Exploring Lower Manhattan

Thursday was cram packed with sight seeing! The day started with another trek up the infamous hill to the bus stop (first picture). Our first stop was in the garment district walking around the Empire State building. We grabbed an egg sandwich and some more Jamba Juice for a morning snack and George found a cigar shop where they were hand rolling cigars. The next stop was a Kenneth Cole shoe sample sale where George and I both picked up some awesome shoes at an amazing price! Lunch was at the Shake Shack in Madison Square Garden. They had excellent burgers and fries and George really enjoyed his turkey hot dog done up Chicago style. The line was incredible. This place draws such a crowd that there is a live camera on their website so that you can check out the line before you go! After lunch we headed farther south to the Financial district to see the World Trade Center Site. They are in the construction phase for the new Freedom Tower. We were able to walk around the site and view the area through windows from inside surrounding buildings. Viewing the site was more emotional than I thought it would be. It took me back to that morning and the fear and sadness I felt watching it unfold on TV. We bought a few picture books to add to our collection of memorabilia that I am putting back for Samantha since it was her on her first birthday. We also went to St. Paul's Chapel which is a church that was beside the WTC. The church survived the destruction completely unharmed. It was built in 1766 and is the oldest public building still in use in Manhattan. Many of the rescuers stayed here on cots during the cleanup after the attacks. There was a bell in the church yard that was a gift from England (if I remember correctly) and is rung every September 11th. Erin fell sound asleep in her wrap while we toured the area. Next up was Battery Park. As we entered the park, we saw a sculpture that looked pretty beat up. Turned out to be a sculpture from the WTC plaza. They moved it to Battery Park and lit an eternal flame as a memorial. The girls also had the opportunity to look out at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island. We then headed to Chinatown and Little Italy. The girls always enjoy checking out the fresh fish markets and other unique markets that carry items that we don't see everyday. We ended the evening in Little Italy with dinner at Lombardi's which is America's first pizzeria and our first official New York pie! It was delicious!

Shopping and More

Wednesday was our shopping day. We started at 42nd and 5th and walked uptown on 5th Ave checking out all of the shops, sculptures, and tourist attractions along the way. Our first stop was a Jamba Juice where we all instantly became addicted! We stopped by Rockefeller Plaza and went to the top of Rockefeller Center ("Top of the Rock"). It was so neat to see the views of the city from the 70th floor! The elevator ride up only took 43 seconds and Erin now thinks that every elevator is going to take her "way up high in the sky"! The top of the elevator was see through and the elevator shaft had little lights so you could see all the way up. Then we ate "dirty water hot dogs" and other street vendor fare before continuing up 5th. We went inside St. Patrick's Cathedral which was absolutely stunning and paid a visit to the Atlas sculpture. We stopped by the Disney Store and Tiffany's before going to FAO Schwarz. Erin found a Barbie hairbrush and Sammie picked out a remote controlled NY taxi. I found a penguin chase toy that I've been looking for and will probably give to Erin for her birthday. The girls also played on the giant piano before we headed to Dylan's Candy Bar. Dylan's was really neat and had so many different kinds of candy! The stairs were made with some sort of clear resin with actual pieces of candy embedded in them. The first landing had a gummy message saying "May all of your steps be sweet" and the second landing said "Stairway to candy heaven". It was a very neat feature. After picking out more candy than we needed, we hopped on the subway and headed back to Grand Central Station where George and Sammie had oysters at the The Oyster Bar in the station. It was Sammie's first oyster, but unfortunately it was a very salty one so she wasn't too impressed! After George sampled a few other varieties, we headed back to our rental home for dinner.

Fitting In

We got our first close view of the Chrysler building as we walked to Grand Central Terminal Tuesday morning. It was amazing to walk into the terminal from the main entrance on 42nd! The building is massive and beautiful! We took a subway from Grand Central uptown to visit the Guggenheim Museum. They had a huge exhibit celebrating the aritech of the Guggenheim, Frank Lloyd Wright. It was interesting to see his plans, drawings, and models of buildings/homes that he designed and were built and buildings/homes that were never built. They also had their regular exhibits on display which included art from several famous artists including George's favorite artist, Pablo Picasso and mine, Claude Monet. Next was a walk across Central Park where we sat on park benches to enjoy a snack and the girls got to play on a playground. Lunch was at Uno pizza (I'm sure that's some sort of sin since Uno is a Chicago staple) and then we grabbed some cupcakes from Crumbs bakery. We hear about this bakery every week on a radio show we listen to so it was exciting to grab a couple including one designed by and called Artie Lange. They were delicious and huge! As we were walking to the bakery, we saw a resturant called EJ's and had to take a picture! We ended our evening with a rooftop kid's concert at the JCC (Jewish Community Center). My friend Rob is the drummer for the band (Suzi Shelton) and got us in for free (Thanks again Rob!!). The girls had a great time dancing the night away and it was good to catch up with an old friend!

Getting the Hang of Public Transportation

Monday we were able to take our regular bus into the city after a hike to the bus stop. It's only 3 blocks up a steep hill (both ways in the snow)! Then we hopped on the subway for the first time and headed up to the Natural History Museum. We bought a 7 day unlimited pass for the subway and it's a good thing we did. Before we got on our first train, we realized we were pointing the wrong direction and had to cross the street to get to the right side of the platform. At least we realized it before boarding the train! Sammie is the perfect age for this type of museum. She was very interested in the displays and it was a good bonding experience for her and George since they are both so interested in Science. After the museum, we walked uptown to a Greek restaurant called Kefi. They weren't quite open for dinner when we arrived so we walked around the area looking at the beautiful homes and buildings. Dinner was really good and the restaurant was participating in a kids week so we only had to pay the girls' age for their meals! We headed back to NJ after dinner.

First Trip into NYC

We went to St. Demetiros close to our place in New Jersey for church Sunday morning. The church was beautiful and very old school. The service was probably 98% Greek including the whole sermon plus only a couple of adults took communion. Hardly anyone there spoke English, so we decided to skip coffee hour. After lunch at our rental house, we ventured into the city. We figured that Sunday would be a good first attempt since traffic would be less crazy. We learned that the bus we would normally take into the city doesn't run on Sundays so we had to come up with a different plan. We parked our truck at the light-rail depot and rode the light-rail train into Hoboken and then took a bus from there into the city. Once in the city we wondered around Times Square including the flagship Toys R Us store where there was a ferris wheel inside and the M&M Store where the girls got to fill their own bags with their choice of M&Ms. We then ate dinner at the Carnegie Deli. It was really good. The girls loved the matzo ball soup while George and I enjoyed the pastrami sandwich and the best strawberry cheesecake I've ever had! After dinner we headed back to NJ via the bus and then the light-rail train. It was a learning experience getting into and out of the city for the first time. Luckily, everyone we asked for help for very helpful and patient with us!