This is the post that I will try really hard not to forget anything, because everything was so amazing! I am terrible at taking pictures on vacations, because I don't want to miss anything, and there is so much to see. I did my best! I completely admit to "cheating" off my Facebook posts to remember the order of everything too!
I completely recommend getting a Grayline Bus Tour, first of all, this was my third experience with Grayline, and I just can't imagine going a different way. I am really interested in all the history and architecture and just the what's what when I go to a new city, and the tour guides are just great. Not to mention, with the hop-on hop-off, we didn't need taxis hardly at all. I somehow felt safer up above all that traffic.
We tried out the subways on our last trip to NYC, and I felt like I missed parts of the city being down under it too. When not on a bus, we walked, we actually walked a lot. Josiah's favorite thing to say in NYC, "I'm walking here!", which was yelled at cabs passing in front of him!
We stayed at the Sheraton Towers in Times Square, which is totally swanky and beautiful, and we felt completely in the heart of it all. And a block from our bus stop, we hoped on there right after we dropped our bags at the hotel, bright and early, Monday morning, we had sights to see! First stop, The Empire State Building. It was pretty overcast, so it's hard to see much, but the views were still pretty incredible.
Last time I was there, there was a lot of remodeling going on, so it was neat to see most of that completed now.
Next stops China Town and Little Italy...China Town, we more or less just walked through to get to Little Italy, but it never ceases to amaze me the amount of times I was asked if I wanted to buy *fill in the blank* designer labels. My favorite was the guy who was saying, "Git yo Jimmy Choos before the police do!".
In Little Italy we came across a beautiful little restaurant "Casa Bella", situated on a corner, where there seemed to be four similar restaurants on each corner, this was a great choice on our part. The food was AMAZING!
Seriously, good food! Manicotti, and Fettucini Alfredo, both so fresh, homemade noodles, and fresh grated parmesan.
The atmosphere, which I see as a must, was great, beautiful chandeliers, huge flower arrangements, it felt like Italy. Good company, also a must, was not scarce either, as you can see!
We were sat by the windows right on the corner and had a great view for people watching, where we saw, three men standing, really, in the street talking, it was the most bizarre thing. Josiah insisted they were the Italian Mafia!
Our next stop was the 9/11 Memorial, which, just F.Y.I, you had to get tickets on-line, ahead of time, we were so glad to get that tip from my Cousin Keith who found out that the hard way. It was really beautiful and I look forward to going back when everything is complete. Really, my favorite part was the 9/11 Survivor Tree, I love that something so seemingly delicate could survive something like that. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of it.
From the memorial we walked to Battery Park, on the way, the new shoes, that the sales lady assured me we be both comfortable and stylish, "the perfect shoes for NYC", I found to be horrible shoes for NYC! I had blisters and a bleeding heel, and I desperately wanted a pair of socks! I was about to take my shoes off and walk barefoot, when my sister, took off her socks and gave them to me! Talk about sacrifice! She saved the rest of the day for me!
At a quick stop at a public restroom in Battery Park, we met this little guy, who got VERY friendly with Rob on a bench. Rob was just sitting there, minding his own business, waiting for us ladies, when this squirrel, literally just came over and sat on his lap! When Andrea (who HATES squirrels) came out of the restroom, the guys tried to get her to sit down on the bench, just hoping for a similar result that Rob got. So mean!
This afternoon it rained a little, but we didn't let that stop us! We hoped on the Ferry to the Statue of Liberty.
Lady Liberty is currently under a lot of restoration, so we couldn't go inside or up, but it was still neat to see her standing tall and proud.
And we definitely got our photo ops here!
We actually rested for a little while after finishing the downtown loop on our bus, then went to dinner at Ellen's Stardust Diner on Broadway, it was seriously fun. The wait staff all sing and dance, while serving, the atmosphere is so fun and the decor is this kichey-retro style. The menu was so broad, pretty much whatever you felt like, they had it. And it was all good! My sister, dad and I were all singing (loudly) along with most of the songs, again, reminding Josiah and Rob how lucky they are (Hahaha!)
I couldn't talk anyone into going out on the town that night (something about being too tired, or something???), so off to bed to be ready for another full day!
We stayed at the Sheraton Towers in Times Square, which is totally swanky and beautiful, and we felt completely in the heart of it all. And a block from our bus stop, we hoped on there right after we dropped our bags at the hotel, bright and early, Monday morning, we had sights to see! First stop, The Empire State Building. It was pretty overcast, so it's hard to see much, but the views were still pretty incredible.
Last time I was there, there was a lot of remodeling going on, so it was neat to see most of that completed now.
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