NYC part 1

(yes, there will be multiple posts)

i'm not sure where to start. so let's start at the beginning. as i've said before we were graciously given a trip to NYC by our friends, family and even strangers. it's been incredibly humbling to see how many people love us and are willing to send us on this extravagant weekend away. it came at a great time and we had a blast. we came back with over 300 pictures. i know, crazy. thanks to digital. the best way to describe NYC is like drinking from a fire hose. for real. that place is nuts! let me get started....

the subway
oh the subway. i like to think i'm good with directions. and i actually am. well, the NYC subway totally squashed that! the whole thing is quite fascinating...not just the many trains going in all sorts of directions but the actual stops can be huge (and confusing). it just took us a few days (out of our 4) to figure out which way was downtown and which way was uptown. there were a few times of jumping off a train b/c we were headed in the wrong direction. the first day i was super frustrated about this, but eventually learned to let-it-go. what i like about the subway is that everyone uses them. everyone. the fancy lady with her bag on her forearm to the poor, stinky homeless man in the corner. no one makes eye contact except us "genteel southern tourists" and everyone has ear buds in their ears. it's a mad house. and i loved using it, especially when i finally got good at it.




the views
my favorite view was the one i got from the plane as we flew past the island. so coo. there is a lot in NYC. duh. but you hear about and see these different places on t.v. or from friends but can't really wrap your head around it until you are there. i've always loved the view of the city with central park smack dab in the middle of this "concrete jungle" and it was just as amazing in person. our first night we did the Empire State Building, which was so cool. we got a free audio tour which was kinda cliche b/c our "tour guide" was Tony. it was amazing to see the other tall buildings and all those lights. i kept thinking what that blackout must have been like. insane. we took a boat to Lady Liberty and the view of the city from the water was ridiculous. and seeing the statue up close was incredible. we stopped by the Rockefeller Center tree too and i have to admit we were both disappointed by it's size. the rink too. it just looks so massive on t.v. and up close it's just a really big tree. but, i'm not trying to be a party pooper, it was still cool to see in person. walking the High Line for a handful of blocks in the Meatpacking district was super cool. it's built on an old railroad line, you can see the old tracks. and you get an "above street level view" of the city.







the museums & galleries
as you know adam and i are very cultured people...we enjoy good food, good art and good stories. thankfully new york is full of all of these. our first stop for this "culture," if you will, was the Chelsea/Meatpacking district early saturday morning. we were crunched for time but were able visit a handful of galleries from Annie Lebowitz photos to bags of aluminum cans to great oil paintings to Russian propaganda posters. all very cool and unique. (although i'm still not sure about the aluminum cans...seriously?) this was adam's favorite part. on sunday we quickly visited the MET, which is giant and has lots of different kinds of art, but it was cool to see Picasso and Dali and other unique works of art. the last museum we visited was the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. basically there is this old tenement (apartment building) that had been vacant since 1935. when they stumbled upon it in the 90's they found everything inside like it was from the early 1900's, so they began to research the families that came to america and lived in this particular building. you can take a tour that tells the story of different families that lived there from it's building (i think early 1800's) to when it was closed. we took the "hard times" tour and learned about 2 immigrant families from the early 1800's and early 1900's. it was very cool. and a part of me felt akin to these folks, not because i'm an immigrant, but because we are going through "hard times" of ourselves and, like these families, are leaning into our community to get through.





okay i'm going to stop now b/c this is long...and i want to be able to tell you all about all the great stuff we got to do. it was really great and perfect timing for us to get away. thank you!!!