NYC OR BUST!

I'm back from New York City and absolutely exhausted. In a good way, though. 

It was so much fun and exactly the right amount of time for that city. My pictures are of course up in the photo gallery. A brief run down.......

We were all up at 3:45 on Tuesday morning to catch our 6 o'clock flight. We got into NY at 12. From the airport we took a bus to the subway in Queens to NY Penn Station. From there we jumped onto a train to Princeton, NJ, where Allison's sister Liz and her husband Dan were nice enough to let us stay at there very tiny house. We arrived there around 3 pretty much in a zombie type state. We pulled out some blankets and took about an hour nap in their back yard. Then we decided to go to this awesome grocery store to stock up on things for pack lunches. For dinner

Liz and Dan grilled out an assortment of sausages and Boca burgers along with grilled every veggie you can think of: mushroom, squash, zucchini, red and green bell peppers, eggplant, and corn on the cob. It was oh so delicious! After dinner they took us for a walk around Princeton, and on a tour of the campus where we had ice cream at a really cute little ice cream parlor. Back at the house and in need of sleep we all fell into bed about midnight. 

Full of energy and ready to start our city adventures we began every day at about 7:30 because we had to catch the train into the city. I can't even begin to describe how busy we were and how much we saw in 3 days, walking about 10 hours a day. I think the only way to even bring you close to understanding is just to write out a list. So here goes......hope I don't leave anything out.........

Day #1

-catch the train to Newark Penn Station. 

-walk around Ground 0 of the 9-11 attacks. 

-Battery Park

-Clinton Castle (a fort where you can buy Statue of Liberty tickets)

-Ferry to Libery and Ellis Islands

-Statue of Liberty/lunch on Liberty Island

-Ellis Island (yes....they are 2 different things) where we saw the Wall of Honor and toured the immigration building

-walked down Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village

-Magnolia Bakery (best cupcakes ever!)

-Subway....lots of subway

-Chinatown

-Little Italy (best manicotti ever!)

-Down to South Sea Port

-Train back to Jersey

Day #2

-Train into New York Penn /Station

-Downtown New York City

-Little street shops

-Fashion Ave (you know what that means....)

-Times Square

-Hershey's store

-The Met

-Juilliard

-Avery Fisher Hall

-Standing 2 hours in line for rush tickets to a musical

-Did I mention we went in about 20 Starbucks looking for NYC mugs?

-Rockefeller Center 

-St. Patrick's Cathedral

-NY pizza for dinner!

-Legally Blonde the musical (which was actually super super good)

-Tasty Delight (on Sex and the City and super super good frozen yogurt)

-Tired and delirious catch the train back to Princeton. 

-Bed at 1am, up at 7:30 to start Day #3

Day #3

-South St. Sea Port

-Brooklyn Bridge

-Wall Street

-NY Stock Exchange

-Tiffany's  (don't ask)

-The Bull statue

-Friend's apartment in Greenwich Village

-Carrie's apartment from Sex and City 

-lunch at a little cafe in Greenwich Village

-meet up with an old friend in Central Park

-search for a black and white cookie

-finally found a bakery with black and white cookies (an hour of walking later)

-some shopping (well, the girls shopped while Brenden and I caught up some more)

-dinner at a 50s style diner.

-Rent!!! (it's going off Broadway at the end of the month after a 12 year run)

-Train.......too excited to sleep...........bed at 1:30.........

Day #4

up at 6 to catch the train, subway, bus, plane back to Minneapolis

Well, that's it in a nutshell. And tonight I go see Jonny Lang in concert!