3 posts tagged “nyctrip”

We're off to Chinatown in just a few minutes, but wanted to throw this up and see how it looks.  I'll write more about my Saturday walk around the Union Square Park area, but for now here's a map of where I was Saturday.

Day 1 - PM

After our nap we decided to get some dinner then walk around Times Square some more.  For dinner we opted for the sushi bar in the hotel.  Rae is a big sushi/rolls fan, so I thought what the hell, I'll find something I like.  She had california rolls and I had shrimp tempura.  We sat right at the sushi bar, talking with the sushi chef and watching him make ours and everyone else's meals for about an hour.  It was a lot of fun to watch, and hopefully we'll get back there and try some of the other things he was making for others that night.

After sushi we headed back out to see Times Square at night.  THAT was quite amazing.  It was daylight at 10pm, everything was bright and flashing.  We headed in the opposite direction from the ESPNZone and just walked around looking at all the sights and people and lights.  We found ourselves headed towards a Hershey's store, and just across the street was the M&M's store, so we hit both of those and got my folks some dark chocolate and got M some M&M goodies (including M&M panties that are a total riot, she'll love 'e m).
After we hit the candy stores, we walked over to the NBC studios, walking past Radio City Music Hall, and walked around Rockefeller Plaza for a while.  While there we had an ice cream from a street vendor and just enjoyed the beautiful night at the Plaza.

On our way back to the hotel, we saw a large throng that was wrapped around a couple of blocks.  We thought maybe it was for a late Broadway show, but as we turned onto Broadway we saw what the line was for .... you guessed it, it was for the Harry Potter book release at the Toys R Us.  I couldn't believe the crowds, and it was a riot watching the police trying to keep the lines out of the sidewalk to keep the sidewalk traffic moving.  We made it back to the hotel and collapsed.  It was a fabulous first day.

Wow, let's see.  The first two days here have been quite a blast and already quite filled with lots of walking and sight seeing.  I'm spending the morning of Day 3 to recount the first two days (and give my feet a break) while Rae is in her conference sessions.

Day 1 - AM -

Rae and I went to bed just after on Thursday.  We were packed and ready to go.  Unfortunately we had to be ready to go at , so with only 3 hours of sleep we were back up and headed to the airport.  We usually travel very go-with-the-flow, getting to the airport early, not rushing, not getting frustrated with the lines at security check.  Well, that morning we weren't the only ones up for a red-eye out of STL.  We got to the airport with about 50 minutes before our flight was set to leave, and about 2 minutes after we got through security they were calling last boarding for our flight.  We ran to the gate, were the last ones on the plane, only to then sit on the plane for 45 minutes while they fixed radar and communications (lovely).  Once in the air, the flight was uneventful, and we landed in Laguardia around eastern.  Another 20 minutes or so to get our bags, and we were in a taxi and off to the hotel.

We got to the hotel, registered our room and checked our bags (our room wasn't ready), then went and got Rae registered for her conference.  After that was all taken care of we headed out onto Broadway and to find the ESPNZone for lunch.  It was only a couple of blocks down Broadway, and  while we walked  we  were in awe of the scale of everything - huge crowds, huge billboards, scores of honking taxis.  It was really pretty incredible.  Lunch at the 'Zone was fun.  Nothing special, freakin' expensive, but was fun for our first day lunch on Times Square.  It was at that moment I really realized I just couldn't think about the money we were spending this week *grin*.

After lunch we walked around Times Square some more and took in all the hustle and bustle of the street.  Again, we were really awed by the scale and flash of everything.  Don't remember exactly where we were, but found a church in the middle of all the tall buildings, and not only was it beautiful, but just such a juxtaposition from everything around it.  We wandered our way over to the Parsons school of design which was fun for a couple of Project Runway junkies like us.

From Parsons we wandered some more and found the Midtown Comics near Times Square.  We popped in and I shopped around for a while.  Didn't buy anything, but figured I'd get back there before we go.  After Midtown Comics we started to wander our way back to the hotel so we could check in.  We had a blast walking around and really got familiar with our immediate surroundings.  It was good to get bearings and get set in my head how things are laid out and how they relate to our hotel.

Once we got back to the hotel we checked in and unpacked.  Then we collapsed for a nap.