Our Trip to the Big Apple

A couple months ago Auntie Kirst organized this trip for the girls to NY. It was so much fun and I only wish we could have stayed longer....

It was Auntie Kirsten, my mother in law Cay, myself, and Eva. We stayed right across the street from Ground Zero in a great hotel which was the perfect base for us to explore the rest of the city. Like one would expect- we had our share of great food and saw a lot of iconic NY landmarks as well as some off the beaten path secrets that Kirst knew about.

Day 1

Wahhahhhahhaaa!

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Wicked on Broadway

I. loved. this. show. Again! Again! Again! Now I understand why Mike and Jill are Wicked groupies and travel all over to see it :)

It was 'unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe' how much we all enjoyed it! We have the soundtrack playing at home and can't seem to get the songs out of our heads, even Becks is singing along. Eva has also been practicing her awkward blonde hair flip to be the next Galinda. Oh This was so good!!

The majority of the 2 days was rainy - but it was kind of fun to walk around the city with our umbrellas. My camera broke the first day, so all of these pics are from Kirst. Thanks!

The Bull on Wall Street. We also took a picture of him from behind to send to Kerry. It is, shall we say, a very generously, anatomically correct statue. If I only had the picture....

Miss Liberty in the rain.

We took the ferry to Ellis Island to see the Statue of Liberty. I didn't realize that she was hollow inside.... I guess I'd never thought about it. What a proud piece of history to finally witness.

Inside the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.

By this time, we are hungry. So we head back downtown (uptown?) for lunch by taxi.

One of the most authentic parts of our trip would probably have to be eating at Jing Fongs in Chinatown. This is true Hong Kong style dim sum at its best - I've never really experienced anything like it. You walk upstairs to this large regal-feeling ballroom that is the main dining hall in the restaurant. It is loud and bustling and busy. There are tables stacked with people as waitresses roll carts through the aisles and offer you the endless variety of hot steaming dim sum dumplings. Deeeeelish.

We knew this was the real deal, because we were the ONLY non-Asians in the building. It was awesome.

The cart-rolling waitresses are aggressive and ready to spoon dumplings onto your plate if you nod your head in any way yes. You had to wonder sometimes what was actually in some of them.... Chicken feet were also available to nibble on.
If you weren't sure what was in something and you asked your server if it was shrimp or chicken they would just say , "Yes. Yes. that is what it is. You want?" It didn't matter what you asked them - they just agreed or nodded or repeated what they had called it and it didn't make any sense at all - still. So you just said ok and took it - hoping it was not chicken feet.

These are the hot dim sum bamboo steamers. Very tasty. (not the steamers. the dumplings)

After lunch we walked through Chinatown to a store called "The Pearl." I thought this was such a fun place - it reminded me of a small chinese Ikea. Everything and anything asian was in there - from dishes to hello kitty to paper lanterns and soap. Plus, it was cheap. Bonus!

As we wound through the street shops I broke down and bought some Jadore perfume. We had them spray it, smelled it, tested it. It smelled like the real thing - even though I knew it couldn't be for that low of a price. I really didn't care - as long as it smelled nice.

Upon getting home and opening the box, I came to find out that I got suckered - it smells fantastic. For about 5 minutes. And then it absolutely evaporates.

Lesson learned. Suckered in NY for the first time. Cool!

Walking through the city. Stopping to shop, sample or taste anything we were in the mood for.

We ended our first and fabulous day at the Gershwin theater on Broadway.