~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After our morning stop to Dunkin Donuts (they have iced tea.. it is no Sonic but it is tea) we decided to hail a taxi down to Battery Park and see the Statue of Liberty.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But first we needed some food. Now I will say I am not really the food connoisseur but other than the Yankee game we hadn't really had a great eating experience--remember it was about survival :) So after we got out of the cab we start walking, we rounded a corner and saw a beautiful little alleyway filled with restaurants on both side and tables with umbrellas in the middle. It was adorable and VERY promising of GOOD food. We opted for a Mexican food place called Mad Dog & Beans. It smelled very good and we were very hungry! It was very good but there was a little bit of an incident with the bill, you can read that on Sarah's blog. But remember you have to come back here! Anyways, after lunch we head toward what we thought was the way to see the Statue. There wasn't really a rush of people heading in one direction or signs so we had Ryan ask someone *Insert catchphrase #2*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~We quickly found the line which wrapped around a stone building. It seemed a little long but it was THE Statue of Liberty, this was on the MUST list--so we waited.. With zero movement for several minutes. So of course we sent Ryan in for some recon work to see what the deal was, you know the "man doesn't mind pesterin' people." Within the matter of minutes Ryan was standing in front of the crew... "We have a decision to make. How important is the State of Liberty to you??" We all looked at each other and then at him with very perplexed looks on our faces. "You see this line? Yeah, this is the line for the tickets. THEN you have to go stand in thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat line to get onto the ferry" As he was telling us this he motioned to this VERY long line that had at least a thousand people in it. How did we not notice this line when we were walking up? It would take us hours upon hours to get through these lines. Our day would be consumed by lines. AND according to Jeff "you don't stand in line that lasts longer than the ride" Good point Jeff, good point! Faster than lightening we were over the fence and out of line, decision made! I am so happy we were with a group that all thinks the same. No argument, no hurt feelings, very quick decision, all smiles. We would be viewing the lovely Lady Liberty from afar and that was OK with us!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And of course we had to walk up to the water and do the typical pose..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And of course we had to walk up to the water and do the typical pose..
What? You don't see her? That Statue we have seen in books, movies, stamps, etc for our entire lives.. Yeah, I thought it would be a little bigger as well. Well, I will assist you in finding the lovely Lady Liberty... There she is.. yep, right there!
She is a little bigger in the Hood's photo, but still a spec on the map!
We were able to get a few good pictures from different places on the pier. But still this was as good as it got.. I will take this for not having to stand in line for HOURS!!
Ryan even took the time to mimic the Statue in case there were some other tourists who didn't get on the ferry.. Yeah, not much difference!
I humored him and took a picture. Jeff sat on a bench and looked at us all like we were nutso!
So we could take this cheesy tourist picture of us "holding" the Statue of Liberty. Yeah, I know we failed.. But we thought we were funny!
So after all this fun we all needed to find a restroom (Yes, I am about to tell a restroom story in NYC.. it is funny, I promise) Anyways, we got about 6 different directions to a restroom but finally happened upon a small rock building with zero line on one side and a looooooooong line on the other.. You guessed it! The women's side was the one with the line as long as the Mississippi. Sarah and I hopped in line with the hope that it would go very fast. The boys went to their side of the brick building and were back in a flash. Sarah and I had not taken one step forward. So we inserted Jeff's philosophy about the length of the line vs the time on the ride and opted to break some rules. We made Ryan escort us one at a time into a stall in the men's restroom. A few things to note 1) there were men in this restroom doing what you do 2) the restroom as FAR from clean 3) I am 100% sure we cause irritation for the men who were legitimately waiting their turn when there two girls jumped in line asking some weird guy (Ryan) to hold their purses. But we did it and survived.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She is a little bigger in the Hood's photo, but still a spec on the map!We were able to get a few good pictures from different places on the pier. But still this was as good as it got.. I will take this for not having to stand in line for HOURS!!Ryan even took the time to mimic the Statue in case there were some other tourists who didn't get on the ferry.. Yeah, not much difference!I humored him and took a picture. Jeff sat on a bench and looked at us all like we were nutso! What do you think we are doing here? Well, Ryan is irritated that my hand is not flat.. Why did my hand need to be flat?
