last day in NYC

I haven't gotten to this sooner...I am a bad blogger. We got back on Friday afternoon and I was soooooo tired! And today was sooooooo busy!

Our last day in NYC took place in lower Manhattan, mostly.

Me and my dad got up early to find a bridge in Central Park. You want the story behind this don't you? I knew you would.  A little bit ago, when we booked our trip, I found this great picture of a bridge in Central Park and I put it as my desktop on my computer.

My dad was determined to find that bridge for me so that I could take pictures of it. So on Thursday we got up early and went to Central Park before humanity descended. He did some research the day before on his handy dandy iPhone and figured out it was called the Gapstow Bridge. Then he found a map of the park that had all the bridges on it. So he found the cross streets for it and we made a plan. We found the bridge, without snow :( and I got to take pictures with my oh-so-wonderful camera.

When we got back to the hotel we headed out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was absolutely freezing but a beautiful day for sightseeing. Not a cloud in the sky.

And, since we were already in Lower Manhattan, at Battery Park, we took advantage and visited Trinity Church and Ground Zero. I have never been inside Trinity Church, it was absolutely beautiful.

They have a new memorial museum at Ground Zero. It is very well done and heart breaking. The room that got me was the one filled with pictures of all those that lost their lives. Floor to ceiling, the walls were covered in their pictures. I couldn't stay in the room, I was about to start crying my eyes out.

On Friday we got up bright and early to fly out. I didn't want to go. Usually by the end of vacations I am ready to go home, no matter how great the city was. But not New York, I absolutely love NYC and could have stayed there the rest of my life. I can't wait to go back!

Imagine all the people...

Second day in NYC.....another great one. Although, no celebrities today.

We woke up and went straight to the Empire State Building. We went all the way to the 102nd floor! the view was absolutely amazing!!

After that we headed over to Central Park West and went to the Natural History Museum. Lions and tigers and bears oh my! And Dinosaurs too! And a life size blue whale too!!!

The Great Hall

For my kids...we did a two week unit on dinosaurs

A life size blue whale!!!

On our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art we walked through Central Park and paid a visit to Strawberry Fields.

The park was beautiful even though there were no leaves on the trees. We walked up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the amazingness that it is! I could have stayed in there for the rest of the day and been perfectly happy! They have everything....

Temples from Egypt

Period Rooms in the American Wing

And of course all the beautiful artwork you can handle!

My most favorite piece of artwork ever...Degas' Little Dancer of Fourteen

They had three rooms devoted to Degas...even some of his unfinished sketches!

Van Gogh

Monet - Parliament Buildings

I wandered around for a while looking at all the beautiful art but alas, it was time to go.

We took the subway down to Soho and stopped at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC. Tt was great! They gave you little audio guides that automatically play music depending on what you were looking at. Looking at Elvis' guitar, you heard Elvis. Looking at AC/DC school boy uniforms, you heard AC/DC. They had so many things, ranging from Buddy Holly to Grandmaster Flash!

They also had a great John Lennon exhibit. The exhibit was very well done and very personal. Many of the items in the exhibit were on loan from Yoko Ono. They had the iconic New York City t-shirt and his trademark army surplus jacket. They also had a section devoted to his fight against immigration, including his green card. They had videos playing that highlighted his relationship with Yoko and his son, their activist efforts, and their art films. They also had personal letters and hand written lyric sheets. The most moving part of the exhibit was a brown paper bag. In this bag, marked "patient's belongings", were the clothes that John Lennon was wearing the day he was shot. Yoko still owns them and has not taken them out of the bag. Yoko also still owns the bloody glasses John was wearing the day he was murdered. She has not cleaned them, 29 years later. Those glasses spent the days after his murder sitting on a table in their apartment at The Dakota. Yoko used a picture of them for an anti-gun poster.

The coolest thing in the exhibit was The Telephone for Peace. It was a white rotary telephone mounted to the wall. The sign next to the phone read, "When the phone rings, answer it. It is Yoko Ono. Yes, it really is Yoko." Yoko installed this modern art in the exhibit and she actually does call it. The employee there said that she calls once a week and she hasn't called yet this week. How awesome is that!!!

