New York!

I know it's taken forever, but I am finally posting pics on here from New York. I wasn't happy with the pics I took. I bought a small digital camera because I didn't want to risk taking my nice big one and it either getting lost, stolen or just messed up. Boy I regret that! The camera I bought wouldn't focus, and IF it happened to focus, the flash wouldn't work! That was okay at the museums because you weren't allowed to use flash anyway, but for anything else it was really frustrating.

Our flight into New York was scheduled to leave at 10:30, but it got canceled due to wind with all the storms that were coming in. We were able to get a flight out at 12:45, but once we got to the hotel (after the scariest cab ride ever!) and got checked in and settled in we didn't have time to go out to Ground Zero, Little Italy and Chinatown like we had planned that night. We did go out into Times Square and eat dinner. Our hotel was in Times Square. Not the craziest brightest part, but down one side street. The huge billboards are on 7th and 42nd, and our hotel was down 42nd street. Here we are enjoying the (early) nightlife. The crazies came out around 11:00, so we were always back in our room by then. You can see in this first pic how everything is slightly out of focus. REALLY annoying.

Here is the view from our hotel room. If you look in the second pic you can see the Empire State Building. We didn't go up in it, we were really pushed for time. We had to really sit down and decide what we wanted to see the most. Several things got cut because we just didn't have time. After having Avery, I am now up and awake at 7:00 every morning. Amanda however is still single with no kids, so she's a bit slower to get moving in the mornings. We never left the hotel before 11:00, so some things just didn't get done. It was slightly disappointing, but I will admit it was nice just being lazy.

Friday night was the night we went and saw 'Chicago' on Broadway. We got all dressed up and even put on uncomfortable shoes since we knew it was a once in a lifetime thing and we assumed that everyone there would be dressed nicely. We suffered through the 12 blocks uptown to the restaurant and actually had to stop in a store and let Amanda buy flip flops because her feet hurt so bad. We walk back down to the theater and see that most people are dressed in jeans and tennis shoes. Oh well, now we know! I still have a cross shaped bruise on my right foot from my dress sandals! The play was amazing, the only down side was the theater was very old and it must have been built in a time where people were much shorter. Our seats were on the front row of the first balcony and the soft spot of my knees were smashed right into this carpeted ledge and it was very uncomfortable. I'm still sporting that bruise as well! I don't know what Elijah would have done. My legs are just as long as his, but I don't think he would have fit at all. We would have had to trade our great seats for some with more leg room! No photography was allowed, so I don't have any pics of any of that.

On Saturday we decided to have 'Museum Day.' We started at the Museum of Natural History. Benjamin was so excited that I was going where 'Night at the Museum' was filmed. It was apparent once we got in that most of the movie was filmed on a set, not in the actual museum. The giant T-Rex wasn't even on display, and the wax figure of Teddy Roosevelt was missing, too. I went into the gift shop and got him postcards of some of the things I didn't get pics of. I did find "Dum-Dum" which is a replica of the Easter Island statues, but it was back-lit so the pics aren't too clear, but I needed to bring him back something! I was also more impressed with the outside of the museum than the inside. What was really the most interesting to me was outside the museum on the construction barriers they had facts about the museum posted. President Grant laid the first brick of the structure in 1874. As far as the exhibits go, it was okay. We didn't make it to the Egyptian area, which I really wanted to see, but we were running out of time and still had to make it to The Met.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art had to be my favorite of all the places we visited. I could have spent several days in there! The biggest problem we had was soreness. We had been walking non-stop since Thursday and we were both really, really sore. I got to see a huge collection of Impressionist work that I hadn't seen since I was in 6th grade and walked right past it not realizing they were not duplicates, they were originals. I have kicked myself over that I don't know how many times! I was more interested than Amanda in the paintings and she was more interested in the Greek sculptures than I was. It was all so beautiful. I would love to go back and commit a whole day to each museum! Here a couple of things we saw:

I think these were taken on Friday. We walked up to Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Rockefeller Center. I had been there before when Elijah and I went, but I was so sick that I don't remember much about it. It is such a beautiful building and it is so intricate! We happened to come during a mass service which was just beautiful to watch. I have a friend that is a devout Catholic that asked me to get some holy water for her, which I was more than happy to do. I discreetly asked a woman at a table in the back of the church where I might be able to get some, and she yelled back (I guess to sound out the mass service) in this very typical New York/New Jersey accent) that I could get a container in the gift shop and they would show me where to get it. It was hilarious. What made it even better was after I bought the small container they told me where to go get the water. It was basically on tap outside the gift shop in the back foyer. There was a large urn type thing mounted on the wall with a dispenser like a water cooler in an office. Don't get me wrong, it was gold and ornate, but it was funny because all I could think was that the holy water was on tap. Plus the thing had a hair trigger so when I pushed it holy water spilled all over me and the floor. Once we got outside we had a good laugh about the whole thing. Then the container spilled inside my backpack and when I texted my friend to ask her if I was in trouble for spilling it, she laughed and said I would be blessed. So that's good.

On Sunday we went all the way up to the top of Manhattan and saw an extension of the Met called The Cloisters. I'll just describe it by copying what is on the website:

The Cloisters is the branch of the Metropolitan Museum devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. Located on four acres overlooking the Hudson River in northern Manhattan's Fort Tryon Park, the building incorporates elements from five medieval French cloisters—quadrangles enclosed by a roofed or vaulted passageway, or arcade—and from other monastic sites in southern France. Three of the cloisters reconstructed at the branch museum feature gardens planted according to horticultural information found in medieval treatises and poetry, garden documents and herbals, and medieval works of art, such as tapestries, stained-glass windows, and column capitals. Approximately five thousand works of art from medieval Europe, dating from about A.D. 800 with particular emphasis on the twelfth through fifteenth century, are exhibited in this unique and sympathetic context.

Right. I kept thinking through the whole place how much Jennifer and Paul would enjoy it. I didn't have such a great time. We had put Aspercreme with heat on our feet the night before and it had worked wonders, so that morning we put some on and then immediately put on our shoes and socks thinking that would help. It didn't. Turns out you are supposed to let that stuff dry first! Our feet were on fire all day long! It really took away from enjoying the museum and my camera batteries died. I did pay the most I have ever paid for any sandwich before in my life, and it was disgusting. Ham and brie on a french baguette. Rock hard and tasted like feet. And $8.50. Needless to say, The Cloisters wasn't my favorite place. Once we left there we enjoyed an authentic New York experience. We rode the city bus (the only way out of there) for 145 blocks south to 57th street. It was free, though. We didn't know you could only use change and we only had bills, so he let us on for free. Here are some of Amanda's pics from the Cloisters.

The heads on the altar at one time actually had the women's skulls placed inside. It didn't say if they were still in there. Very cool.

These were taken at Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum right next door to our hotel. We took a lot more, but these are the only ones of real interest. Sort of. :o)

All in all it was a wonderful trip! We were very sad to go home and still had tons we wanted to do. Now we have an excuse to go back one day. Hopefully!