So we could take this cheesy tourist picture of us "holding" the Statue of Liberty. Yeah, I know we failed.. But we thought we were funny!So after all this fun we all needed to find a restroom (Yes, I am about to tell a restroom story in NYC.. it is funny, I promise) Anyways, we got about 6 different directions to a restroom but finally happened upon a small rock building with zero line on one side and a looooooooong line on the other.. You guessed it! The women's side was the one with the line as long as the Mississippi. Sarah and I hopped in line with the hope that it would go very fast. The boys went to their side of the brick building and were back in a flash. Sarah and I had not taken one step forward. So we inserted Jeff's philosophy about the length of the line vs the time on the ride and opted to break some rules. We made Ryan escort us one at a time into a stall in the men's restroom. A few things to note 1) there were men in this restroom doing what you do 2) the restroom as FAR from clean 3) I am 100% sure we cause irritation for the men who were legitimately waiting their turn when there two girls jumped in line asking some weird guy (Ryan) to hold their purses. But we did it and survived.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the next several hours we just wandered. We walked around the financial district, looked at some amazing old churches, 5th avenue, Ground Zero, etc.. We stumbled upon this beautiful church in the middle of the financial district. It was amazing that such a peaceful place could be smack dab in the middle of such hussle and bussle. The inside was amazing and the outside had a beautiful courtyard that is the only active cemetery in Manhattan and was the final resting place to many, including one of my favorite Law & Order peeps... Jerry Orbach. 
As we started walking down Wallstreet to see the NY stock exchange we got to see a little piece of NYC randomness.. Yes, that would be a panda.. Yes, he is sitting on a chair in the middle of the Financial District.. and yes, I took a picture. Because I LOVE randomness!!
We kept on walking, as if we hadn't done enough of that! And soon we were seeing more things that we had only seen in movies and on TV.
and on the steps of the Federal Building Ryan needed to get out some nervous energy. What a goober!
and then it was time for Ryan and I to be Seinfelded. We had listened to multiple quotes, inside jokes and randomness of Seinfeldland over the past few days AND we went to Sardi's .. but we had to go to the meca, Sarah's Graceland. We jumped the subway and traveled all the way uptown to see this... Actually something we recognized. The boys went inside to use the bathroom and although they didn't actually film the scenes inside this coffee house Sarah wanted to see the inside.. one step in and we noticed it was the smallest restaurant on earth, so we quickly backed out. The Hood's got their picture in front of their Graceland so they were happy!
As we started walking down Wallstreet to see the NY stock exchange we got to see a little piece of NYC randomness.. Yes, that would be a panda.. Yes, he is sitting on a chair in the middle of the Financial District.. and yes, I took a picture. Because I LOVE randomness!!We kept on walking, as if we hadn't done enough of that! And soon we were seeing more things that we had only seen in movies and on TV.
and on the steps of the Federal Building Ryan needed to get out some nervous energy. What a goober!and then it was time for Ryan and I to be Seinfelded. We had listened to multiple quotes, inside jokes and randomness of Seinfeldland over the past few days AND we went to Sardi's .. but we had to go to the meca, Sarah's Graceland. We jumped the subway and traveled all the way uptown to see this... Actually something we recognized. The boys went inside to use the bathroom and although they didn't actually film the scenes inside this coffee house Sarah wanted to see the inside.. one step in and we noticed it was the smallest restaurant on earth, so we quickly backed out. The Hood's got their picture in front of their Graceland so they were happy!This is most likely her screensaver. She was THAT happy!
back on the subway to go downtown..Sarah and I seizing the photo opportunity..
the boys, well being boys..
5th Avenue.
Ground Zero.. or what you could see of it. Ryan thinks we were on the wrong side but we couldn't really figure out how to get on the other side. So this is what we saw. Either way it was surreal and amazingly quite. People just stopped and stared. 
