Last week we went to NYC for the day. I was so excited. I seriously love that city more than one person ever should. If NYC were a person, I'd be her BFF. It's always a little sad for me to go back though because I know that I'll probably never get the opportunity to live there again. I guess I can settle for being close enough to go on day trips. But, there's something about living in the city and all the excitement that goes along with it. NYC has a different feel than anywhere I've ever been. Oh, how I long to be a Manhattanite. This was Abigail's first trip to the city. I don't think she was impressed. To her, it probably wasn't much different from Philly; big buildings, lots of people, lots of noise, and riding on the subway. Hopefully one day she will come to appreciate the glory of it. We took the bus from Chinatown in Philly. These things are the best. They are $20 round trip and they leave every half hour. There's no time limit on your tickets, so you can use them whenever. I always cringe when I hear people say that they are driving to NYC. Ugh, seriously, take the bus. :P In my opinion, it's more convenient, even with small children. But, even if it doesn't seem convenient to you, it's still totally worth it because of the adventure that it is. You meet the coolest people traveling on mass transit. In fact, on the way home, Abigail made friends with the sweetest young lady who lived in NYC and was going to Philly for an overnight trip. I sat with her on the way home and we chatted the entire time. It was so nice to meet her and I would have never gotten the chance to do that had I drove myself to the city. Okay, okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. As soon as we got to NYC we went to the Staten Island Ferry. It's run by MTA and is free to take. It goes right by the Statue of Liberty and you get an amazing view of lower Manhattan from it. Right after that we walked to Wall Street and had lunch there. We then went to Ground Zero and saw the new Liberty Tower and Memorial Museum they are building there. It looks so much different than when I lived there five years ago. That's good; progress is being made. We then hopped on the subway and went to West 72nd street, where I lived for a summer. I went to the old building I lived in. It was so nostalgic being there. I was disappointed to see that my favorite corner store had been replaced by a Trader Joe's and that my favorite Chinese restaurant was now an American restaurant, but everything else was pretty much still the same. Gray's Papaya, with the cheapest lunch and best hotdogs in the city was still there, as was my favorite shop to buy pink hair dye. :) After my little trip down memory lane, we walked to Central Park to just hang out. When I told Abigail that we were going to a huge park, I guess I should have explained to her that it wasn't a huge playground. Oh well, she found some sticks to keep her and her imaginary friends occupied with for a while. We then walked down to the Temple. I was dissapointed that they didn't have a visitor's center, but we did meet a lovely lady who worked in the Distribution Center there. We probably talked to her and shared stories for about an hour. Next up was Times Square. A NYC trip is not complete without a trip to Times Square. We took Abigail to the Toys R Us, which just happens to be the headquarters and largest. She loved the life size Barbie house and Tilly, the robotic dinosaur from Jurassic Park. Now, she wants a dinosaur for her birthday. Last but not least, we ended the day with dinner and souvenir shopping in Chinatown. We really wanted to find a chinese restaurant to eat at, but by the time we got there we were so tired that we didn't want to walk around looking for one, so we settled for Sbarro's instead. Funny, huh? All in all it was a fun, adventurous day. Jeremy and I are planning on going back next month by ourselves. I'm really looking forward to it. If anyone is ever going to NYC and needs to know best places to eat, shop, tour, etc., just let me know. I love sharing my knowledge of the city!
