than pay for the tours that take you to Liberty and Ellis Island. We decided we were too worn out, and took the easy way out! The ferry was huge and was a very relaxing ride. We got to see the Statue of Liberty up close and the view of the city was great!

Our day was about over and our last night was approaching. We had dinner at Tavern on the Green and then just strolled around Central Park and Times Square. We finished off the night by finally getting some soft served ice cream from the ice cream truck that was always parked right outside of our hotel lobby and then headed in for a good nights rest. The last day was quickly approaching! :(

Vincent's in Little Italy

Sam with Cousin VincentThe original brick oven at Lombardi's
Sam at the entrance of Little Italy
On Staten Island w/ NYC in the background
The view of the Statue of Liberty from the ferry
All dressed up for dinner at the Tavern on the Green

NYC III

Day Three was another crazy busy, adventurous day! We started off the day with some Dunkin Donuts and coffee; for those of you from Amarillo - they have NOTHING on Donut Stop! We then hopped on the subway and rode all the way to Brooklyn and walked the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan. The walk is alittle over a mile long, but well worth it. Luckily we went in the morning before it got really hot. It was a relaxing walk with a great view of Manhattan. I did learn that you had to really stay to the left though or the bikers on the right would run right over you!

HISTORY LESSON: Construction of the bridge started in 1870 and was completed THIRTEEN years later in 1883. On completion, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world and the first steel-wire suspension bridge. It's pretty amazing that without all the technology that we have today, that they were still able to accomplish something of this magnitude. If you have not taken this walk, I recommend it!

After the walk we made our way over to Lower Manhattan and checked out the American Stock Exchange, Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange, the Federal Hall National Memorial (where George Washington's inauguration was held on the steps in 1789), St. Paul's church (Built in the 1760s. It is the oldest public building in continuous use. This is the church that George Washington attended and he still has his own pew.), Trinity Church (The original was built in 1699 & was NY first church. It was destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in 1846. This is also the church where Alexander Hamilton's grave is located), and then ended at the 9-11 Tribute Center. It really surprised me that after 8 years since the 9-11 tragedy there is still a huge hole in the ground and no real memorial. We were told that the reason why is because of major debate on what to do, along with the budget being way to high. They did have a small Tribute Center which is attached to the Ladder 10 Fire Station across from the site. It really took us back to that day and brought back all the feelings that we experienced as a country. It also made the whole thing more real for me actually. Since we were so far from where the tragedy actually happened, it has always been hard to truly relate. It just blew us away seeing the things in the center and seeing pictures of the many people who were lost that day.

We stopped for a quick lunch of PIZZA and then decided to hike over to Battery Park. We took a stroll through the park, sat on a bench and watched the tour boats head out toward Liberty and Ellis Island, and then decided that we could barely move anymore and really needed a nap! A nap! I know, disappointing isn't it!!! We had a good reason though, LION KING was this evening and we did not want to be tired. It was well worth the one hour we took out of our day!

So after our nap and a nice dinner at an Italian place on 9th, we headed over to Minskoff Theater where we saw the Lion King! AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!!! We loved every minute of it and were just blown away by the costumes! Honestly at the beginning of the show during the first song I did not stop smiling one time. After like 15 minutes I "came back to life" and realized how ridiculous I must have looked. After the show we just kept saying, why are we not going to a show EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!!! We will defiantly be back for more!

I tried to keep this day shorter (pretty unsuccessfully), but here are some pictures from the day!

Brooklyn Bridge

Walking the bridge

View of NYC from the bridge

View from City Hall of the Brookley Bridge that we just walked

New York Stock Exchange

NYSE and Wall St.

Trinity Church

View of Trinity Church from Wall Street

Battery Park

(how funny is this!!! I made Sam go over there to take a picture with Lady Liberty and then "she" just started putting on this stuff on him! After I took the picture "he" said, that will be $5!!!! We were scammed!!!!)

Ladder 10 Fire Station

9-11 Tribute Center

Steve's Pizza for Lunch

(I am the one on the left side of the bench reading the map. This is just seconds before a bird poops all down the middle of my dress!!! NOT JOKING!)

Going to see Lion King

The view of Times Squre on a Friday night from the Minskoff Theater - look at all the millions of people!

FABULOUS

Since that last NYC post was so long (sorry, I did not realize how long until after we posted it!), I thought it would be nice to take a NYC break! I did some cookies this past weekend for a 40 and fabulous birthday party! I thought they turned out pretty cute and very F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!!!!

