The Big Apple

Golly, I don't eve know where to begin.  I'm just going to list what all we did and my general impression.  By the way, my camera was acting funny, and I'm not a big picture taker in the first place, so all the pictures are from my phone and aren't the best quality.  Except, when it looks like the Statue of Liberty is tiny, that's because she is.

Times Square
Absolutely amazing, and crazy all at once.  We went there several times since a lot of the places we wanted to see, or shop at were there, but I never got a picture, and I'm bummed about that.  We went there the very first night after we dropped our crap off at the hotel.  When we came out of the subway station I was really disoriented because it was about 9:00 pm, but it looked like it was the middle of the day because of all the lights.  No joke, I wouldn't joke about bright lights.  It reminded me a lot of the Vegas strip, but on crack.  Which was fitting, since I'm sure there were a lot of people there on crack.

Madame Tussades
Total tourist trap, and completely overpriced.  But, it was part of the New York Pass we bought, so it didn't cost anything, so we figured why not?  The level of detail was incredible.  When I was face to face with the figures they are so realistic that I felt bad for staring, and was really afraid that they were going to come alive, or that the actual celebrity was there playing a joke on everyone.  I had to look at their hands before I would get close because their hands did look fake.  Jordan was trying to get a picture of me with Brad Pitt but I couldn't approach him 'cause his hands were behind his back and I was 87% sure it was the real deal.  Again, no pictures 'cause that's when my camera went funky, and not the good kind of funky.  There's a good kind of funky?

Statue of Liberty

Boat ride to Liberty Island

Britney had been there before and said that it was smaller than she expected, so in my head I was picturing it smaller than what I thought it would be, but I was still surprised at how small it actually was.  I felt like big joke had been played on me.  In movies, TV shows and pictures they make it look humongous, but when I saw it I thought "Aw look at the cute little statue!" rather than thinking it was impressive.  Another tourist heard me say I was surprised it was so small and she got really defensive, for some reason.  Maybe I had just built it up in my mind, and sure when it was first erected it was a vision.  It was still really cool to see though.

From Liberty Island, in front of the pedestal

Skyline from Liberty Island

Ground Zero

We went to Ground Zero right after the Statue of Liberty and I was floored when I walked out of the subway and saw the new World Trade Center building before me.  I didn't know that they had started building it yet, and it was pretty inspirational to see The Land of the Brave plugging forward. 

It should be a pretty impressive building when it is finished.  Though it may not be appropriate for me to point out that having it so reflective creates an illusion, and the last thing we need is to make the building difficult to see from the air...

Bodies
I have been interested in seeing Bodies for a while, but I wasn't sure how I would react; If I'd get queasy or find it interesting.  Turns out it was pretty interesting.  For those of you who haven't heard of it, Bodies is an exhibition that displays actual human bodies.  When a person dies and is donated all of the bodily fluids are removed and replaced with plastic, then molded and displayed.

There are a couple different kinds of exhibitions, one is medically informational and the other is more artistic.  I would have liked to see the artistic one, and while this was informational I still found it to be pretty artistic.  One thing I liked was they show the lungs of a healthy person and a smoker, then left a bin for you to throw your cigarettes in.  The bin had a healthy (or unhealthy, if you will) collection of cigarette packs, some even unopened.  The thing that saddened me was I couldn't help but look at each of these people and wonder what their story was, how they had lived their life, and how they had died.  I found out that these people were all unclaimed people from Asia.  I was sad to hear that.

China Town
We went to China Town and I have to admit that I was really testy at that point.  We had done a lot of walking and my feet were exceptionally sore.  When we got off the subway we were disoriented and lost, and spent some time just walking around trying to find a specific section of the town. The more we walked the more my feet hurt, and the more my feet hurt the angrier I got.  Then, the clouds opened and before me was a little basement spa.  I like to think God wanted me to relax.  Me and Britney ducked in, ditched the guys and got a foot massage.

Then I was happy.  Over the moon in fact.  I didn't know if I was happier to be lying down, or having my feet rubbed.  The only downside was when Jordan came back to meet us after the massage we were waiting for Britney to use the bathroom Jordan mentioned he was thirsty.  I thought I was being helpful when I bounced up on my new feet and filled up a paper cup from a water jug in the spa.  Being thirsty myself I down the first glass, refilled it for Jordan and gave it to him.  He looked into it and said "Nice, that's real nice." and handed it back.  I thought that was pretty rude, I got him a cup of water and he responds that way?  Well fine, I'll have the water then. I drained half the cup and looked down into it.  Then a piece of my soul died.  There were floaties.  Really bad floaties.  Orange floaties that looked like brine shrimp.  So, if I get a disease or parasite, I know it was from the water jug in China Town.  Not sure what I was thinking trusting that water in the first place.

Little Italy
To complete the cliché' of getting a massage in China Town, we decided we wanted pasta in Little Italy.  We found a little restaurant that had a cute little backyard veranda, and ate there.  Jordan got Fettuccini Alfredo and I got Lasagna.  Half way through we decided we liked the other's dish better than our own and switched.  Mostly, it was just nice to relax with my husband, sister and bro-in-law and enjoy the evening.  Afterwards we got some gelato from a street vendor, and that confirmed my suspicion that God wanted me to relax.

Rockefeller: Jimmy Fallon & Top of the Rock
Being a huge couch potato I was excited to go to 30 Rock because I love a lot of NBC's line up.  We went with the intention of taking an NBC Studio tour.  While perusing the NBC store an employee approached Jordan and I and asked if we were fans of Jimmy Fallon.  I answered with a resounding yes.  He then invited us to Jimmy Fallon's monologue rehearsal, where he practices the jokes in his opening monologue for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.  If that already wasn't self-explanatory.  He tries the jokes out on a small audience, and based on our laughs decides which ones to use in the show that night.  It's safe to say we were pivotal in shaping late night television.

So, we got to go into the studio and sit right up front.  Just us, Jimmy, his writers and a few other inconsequential audience members.  It was neat to see Jimmy Fallon all casual and unscripted...Except for that time he read from the script.  I gave my best guffaws as an oral wink to tell Jimmy he was A-OK to use that joke and then he invited us over for dinner.

Wait, I think that last part was only in my mind.  We're still best friends though, whether he knows it or not.  It was a pretty cool experience, and even more so since it was such a small audience.

Ground view of the 30 Rockefeller building

That night we went to the top of Rockefeller.  We went at dusk, and then watched all the lights come on in the city.  What an amazing view it was, and right across from the Empire State Building.  We didn't go to the top of the Empire state building if you're wondering, 'cause it's the same basic view from both buildings, and we would rather be at the top of the Rock looking at the Empire State Building, than looking at the Rock from the ESB.  Yes, I abbreviated 'cause I'm that lazy.

Empire state building from the top of the Rock.

Empire State Building from the street

American Museum of Natural History

I have to admit that I was excited to see this because of The Night of the Museum.  We decided that the movie took a lot of liberties because it looks nothing like the movie, and didn't have any of the same exhibits save one.  It was still cool though, and huge.  They had a lot of stuffed animal exhibits, and I couldn't help but think, why would I want to see dead animals when I could go to a zoo and see them alive?

Velociraptor!  With a Brontosaurus in the background.

Easter Island statue.  A.K.A. Dum Dum.

Yikes, sorry again for the length, but what can ya do?