Day One - New York City

We had a great time in New York City. There is so much to do that even after spending 4-5 days there I still feel like I missed out on some things. We took a ton of pictures so be warned these will be long (and probably quite boring) posts, but I need to write about it while it’s still fresh otherwise I won’t remember what half our pictures were (I’m actually on the plane home as I type, can’t get much fresher than that.)

We spent the first few nights staying in New Jersey with our good friends Jen & Mike Gibbs. It worked our really well because Mike was in Seattle for business so he flew into New Jersey on the same flight as us. On Friday morning Mike needed to work in Manhattan so we bummed a ride into the city with him. This was our first day in the city. After a quick look at Time Square we jumped on the subway and headed downtown to the World Trade Center site. The area his actually under construction so there wasn’t much to see. We did see a memorial to the firefighters lost on 911 and a sculpture that survived the tragedy of that day.

We walked around Wall Street. Justin took some pictures of financial buildings and we found a street bearing our name (see Justin’s post below). There were a group of policeman on a corner and one was holding some serious artillery. I suggested that Justin take a picture of him from a distance (in a totally-play-it-cool way), instead Justin walked right up to him and took his time taking the picture. I tried to pretend I wasn’t with him… seriously, aren’t tourists crazy? Justin also took a picture of a parking garage. He thought it was pretty cool that in order to maximize space the cars are moved around on an elevator. Another of Justin’s pictures was of a torn up street. In a city this big there will always be plenty of construction going on.

We spent a little time at South Street Seaport (took a few quick photos of the Brooklyn Bridge (and Manhattan Bridge)).

Then it was time for lunch. So where does one eat in a city with a bazillion restaurants? I decided to try to find Penang, a Malaysian restaurant a college friend took me to when I visited NYC in 2003. My friend had ordered spicy mango chicken. It tasted great and the presentation was memorable. So we headed to SoHo and were disappointed to find that that location was closed. Justin and I ate at another Penang location on a different day. Presentation was still impressive, but the chicken didn’t measure up to my strict chicken standards.


Luckily, I had done my research and had read great reviews about Lombardi’s Pizza (the first pizza restaurant in NYC). We both thought it was excellent. After lunch we walked around Chinatown and ate a pastry in Little Italy.

Our next stop was probably Justin’s favorite of the whole trip… the Top of the Rock. The views were amazing (even on a cold, cloudy day). As Justin mentioned, my favorite is seeing Central Park. It’s incredible to see such a huge park surrounded by one of the largest cities in the world.

Justin was equally taken by the Empire State Building. He took SO many pictures (including several self-portraits). We went to the very top of the Rock – the only thing taller than us were the antennas.

(see Justin's post below -here- for our favorite pictures of the city from atop the Rockefeller Center)

We stayed long enough to see the views by daylight and after the sunset… definitely the best way to do it.

Back in Rockefeller Center the famous Christmas tree was lit (gorgeous… it made me rethink my previous preference for all white Christmas tree lights). We watched the ice-skaters and looked at the Saks windows before it was time to meet up with Mike and head back to New Jersey for the night.

Wow! And that was only Day One.