New York, New York - Part 1

          I left Thursday after work and arrived at the JFK airport around 9:30pm. Upon the wheels of the airplane touching down the entire plane erupted in applause. I've never been on a flight that cheers after landing before. It must be a New York thing and it was pretty neat! Rita and her cousin Shar picked me up and took me to White Castle. Of course, I loved the burgers! Once we got to Shar's parents', which is Rita's aunt and uncle's house I ate the White Castle sliders and we had some wine. I'm so grateful for Rita's family opening their home and making me feel welcome. I think Rita and her family are from Guyana, so this trip had an international flavor to it. At first, I was a little worried of unknowingly doing something that would offend them since I'm not familiar with their culture, but that feeling passed quickly. I basically just followed what everyone else was doing. I took off my shoes before going inside and I welcomed everyone's kiss on the cheek greeting. I'm not sure if they turned on the English captions on the TV for me or if they always have them on, but I was thankful for them regardless. We went to bed and little did I know that it was going to be the most sleep I would be getting in New York.

         Rita's uncle dropped us at the train station at 9am so that we could get to the 9/11 Memorial by 10:30am.. The train is also the famous New York subway. To start the day it was Rita, her two sons Zachary and Aiden, Shar and me. The subway was not quite what I was expecting. There is nothing glamorous about it. People and germs everywhere, I could feel the germs on my skin and I was in pants and a jacket. I'm glad I got to ride the subway though. Once we went through security at the memorial we walked through some construction to get to the two waterfall reflection ponds.

 

          The ponds were big with about 30ft waterfalls surrounding them. The names of the nearly 3000 people who lost their lives that day were engraved around the ponds. I didn't personally know anyone that lost their life that horrid day in 2001. I was 13 years old, and not really certain what the world trade centers were. I remember my sister banging on the bathroom door to give me the news that left me confused on the pot. Of course, I was on the toilet when I learned of the tragedy that Tuesday morning. I choked back tears at the memorial. It was heavy to read all of those innocent names. I wondered who they were behind the name. Where they were going that morning.  Did they know they are loved. Where would they be today.  How thankful I am that Rita was with me because she lived in NYC on that tragic day. Her two sons hadn't been born yet when it happened. It's something they learned about in history class. . Overall, I'm glad I got to pay my respect.

 

          After the memorial, we walked to Chinatown. That was like a whole other world. I think I would describe it as a big, street flea market. Cheap souvenirs, fake designer hand bags, you name it. I got two I <3 New York shirts for $5 each! Where else can a tourist buy a $5 souvenir shirt like that? The exact same shirts were selling for $12.95 in the airport. I forget the name of the food I tried, but it was tasty. Rita and Shar seemed to know what everything was while I probably looked like a lost tourist. When I got a smell of fish, I realized we just walked by a vendor with fish on ice right there in the open. I don't know how you buy fish in Chinatown and transport it back home without it going bad. Chinatown was rich with culture and I loved taking it all in. In between Chinatown and Little Italy we went into this place that sold hand bags, pizza, cookies and coffee. They had a little bit of everything.

          Once we were finished walking around Chinatown, we took the subway to the American Museum of Natural History near Central Park. This stop was for the kids even though they didn't seem interested until we came across the dinosaur exhibit. I'll admit it was pretty awesome to see the museum where the movie "Night at the Museum" takes place. I could totally picture all of the animals coming alive at night! I was trying to save my cell phone battery, so I didn't turn on my phone in the museum until I came upon the view pictured below. No leaf on a single tree and still a breath taking view! I can only imagine how special Central Park looks in the summer when it doesn't look so dead. We ate dinner at this place called Shake Shack, which had awesome burgers.

 

I took this photo on the fourth floor of the museum overlooking Central Park West Historic District

 

          Since we spent a few hours in the museum by the time we were finished it was time to head to Times Square. We decided to take the bus to get there because I think we were all over traveling by subway. When we got to Times Square, we met up with two of Shar's friends. I can't remember their names and even if I could, I probably wouldn't know how to spell them. Zachary was begging to go to the M&M store, so that's where we went. the store was HUGE! I think it had four floors. Side note, the orange M&M is my favorite. We also went into Forever 21 and the Disney store. Both were equally as impressive as the M&M store. We got some photo ops in Times Square before the sun completely set and then Shar called her brother, Pooch (I think it's a nickname), to ask him to pick us up so that we wouldn't have to ride the subway for an hour back to the house. The seven of us (Rita, Aiden, Zachary, Shar, her two friends and I) waited outside of Bubba Gumps for Pooch. Little did I know that he was going to pick us up in his Camery with his girlfriend in the front seat. Yes, that means the seven of us piled into the back seat of the Camery.  It was comical to say the least. That's how bad public transportation is in NYC. We'd rather ride with nine people in a Camery than have to take the subway.

I'm in Times Square!

The birthday girl, Rita, and I. I love running with her.

Iconic view of all the Taxis.

          By the time we got back to the house, we had been out in the city for 12 hours. Most of which was spent on our feet. I didn't waste much time getting ready for bed. In fact, a three year old, Luna, asked me why I was going to bed already around 11:30pm, which made me laugh. New York never sleeps, not even the kids.