Ground Zero, Little Italy, Chinatown, Cruise, Top of the Rock
Sunday was a VERY productive day of fun and sight-seeing adventures. It was so much fun, in fact, that I didn't have time to blog. We were up so late that I could barely keep my eyelids up by the time we got back to the hotel room.
Let the adventures begin!
We slept in a little longer this morning, and took the 'R' train to Ground Zero. We were able to get a glimpse of the memorial site, and the current building projects. They are in the process of building 2 new 'freedom' towers (even though the current name of them is supposed to be something different). There will be 1 main tower for the World Trade Center, and another for residential living, as far as I understood. Mike, Emily, Jerry & LuAnn took a tour while Darek and I decided just to hang out. We ended up finding a fun, HUGE store that Emily C told us about called Century 21. I thought it might be a real estate store, but it was nothing like that. It was great fun!! Tons of designer things at great discount prices. It was crazy busy, especially in the purse section!!
After the Ground Zero tour was over, we all met up and headed to little Italy. We checked out some of the shops and took note of what the restaurants had to offer. The 3 of us ladies were in search of knock-off (real) purses... We walked quite a ways, but couldn't seem to find the right places, so I decided to ask the nice girl that sold Mike a chocolate Cannoli (which was apparently delicious). She told us right where to go, and what to listen for so we could find our purchases... This is a shady business. There are little asian people and big black men walking around the sidewalks saying things like: rolex, rolex, rolex, rolex, handbag, handbag, handbag, louis, louis, louis, coach, prada, chanel, etc. They were EVERYWHERE!! If you heard a name of something you were interested in you would ask if they had the brand you were looking for. Then they would proceed to either bring the item to you and pass it off in your hand for you to look at while walking by, or they would lead you to a back room somewhere behind a storefront or through an alley / tunnel way of a building. It was CRAZY FUN! The only thing is that this is apparently illegal, so you have to be very careful. There were cops everywhere as well!! This was seriously a fun, unique experience. Not for the timid! :-)
Once we had our purchases under wraps, it was about time for food. 4:30PM and we hadn't even had lunch. I guess we just got too caught up in the events and fun of bartering with the merchandise people. We went back to the Italian restaurant where the nice girl gave us the buying tips from. They had DELICIOUS food! We even had the privilege of meeting the owner. He has had the restaurant since 1964! WOW! Darek and I shared the special: Lobster stuffed ravioli, in a pink sauce with seafood and asparagus on top, served with a lobster tail and pincer.
Oh, Yum! What a wonderful experience. Jerry was hoping we would get glass pop bottles again, like we did at the pizza place the night before, but they actually had fountain soda.
From here we decided that it would be a great night for the circle line cruise around the harbor. This meant that we had to hustle back to the hotel. Darek and Jerry went straight to the boat to get tickets and get in line. Mike, Emily, LuAnn & I ran (literally) back to the hotel, changed into jeans and grabbed jackets & dropped our purchases off. Then we ran (literally again) almost the entire way to the cruise boat. It was funny that we ran so much, but we made it in time for the cruise, and got great seats on the top of the boat. This allowed us spectacular pictures of the city and the other sites around New York. It was clear and we saw a magnificent sunset!! So much fun, and well worth rushing for!!
That's not all folks. After the cruise we decided that since it was such a perfect, clear night, we should go to the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center) to view the city lights. This was based on the recommendation of multiple friends, as opposed to going to the top of the Empire State Building. It was beautiful, and easy to get our tickets and up to the top. We stayed up there until they pretty much told us we needed to finish up because they were closing. This means that it was almost midnight - my birthday! YAY! Oh, and I forgot to mention that we tried to go to Magnolia Bakery for a late night birthday cupcake, but they closed at 10:00 and we got there at 10:05. Sadness. Oh well, there was always tomorrow! ;) ;)
After the Top of the Rock was completed, we walked back to Times Square and took in some more of the NYC nightlife. (A lot of random, crazy people - and a lot of nice tourists). We got a chocolate shake from McDonald's (the biggest one known to man) and french fries for dipping. What a fun snack! There was an amazing spray paint artist outside of the restaurant and we watched him for about a half hour. This was one of the coolest art forms I have ever seen!! I'm going to try it when I get home. Haha!! He was really, really good.
