The Big Apple!

Ahh, another vacation over and it's back to reality for me. Boo. This one went quick, but we did a lot in a short amount of time. This was my second time to NYC, so I am certainly no expert, but I recognized a lot of places so I had a pretty good sense of direction. We arrived Sunday morning and jumped right into it. We had booked one of those hop on/off bus tours to tour the city. I recommend it to anyone who goes for the first time- you see a lot and learn about everything you pass. And when you get off at one of the stops, there will be another bus in 15 minutes so you don't get stuck somewhere too long. We experienced Little Italy, Chinatown, and Ground Zero, which was tough for me. There's nothing really there, just the memorial being built behind fences, but we went into the church right in front of it, where many of the rescuers rested between shifts during the recovery effort. There were memorials and pictures inside the church, along with lots of tissues. I really can't handle it emotionally, the whole thing is so heartbreaking.

Onto happier things...our hotel was a block south of Central Park and about 5 blocks north of Times Square, so we were in a great location. We took a night tour of the city, which was beautiful. I got this cool pic from Brooklyn of the city skyline...it was tough since it was so dark, but I think it came out pretty good. (I mean, I'm no Erica...)
We did a Movie/TV Site Tour, which was really interesting. We went all around the city to see where famous movies and TV shows had been filmed, and then on the bus they showed us clips from the movies so we could put it all together. We took a pic on the steps of the Cosby's house, saw the Friends apartment building, and visited the rice pudding shop featured in a scene from the movie Hitch (yes, random...but it was a fun place that featured this funny sign...) Another sign in the shop read: "Eat as much as you want, you're already fat." It was awesome. Too bad I can't stand rice pudding.

We ate our fanciest meal at Tao, a trendy hot spot where we were hoping to spot celebrities. Unfortunately I found no celebs, but Mr. Adam Robbins did join us, so that was good enough for me. We did a lot of walking in the city, through Central Park, visited the Museum of Natural History, shopped at H&M (my favorite store!!!), walked some more, and ate at Serendipity and had delicious frozen hot chocolate.
Our last day was my favorite. It started out with a taping of the Maury show, which was so trashy but great. The topic was 'Out of Control Teens', so we got to do a lot of booing and groaning. Maury also had Harvey from Celebrity Fit Club on to yell at the kids, so that was pretty sweet too. From trash to class, we went to the theater and saw Mary Poppins, which I LOVED. I have now seen 3 Disney Broadway musicals, and this was definitely my favorite. It was so magical! So entertaining and well made- all the actors were amazing, all the songs were great, and I teared up quite a few times. I mean, freakin' Bert tap dances on the ceiling! That's magic!!!
Oh, and our hotel was a half a block away from the Carnegie Deli, so we sang about it every time we walked by, and eventually ate there. Here's a pic of the biggest turkey sandwich I have EVER gotten in my life (and there are two halves)...
Shout out to the jews: Guess who eats together at the Carnegie Deli? Bowser from ShaNaNa and Arthur Fonzerelli! (and me, a quarter-jew!)
A great vacation...I could never live in that city, though. It is way too fast-paced, I think I'd be stressed and in a hurry all the time. But I can't wait to go back and see more Broadway shows!