New York: Are you ready for this?

For Christmas, Tom gave me a trip to New York. I assumed he would come with me, but one thing led to another, and I ended up going with my sister, which for my first time there, I think was the best way to go! She has been before, but I needed to be a tourist, and Tom doesn't love that.

I took a lot of pictures... a LOT... because I got a new camera and I WAS IN NEW YORK!! I've never been, which probably didn't come as much of a surprise to the people of New York and especially the lady on the subway who found my complete and total amusement at the Mariachi band that came onto the subway with us as entertaining as anything she could see on Broadway. When I told her I lived in California, she looked at me like "Um, yeah. I figured." So, here we go.

First of all, Jen and I took separate planes to New York (much to our mother's dismay). She flew from Phoenix and had a layover in Salt Lake that happened to coincide with my flight out of Salt Lake, both leaving at about 11:45 p.m. My flight left about 15 minutes before hers, so I was planning on waiting for her at JFK airport when I landed. As soon as I boarded and took my pregnancy-safe sleeping pill, they came on the overhead speaker and said there was mechanical trouble with our airplane. The battery, which had been giving them problems previously, was now dead. We all had to get off the plane while they tried to fix it or get a new one, but we probably wouldn't be leaving until tomorrow. This seemed a little too reminiscent, on a much bigger scale, of when we were separated on the London subway and one of us got off and the other couldn't with no cell phones and only hand motions to rely on. In this case though, instead of being one Tube stop away from each other, Jen was going to land in New York while I was still in Salt Lake. I grabbed my luggage and ran/waddled to the Delta terminal, which in this airport is in an entirely different building, to see if I could buy a seat on her flight. A nice Southwest agent saw my predicament, and ran up along side me and asked if he could carry my bags. He didn't even ask where I was going, he just grabbed them and kept running. When I got there, I was met by rude Delta agent, but had finally gotten ahold of Jen who was dealing with rude Delta flight attendant. There were no seats to be bought and Jen had to decide right now whether she was going to get on the plane or not. We decided she should go because, no matter what, I was going to get there, and if she got off she would have to buy a new ticket, whereas my airline would have to take care of mine. So, she flew away to New York city by herself while I went back to wait. By this time, the sleeping pill was kicking in, but I couldn't fall asleep or I might miss an anouncement to get back on my plane. In about an hour and a half, they fixed the plane (I hoped), and we were reboarding. I kept asking if they were sure the plane was safe, but people either thought I was being funny or they were annoyed that I was asking... Anyway, eventually we both landed and our story begins...

When I first started out, I was going to photograph everything we ate because I was so excited about all the food. Most of the time though, I didn't remember until we were almost done, or done, or on to something else.
This is a bakery and little grocery store just around the corner from our hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton Manhatton Times Square which my sister got us for a steal!

We didn't see Rupert.

Sadly, I don't know what I'm doing in this picture. Some sort of pose and talking, too. My sister was about 40 feet away from me, though, so I'm not sure who I was talking to. I'll just say right now, as I've said before, I don't photograph well. This trip is just more evidence.

We started out by going to the Met. Actually, we were going to go to the MOMA, but did you know? The MOMA is closed on Tuesdays. They should say that in the brochure about New York museums that they give you in the hotel. No matter... The Met was fantastic and I finally got to see the Saturday in the Park painting by Seurat.

Can you find me?

Next, we went to The Shake Shack recommended by about everyone who gave us suggestions on where to go in New York. When we got there (after only a little confusion on the subway), the line was so long we thought there was no way it was worth it... And then we thought if the line is so long, it must REALLY be worth it. So, we waited almost a half hour and got our burgers and shakes. Definitely worth it. I got the Shroom Burger which is a portabello mushroom stuffed with some sort of delicious cheese and breaded, with a crazy sauce. Jen got the regular cheese burger. Mine was definitely the best, but we saw that you could get the 2 combined and decided that if we were ever to eat there again, that's what we would do. I ordered a regular chocolate shake and was disappointed, but Jen got a "concrete" which was made of vanilla custard with chocolate and toffee and was amazing!

Yeah, I forgot until the burgers were gone.

Oh yeah, there were fries.. under the hand behind the chocolate shake. They were good too.

Rockefeller Center Flags.

Empire State Building.