We were all tuckered out after all this sightseeing so we headed back to the hotel and their amazing beds, stopping for dinner at a local diner on the way.

Tomorrow I'm up bright and early so I can go up to Central Park and get pictures before the crowds descend. We also plan on seeing The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Ground Zero tomorrow. Good night all, sleep tight.

what more could a girl ask for?

This morning I woke up at the butt crack of dawn [3am!!!!] to get on a flight to got to NYC!!! The early morning can be forgiven because of the destination.

After a long morning of flying we finally arrived...picture happy Savannah at this point!!!

We got to our hotel, The Sofitel. It is probably the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in and we have our own little mini suite which is awesome. But the best thing about the room are these beds.

These are the most comfortable beds known to man. And I should know, I'm blogging from mine right now! As my cousin Jessica put it, its like sleeping on a marshmallow!

We ventured out for lunch and then headed over to Rockefeller Center. The tree was all lit up and it was gorgeous! I got to play with my new camera a bit and I fell even more in love with it!

We decided to go and take the NBC Studio Tour. My parents and I had taken it before but my cousin has never been to New York. It's really neat to see all the behind the scene things. But, just wait for this story! As the tour was winding down our tour guides said that there was an announcement to make. A college-aged girl comes into the room and asks us if we want to watch Jimmy Fallon practice his monologue for the show tonight. He would be basically testing jokes out on our group to see if people would like them. Of course we said yes!!!! So about 30 minutes of waiting later...we went into the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon studio!! And there he was...Jimmy Fallon himself! I am a huge fan and there he was, right in front of me! He talked to us for a little bit and tried about 25 jokes, which were all hilarious. It was such a great surprise! It made our whole day! Only in NYC can that happen to you!

After the studio tour we caught a quick bite and then hopped on a Holiday Lights Night Tour on one of those red double decker buses. The city is beautiful at night, especially at this time of year!

Time Warner Center...Columbus Circle

Christ Church on Park Ave.

Cartier....so cute!!!

Rockefeller Center

Empire State Building....all lit up for Hannukah

 The theme for Macy's windows this year is Miracle on 34th Street

So, what have we learned from this post: all a girl needs is a comfy bed, a beautiful city, and an amazing day to be on top of the world!!

My current theme songs

So these songs have been on repeat lately for me. For obvious reasons.

And for those that are more of the gangster persuasion...

I almost forgot!

We booked our trip to NYC!! That's right, Big Apple, here I come. Oh to be a college graduate and have the most wonderful parents ever! NYC has to be one of my favorite cities of all time, a close second to London. I am super excited to be going when we are too! The week before Christmas! I have never been to the city during Christmas time! All the store will be decorated for Christmas and the tree in Rockefeller Center will be lit! I'm hoping for snow. Fingers-crossed.

We are staying in a very posh and swanky hotel. Sofitel on 45th St. We got a great deal! [It's French, that makes it automatically cool and trendy don't ya know.]

How quickly will we get bad looks for being the touristy tourists that we are?

Well, I'm trying to make us be as un-touristy as we possibly can while we're there. We have been there a few times so we're practically like real New Yorkers, right? Yeah, I didn't think so either but we can dream. Anyway, I looked up a bunch of restaurants to eat at that aren't your normal tourist places. None of them are in Times Square. I prefer to go to places that locals go to. It's the best way to see the city, any city, in my opinion. We are only going to be there for three days and I'm not gonna waste it in the T.G.I. McFunster places [as Anthony Bourdain would say].

We have a bunch of stuff already booked. A night tour that specializes in holiday lights [how p.c. are we], of course Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, the new Ground Zero museum, Empire State Building, the U.N., etc. My dad is going to try to do a ride along with NYPD while we are there [so jealous by the way]. We can't leave without seeing a show? But which one to see? Any suggestions? I'm really hoping for Mary Poppins! I never got to see it when I was in London.

I'm going to try and blog as we go along to keep you all up to date with our galavanting. How else am I to make you all envious and green with jealousy?