{ NYC }

It has been 3 weeks, (wow already!!) since my friend of 35 years and I went to New York City to celebrate turning 40!!!  It was absolutely fabulous.  Everything worked out pefectly from our flight (Cathay Pacific - awesome airline) to our hotel (Roosevelt Hotel) that was centrally located.   It was an amazing time and I defintely am making plans to go back (I doubled my savings bond deductions to speed it up a bit- haahaa).   

The only thing I kick myself for was not taking my D80!! Don't know what I was thinking!!  I took about 400 photos, but only 100 or so were worth uploading!  It was a bad decision on my part, considering that NYC is SUCH a photographers dream city!!!     

We started off our trip arriving in NYC at 7am on Friday.   By the time we got to the hotel and dropped off our luggage it was close to 9am and we were raring to become tourists.   Once we ditched our bags we headed up 45th Street and stumbled upon the magnificent St. Patrick's Catholic Cathedral. 

St Patrick's Roman Catholic Catherdral - New York City 

Then we headed over to Rockerfeller Center and it was just like you see on TV and in movies. Too cool, they were fixing up the ice rink, so there was no ice yet.  

While walking around we also saw,

                                                                                                                                         NBC Studios

Radio City Music Hall

A great way to see all of Manhattan is at the Top of the Rock, observation deck at Rockerfeller Centre.  It was worth the $19.00 each we spent (we used a $2.00 off coupon).

One thing we did do that was tons of fun, was play a free game of ping pong in Bryant Park. It was fun. I mean how  many times will you get to play ping pong in a park in the middle of Manhattan!

 

Our next stop was Grand Central Terminal.   What an amazing old building.  Just like you see in the movies! 

We took in Times Square most nights and were in awe of the action, lights and buzz the area gave off.    Signs, signs everywhere!!!

We also decided to take in 2 Broadway shows. We saw Burn the Floor, an amazing dance show of extreme ballroom dancing.

    We also saw Momma Mia. It was just as good, if not better then the movie!

  We had also wanted to see Rock of Ages, but never got the chance.   80's music how could one not love that!!!

We did a hop on/hop off Gray Line bus tour  and I highly recommend it if you want to see as much as possible in a short amount of time.  It was a great way to see it all.  We saw Brooklyn, Brooklyn bridge, Pier 17, Central Park, Garment district, Madison Square Garden, Penn Station,  Flatiron, Finanicial district  the Upper East and Upper West sides -  Okay pretty much we saw ALL of Manhattan from one end to the next!!!    

Central Park

One area I`d like to go back to would be Little Italy, SoHo and Greenwich Village to spend a bit of time at each one poking around and checking out the restaurants and cafe shops they have to offer.

Although famous 5th Avenue has high end designer clothes/fashions at high end prices, we found a number of great deals.   Pashmina scarfs selling for $5.00 each,  boxed jewelery for $5.00, I heart NY shirts for $2.00 and knock off purses for $20.00.  I found a Gucci knock off for $20.00.

I must say that the people that we came across in NY were very friendly and helpful.  I remember a nice lady at Grand Central who helped us to take the subway to Central Park. Very friendly.   

Everytime I hear U2 sing "New York"  I now know what they mean and I still can envision them  filming their video down the streets of New York.    I definitely heart NY!!!!  and I can't wait to go back!!!