New York Day #1: Now you're in New York!
Well, today was the day! The trip that we'd been looking forward to for SO long is finally underway... and I'm making the most of it by writing down every single detail! We woke up bright and early this morning to catch our flight. One of Sara's coworkers was nice enough to give us a ride to the airport, so we didn't have to pay for a cab or long-term parking. The only downside was that she arrived earlier than anticipated, so I didn't have time to eat a single bite before we left. But maybe that was for the best, because I have a tendency to get sick while traveling. I hadn't ridden on an airplane since the flight back from France, and take-off and landing on the first flight was so rough that I think I might've barfed if there'd been anything in my stomach. (Being on my period didn't help, either.)
Stuffing myself on crappy pizza in the Charlotte airport. I like how the camera makes the pizza look bigger than my whole head!
We had one connecting flight to catch, and the whole time we were en route, I still couldn't stop worrying that something wound go wrong. Our flight would be delayed. Or our flight would be cancelled. Or the airline would lose our luggage. Or we wouldn't find our hotel. Fortunately, none of those things happened. We made both of our flights okay (it was the first time I'd been to the airport here), and our flight into LaGuardia provided some amazing views. We could see downtown Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty in the harbor, which made almost the whole cabin gasp outloud. Right before we landed, we could even see details on brownstones.
A shot I took from my plane seat. The park in the center is Sunset Park in Brooklyn (I identified it later on Google Maps) and you can see a sliver of Greenwood Cemetery on the right. I love the clouds/mist over the Hudson River.
Another shot from the plane: Brooklyn and the downtown tip of Manhattan. It was a very overcast day.
The taxi ride from the airport was too fast and made me dizzy, but it brought us close enough to our hotel. We walked right past it the first time without noticing -- it was squished between a comic-book store and a cafe -- but once we found it, it was very nice. We stayed at the 3232 (so named because of its address, 32 E 32nd St), in case anybody who reads this is looking for Manhattan hotel recommendations.
The street entrance to our hotel...
...and the view from our hotel-room window. (Yes, I took pictures of everything. Besides, I have a fascination with window views.) Our room had its own little balcony, but we didn't really use it because it kinda smelled back there.
After we settled into our hotel, we went out to do a little sight-seeing. The hotel had a really good location, close enough that we could walk to Grand Central Station, the New York Public Library, and the Empire State Building. We've visited New York before but never been to the library, and there was so much cool architecture, statues, and pigeons. Bryant Park, behind the library, had the most beautiful carousel and fountain, and we were there just as it was getting dark and everything was lighting up. There was a juggling class and massive group aerobic class being held on a huge field.
Inside Grand Central. The painting of constellations on the ceiling was amazing!
Sara didn't bring a camera, so I asked her to take some pictures with mine. She went straight from this (me on the steps of the library, with 5th Avenue behind me)...
... to THIS (me in Bryant Park, with the jugglers behind me)! Oy! You can tell here that I airbrushed the heck out of it: no one wants to see my face this close-up!
Bryant Park prettiness:
From there, we walked in the direction of the Empire State Building but didn't realize we'd reached it until a tour-guide turned to us and asked, "Ladies, going up?" (Obviously it's easier to recognize from a distance.) He asked us where we were from and actually felt the need to tell us, "The Empire State Building is the main attraction in New York." Oh, really? I was tempted to answer, "Wait, you mean we're in New York?"
Because we thought ahead, we didn't eat at any of the nice eateries in Grand Central Station, and then we got hungry in a neighborhood that didn't have so many eateries. (A lot of the cafes were closed.) We walked and walked, tired and hungry and looking for a place that wasn't too fancy or too cheap, and finally we found Bread & Butter. I had the most divine slice of barbecue pizza -- way tastier and cheaper than the overpriced pizza I got at the Charlotte airport.
A display case of cupcakes at Bread & Butter. (I applied a filter to kill the glare from the glass.) They were not your average adorable little cupcakes. They were seriously stunning works of art.