This book shelf was in a window on 5th avenue I texted it to my dad and asked if he could build me one. My sweet little daddy said "Sure!"
Then another beautiful church.. St. Patrick's Cathedral. My Dad said this was a must and it was. Absolutely beautiful!
More randomness... I think I can fairly say that these two were not from the city.. Let's take note of a few things 1) mullet on the dude 2) totally 80's hair on the lady 3) fanny pack, oh how we loved the fanny pack 4) man in capris.. enough said 5) socks with sandles That is about it. I have picked these poor people apart and I am sure they are nice but as everyone says people watching is the best!
We hopped on over to 6th for a minute to see this cool structure.
back on the subway to go downtown..Sarah and I seizing the photo opportunity..the boys, well being boys..5th Avenue.Ground Zero.. or what you could see of it. Ryan thinks we were on the wrong side but we couldn't really figure out how to get on the other side. So this is what we saw. Either way it was surreal and amazingly quite. People just stopped and stared. This book shelf was in a window on 5th avenue I texted it to my dad and asked if he could build me one. My sweet little daddy said "Sure!" 
Then another beautiful church.. St. Patrick's Cathedral. My Dad said this was a must and it was. Absolutely beautiful! More randomness... I think I can fairly say that these two were not from the city.. Let's take note of a few things 1) mullet on the dude 2) totally 80's hair on the lady 3) fanny pack, oh how we loved the fanny pack 4) man in capris.. enough said 5) socks with sandles That is about it. I have picked these poor people apart and I am sure they are nice but as everyone says people watching is the best!We hopped on over to 6th for a minute to see this cool structure. Back to 5th.. Yes, we are those people
And then it was time for Central Park.. as we were trying to cross the street we (Ryan, Jeff and myself) made a quick decision to jaywalk.. I know, I know. But the traffic was zero and it wasn't that busy of a street. Anyways, in the middle of our sprint across the street we realize Sarah had not seized the moment and was stuck on the other side. She had decided to "obey the law" and go to the crosswalk. Whatever. Jeff was sweet and went back across to walk with her...See her there? The girl with jeans on in between the girl with the red backpack and the lady with the headband? Yep, that is our Sarah. 
Central Park is just as beautiful as they say. You can get lush green trees and a high rise in the same shot. Amazing!
The crew, sans me, decided to climb one of the rocks. Sarah and Jeff enjoy climbing "rocks" I stayed below and took the pictures.
If I haven't mentioned it before we seriously relied on our iPhones the entire trip. The compass (although it failed us a few times) was a necessity. BUT it kept asking us to "move the phone in a figure eight formation to reset" so this is what we looked like when we were prompted to do this.. fools, seriously fools.
I had to take a picture of this guy. You know how you always see those people who sketch or do caricatures of tourists while they sit there and wait? Well this guy would sculpt, SCULPT a 3-D image. WHAT?!?! Yeah, it was that cool and very accurate. If I would have had Chaz with me we would have had a bust of his head. Supercool!
and of course the classic Status of Liberty mime..
After a long wander in the park we were hungry and we needed something good. So, of course, we turned to the iPhone for assistance. We quickly discovered that the Mickey Mantle restaurant was very close.. Of course it took us walking over a full square city block in order to realize it was less than 50 yards (the other way) from where we started. Anyways, we arrived.. Ryan and I were quickly informed that there was a Seinfeld episode that mentioned this restaurtant. Why wouldn't there be a Seinfeld reference???
It took all of 5 minutes for us to get a table and then our luck struck again. We sat down in our booth and looked up to see this.. Yes, we were sitting IN Mickey's booth. For real??!?
It was a great place, good food, great company and we even got a real, authentic NYC cheese cake--well Sarah actually got it, I just took a bite!