NYC II

This day was most definitely one of my favorite days, and I could probably say that it was Sam's all time favorite day (Sam???). We did not start off the day exactly how I had planned....see I watch the Today Show EVERY SINGLE WEEKDAY! It is how I keep up with the world and most importantly the weather and traffic! I was so excited that I was actually going to get to experience the Today Show, and see how it all really goes down! As you saw in a previous post, we made signs to ensure getting on camera (I thought the pink would really get everyone's eye!). I wanted to get to the show early so that I would not have to fight my way to the front row...well that did not exactly happen! I set my phone (a blackberry mind you) to wake me up at 6:00 am, so that we could be out the door by 7:00am (I know, what a terrible way to start a trip getting up that early). Well my high-tech Blackberry did not automatically update to the time change, like every other phone on this planet, so needless to say it went off an hour later!! The Lord knew how bad I wanted to go though, so some how I woke up at 6:45 - 15 minutes to get ready, walk to the Today Show, get a front row spot, and look good for the camera! DID NOT HAPPEN. We were out of there by at least 7:30am (hair pulled back wet...not a way to be seen on national television!) JK!

To make things even crazier, while getting ready I heard them announce that Michael Phelps would be there after 8:00...I FREAKED OUT!!! Needless to say we RAN to Rockefeller Center (luckily not far from the hotel) and got a spot on the 2nd row. We got there, and just as I had expected due to the Democratic convention and other things, Meridith was the only one there. No Matt, Ann, or Al. :( Also, I found out that Michael Phelps was actually filmed earlier that morning around 6:30, so I only got to watch him on tv like everyone else. The crazy "nice" lady next to me wasn't going to let me miss out though and showed me her MILLION pictures of him that she got to experience; wasn't she nice!!!

All in all it was a good experience and I am SO glad that we still made the effort even with the bad start. I ended up getting to the front row pretty quickly although I was only seen on tv at the 8:00 hour on the 2nd row. Sam however was on several times - his tactic was to just stay towards the back and hold up his sign. He also got to shake Meridith's hand and has a picture to prove it!! So while I am over there fighting my way with the crazy "nice" lady to get to the front, Sam is over there getting on tv and shaking hands with the "stars"!!! Hahaha, how ironic! If I can figure out how to get the clips of us on this thing, I will put them on here so that you can see us. Look quickly though, or you'll miss us!!!

After the show we did a few more things around that area and then got on the subway to head to the Bronx for the YANKEES game! That's right - we got to experience the last game that Boston would play in Yankees stadium. It was a sold out, packed house and an incredible experience. I'll let Sam tell you about it!

Yankees Baseball - Sam's version

OK, so I'm not going to abandon my Rangers and start framing pictures of Jeter (just Mantle and Dimaggio), but there are definitely some differences in a Rangers game and a Yankees game.

First of all this is the last year Yankee Stadium will be around. It was built in 1923, "The House that Ruth Built." Which is depressing when you think about all of the legends that have played there. So you get the idea about the atmosphere. Plus, it was the last Red Sox game in Yankee Stadium.

1. The Crowd - Now I love the atmosphere at The Ballpark in Arlington. It's pretty upscale and everything is convenient. And you have your Texans that love the Rangers who don't really get too excited until the 7th inning as we await a come back from behind. However, Yankees and Red Sox fans were pretty obnoxious of course, and they were so die hard. If someone didn't score or let someone score immediately, they were finished, they were bums. I thought this old man was going to fall of the edge of the upper deck, or have a heart attack, or both. He shutup after Giambi hit his game tying home run. But then that caused a bigger riot. I also thought someone was going to get in a fight behind us. The downside of the field is that it is small, and old, and very crowded. But then again, that is what makes it awesome.

There was also no promoting or Dot races going on. Which I enjoy at the Ballpark. But it's different. The announcer, Jim Hall, who is standing in for Bob Sheppard. Had an awesome voice and sounded like a mix of Monster Mash and Darth Vader. It was intimidating and classic. You heard a different reaction and a different chant for each batter that came to the plate. Both Red Sox and Yankees. Nobody cared about anything that was going on except baseball. Which didn't make it very family friendly like it is at the Ballpark in Arlington, but in New York, all the kids cared about was who was batting.

2. The Afterparty - This is probobly the same way at most fields, but at a Rangers game, the typical fan will arrive right at game time or well into the first couple of innings (I prefer earlier, but hey), and then we tend to leave at the 8th inning to avoid traffic (understandable). I was amazed at how crowded the Yankees game was before and after. It was shoulder to shoulder before the game (2 1/2 hours before) and then people had to be ushered out an hour after the game was over. I'm not sure if this is because it is the last year of the stadium, but it was pretty cool to see.