Just walking around in Manhattan, navigating through the crowds and staying together, was harder work than I'd thought. Maybe that was naive of this southern girl. And guess what? My legs are already tired!!! Oy! We ended the day by watching the episode of Full House with Uncle Jesse's "Forever" music video. Oh, the '90s cheesiness. How dorky is it that I was excited that our hotel got Full House? Very dorky.
THREE DAYS MORE!
Stuffing myself on crappy pizza in the Charlotte airport. I like how the camera makes the pizza look bigger than my whole head!
We had one connecting flight to catch, and the whole time we were en route, I still couldn't stop worrying that something wound go wrong. Our flight would be delayed. Or our flight would be cancelled. Or the airline would lose our luggage. Or we wouldn't find our hotel. Fortunately, none of those things happened. We made both of our flights okay (it was the first time I'd been to the airport here), and our flight into LaGuardia provided some amazing views. We could see downtown Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty in the harbor, which made almost the whole cabin gasp outloud. Right before we landed, we could even see details on brownstones.
A shot I took from my plane seat. The park in the center is Sunset Park in Brooklyn (I identified it later on Google Maps) and you can see a sliver of Greenwood Cemetery on the right. I love the clouds/mist over the Hudson River.
Another shot from the plane: Brooklyn and the downtown tip of Manhattan. It was a very overcast day.
The taxi ride from the airport was too fast and made me dizzy, but it brought us close enough to our hotel. We walked right past it the first time without noticing -- it was squished between a comic-book store and a cafe -- but once we found it, it was very nice. We stayed at the 3232 (so named because of its address, 32 E 32nd St), in case anybody who reads this is looking for Manhattan hotel recommendations.
The street entrance to our hotel...
...and the view from our hotel-room window. (Yes, I took pictures of everything. Besides, I have a fascination with window views.) Our room had its own little balcony, but we didn't really use it because it kinda smelled back there.
After we settled into our hotel, we went out to do a little sight-seeing. The hotel had a really good location, close enough that we could walk to Grand Central Station, the New York Public Library, and the Empire State Building. We've visited New York before but never been to the library, and there was so much cool architecture, statues, and pigeons. Bryant Park, behind the library, had the most beautiful carousel and fountain, and we were there just as it was getting dark and everything was lighting up. There was a juggling class and massive group aerobic class being held on a huge field.
Inside Grand Central. The painting of constellations on the ceiling was amazing!
Sara didn't bring a camera, so I asked her to take some pictures with mine. She went straight from this (me on the steps of the library, with 5th Avenue behind me)...
... to THIS (me in Bryant Park, with the jugglers behind me)! Oy! You can tell here that I airbrushed the heck out of it: no one wants to see my face this close-up!
Bryant Park prettiness:
From there, we walked in the direction of the Empire State Building but didn't realize we'd reached it until a tour-guide turned to us and asked, "Ladies, going up?" (Obviously it's easier to recognize from a distance.) He asked us where we were from and actually felt the need to tell us, "The Empire State Building is the main attraction in New York." Oh, really? I was tempted to answer, "Wait, you mean we're in New York?"
Because we thought ahead, we didn't eat at any of the nice eateries in Grand Central Station, and then we got hungry in a neighborhood that didn't have so many eateries. (A lot of the cafes were closed.) We walked and walked, tired and hungry and looking for a place that wasn't too fancy or too cheap, and finally we found Bread & Butter. I had the most divine slice of barbecue pizza -- way tastier and cheaper than the overpriced pizza I got at the Charlotte airport.
A display case of cupcakes at Bread & Butter. (I applied a filter to kill the glare from the glass.) They were not your average adorable little cupcakes. They were seriously stunning works of art.
Just walking around in Manhattan, navigating through the crowds and staying together, was harder work than I'd thought. Maybe that was naive of this southern girl. And guess what? My legs are already tired!!! Oy! We ended the day by watching the episode of Full House with Uncle Jesse's "Forever" music video. Oh, the '90s cheesiness. How dorky is it that I was excited that our hotel got Full House? Very dorky.
THREE DAYS MORE!