New York City

Jeremy had some training for work in New York City.  Just like when he had to go to Hawaii for work, I couldn't possibly let him go alone.  So, of course I had to go with him.  I know, awful, right.  Ya right!  I have always wanted to go to NYC so I had to go with him.  I love cities that you can just walk around and don't need to have a car.  That is why I love San Francisco and London so much which are my two favorite cities in the world.  Like most places though, there are great things about this city and not so great things.

What I love about NYC:

--I love the fact that you don't need a car.  Public transportation is the best here and very convenient.

--I love the big buildings and architecture.  It is fabulous and wonderful to look at.  Most amazing.  

--It is full of history.  It is all around you.  I love it!

--So much food.  There are thousands of restaurants.  Food is very easy to get, anytime, anywhere.

--Despite the reputation of NYC, I found the people there very pleasant.  Most liked hearing where you were from and wanted to know what you thought of their city.  They were very eager to give advice of where to go and what to do.

--I love the famous buildings and landmarks to see.  I love the history that accompanies these landmarks.

--Culture.  So much culture.  It is amazing to see how much culture.  I must have heard walking down the street many different languages of residents that live there and tourists who come far to see this city.

What I did not like so much about NYC:

--It really is a very liberal place to be.  Almost too liberal.  They really do see things very differently in the world.  It made me feel very grateful for my small area of Madison Alabama to live where many have much in common with my values.  (That is to include many who are not members of my church)  We truly do have some wonderful people living here.  I have to laugh.  Being from Las Vegas, I get so many comments about living in sin city and the slogan what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.  Well, Vegas is tame compared to NYC as far as I am concerned.  In Vegas, all the "sinful" things are pretty much in one area of town or close to it.  People that live there, never associate things with the strip unless they work down there.  In NYC, it is everywhere.  How Vegas got the reputation instead of New York,  I will never know.

--It is very expensive and can be quite annoying as such.  Most will say, "Well, welcome to NYC and inflation"  I don't think they should make that an excuse.  It should infuriate them as well.

--Pizza.  I love pizza.  I expected so much more of the pizza there.  Coming from the west, many who were from NYC would brag and brag about their pizza from NYC.  Now, I am not saying it was bad, but it is highly overrated.  Let me tell ya, I have had pizza from all over, including Italy itself, so I have lots to compare it with.  It was nothing special and those who are from the west, really are not missing much.  I am sure that would anger many from NYC, but oh well, that is just my opinion.

--Comedy.  Not good.  Let me give ya some advice.  If you ever go to NYC and you are walking around Time Square, don't buy comedy tickets from the people walking around.  They will tell you whatever you want to know to get you there.  I had asked about bad language and vulgar jokes and they assured us that though they might say a few swear words, but nothing that would be awful.  They also said there would be a two drink minimum.  No big deal, right?  Well, that would be about $15 for one person and since we don't drink that meant Jeremy and I paid $30 for our soda.  By the way, the show was full of swearing and vulgarity with many of the comics.  I don't find that funny in the least and shows me just how untalented they really are.  I would assume many of the other clubs are similar.  If you want comedy in NYC, make sure you see someone you already know. 

--Because the city is so big and so many people and so much to see, it can be a little overwhelming.  Most are just trying to get from A to B as quickly as they can.  I found that a little intimidating, but it takes getting use to, I suppose.  If I ever get back there again, I know exactly what to expect.

For the most part, I really did enjoy the city.  It truly is an amazing place to be.  I don't think I would ever want to live there, but visiting is truly an adventure.

  Up first, was the Empire State Building.  This was a great place to start and I highly recommend getting the audio tour.  I was able to see the whole city and all its burrows.  It was very informative and a great view.  By the way, I was so sad to not be able to see Mt. Olympus at the top.   HEHEHE  

Now, as far as I am concerned, how can you go to NYC and not see the Statue of Liberty.  She is an American symbol and I think an amazing thing to see.  The subway, takes you right there to the ferry that takes you over there.  Some just take the Statton Island Ferry (which is free, but it doesn't stop at the island), but I thought it was nice to walk around the Island and get up nice and close.  I thought she was an amazing site to see.

I know Time Square is truly the touristy place to walk around, but I have to say, I really liked being down there.  Especially at night.  There is so much to see and so many people.  I loved the crowds.  Jeremy, not his thing, but I was in my element there.  

Now if you saw The Night of the Museum and think you know the Natural History Museum, you would be wrong.  There really are not very many similarities.  I did find Dumb Dumb though.  I asked one of the museum guards if they give him any gum and he very annoyingly replied, "ya, one minute after midnight"  I might expect they get that question a lot, but I don't really feel bad for him.  When you work around tourists, guess what, ya gotta answer the tourist's silly questions.  