3. The Roar - OK, the Rangers have the best home run music ever (The Natural Theme), but when the Yankees get a hit even, it sounds like a home run roar. When a Red Sox batter comes up to the plate, you get a mix of loud cheering and loud booing, in the end, it sounds like a loud growl. It's pretty cool. A Rangers homer will give u chills, but with every batter at Yankee stadium, they give you a show. When Giambi hit his game tying homer, and then again hit the walk off hit, it was like the World Series. The players celebrated on the field and they played "New York, New York." The roar is impressive at that stadium. It was awesome seeing Papplebon and Rivera battle it out to close the game. Papplebon of course, was booed. Big time.

It was an awesome experience. There were bars outside that ran around the stadium that a lot of the fans would pack into and watch the game. The crowd was overwhelming, especially when it was time to leave, I thought my head was going to explode. It was quite an experience and I am happy to have seen such a historic monument of Baseball.

Jordo, I still love you. You too Josh Hamilton.

Back to Mandy:

After the game the CRAZINESS began! Let me set up the picture for you: a packed stadium, everyone stayed until the end of the game, and everyone rides the same subway back to Manhattan...yeah not so much fun and probably our least favorite experience of the trip! We made it back though, went to the hotel to clean up and change, and headed out for shopping, a walk through Central Park, and dinner at Serendipity! Dinner was delicious and the frozen hot chocolate is AMAZING! Slightly expensive and slightly out of the way, but we thought it was worth it!
Sorry for the long post, now here are the pictures!

At the Today Show with my sign!

Meridith at the 8:00 hour (sorry about the blur on the right; its probably crazy "nice" lady. She also knocked my sunglasses off my head when the camera came on us!!)

This isn't the best picture, but look for Sam & his sign at the far right!

Sam shaking Meridith's hand!

Look who showed up - Matt!

Yankees Stadium

Before the game started

Awesome picture from Sam's iPhone

The new Yankees Stadium

Apple Store on 5th Ave. It was underground!

Walking in Central Park

Sharing frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity's

We also walked by the Late Show before we headed in for the night.

NYC I

So here is the start to many blogs about our recent trip to New York! We had the best time! Wednesday morning we woke up, did some last minute packing, and got to the airport. We had a pretty uneventful flight and then I saw it!!! As we flew over the city to get to the airport I could not believe what I saw (I really felt like a small-town Texas girl). I had never seen so many buildings and so much concrete smashed into one area. I am not sure what I expected to see, but not that! And that's when the craziness of NYC began! Our taxi driver was great. About 15 minutes into the drive he asks us if this is our first time to the city. I am not sure what gave it away: us taking pictures of each other in the taxi or our heads going every which way trying to see everything as we pass! We told him yes, and from that point on he was our tour guide that introduced us to all New York entails.

I think one of my biggest surprises about NYC is how old everything is (duh...not sure why I did not put this one together) and how much of a "city" is really is. Its not all glamore and glaze as you see on tv, its a hard-core city with millions of people!!

So we got to our hotel about mid afternoon, checked-in, and instantly went out to see Times Square. We were introduced to the smell of NYC, the subway, and the fact that it seemed that everyone there smoked!!! But besides those few things, we had so much fun exploring and taking pictures. We also had our first of many pieces of pizza for a quick dinner (delicious!!). We then caught our double-decker tour bus which took us on a 2 1/2 hour night tour of the city. I am so glad that we did that. It helped us get our barrings and gave us a glimpse of everything we would later go back and see. Plus I loved learning the history and all the fun details! We have lots of great pictures from this experience! The funniest part of the tour was at the very end when our tour guide was walking up and down the isle asking for his tip and WACK...that's right, he was standing up too tall and a street sign was hanging a bit too low. Thankfully he was fine, I think it probably hurt him more than he put it, but it gave us a pretty good laugh!

Times Square at first glance

The m&m store...they had every color imaginable!

If you know us at all, you know that food was a big part of this trip! The start of the tour

A glimpse from the bus

Looking at NYC from the Brooklyn Bridge Park

Empire State Building at night

New York City

We are back home safely from our wonderful, adventurous trip to the Big Apple! We wore ourselves out by going so hard to see everything! It was quite the experience and one that we will never forget! I am currently working on getting all our pictures organized and editted. We each took >200, so that makes for a lot of pictures. Once I get through all of them I plan to blog about our days and experiences. I'll have to go day by day b/c I know I'll just have too much to say and too many pictures that I want to share.

So for now I will leave you with a glimpse of what we did the night before we left. Like anyone else, we made signs to take to the Today Show!!! Please don't judge them too harshly, they were done very quickly - I realize the words are not exactly straight! We thought they were pretty creative and would be guaranteed to get on camera!!! My mom and Sam came up with the words; I thought they did a pretty good job! More to come....