Time for some sleep at this point. G'Night! I'll have more fun adventures to report on tomorrow. :-)
Let the adventures begin!
We slept in a little longer this morning, and took the 'R' train to Ground Zero. We were able to get a glimpse of the memorial site, and the current building projects. They are in the process of building 2 new 'freedom' towers (even though the current name of them is supposed to be something different). There will be 1 main tower for the World Trade Center, and another for residential living, as far as I understood. Mike, Emily, Jerry & LuAnn took a tour while Darek and I decided just to hang out. We ended up finding a fun, HUGE store that Emily C told us about called Century 21. I thought it might be a real estate store, but it was nothing like that. It was great fun!! Tons of designer things at great discount prices. It was crazy busy, especially in the purse section!!
After the Ground Zero tour was over, we all met up and headed to little Italy. We checked out some of the shops and took note of what the restaurants had to offer. The 3 of us ladies were in search of knock-off (real) purses... We walked quite a ways, but couldn't seem to find the right places, so I decided to ask the nice girl that sold Mike a chocolate Cannoli (which was apparently delicious). She told us right where to go, and what to listen for so we could find our purchases... This is a shady business. There are little asian people and big black men walking around the sidewalks saying things like: rolex, rolex, rolex, rolex, handbag, handbag, handbag, louis, louis, louis, coach, prada, chanel, etc. They were EVERYWHERE!! If you heard a name of something you were interested in you would ask if they had the brand you were looking for. Then they would proceed to either bring the item to you and pass it off in your hand for you to look at while walking by, or they would lead you to a back room somewhere behind a storefront or through an alley / tunnel way of a building. It was CRAZY FUN! The only thing is that this is apparently illegal, so you have to be very careful. There were cops everywhere as well!! This was seriously a fun, unique experience. Not for the timid! :-)
Once we had our purchases under wraps, it was about time for food. 4:30PM and we hadn't even had lunch. I guess we just got too caught up in the events and fun of bartering with the merchandise people. We went back to the Italian restaurant where the nice girl gave us the buying tips from. They had DELICIOUS food! We even had the privilege of meeting the owner. He has had the restaurant since 1964! WOW! Darek and I shared the special: Lobster stuffed ravioli, in a pink sauce with seafood and asparagus on top, served with a lobster tail and pincer.
Oh, Yum! What a wonderful experience. Jerry was hoping we would get glass pop bottles again, like we did at the pizza place the night before, but they actually had fountain soda.
From here we decided that it would be a great night for the circle line cruise around the harbor. This meant that we had to hustle back to the hotel. Darek and Jerry went straight to the boat to get tickets and get in line. Mike, Emily, LuAnn & I ran (literally) back to the hotel, changed into jeans and grabbed jackets & dropped our purchases off. Then we ran (literally again) almost the entire way to the cruise boat. It was funny that we ran so much, but we made it in time for the cruise, and got great seats on the top of the boat. This allowed us spectacular pictures of the city and the other sites around New York. It was clear and we saw a magnificent sunset!! So much fun, and well worth rushing for!!
That's not all folks. After the cruise we decided that since it was such a perfect, clear night, we should go to the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center) to view the city lights. This was based on the recommendation of multiple friends, as opposed to going to the top of the Empire State Building. It was beautiful, and easy to get our tickets and up to the top. We stayed up there until they pretty much told us we needed to finish up because they were closing. This means that it was almost midnight - my birthday! YAY! Oh, and I forgot to mention that we tried to go to Magnolia Bakery for a late night birthday cupcake, but they closed at 10:00 and we got there at 10:05. Sadness. Oh well, there was always tomorrow! ;) ;)
After the Top of the Rock was completed, we walked back to Times Square and took in some more of the NYC nightlife. (A lot of random, crazy people - and a lot of nice tourists). We got a chocolate shake from McDonald's (the biggest one known to man) and french fries for dipping. What a fun snack! There was an amazing spray paint artist outside of the restaurant and we watched him for about a half hour. This was one of the coolest art forms I have ever seen!! I'm going to try it when I get home. Haha!! He was really, really good.
Time for some sleep at this point. G'Night! I'll have more fun adventures to report on tomorrow. :-)
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