finally...NYC Day 1

Warning: this post is ultra long, but I just wanted J and I to always be able to look back and remember all the details of our trip!

On Monday night we flew into NYC, arriving at about 11pm or so. We had quite the delay trying to get out of the airport in Washington DC, so our arrival was later than expected. We hopped in a cab and headed straight to our hotel, so we could drop our luggage before heading out to explore for a bit. We only hit up Times Square and Starbucks that night and headed home at about 1am so we could get some sleep and be ready to see the sights on Monday! Yea!

Just before leaving OKC - vacation begins now!!

In Times Square the night we arrived...the fun is just beginning!

On Tuesday, our first full day in NYC, we slept in until about 9am because we didn’t get in until late the night before. After getting ready, we headed to Whole Foods so I could get a juice, then we were going to find a bagel shop for breakfast. After walking around for about a half hour and not finding anything, we decided we better hop on the subway and head down toward Battery Park so we could figure out where we needed to be for the tour. After picking up our tickets at Battery Park, we had about an hour and a half to kill so we decided to head toward ground zero and also try to find something to eat because it was lunch time by then. We found this cute little café called Pret a Manger. I loved this place! They used organic, whole ingredients in all their foods. I had a sandwich with avocado, greens, pine nuts and a couple other awesome ingredients that I can’t quite remember now!

loved this place!

Our time at ground zero was short and sweet on the first day. We didn’t have much time before we were supposed to go to the Statue of Liberty, so we basically just looked around at the construction and decided to come back later in the week to see the museum. The Statue of Liberty was really cool. On July 4th they reopened the crown so that people could go up in it. It had been closed since Sept. 11th. So, J called in a got us tickets ahead of time. It was really funny because they treated us like royalty – let us go to the front of the line etc – and we actually only paid $3 more than the people who were not going up to the crown. It was obviously totally worth the $3, even just to not have to stand in line! Going up into the crown was crazy. It was about 360 steps to the top, but once you got about halfway up the stairs turned into this tiny spiral staircase. It was a little scary because it was so steep and narrow...and it was somewhat dark in there! Once we got to the top, we found ourselves in this tiny little "room" with windows looking out. It was a lot different than I expected! Did you know that the "skin" of the statue is only two pennies thick??

the statue


climbing, climbing, climbing...


finally in the crown!

Here is a little video of us climbing up and then looking out. It's not the most exciting video, but if you're interested it kind of shows what its like inside...although most of you have probably been to the statue already anyway:)

After our time at the Statue, we just started walking back up toward Central Park, which was actually several miles up the island. We seriously walked so much, just meandering around seeing the sights. I just love exploring new places with J…it’s one of my favorite things. As we walked, we stumbled upon several things like China Town, Little Italy (where I got chocolate and hazlenut gelato that was to die for), Union Square, American Apparel, Forever 21, Dean and Deluca, Tribeca District, the Flatiron Building, 5th avenue, the Empire State Building, Strand Bookstore, H&M, and tons of juice bars.

two of my favorite places - Whole Foods and F21. What to do??

me, J and the Empire State Building

I was so excited to go to American Apparel, H&M and Dean and Deluca because I’ve heard of them so much, but I’ve never been because we don’t have them in good ole’ Oklahoma. I bought a skirt and shirt at AA, which I love! H&M was honestly a little disappointing to me. Maybe my expectations were just too high…or maybe it’s one of those “hit and miss” kind of places. I just didn’t see much that I liked. I also had never been to Dean and Deluca, and I love grocery stores. I loved going in there, and I bought my first ever macaroon! I also really loved the Flatiron Building. I wasn’t really super excited to see it, but once we got there I was just in awe. The architecture is just so cool.

Flatiron Building...in all its glory!

So, after walking a total of about 7 miles and almost the entire length of Manhattan, we finally made it back to Time Square, and we were starving! We decided on Planet Hollywood because I had never been there and there wasn’t a wait. Our hotel was about a 10 minute walk from Times Square, but before heading back we made a stop at m&m world so J could get some of his favorite candy! We were so ashamed to leave there having spent $12 on m&ms, but it was cool because we got an assortment of mini, dark chocolate and peanut butter (my favorite!).
That pretty much wrapped up Day 1! My feet were seriously hurting so bad by the time we got back to the hotel. My foot pain due to walking so much will always be one of the more vivid memories I have from our trip. Don’t get me wrong, it was totally worth it! But it was painful! Here are some pictures from day 1!

Ready for some Planet Hollywood

And M&M World:) That's what we got for $12...shame, shame

Stay tuned for NYC Day 2 - our anniversary day!