Our Trip to New York!

Hello all! I know most of you, if not all, were privy to our recent vacation but if not we just got back from 7 days in Manhattan, Midtown to be specific.

Day 1: We arrived in the Big Apple, actually Jersey but no matter, around 3:00 and got in our first cab to the hotel, the beautiful Park Central Hotel right in Midtown. We checked in and headed to our room. I will admit I was a little scared because of the price but we were very happy with our accommodations. We rested and showered and took off to see Times Square, four blocks from our hotel. What a chaos, tourists EVERYWHERE but we were still overjoyed to be there. After a quick bite to eat, pizza of course, we went back to the hotel and rested.

Day 2: Our journey to Greenwich Village... well it was more of a search for Greenwich Village and we couldn't honestly say we knew we were ever there until the end of the day... After our journey down town, we ate some lunch and headed back to our hotel and took a nap. That was one thing I loved, we took a nap everyday! After the nap, we headed to Columbus Circle and to the Winter Festival. Good times with the Mariachi band and the adjacent mall. On our way home we walked, briefly, through Central Park, it was dark but an experience we won't forget!

Day 3: Liberty Island, here we come! Jose's favorite part of our trip was visiting Ellis Island because you can feel the spirits around you. Kinda freaky but neat at the same time because you can feel a little bit like they did at the time. So much fun history there, and sad history too. Did you know 2% of all the immigrants that traveled there were turned away? Sad... After that we walked up Broadway, by Wall Street, Trinity Church and Ground Zero. Not much to see at Ground Zero since they are starting to construct the new monument but still interesting to visit and remember. After that we journeyed up to Chinatown and Little Italy. We didn't stop for Italian food as we weren't hungry but we did get some good shopping in around Chinatown. After our nap we went out for dinner and walked around 5th Avenue a bit.

Day 4: Ice Skating in Central Park, Idyllic huh? It was so fun but Jose was a bit nervous on skates. I had taken lessons when I was younger so I just needed to warm up but after a couple of laps he was done and enjoyed the view while I got some exercise in. After that we went to FAO Schwartz and walked to the hotel, only a couple of blocks away. After our lunch and nap, we went to try and see the tree lighting in Rockefeller Center and how silly that was... Lines to get in lines to be in lines... We stopped trying after about 15 minutes of standing in the rain. We went back to the hotel and watched it live, Jose was sad to see that he could have seen Shakira but I told him tough :)

Day 5: Downtown to the Empire State Building, Macy's, the Met, tour of the Upper East Side and Madison Avenue. Let me just say that the ride up to the top of the ESB is FREAKY, I'm not one for heights but I didn't want to miss out... Macy's is just like any other Macy's but the Met was amazing! I saw a real Picasso and mummies and a whole lot of other really interesting stuff. I could have spent all day in there but after everything we were a bit tired so we journeyed back to the Hotel. We rested and then went out for some much needed Chinese food and the best I have ever had!

Day 6: We realized that we needed to bring stuff back for people so Friday was our shopping day. In the morning we went to Central Park and walked around a bit and sat out in the sun. There was an outdoor market that we visited and then journeyed to 5th Ave, which was crazy busy. We napped and went to Columbus Circle, after our Chinese food, and just enjoyed our last night in the big city. Excited to go home, we were eager to start our journey back.

Day 7: Last day, happy and sad at the same time. We went for our usual stop at the corner deli for a breakfast sandwich and just waited for time to pass. We finally checked out and they suggested we take a car back since Taxi fares can be unpredictable. We took the offer and the bellman took our luggage to a white stretch limo... hmmm... we really hoped it wouldn't be more than what they told us and to our surprise it wasn't! We had fun but I would say that was the best part of the day, that and seeing our babies when we got back. To briefly describe why it was bad... We got to the airport at 12 pm ish EST, and checked our bags... Found out the flight was delayed an hour... then another hour.... then another 30 minutes... Finally boarded and had to sit in the plane for another 45 minutes as they ran tests and de-iced the plane... finally got off the ground around 8 pm EST... Arrived around 11 pm PST and drove home from LAX to get the dogs... Finally got home around 1 am PST... So to sum it up, we were traveling for 17 hours... We were tired when we got home and spent all day yesterday sleeping, running errands and trying to make sense of our clothes...

We had a great time and are already thinking of when we might be able to go back, we love NYC! Pictures will follow soon!