Part 2 of 3 in NYC

I talk too much...and took too many pictures...thus the reason this week had to be broken up into three different posts!  But really....it was the trip of a lifetime...it has to be well-documented!  I LOVED our second day in New York.  We woke up and went straight to our uptown bus tour.  We started at Central Park and just rode around the city finding out where all the celebrities/famous people live(d).  We listened to the history.  We saw people.  My thoughts were always on the children in this city, and their way of life.  We saw many school groups walking around Central Park or at the Met and I just couldn't stop thinking about how different their upbringing was from my own or from my children.  There were no backyards or kids on bikes...however...the kids were confident and knew their way around the city...and bought hotdogs from the vendors.  They were still kids, with friends and cell phones and silly stories and laughs and giggles.  I really LOVED watching the kids!  Wish I had taken pictures...but that might have been creepy.  :)  Also wish I had taken a picture of the County 3 Wyoming license plate right in front of us once.  I was on the phone with someone and couldn't get Matt to pull his phone out in time.  But someone from Sheridan County was there in the city with us! 

The city was busy putting up bleachers for the Macy's Day parade.  And again...back to the way of life...It was crazy to me to see all of the trucks unloading into the fronts of the buildings and I could not get over all the trash...these millions of people have to have trash and it all has to be put somewhere.  I did feel like the city was a clean city, but every day there is trash pick up somewhere...thus the smell of the city.  Which wasn't a horribly gross smell...just the smell of cars and trash and millions of people.  I could never live there, but wow it was all fascinating!

 

Harlem!  Again...I loved people watching.

Our bus tour also stopped at St. Paul's Cathedral.  Beautiful building!  A couple of school groups were here as well.  We only had a few minutes here but it was pretty amazing!

We got off the tour bus at the MET where Matt probably would've liked to have spent more time, but I'm not a huge museum fan.  It was all right.  We walked around a little bit and saw the instrument exhibit that a friend recommended going to.  It was pretty cool.  Central park was beautiful!  This is one place I really wish we could've spent more time riding bikes or seeing the strawberry fields.  I bet it is so stunning in the spring or not so hot part of summer.  I guess we were just a few hours late for seeing One Direction and all of their teenage fans!  Oh well.  :)  Anyway, it had started raining a little bit as we walked through it, plus we were also on a schedule to be at the temple at a certain time so we really didn't spend a ton of time there.  Also, below is a picture of Julliard right across the street from the temple.   Probably should've walked through Julliard.  So much to have seen!

The temple was definitely one of the highlights of the trip...which is kinda funny because we could go to one of 5 temples on any given weekend and sit through a session back at home, but it is always fun to visit the temples...and this one was especially amazing....in the world, but not of the world...in fact...once inside you couldn't even hear the rest of the world!  We were in street clothes and needed to change into our Sunday clothes.  They sent us up to the third floor where the church is...and it was like walking into any building out west.  We stepped out of the elevator and could hear the guys playing ball in the gym and knew right where the bathrooms would be.  Pretty funny!  Then we went up to the 4th floor where the temple is.  It was wonderful to be in a smaller session and visit with the missionaries there.  They let us walk around a little bit and look at the baptistry and the artwork.  It was a perfect break from the hustle and bustle of the city. 

We stayed dressed up and went to one of the many places my friend Catherine (who used to live and perform in NYC) recommended.  We were so happy to have talked with so many people about what to do and where to eat.  One friend said they ONLY ate from the vendors off the streets.  We tried this outside of the MET and I was not impressed.  My hotdog tasted like cigarette smoke and car exhaust!  BLEH!  I prefer a nice restaurant and the fancier the better!

The picture on the right was actually from the first day when we ate at Carmines.  The pictures on the left are from the best restaurant I've ever been too.  Ocean's Grill!  It was a bit of a splurge but we got there during lunch prices which was a bonus...and we knew we wanted to eat somewhere extra special on this day between being in the temple and being on Broadway!

I have never taken a picture of my food before...but this stuff really was so amazing!  No exaggerating
!  The best flavors!  So yummy!  No words!

And now anyone reading this can become VERY jealous!  Wicked on Broadway, in the Gershwin Theater is about as perfect as it gets!  We made sure to book these tickets right when we found out we were making this trip.  We had hoped to see another show, but there just wasn't the time.  I knew all of the music to Wicked, but had never seen the show before so I was pleasantly surprised with the whole story.  The set and the acting and the singing (even though we saw the 2nd Glinda) was incredible!  There are just no words!  It was the perfect ending to our 2nd day in NYC!  :)

The next day we had a little bit of time before we had to hop on a train to Albany.  We left our room and checked our bags with the hotel so we could walk around a little more!  The Today Show is something I've always REALLY wanted to do...but on a trip when we didn't really have to wake up early and where we were just on our own time frame, I wasn't too excited about getting up at 4am to stand in the rain for a few hours.  By the time we woke up and walked to Rockefeller Plaza, the rain was just a drizzle and we were still able to see NBC and the set of the Today Show! 

AND THEN!!  We made it on the show!  Yes!  That is us in the top left corner; my blue and green arm waving and Matt's little face in his black hood popping up in the back!  Don't blink...you might miss it!  And why did no one else know or care that they were on camera!  I'm such a tourist I guess!  That's all I needed to make my NYC trip complete!  It may sound silly, but it was fun! 

I really enjoyed walking around the plaza!  Matt LOVED the lego store and took tons of pictures which I'm sure he even sent to his brothers!  It was a relaxing morning and good to just take in all that NY is one last time!

Before heading back to our hotel we walked through Grand Central Station!  People walking fast everywhere!  Pretty fun place to be.  Penn Station was the same!  It was fun to walk down to Penn Station where we needed to catch our train and not have really realize that there is a huge city underneath the city as well! The place was insane! 

I was sad to say good-bye to NYC.  It was something I had dreamed about doing for such a long time.  I loved the energy of the big city!  We got to do everything I wanted...hopefully Matt felt the same way.  It was all perfect!  Day three in NYC ended with a beautiful train ride up the Hudson River!