I liked Washington Square.  It was probably one of the more laid back places to sit and veg.  People are reading, painting, playing music.  And this is also one of the places where all the people are playing chess.  It was a great place to sit and relax.  This was the first time we got hot dogs from a New York vendor.  Some who live there think that's gross to get a hot dog from them, but I think it is very New York and you know what?  It was a pretty good hot dog.  So much, that I got another one the next day as well.  Oh  ya, I also got roasted cashews from vendors more then once.  Mmm, not only do they smell so good, but they taste wonderful.  

I found this fascinating.  I knew that the Manhattan temple was in the middle of the city, but to actually see it in the midst of the New York craziness was fascinating.  You would see all these businesses surrounding it and then there it was all in its glory.  Truly amazing!

You could spend days here and still not see everything.  Of course we all know this is where Percy Jackson began to find out who he was.  I saw some wonderful things here and I saw some weird things as well.    Below is a painting I bought from an artist on the street in front of the Metropolitan Museum.  She had some pretty pictures that she had painted, but in the end I decided on the Rainbow Bridge that is in Central Park.  Pretty, isn't it and I feel a very New York thing to get.  I saw lots of artists there either painting or trying to sell what they have painted.  I thought it was totally fun.

So, I really wanted to see the new 9/11 memorial.  Problem is even though tickets are free, they are reserved clear until the end of November.  When I went to the small museum next to Ground Zero, they said that they do give out 150 tickets every day that aren't reserved, but you have to get there pretty early.  Perhaps if I was staying longer, I could of tried harder, but I knew it would be too hard to get down there with the time I had to get those tickets.  I did walk around the area where the towers were though and looked through the small museum.  It was very humbling.  I saw many who were still affected by what happened as they put flowers, cards, and pictures to the fence of where they are building the new towers.  This is Freedom tower.  It is 

1,776 ft tall.  That is not a coincidence.  I was told though, when everything is finished, it will not be called Freedom tower, but the new World Trade Center, just as it always should be.

Here we have pictures of one of the biggest churches in the city, the "Dakota", where John Lennon was shot for you Beatles fans, the Guggenheim for those who want to see those weird Picassos and other out there works of art, the Brooklyn Bridge which if I had the time would have walked across to Brooklyn and some other city sites.

I took this picture of Central Park.  I thought it was a beautiful picture and you can already see some of those beautiful fall colors coming out.

So I have been to Madam Tussauds in London and also in Vegas.  I just finished reading a book by Michelle Moran about Madam Tussauds, which was a very good book.  I highly recommend it.  So of course, I had to go to Madam Tussauds in New York.  I know, you thought I really did see those famous people.  HA!  Ya right, like Abraham Lincoln is still alive. (I took a picture of him 'cause I just finished the book, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer.  As I was looking at him, I thought, he doesn't look like a vampire slayer at all.  It made me laugh.  By the way, that is a good book as well) I had to get a picture with Robert Pattinson cause he is Edward ya know, and we do love Daniel Craig, and how could we ever forget Bono.  Some of the others here are Helen Keller. ( I took one of her cause I live about 70 miles away from her childhood home)  Madam Tussaud herself, which is the last wax figure she did of herself, Bill Gates for you Microsoft fans, Miley Cyrus for you teeny bopper fans, and of course how could we forget SpiderMan and the Incredible Hulk.  Funny story about this place.  As I was going through the pop cultural part I saw the band "BackStreet Boys".  Well, there was someone taking a picture of them and I was waiting so I wouldn't go in front of her picture.  She seemed to be taking a long time so I proceeded to go behind her.  As I looked back at her I started to laugh, 'cause that person taking a picture was a wax person herself.  She was set up as a papparazzi person taking pictures of the band.  I felt really stupid.  So, I waited to see if others did the same and without fail, the next three or four people did the exact same thing as me.  We all just started laughing.  

The last night we were in New York, Jeremy and I were able to see a broadway show.  We decided to see SpiderMan, After the Dark.  Crazy I know, here we are in NYC and what do we see for a show, but SpiderMan.  Well, it was a compromise.  Jeremy really isn't into broadway so we had to see something he might like as well.  Actually, it was pretty good.  Kind of cool to see SpiderMan and the Green Goblin flying around the theater.  The music is written by Bono from U2 so if you are a U2 fan, you would like it.  Music was great.  Overall, not a bad choice.  

We had a good time.  So much to see and so much still to see.  I would love to go back sometime.