A New York City frame of mind

2nd stop-NYC Day 1.

Leaving the girls was hard. For the first 30 minutes of our drive to the train station me and Isaak couldn't even talk. Every time I asked him how he was doing he'd tell me he was ready to cancel the trip and go back! But, lets face it, we had money on the line at this point so we weren't turning back! The closer we got to the city the more excited we got though.

Riding the train from NC to NYC was one of the best decisions we've ever made. Like, possibly e-ver. Aside from getting married and having kids riding the train ranks pretty high up there. Never having ridden the train before I didn't know what to expect except that we wouldn't have to worry about driving, and that's all I cared about! And it was great. And cheap, thank you! The seats were large, we actually had re-cliners, (hey!) you could get up and walk around to your hearts content and basically just sit back and not have to worry about a thing. It was awesome and we will be doing it again.

About an hour outside of the city when went and ate breakfast in the dining car, and you really feel like you're stepping into another era.

So after 7 hours we finally arrived. With 4 hours sleep under our belts, we stepped off the train and embraced our inner city wannabe selves...

we rolled our luggage all the way to our hotel a mere five blocks from Penn Station (which I had no idea was located under Madison Square Gardens-how flippin' cool is that! catch ya next time Rangers!)

view from our hotel window, in the heart of Chelsea with a view of the Empire State building. That would be the building with the pointy top. :~) Perfect location.

we ditched our bags and headed for Times Square. On the way we realized we hadn't eaten anything so we hopped into this fab little Jewish place, picked up some food and did like New Yorkers do...ate and walked...oh yeah, we're so New York.

 

I don't know what we ordered but it was amazing. Just a piece of round bread with roasted veggies on top. Jewish version of pizza maybe? Dude, I don't know but it was the best bread I've ever eaten!

random street performers....

 

Times Square. A whole lotta lights and a whole lotta people. Well, a whole lotta tourists. Real New Yorkers don't go there. ( according to Fran Lebowitz anyways :~) )

 

Actually she put it like this..."I don't get it. It's a bunch of buildings with lights. Have these people never seen lights before? And if they haven't seen lights, they must not have electricity. And most places without electricity don't have airports...so, do how do they GET HERE?!

Well, we take the train that's how! Ha ha!

But, as I stood there gazing upon the magnitude of it all, I thought it was only right that my face be a part of the action...soooo...I did some of this...to get to this...

so I could be HERE! SHAZAM!!! "Oh yeah, oh yeah, I'm on a billboard in Times Square! Happy Ann.i.ver.sar.y to me! Oh yeah! Whoop-whoop!" 

 

Still makes me dance and giggle with delight. Isaak on the other hand was soooooo embarrassed. Ha ha ha! In all fairness he said I could do what-e-ver I wanted...and I wanted my 15 recurring seconds of fame with our faces plastered in the middle of Times Square. So he stood there and embarrassingly gave it to me. What a good man. Tee hee! That pictures gettin' framed!

  one last photo op in T.S. and we moved on. Random red staircase to nowhere. Loved it.

We walked a couple (or a lot) of blocks and hit up Pazza Notte. (thank you Restaurant.com, best $1 I ever spent!) In the words of Isaak, "it's so good I don't want to swallow it." Ha ha. That's how good this restaurant was. By far the best place we ate at in the city. Must eat there again. I'm already planning (mentally) my next trip. :)

Up next, The Rock.

Vs. The Empire.

Nice and happy and welcoming. 

Vs.

Ya better watch out for my spikes of death because if a strong wind blows you're liable to fly up there and never come down. 

Yeah, I vote the happy rainbow one.

it had amazing views of the city.

 A very friendly staff who thanked Isaak non-stop for his service to our country. (New Yorkers may be known for their gritty outta my way I'll run ya over and never look back lack of manners...but by golly they appreciate people who serve. And they will tell you, and thank you, and shake your hand till you know that you know that you know they are grateful.) So cool.

"You takin' a picture of me?! I'm takin' a picture of you!"

on the top of the Rock. It was getting kinda windy. Hold on lets try this again...

okay that's better.

the Empire in our background...we're headed there next...

So, we mosey on over to the Empire State building. 

We just had a great time at Rockefeller Center, loved the building the view was fab, Isaak got in for free and I got in half off (cost us $12, that's a steal!) It's starting to get a little bit windy outside, but no biggie. We really didn't give it much thought. 

Ummmm, okay.

take a gander at the clouds in this short video clip. And, may I just say, even though it's a video it doesn't even come close to adequately showing just how scarily windy it was.

 

So we head up there, all 80+ stories, and we're walking around the inside, taking in the view through the glass before we go outside. And then, we go outside.  

WHOOSH!!! " and "AHHHHHH!!!"

Isaak snapped this right before he ditched me and took off down the side of the building and left me stranded. I turn around to see him fleeing and a huge never ending gust of wind blasts me and pins me up against those bars. My beanie gets ripped from my head and snagged on those tiny bars, my bag blows up and tries to fly away between those tiny bars, my hair is whipping all over my face so I can barely see anything and I just know that I am moments away from being caught up in that wind and blown into those daggers lurking right above me. Staring death in the face, I work up the strength to reach out my arms and save my bag and beanie and then I push forward, me against the wind. I can do it, "I WON'T BE BLOWN AWAY!", I tell myself. Finally, I make it back indoors, and I have lived to face another day...with my beanie. 

The Rock baby. The Rock all the way. You see just as much without the added bonus of having a near death experience.

We head back to the hotel and call it a night after that. Well, after we stop and grab some gelato first. Yummy NY gelato makes everything better.