Wrapping up the weekend in style

The last day on our NYC trip, we decided to take in some history (and avoid the crowds in Manhattan).

Here we are riding the ferry to Liberty Island. 

If you look closely, you can see the Statue of Liberty behind my head!

Normally I like to ride on the top deck of the ferry, which is open air, but today we stayed safely inside!

KG & Debra with Lady Liberty! 

I just found out that they have reopened Lady Liberty's crown to visitors! 

(After Sept 11, 2001, they locked it down.)

You have to have a special pass because just a limited number of people each day (like 150) get to ascend the 20 flights of spiral staircase up the top.  However, starting in October 2011, the entire interior of the statue is closed for renovations.  Maybe next time I will get my crown ticket, and THEN plan a trip to NYC!!

Here's the skyline of lower Manhattan and one of the new World Trade Center towers in progress.

The towers are, once again, going to literally tower over the Empire State Building (which is also pictured on the left side of the photo).   

Enjoying the view of the city.

In case you're wondering, the temperature was cold.  And it was windy. 

Not great weather for strolling around an island...  But on the upside, it wasn't busy there (like the rest of mob-scene Manhattan), and we always had a warm seat on the ferry!

Our second destination for the day was Grand Central Terminal, and since I was missing the public transportation systems of Japan, we decided to take the subway!

Everything was going well... until we ended up in Queens!! 

Oops!  We crossed one too many rivers, but at least we weren't in a hurry.  We just got off at the next stop and then got on the subway car heading back into the city!

As our weekend was coming to a close, Debra and I reflected our the more bizarre incidents of our trip.

My top wacky NYC moment was when I tried to throw something away in a public trash can only to realize that a man (presumably homeless) was currently peeing it in!! 

Ewww... I darted away and decided to find another rubbish bin!

Debra's top wacky NYC moment was seeing a man with a goat on a leash stroll through Times Square at 11 o'clock at night.  Although I am used to seeing farm animals, one does wonder where in the heck this man and goat were heading in a city like NYC...

We also saw Spiderman walking around, and he was really friendly.  He loved giving high-fives and getting his photo taken. 

(Some other characters will only let you get your pictures taken with them after give give them money!!)

Don't forget about the Naked Cowboy!  He was indeed wearing just his tighty-whiteys, cowboy boots, and cowboy hat while playing his guitar in Times Square!  I give him major credit considering Debra and I had on about 4 layers of clothing each and were still shivering!!

Finally, Debra and I had a good laugh about our dirtbag hotel in Times Square. 

We decided to save a few bucks and spend our money on delicious food, cool souvenirs, and sightseeing.  The hotel still ended up being our biggest expenditure (even more than my flight)!

Some of the quirky things about this hotel include:

--no daily service for cleaning or new towels

--no hair dryer

--bad tasting water

--no pictures on the walls, just peeling paint

--a constant 88 F degrees and no temp control in the room

(For real, we were so HOT all the time.  We had to sleep in our underwear.  It was a huge contrast from outside.  We hated getting all bundled up and then having to trek down to the lobby to get outside.)

--the constant noise of what sounded like a bowling alley above us all day and night.  It sounded like pins crashing, pins resetting, balls slamming into the wall, and then getting returned back... we eventually figured out that it was the rickety elevator near our room that was making this non-stop noise!!

But that junky hotel gave me extra money to spend, and that's a good thing since I bought so much stuff, I also had to buy a new suitcase to haul it all home in!!

Here I am with my brand-new yellow hard-sided suitcase!

(And many thanks to Debra and her great price negotiation!  She got me $80 off this baby!)

The Holidays... NYC style!

Day Two kicks off with cheesy sweatshirts that say "I <3 NY" and an early morning trip to Toys R Us!

This is likely the coolest toy store ever because they have a store inside it called Scoops R Us!! 

How adorable and delicious, I'm sure!

Then we went over to Rockefeller Plaza to see the famed Christmas tree and ice skating rink.

It was all very picturesque.

You can't go to NYC without getting a good view of the city,

so we decided to check out the Top of the Rock!

Here's a nice view of upper Manhattan and Central Park. 



Visibility in the winter is good (we could see the Statue of Liberty clearly), but the wind was wicked on those outdoor observatories!! 

There were 3 levels, and here is the middle level--outdoor but surrounded by glass, which cuts down on the wind!

Although it looks nice outside, we were getting pretty cold walking around. 

So why not get chauffeured around Central Park on a pedicab covered with a blanket?!

We went back out in the evening to see the holiday displays in all of their glory, and we met by hundreds of Santas in Times Square!!  It was a mob scene of jolly, inebriated folks in red suits. 

From what we overheard, anyone who dressed up as Santa got free admission to all of the NY bars that day!

Hello, Pop Art!

Check out the jumbo string of multi-colored holiday lights!  This was definitely my favorite display :)

The giant holiday bulbs in the water fountain was pretty cool, too!

Here is the Trump Tower with festive light-up stars, which looked shiny and gold during the day, but only at night did we notice the trees lit up on the top of the building like a stair step... very classy!

Here's another fave--GIANT light-up snowflake over the intersection of 5th Avenue and 47th Street.

The pic doesn't do it justice... it's literally the size of a car!!

There are too many photos to put on here, but we saw:

--giant candy canes

--an apartment building with matching wreaths on every window (at least 50!)

--enormous toy soldiers

--white tree with red dripping lights (several folks said it looked like the tree was bleeding...)

--Empire State Building lit all in red

--and plenty of freaky window displays

We noticed that although the window decor was very fancy and intricate, it had nothing to do with holidays, winter, or children.  Here's an example...

New York City Adventure

Last weekend I met a friend in NYC to take in the holiday sights and enjoy a long weekend together!

I arrived by plane, she rolled in by train, and we were off to hit the town on a beautiful Friday!

First stop was one of my favorite places, New York Public Library, where I said hello to the lions guarding the front entrance.  The lions were nicknamed "Patience" and "Fortitude" by the NYC mayor during the Great Depression indicating that citizens would need to possess these qualities to survive the difficult time. 

Next we decided to stroll over the 34th Street to see if we could witness our own miracle at Macy's.  The only surprising thing we found was a line to see Santa that rivaled the turnstiles at Cedar Point! 

Thankfully they had many cute displays around the line to distract us...

Getting closer... thanks for reminding me how little time I have left before Christmas! 

I better get shopping ;)

Amazingly, the entire line moved very smoothly and took about 30 minutes--Even though there were hundreds of kids waiting!!

The trick? 

Macy's has about a dozen Santas all behind separate doors! 

Quite clever... More malls should consider adopting that policy!

Hello, Santa!  KG and Debra have been very good girls this year :)

Then off to the theater we went to see How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.  This is a Broadway musical revival, which started up again in NYC in early 2011 starring Daniel Radcliffe (better known as Harry Potter) and John Larroquette, who won a Tony for his performance.  The narrator was Anderson Cooper. 

It was a cute show with a funny plot and plenty of nice-looking businessmen in suits!  In other words, right up my alley!

After the show we took in the grandeur of Times Square, where both the show and our hotel were located.  The place was packed, but nothing like the infamous New Year's Eve bash!

Here's Debra's favorite billboard...  I'm not really hating it either!

We also did some shopping with the street vendors.

I bought several prints of NYC, and we bartered for a great deal!

Off to get some beauty sleep and prepare for our next action-packed day!!