The Big Apple: Day 4

The last morning in NYC and I'm not sure we were all that ready to go home. We had so much fun, but there was still so much that we wanted to do.

We tried to go to the Carnegie Deli, but it was lunch time and the line was out the door and down the block. So, we settled for Stage Deli pastrami sandwiches. Then we called our new friends Gustavo from Friday night and asked him to take us to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty, since we still hadn't made it down. After Gustavo took a few pictures of us along the river, he dropped us at the airport.

The trip to the airport...

The view from our hotel room...

The Big Apple: Day 3

I really know how to drag this out, don't I?

So...day three in New York City. We woke up a little late and tried to find a ferry to take us to Ellis Island. Unfortunately the ferry tour take 3-4 hours and we didn't have that much time since Carrie and Dale were coming up to visit us from Philly in the early afternoon. So, we head back to Soho for breakfast at a local pub and then to the Upper East side to a KU alumni bar to watch the KU vs. Nebraska game. The only problem was that the bar that had promised they would have it earlier in the week had decided it was too expensive to get the game on pay-per-view. So, we headed back toward Times Square and met Carrie and Dale at a bar there. Turns out it was a pretty good thing that we missed the game. From there we went to the W Hotel bar and then to Little Italy and Chinatown. We had dinner at a little sidewalk Italian joint. And then enjoyed the "best cannoli on the planet" at Palermo, where we ate it right at the counter.

This sweet little man serenaded us at dinner...

Senior pictures in Times Square, late night...

After Little Italy, we went to the Soho Grand Hotel for drinks at the bar. And then, we landed back at Wicked Willy's that Chris and I had discovered Thursday night.. This time there were jello shots and a pole on the stage. Enough said.

It was so much fun that Carrie and Dale ended up crashing in our room rather than heading back to Philly that night, which was the original plan.

The Big Apple: Day 2

We started off Day 2 of our NYC trip with a stop in the Meatpacking District for lunch Pastis. We sat outside and I was distracted by the flurry of limos and men with cameras surrounding the restaurant. I assumed there must have been a celebrity inside and kept a close look over Chris's shoulder. I never saw anybody though.

We stopped at Chelsea Market, which is sort of like a giant glorified food court, but there is no Corn Dog 7 there. Instead there are quaint bakeries and lobster shops. We shopped a little around Soho. I passed David Schwimmer on the street. I had my palm read at a little setup on the sidewalk, which may have been the best $30 I've spent in a while. She told some really wonderful things, but said I worried too much. I was skeptical about that - she probably just saw my fingernails and made that assumption. Then we stopped at Dos Cominos for passion fruit margaritas and freshly made guacamole in the early afternoon.

After Dos Caminos, we headed to Wall Street at 5 p.m. when everyone was getting off work in the Financial District. It was pure craziness. The were police officers in tactical gear at every corner with automatic guns. It gave me a slight idea of the commotion that had to have occurred on September 11 after witnessing the craziness in the area. This was just a typical Friday and it was insane. Ground Zero was sobering. I couldn't bring myself to take any pictures and was disgusted at the people trying to sell pictures of the tragedy.

Probably one of the biggest highlights of my trip was our trip to Brooklyn Friday night to surprise Russell of RePOP. Russell and I worked together for 8 months at Dingle Dry Goods, my brief venture into the antiques world. I disliked the job very much, but Russell made the days there very interesting to say the least. He once dressed as Frida Kahlo and played the part to perfection. He flourished in the antique business and now has a very successful shop in Brooklyn with his partner, Carl.

We were determined to ride the subway to Brooklyn, but the concierge seemed a little unsure about how safe the neighborhood would be once we got off the train. So, we found a driver named Gustavo who drove us to Brooklyn in his fancy black Yukon with tinted windows and shiny rims. No big deal. We walked into the store and Russell's reaction to seeing me pretty much made my day. "NO F*&%ING WAY! Cassie Lane!" he screamed to an entirely packed store. We chatted. Drank some wine. I left with a $45 monkey puppet hand mold. What? Exactly, but it will always remind me of Russell.

Gustavo picked us up in Brooklyn and dropped us back off at Times Square. It was really late, but we hadn't had dinner so we went to John's Pizzeria - a restaurant inside of an old church. We ordered a giant calzone with fresh ricotta and mozzarella and a carafe of wine. Shocking. As we left the restaurant that night we saw a flurry of women with cameras and Harry Potter (aka Daniel Radcliffe) coming out of his Broadway show.

This is the best of about 25 pictures that I took of Chris and me in Times Square. I seem to pretty much always look the same, but Chris usually has his eyes shut or tries too hard to keep his eyes open and ends up looking like an owl. It probably doesn't help that I give him a hard time about it.

After our impromptu photo shoot of ourselves in Times Square, we sat and watched this group of boys gather and dance in the middle of Duffy Square. We sat and watched for about an hour as these boys, with nothing other than the clap of their hands to dance to, mesmerized hundreds of people. Eventually someone in the crowd yelled that they would put $500 on the line in a dance off. Everyone got a little excited and things escalated. Words were exchanged. Chris and I still sat and watched and eventually the police broke it up, but it seemed like the most organic New York experience of the trip.

This was our second night in a row to stop for a pretzel and a Sunkist with a straw.

Too Tired

Moe and Eric were in town this weekend and we had so much fun. Lots and lots of wine and dancing on tables. I'm EXHAUSTED though and ready for bed. I will complete the New York blog posts eventually. Promise.

The Big Apple: Day 1

Chris and I are back from celebrating our five year anniversary in New York City. It was a total blast and I think we are both ready to go back for more! We walked and walked and walked. We ate. We drank. We drank and ate. We shopped.

There is so much to see and do in New York City. I feel like we just barely touched on it, but yet saw so many things.

I'll try to update the blog with pictures over the next few days...

Day 1: We walked from our hotel in Times Square to Central Park. It was cloudy and a little misty, but the trees were beautiful.

After our walk in Central Park, we walked to a restaurant and ate lunch in a sweet little cafe. We walked some more and headed back to our hotel. We had dinner that night at Balthazar in Soho. Then we stumbled across a few - by a few I mean FOUR bars - near NYU and discovered that we could still have fun just the two of us being crazy in a bars. One of them was called Wicked Willy's - it's a Pirate bar complete with a beer pong table and a tag line that says Time Flies When You Are Having RUM. Enough said. I had a bit of a wicked hangover the next morning.

KU vs. KSU

A foggy drive to Lawrence....

...but the sun was out when we arrived.

And we're off

We are off tomorrow for an anniversary vacay in NYC. Thanks for all of your suggestions for places to go, things to see. I promise to take lots of photos to share on the blog next week. Until next time...

Yes We Did