New York Trip!

So...we had an absolute blast in NYC last weekend. Janna and I flew to NY on Friday night--but before leaving Portland, were asked by a TSA guy if we were twins. He really wanted to know!

We got in around 9pm, and Grampi and Alex were there in Grampi's car to pick us up. So that was really nice not to have to take a taxi that night.

Saturday morning we got up, and walked down to the southern tip of the island, Alex lives on the Lower East Side, so it wasn't too far to walk. We walked under the Brooklyn Bridge,

and then to the fish market, which is actually a mall now, and then over to Battery Park to catch the Ferry to Liberty and Ellis Island.

(Alex and Janna on the ferry)



(The building in the middle is at Ground Zero, you can see it is still burned out)




We stayed on the ferry at Liberty Island, and then got off at Ellis Island to see the museum. We spent maybe an hour and a half at the museum, and we were just starting to think about going back when an alarm went off in the building. "There is an emergency on the other side of the building, please evacuate the building calmly" or something like that. So we decided that would be a good time to get back on the boat. We never did find out what happened.




We got back to Battery Park, and walked up into the financial district--found an ice cream truck, and walked part way onto the Brooklyn Bridge, just to the first archway.



Then we went back to Alex's-and made Janna do her homework so we could go out again. We went out shopping a little that night in SoHo, but most of the stores in that area close between 8 and 9, so we missed most of the shops. We ordered a ridiculous amount of takeout---our eyes were bigger than our stomach's, and watched "Dream Girls" which is a really great movie. Greta, Alex's roommate, stayed at a friends house that night and the next. So it was nice to just be the 3 of us.

Sunday morning, I actually was able to have breakfast with a friend who I haven't seen or really talked to in 10 years! Her name is Crystal and I went to Haiti with her on Teen Missions when I was 16! So that was really cool to catch up with her. We had just reconnected the week before--she found my email. We talked for 3 hours straight. I was able to meet her 8 year old son too, when he came to pick her up along with her boyfriend. Her son is precious. He is visually impaired, and very chatty and adorable. He asked me if I would marry him. Too bad he isn't 25 years older... :)

After Janna and Alex met up with me again--our plan was to go shopping for the afternoon. Except that our real plan was to surprise Janna with tickets to see "Wicked" because she hasn't seen it yet. But Janna didn't know anything about it. Alex and I had it planned down to the minute, and we had an hour and a half to kill--and where we were was just around the corner from the theater. So we had to get a little creative.

My foot was actually very sore (it happens everytime I got to NY, which I think means I must walk funny on it)...which meant that a lot of walking was out of the question.(Which turned out to be a helpful thing) So we took a Taxi over to the new Apple store on 5th Avenue, just in front of FAO Schwartz. We were there for about 20 minutes, and then went into FAO Schwartz. If you haven't been in FAO since they reopened--you must go. They have gone back to their roots of classic toys, and its actually a reasonably enjoyable place to be. Its not so crowded anymore--the set up is much more relaxed than it used to be too. They have an entire section on doll houses...all the furniture and accessories and everything. I could have spent hours looking at it all. Unfortunately though...we were on a time schedule.

After we left there, we took a taxi back over to the Times Square Church, which is conveniently right across the street from the theater. We wanted to show Janna the church, which is in an old theater. After leaving there, our "plan" was to go to Rockefeller Center to the Nintendo store. So we headed out of the church, and in the opposite direction from Rockefeller...because Janna doesn't know the difference or which way is which...so Alex suggested that we walk through the underpass at the theater so she can see the lobby and all of that. He said to her "you've seen Wicked, right?" And she starts going on about how she's the only one who hasn't seen it, and that she's decided that no one wants her to see it...so she's just given up. It was hysterical. We took her into the lobby so she could look at the tshirts and maybe get herself a new one. When she found out they were $36, she thought about it, and then decided that she didn't want to spend the money...she'd save her money for something else instead.

We said okay, and headed back out of the theater. Alex was about 5 steps ahead of us and I saw his shoulders moving around, and I knew he was taking out the tickets. So I started talking to Janna about the tshirt, and she made another comment about how she couldn't believe they were so expensive. Just then, Alex turned around with the tickets fanned out and said, "you know Janna, these were expensive too". It took her a moment to register what they were...and for a split second she thought that he had stolen them. It was hysterical. So with 10 minutes to curtain, we took our seats, center of the orchestra--just above the stage level. In about the 15th row. The seats were perfect. Janna was still trying to wrap her brain around the fact that she was sitting in there as the curtain rose. It was great. She finally turned to us and said "how am I sitting here? I don't even know how you guys got me into this theater! You guys are amazing!" We just said "We know!" :) It was so fun.

After the show, Grampi was waiting for us in the lobby to go out to dinner. We went out to a BBQ place, and then walked around Times Square, did a little light shopping. And then up to Rockefeller Center, to see if any of the stores were open. They weren't. But there were a bunch of people on the skating rink. Alex looked down at the skating rink and said "Oh my goodness, that's Clay-Asian!" Clay Asian?? What the heck is he talking about?



We looked down to see this little asian guy zooming around the ice, weaving in and out of people. Alex and Greta had seen him here before and nicknamed him that. In his mind, you could tell that he thinks he's an Olympic Gold Metalist in figure skating. It was so funny to watch. Everything started and ended with a pose. And at one point we were certain that he was collecting his flowers off of the ice. I have to say, that as a skater he's pretty good, considering the ice was packed and he never ran into anyone. He did cut off a girl once, and she fell and he yelled at her for being in his way...but other than that. He had many routine's, and he'd fix his ipod in between each one to have the correct song playing. We didn't see the same routine twice, but each routine was full of very graceful hand movements and starting and ending poses. I shot a one minute video for anyone who is interested in watching this "wonder on ice" LOL.

This is a self portrait that we took of ourselves

This was our first attempt at a self portrait...I forgot that I had the camera zoomed in. ha ha!

On our way back to Alex's on the subway, we came across a skate cover, which we decided must belong to Clay Asian.


Janna and I got into a taxi at 7am Monday morning, and were back in Maine by 11am. The whole trip was a blast, and flying is so easy! I will definitely be flying from now on. No more driving to NY...I'm all done with that. So I am planning on taking trips to NYC more often, now that I know how easy it is...