New York City

No where to go but up!

I didn't like New York at first.  In fact, I swore that if I found an "I hate NY" T-Shirt I was going to buy two: one for myself and one for Alison.  I guess New York is a place that grows on you ever so slowly.  By the second day I found myself caught up on the bustle, sites, and excitement.  Now a week later I'm already plotting my next tour of the city.

 Nice try, sign.

New York really isn't so bad, but it did make me appreciate DC a lot.  In DC we have less people, cleaner, nicer metro stations, and the buildings are short enough that you get to see the sun occasionally.  In New York it's just people, trash, shopping, advertising, and buildings all day all the time.  I actually worry about its inhabitants and wonder if they are slightly less human than I am just because they see so little real nature.  However, I had a good first trip there with a great group of friends and am really happy I went. 

 Empire State Building dressed up for St. Patrick's Day...oh...and some trash...

I took the train from Alexandria to Penn Station, which takes four hours and 15 minutes if you don't pay for the slick three hour express train.  The last time I rode a train was on my way to Williston, ND to visit Nathan in Medora and I felt a twinge of sadness that I wasn't going to end up in one of my two favorites parks this time (Glacier or Theodore Roosevelt NP).  This train went through the grossest parts of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New Jersey so by the time I got to New York I already felt that the world was becoming overcrowded.

This is the first person who greeted me outside Penn Station, so my trip to New York actually started on the right foot.

 Three stories high (yes, I measured!)

Sara, Marie, and Amanda had already gotten us all hop on hop off bus tour tickets, so we spent the afternoon avoiding the rain and seeing sights such as downtown Manhattan, Wall Street, Battery Park, Chinatown, the UN, and the last standing makeshift 9/11 Memorial.

 Last makeshift 9/11 memorial

 This statue stood in between the World Trade Towers.  In the background you can see the new building they are finishing at Ground Zero.

UN

We got off the bus at Rockefeller Center and I tried hard to achieve one of my goals for the trip: to see someone famous.  I never did achieve that goal.  We walked up 5th Avenue, stopped in a couple stores where I could have blown my life savings on a hat, and noticed the crowds hanging outside of the Big Apple's Apple store awaiting the new iPad.

 30 Rock

Apple in the Big Apple

After dinner we visited the Museum of Modern Art where the 5th floor has a load of Picassos, Monets, Miros, and at least one Dali.  I wish I would have spent more time on the 5th floor, but instead I spent too much time eating candy off the floor.

 Mmmm, floor candy (yes, we were allowed to take and eat this - they replenished it each morning)

Whoa, I didn't know this was here!

We accidentally picked St. Patrick's day to visit and on Saturday, the parade and crowd on 5th Avenue were huge.  We took another tour of uptown, then stopped to visit the Guggenheim before strolling through Central Park.  Central Park is the only place that felt real in New York.  You could lose your sense of reality quickly if you never left, but I'm sure you would quickly go bankrupt.

 Guggenheim

 Central Park

Saturday night was my favorite time in New York.  We had dinner at a South African restaurant called Braai, where I met Matt and Anil, two of my Corporate Service Corps teammates who I haven't seen since 2008.  Good times and I'm glad they made it out. 

 Tanzania Team 1

Sara, Marie, Amanda, & Me

The four of us girls got all dressed up to attend Wicked later that night.  It was an excellent, excellent show and now I want to go back just to see more of them.  Afterwards we visited Times Square, the most surreal, weird, wonderful, and terrible place in the world.  It was brighter than day at midnight, but I felt like I was walking through a dream.

Times Square at Night

The next day we took the Statten Island Ferry back and forth to see the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan skyline.  We glimpsed the 9/11 Memorial from a walkway, and I tried some New York Style pizza at a place near our hotel.

 Manhattan - Who builds a city this big on an island anyway?

Statue of Liberty

I'm glad I went.  I'm glad I got to see my travel mates.  But most of all, I'm glad I don't live in New York City!