We went up to the Top of the Rock... at the Rockefeller Center and saw a gorgeous view of the city.

The view from the top. Yeah, I'm pretty pregnant.

Empire State Building from above.

I thought this sign was funny. The food here was pretty gross. I think I got food poisoning.

A picture of my pregnantness.

We went to the TKTS line to wait to get discount tickets to Billy Elliot. It was totally worth it. We only had to wait in line about 30 minutes and got our tickets (in great seats) for a good deal!

Then, because our show wasn't until 2:00, we rode the subway (which we were getting really good at by now) down to ride the Staten Island Ferry and see the Statue of Liberty.

We wanted to get a good picture of both of us. I'm posting all of our efforts, except the ones I deleted from my camera... Here we go.

#1. For some reason I stick my neck forward in pictures and it looks really weird. I can't remember what Jen didn't like about this.

#2 - Overcompensating for the forward neck by elongating neck. Jen, again, still pretty ok.

#3 - Woah. A little excited and now Jen is elongating her neck.

#4 - Not sure. I don't think I was talking because I'm pretty sure I don't make this face when I'm talking. Jen is too cool.

#5 - I look kind of trollish and Jen has a lazy eye.

#6 - In Addison's words, "you kind of look like a donkey without buck teeth." and Jen looks like she just might get you if you don't watch out.
This is where we gave up.

The Staten Island Ferry going the other way, passing us in the water.

Wow. The Statue of Liberty is huge!

This isn't necessarily a better picture, but we took it on the subway to show we were there... Can you tell we're on the subway?

We went to see Billy Elliot and it was fantastic. The little boy in it was so amazing!

We each got a picture in front of the marquee... And then some nice man asked if we wanted a picture together.

Oh man... this guy makes me laugh! He held up my camera, told us to smile, pushed the button... and was flabergasted by a flash in his own face! He had the camera pointed toward himself! Amy thinks he did it on purpose, but I swear he was just a bumbling little man who was confused. I keep wondering what he was looking at to take a picture of as the viewfinder was on the other side of the camera!

Here's the second try.

We were there on St. Patrick's Day, and the streets started filling up in the evening with green-clad party goers. This is Times Square and lots of people just hanging out.

St. Patrick's cathedral...

on St. Patrick's Day.

I had to go to FAO Schwarz for Addison. I promised. In fact, we had to turn around and buy another subway ticket to go there because I had forgotten. Thanks for cooperating Jen!

Big stuffed elephants. We have one like it that Mitch and Megan brought us a long time ago!
The big piano from BIG!! We have a picture of Jen and I on it, but even with my disclaimer about bad pictures, I just couldn't post it. It's pretty bad.
Hot dot from a street vendor. (I know, you're thinking, that big piano picture is worse than this? Wow). It was really good. I'm not sure if it was because I was so hungry, or if it was actually good.
Anthropologie store window. These flowers are made out of plastic bottles.
We went to a little concert at The City Winery in downtown Manhattan. It was such a great little restaurant and it made me wish I hadn't eaten hot dogs from street vendors before I got there. We saw Tony Lucca and Tyrone Wells. The show was so great, and we met some nice people there. It was probably one of the funnest things we did.
Jen and Tony Lucca.
We got up early and went to Strawberry Fields in Central Park on our last day there. It was so fun to see. I used to have a poster of this up in my bedroom in high school.
Then, we walked to see the Manhattan temple. I've told the story a million times because it was so funny, but I have to write it here, too.
The temple is really right in the middle of the city. It is part of several large skyscrapers together. Because of this, they have building security that has nothing to do with the temple. As you walk in, there is a little desk with a big, burly security guard who looks much more New York than Temple Square. I wanted a picture in front of "Manhattan Temple" sign, so we asked him if he would take it. He wasn't really eager and didn't even answer as he slowly got up and took my camera. Jen and I smiled as he held up the camera and said, "1, 2, 3... say Nephi!" We laughed so hard! I can just imagine the number of Books of Mormon he has at home from all the sweet little temple goers!

And then, we headed back to the hotel again, to take our 2 separate airplanes home. I took a shuttle which took forever with traffic and crazy driving. I was so carsick by the time I got to the airport, I really didn't want to get on an airplane. Jen took the subway and then an airport bus and said it worked perfectly. I'll have to remember that for next time.