My Vacation (NJ/NYC) Report -- pics included

[mommylovesmika]

Me and Katherine lazing on a Sunday afternoon

 

Riding on the NJ transit to NYC!

 

Part 2.

 

We left Stone Harbor around 6am, so that we would be on the earliest New Jersey transit to NYC. I thought the train ride was quite fun, especially as I hadn't been on a train for a long time. It was fairly cozy and it only took about an 1 1/2 to get to NYC.

 

As we rode into the New York area, the anticipation was becoming more and more intense as all of the skyscrapers began to appear. We all thought we had caught a glimpse of the Empire State Building at a faraway distance, which we pointed out and immediately made it well known that all of us were tourists....oh well!

 

When we got off the train, the first thing we did was go and buy our Metro card, which gave us unlimited rides on the subway for the whole day. We were all really pleased with that, especially since it was only $7.50! As we walked up the stairs to the sidewalk, one of the first sights that we saw was, incidentally, the Empire State Building. I have to say, it is one gorgeous building. From a distance and on the inside. It was definitely a welcoming sight!

 

 

We all took some photos in front of it and then walked on to see Macy*s! Macy*s is one of my favorite stores, so of course I was pushing for us to see it on this trip. I know now that every time I watch the Macy*s Day Parade that I'm going to yell "I've been there!" whenever they show it on TV. :-)

 

My home away from home....MACY*S!

 

 

After seeing a few other sights, we took the Subway to Greenwich Village. I have to say I was somewhat shocked with the state of this area. I had always heard it was really trendy and a lovely place to visit, but it was really run down... Washington Park was not what I had imagined and I was surprised to see it looking quite filthy. There were a few buildings (I assume apartments) that were really pretty, though.

 

Me and Aaron at Washington Square

 

Pretty buildings in Greenwich Village

 

 

I'm sorry that my neighborhood disappointed you...Washington Sq. Park is currently under renovation, so it isn't possible right now to enjoy it as it normally can be enjoyed. Most of the park is currently inaccessible. When it is not under construction, it is lovely. And I love the history of the park and its surroundings.

 

NYC will always have the problem of not being as clean as many other cities because we have no alleys in Manhattan, and so trash has to be set out on the sidewalks for collection. It's a problem. But I still love it.

 

p.s. are you also a fan of Gwen's husband? Gavin Rossdale did a free show here recently at the Hard Rock Cafe and it was great, but I felt bad for him because he didn't get that good a turnout.

[BonjourMika1990]

 

Pretty buildings in Greenwich Village

 

My beloved NYU...

 

Here's to 09'

 

I loved Greebwich village by the way...so pretty...central park was beautiful...everything was just gorgeous... Like my heart started to finally beat in that city.

 

I can't wait to go back! Who knows when... right now me and my friends are saying NEW YEARS in TIME SQUARE:punk:

 

This is a nice idea for a thread, I was thinking of doing one for my trip to Mexico/sister's wedding. It's this saturday:shocked:

 

time flies!

[rilo8913]

I'm sorry that my neighborhood disappointed you...Washington Sq. Park is currently under renovation, so it isn't possible right now to enjoy it as it normally can be enjoyed. Most of the park is currently inaccessible. When it is not under construction, it is lovely. And I love the history of the park and its surroundings.

 

NYC will always have the problem of not being as clean as many other cities because we have no alleys in Manhattan, and so trash has to be set out on the sidewalks for collection. It's a problem. But I still love it.

 

p.s. are you also a fan of Gwen's husband? Gavin Rossdale did a free show here recently at the Hard Rock Cafe and it was great, but I felt bad for him because he didn't get that good a turnout.

 

Is the renovation progressing at all? I'm so anxious for it to be over with even though it'll be a long time from now.

[mandilambi]

Regarding the Greenwich Village thing... How's the renovation project in Washington Square Park going? Is the new fountain coming together yet at all?

 

I won't be able to find out myself for a couple more weeks, and I can't really find any other info on the internet about it so I thought I'd ask. But judging from your description I'm guessing that it's still a bit rough around the edges.

 

Here's what it looked like in late March...

 

Oh and here are some little birds on the steps of those pretty brownstones you photographed!

 

 

I'm glad you had a fun time and I'll be back later to read/comment on the rest.

 

Lovely picture of the birdies! Washington Square certainly has progressed since then. Mostly there were quite a few areas that you couldn't walk near, if memory serves me right. It's certainly still in the renovation process.

 

Glad you had a good time! Hahah, did you go by East Village at all? Greenwich Village usually looks squeaky-clean to me because I prefer to hang out at the East Village... like, here is the bathroom in what used to be one of my favorite coffee shop places (now renovated and clean, sigh).

 

Washington Sq Park is usually pretty clean too... I think it was the renovation.

