New York

Back in mid-June we had the opportunity to go to New York for half price.  My husband was sent to a conference just outside of New York so work paid for his flight and hotel.  I flew up on the last day and he met me at the airport.  We spent the next 2.5 days in New York.

I have to admit it.  New York was never high on my list of desired destinations.  It was pretty high on my husband's list though.  I'm happy to admit that I was mistaken!  I had a great time in New York.  It is a beautiful city and most people are very friendly!  We found that 2.5 days is not enough time to see everything there.  We didn't even see half of what we had wanted to see.

We bought a hop on - hop off bus pass from Grey Line tours that let us get on and off the bus whenever we wanted to.  The bus line had 3 loops around the city that stopped at various points of interest as well as a night tour.  A tour guide was on each double decker bus and spoke about the city and various sights as the bus moved along.  It was well worth our money!!

We also took a TV and Movie Sites tour from On Location tours.  Here was our bus:

We were a little leary about going on this tour but we ended up having a good time.  The tour met right outside a singing diner called Ellen's Stardust Diner.  We read about it and thought it would be a great way to have breakfast.  I get a kick out of diners and have actually decorated the craft room in my house after one.    Here is a picture of what it was like inside:

Apparently this waiter made it past the 2010 first auditions for American Idol.  I don't remember his name.  What I do remember is that the food was good but the service was terrible.  We asked to move to another table and were refused.  Service was slow and sometimes non-existent.  The singing was too loud and we saw more than one table ask them to turn it down.  Not a place I'd recommend going.

The "On Location" tour was fun though.  Most of the sites were pointed out on the bus but it did make 4-5 stops during the 3+ hour tour.  A couple of pictures from the tour:

As a huge Friends fan I was pretty happy to see the Friends apartment building.  I was surprised to learn that none of the show was actually shot here besides this building.

Do you remember this building from Ghostbusters?  This is where they put their offices!  There is a ghostbusters logo outside the main fire hall door and a no ghosts sign just inside.  :)

We also saw the Guggenheim Museum - something my husband wanted to see.

The building itself was really neat but I have  to admit that I have no idea what constitutes good or bad art.  I found it to be a little boring.  I guess I'm not sophisticated enough to get art.  ;)

We did spend half a day walking through Central Park.  It is really a beautiful place to see and it's amazing that such a nice park is right in the middle of the city.  Here is a sampling of pictures from there:

At one point we walked near the University Campus and discovered a really neat place - Peanut Butter and Company.  They had the best menu and we stopped here to order a snack:

Who doesn't like ants on a log right?  We followed up with some samples of their peanut butter and then bought a few jars to bring home.  Yummy flavors like Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter and Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter....

One of the more stomach fluttering things we did was go up to the Top of the Rock.  A few people had told us to bypass the Empire state building in the interest of time and go to the Top of the Rock instead.  There really was no wait here and we went right up the super fast elevator to the top.  From there we had a spectacular view of the city.  Here are a few snapshots from our time up there near sunset:

We had a great time in New York and someday we would like to return to see the things that we missed and there are sooo many of them.  We never did see a Broadway show, the Statue of Liberty, all of Brooklynn, most of 5th ave etc.  We never even got a chance to get our shop on unless you count a couple of souvenirs in Times Square and those were mostly for the kids. 

The buildings were fascinating there.  I could look at them all day.  There was so much interesting architecture.  I can't even describe how amazing it is to see such a history in a city.

We stayed at St. James place which made me feel like I had shrunk down into a monopoly game and I kept looking for Marvin's Gardens...    The hotel was fine.  As expected the rooms were small but they were exceptional clean, super quiet, the bed was comfortable and the staff was friendly.  What more could you ask for?

I forgot to mention Weed Man and Gold Man.  Without further delay here they are:

Gold Man was working this corner...

Then Weed Man showed up....

Weed Man garnered a few laughs and a few donations.  Gold Man got upset.

Gold Man gave Weed Man a stern and loud talking to.  Just when I thought they might come to blows...Weed Man gave up and walked to another corner.  Fun.