I Love New York!

Our trip to NYC was so much fun!! Mom and I flew out of Cleveland and Brenda and Jill (my sisters) left Dallas, TX on TUESDAY morning. We arrived at LaGuardia Airport in NYC within 30 minutes of each other, got a cab, and headed to our hotel. Our room wasn't quite ready yet, so we checked in, had them hold our luggage, and headed across the street to a pizza place for NY style pizza and salads. After checking in we started the sightseeing - Rockefellar Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, 5th Avenue - complete with a stop at Tiffany's to try on jewelry (Brenda even tried on a $110,000 bracelet - GORGEOUS!) and Trump Tower. Then we walked through Central Park and headed via subway (their first subway experience) to the Empire State Building. Later we went to Times Square and ate at Hard Rock for a late dinner.



















WEDNESDAY morning we woke up to depressing gray skies and rain. We ate breakfast at a little diner and then made our way downtown to the financial district - World Trade Center site, Century 21 (bargain shopping), Wall Street, Staten Island Ferry (great way to see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, skyline). Then we hopped on a subway to CANAL STREET. We ate lunch at a great little italian restaurant in Little Italy and then the fun began...bartering for purses, watches, sunglasses, and jewelry in Chinatown. We all ended up with at least 2 purses (some of us with more ....Brenda!) and other goodies. Because it was so rainy and cool, they weren't doing as much business as usual and we were able to get some bargains on the "big name" purses.. We even went to some of the secret little hidden stores for those. I came away with a "Coach" and a "Prada" (or at least that's what the tag says) , "Dolce and Gabanna" sunglasses and a lovely knock-off necklace. We then took a small detour to Brooklyn (the SUBWAY QUEEN momentarily got disoriented and I had us get on a DOWNTOWN train instead of an UPTOWN train. Ooops!) and headed to Macy's and H&M for more shopping. Afterwards we went to our hotel to drop off all our bags and then went to the Stage Deli for dinner and cheesecake - YUM! We then did more shopping (Wow - we sure did a lot of shopping) in Times Square and then headed back to the hotel to collapse! It rained NON-STOP all day - yucky!














THURSDAY morning started out looking okay, but ended up being rainy off and on again. Our original plan was to go to the TODAY show bright and early, but we didn't want to stand in the rain. Instead we got there around 9:45 and were able to still see a small part of the show - and even got to stand in the front row. We then headed back to 5th Avenue for some last minute shopping for the kids at Build-a-Bear and Disney and then made our way back to CANAL STREET for yet more bartering in Chinatown. Brenda and I each wanted a "Rolex" watch for Chris and Scott and were able to get them along with a few other last minute goodies. Then we went on to Grand Central Terminal, Central Park, and Times Square (where we got to witness the "Naked Cowboy"....interesting!) before heading back to the hotel to get ready for our evening out. We went to dinner at a great italian restaurant called Da Marino on 49th street. We were a little shocked by the $4 iced teas, but the meal was wonderful. Then we walked to the theater to see HAIRSPRAY - it was awesome!! Afterwards we headed to Roxy's Deli in Times Square for dessert (tiramisu and Heath cheesecake) .














FRIDAY we woke up to blue skies and no rain...terrible timing considering we were flying home! We grabbed a quick breakfast and then took the subway to Greenwich Village where we walked around the village for a while. On the way back we stopped at Times Square one last time for a stop in Toys R Us and a bakery. We grabbed some NY style pizza to go and headed back to the hotel to check out. We then all piled into a cab to LaGuardia and said goodbye. We had a great time, despite the yucky weather. I am ready to go back! What can I say....I LOVE NEW YORK!!