 

I like the grittyness of NY though.

 

Also, did you eat at other places than the diner on your second day? I am curious if you frequented any of the cute cafes in either of the Villages or TriBeCa or uptown.

 

--Jack

 

Considering what you and what mommylovesmika have said, it was probably all of the renovation that shocked me the most. I had no idea prior to visiting that it would be so inaccessable, really.

 

We didn't go to any other places to eat other than the Manhattan Diner and Grimaldi's, because we ended up eating hotdogs in Central Park on the second day. It would have been fun to visit some cafes, though, as there were quite a few that caught my attention.

 

Thanks for posting, Mandi! I loved reading about your uber-holiday.

 

And that pic of you and your sister flying through the air is so, so perfect- one to hang onto for sure.

 

I just had this mental image of your future children looking at that and saying "Mommy, you and Auntie were sooooo silly!!"

 

Yeah, all of those pictures will be pretty famous in our family, I imagine. That's just a good example of how big of goofballs we are. LOL

 

Thanks for the pics and the report Mandi. Glad you had a great time.

 

I love, love, love NY and that pizza is making me hungry!

 

You may actually find that you get used to flying if you do it often enough. I think it's normal for people to feel anxious the first few times. Doesn't mean you'll be an nervous flyer forever.

 

Very true. I wasn't nearly as anxious flying the second time as I was the first.

 

I'm sorry that my neighborhood disappointed you...Washington Sq. Park is currently under renovation, so it isn't possible right now to enjoy it as it normally can be enjoyed. Most of the park is currently inaccessible. When it is not under construction, it is lovely. And I love the history of the park and its surroundings.

 

NYC will always have the problem of not being as clean as many other cities because we have no alleys in Manhattan, and so trash has to be set out on the sidewalks for collection. It's a problem. But I still love it.

 

p.s. are you also a fan of Gwen's husband? Gavin Rossdale did a free show here recently at the Hard Rock Cafe and it was great, but I felt bad for him because he didn't get that good a turnout.

 

Oh, I hope my comment didn't offend you...I think I just had a different idea of what it was going to look like and that's what surprised me the most. I am sure once the construction is finished it will look terrific. Hopefully I'll be able to go back and see it in it's full glory! Also I only saw a small portion of Greenwich Village, so I imagine there's tons that I missed.

 

I never realized that about Manhattan not having alleys, but that makes a whole lot more sense now!

 

I like a small portion of Gavin's music. His songs aren't really my kind of music, truthfully. That's too bad the turnout wasn't that great! He hasn't been that big in the music scene in recent years, unfortunately.

[mandilambi]

My beloved NYU...

 

Here's to 09'

 

I loved Greebwich village by the way...so pretty...central park was beautiful...everything was just gorgeous... Like my heart started to finally beat in that city.

 

I can't wait to go back! Who knows when... right now me and my friends are saying NEW YEARS in TIME SQUARE:punk:

 

This is a nice idea for a thread, I was thinking of doing one for my trip to Mexico/sister's wedding. It's this saturday:shocked:

 

time flies!

 

New York in Time Square, sounds fun!

[mandilambi]

The next day we woke up at 6am to eat breakfast and then to go and ride the Staten Island Ferry to get a closer view of the Statue of Liberty. We got there in pretty good time and had about ten minutes to wait until we could get on. Once we did we had a lot of fun seeing the view and getting some nice shots of Lady Liberty herself!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Lady Libertys

 

Our version of Rose and Jack

[mandilambi]

Our next stop was The Empire State Building, which all of us were excited to experience. Aaron seemed to be the most excited because he had purchased tickets before we left MO and he was glad we would be able to move through the line more quickly so we could get to the top.

 

Here we are high-fiving because we were avoiding the huge line:

 

Here he is being giddy to pass the line:

 

More happiness to be going to the top

 

The view from the top is truly breath-taking. It was very strange to be down there within the city and then to be up so high being able to see the places I had just walked down on the ground.

 

 

 

 

[mandilambi]

 

[mandilambi]

We decided to go see the famous Seinfeld restaurant, which is actually Tom's Restaurant. I think I felt like a tourist the most when we took these pictures. lol

 

 

 

After Tom's, we walked down to see the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, which was really breath-taking. It was rather strange walking along the sidewalk and then all of the sudden seeing this humongous and completely beautiful cathedral.

 

 

 

While everyone ordered their hotdogs at a stand, I went off with Katherine to look at the Dakota and to take some pictures. We had walked by it before and we didn't realize what it was and we wondered why people were taking photos of the entrance. So we went back once we figured out what the building was. It was pretty strange seeing it and imagining Lennon's last night there.