Sarah managed to get us home...on the subway... in ONE try! GO tour guide Sarah!! Well after we put the Hoods to bed Ryan and I found some friends at the Hotel bar and decided to go out on the town. I mean heck it was our last night in NYC and who knew when we would return! First stop was a little dive bar a few blocks from the Hotel. It was a good time but we wanted to keep moving.. On our walk to the next bar we came across this sculpture of the famous Ironworkers photo and what do we do? We climb it of course..
It was very, very cool!
And then it was time for Central Park.. as we were trying to cross the street we (Ryan, Jeff and myself) made a quick decision to jaywalk.. I know, I know. But the traffic was zero and it wasn't that busy of a street. Anyways, in the middle of our sprint across the street we realize Sarah had not seized the moment and was stuck on the other side. She had decided to "obey the law" and go to the crosswalk. Whatever. Jeff was sweet and went back across to walk with her...See her there? The girl with jeans on in between the girl with the red backpack and the lady with the headband? Yep, that is our Sarah. Central Park is just as beautiful as they say. You can get lush green trees and a high rise in the same shot. Amazing!The crew, sans me, decided to climb one of the rocks. Sarah and Jeff enjoy climbing "rocks" I stayed below and took the pictures.
If I haven't mentioned it before we seriously relied on our iPhones the entire trip. The compass (although it failed us a few times) was a necessity. BUT it kept asking us to "move the phone in a figure eight formation to reset" so this is what we looked like when we were prompted to do this.. fools, seriously fools.I had to take a picture of this guy. You know how you always see those people who sketch or do caricatures of tourists while they sit there and wait? Well this guy would sculpt, SCULPT a 3-D image. WHAT?!?! Yeah, it was that cool and very accurate. If I would have had Chaz with me we would have had a bust of his head. Supercool!and of course the classic Status of Liberty mime..After a long wander in the park we were hungry and we needed something good. So, of course, we turned to the iPhone for assistance. We quickly discovered that the Mickey Mantle restaurant was very close.. Of course it took us walking over a full square city block in order to realize it was less than 50 yards (the other way) from where we started. Anyways, we arrived.. Ryan and I were quickly informed that there was a Seinfeld episode that mentioned this restaurtant. Why wouldn't there be a Seinfeld reference???It took all of 5 minutes for us to get a table and then our luck struck again. We sat down in our booth and looked up to see this.. Yes, we were sitting IN Mickey's booth. For real??!?It was a great place, good food, great company and we even got a real, authentic NYC cheese cake--well Sarah actually got it, I just took a bite!Sarah managed to get us home...on the subway... in ONE try! GO tour guide Sarah!! Well after we put the Hoods to bed Ryan and I found some friends at the Hotel bar and decided to go out on the town. I mean heck it was our last night in NYC and who knew when we would return! First stop was a little dive bar a few blocks from the Hotel. It was a good time but we wanted to keep moving.. On our walk to the next bar we came across this sculpture of the famous Ironworkers photo and what do we do? We climb it of course.. It was very, very cool! We saw and iron pig in a shop so of course I had to take a picture. The people with us --who were from Canada--thought we were crazy to love the pig! Whatever. GO HOGS!!
We ended the night at a divebar where there was a Johnny Cash cover band. Yes, a Johnny Cash coverband in NYC. I think this is odd, but maybe not! Oh well it was a great time!! 
I have to say to learned from our "tour guide" over the past few days. Although the way home was all within walking distance, the Canadians thought we were lost. Nope, not me. I knew exactely where we were. I pointed in the direction of our hotel and quickly rattled off our route. Everyone doubted me.. But within a few minutes we rounded a corner and there was our hotel. Success!
We ended the night at a divebar where there was a Johnny Cash cover band. Yes, a Johnny Cash coverband in NYC. I think this is odd, but maybe not! Oh well it was a great time!! I have to say to learned from our "tour guide" over the past few days. Although the way home was all within walking distance, the Canadians thought we were lost. Nope, not me. I knew exactely where we were. I pointed in the direction of our hotel and quickly rattled off our route. Everyone doubted me.. But within a few minutes we rounded a corner and there was our hotel. Success!Next up: Day 4 of 4: Goodbye big city!
No comments:
Post a Comment