 

 

 

[mandilambi]

Aaron getting his first New York hotdog (he got three in all...lol)

 

Central Park was our next stop! I thought it was a really beautiful area and it blows me away how there's just a huge plot of land of trees, lakes, wildlife, etc...right in smack in the middle of such a fast-moving city. It was so calm and serene all throughout it was simply lovely. Many of us commented on how we could have spent a whole day there to enjoy the pretty sights.

 

One of my favorite places to visit

 

 

 

Wagner Cove - Cherry Hill Boat Landing

 

Ducklings!

 

[mandilambi]

 

Bow Bridge

 

Bow Bridge

[Lucy]

I truly enjoed your pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so glad you had an amazing time!!

NYC is the best!!!!!!

 

by they way, your brother is HOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT LOL

[mandilambi]

Aw, thanks Lucy! I actually have more pictures, but I wasn't sure if anyone was still bothering to look at them so I thought I'd give it a rest. But I am glad you enjoyed them.

 

I saw on myspace that you were heading to NYC! Was it for business or pleasure?? Probably the latter.

 

PS. LOL thanks! My brother works hard to look as nice as he does!

[Finkster]

 

by they way, your brother is HOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT LOL

 

Way to be discrete Lucy!

 

Amanda, loved reading your report on here. It's easier to read on here than on myspace, haha, and I think I see some new pictures? Lovely! I love the ones from central Park!

And the one of your brother and you on the Empire State Building is so cute, it looks like big brother/little sister, protective kinda thing. (Is he older?)

[rilo8913]

Ok yay, back to comment again since I ran out of time before.

 

I absolutely love all the pictures! I looked at some others on your myspace too and they were just great That's cool that you guys ventured over to Brooklyn and tried Grimaldi's and the ice cream place. I haven't explored the other NYC boroughs so I've yet to do that... sounds fun!

 

Oh and thanks for replying about Wash. Sq. Park, I'm glad to know it's making a little progress.

[mandilambi]

Way to be discrete Lucy!

 

Amanda, loved reading your report on here. It's easier to read on here than on myspace, haha, and I think I see some new pictures? Lovely! I love the ones from central Park!

And the one of your brother and you on the Empire State Building is so cute, it looks like big brother/little sister, protective kinda thing. (Is he older?)

 

Thanks Jess...I'm glad you enjoyed them! That one of me and my brother is actually one of my favorites. And yes, he is older than I am. He's 28 years old!

 

Ok yay, back to comment again since I ran out of time before.

 

I absolutely love all the pictures! I looked at some others on your myspace too and they were just great That's cool that you guys ventured over to Brooklyn and tried Grimaldi's and the ice cream place. I haven't explored the other NYC boroughs so I've yet to do that... sounds fun!

 

Oh and thanks for replying about Wash. Sq. Park, I'm glad to know it's making a little progress.

 

I'm also glad you enjoyed the pics, Katherine! And I believe you were the one that suggested Grimaldi's to me, so thank you for that! Honestly, I have never had pizza that was that good. It certainly helped that we were all starving, but even still it was fantastic pizza.

 

I hope you'll get to see a lot of new sights when you visit next time. I am sure you'll have a blast!

[rilo8913]

 

I'm also glad you enjoyed the pics, Katherine! And I believe you were the one that suggested Grimaldi's to me, so thank you for that! Honestly, I have never had pizza that was that good. It certainly helped that we were all starving, but even still it was fantastic pizza.

 

I hope you'll get to see a lot of new sights when you visit next time. I am sure you'll have a blast!

 

Actually, I suggested a different place, but that's good to know that Grimaldi's is so delicious... now I know that I'll have to try it sometime. So thank you for that recommendation!

 

For future reference, the place I'd mentioned before looks like this...

 

 

And thanks, I can't wait! I go back in July for a few days to take care of some things.

[mandilambi]

I guess I should post the last bunch of my photos...for whatever it's worth!

 

There was a modeling shoot going on while we walked down 5th Avenue:

 

The Plaza Hotel

 

Me being very happy because I finally spotted Tiffany's!

 

So excited. Me before entering Tiffany's

 

Me coming out of Tiffany's! (and in case you're curious, I purchased an adorable "Little Blue Book" --- gosh, they treat you like royalty in there! I'd never experienced anything like that before!)

 

Harry Winston

 

Boys will be boys...outside of the NBA store

[mandilambi]

Actually, I suggested a different place, but that's good to know that Grimaldi's is so delicious... now I know that I'll have to try it sometime. So thank you for that recommendation!

 

For future reference, the place I'd mentioned before looks like this...

 

 

And thanks, I can't wait! I go back in July for a few days to take care of some things.

 

D'oh! I could have sworn you had suggested it...but I guess the names are similar. I remember eating there and thinking how I was glad I ate where you had said to eat. LOL Oh well....we can swap and I'll go to your place next time and you go to mine.