N-Y-C!

Let me preface this post by warning everyone that I LOVED New York so be prepared for some enthusiasm!

We left for New York on May 22, the Friday before Memorial Day. Our bus driver was named Tony and at the beginning of our journey, he sang to us over the intercom. Only $40 and I got a ride to New York and a free concert! Of course, we had to take a picture with Tony after we arrived.

Here was my first exposure to a New York bathroom. Notice the open bottle of alcohol in the bathroom stall. Nice.

We went straight from the bus drop off to Times Square. It is quite an overwhelming experience and a bit of a tourist trap, but I loved it!



This is me eating my first hot dog from a vendor in New York.



After Times Square we made the trek up to our hostel in Upper Manhattan. It was a clean hostel, but the building it was in was old. This is all of us trying to pack into the tiny old elevator.

Here is our room. Three bunk beds in New York for about $28 a night.

This is Juliana and me on Saturday morning riding the subway.

Saturday morning we took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. There was a beautiful view of Manhattan from the ferry.

I really enjoyed Ellis Island and learning about the tradition of immigration that we have in the United States.



From Ellis Island, we headed over to China Town. Michelle had told us before we got to New York that she wanted to buy a purse in China Town. So after we got off of the subway and a shady looking man asked us to follow him to his purse shop, we did it. Looking back on it, it seems like what we were doing was probably illegal, but somehow at the time I was just content to follow everyone else around.

We also had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in China Town.


Little Italy is right next to China Town.


Alicia waited in line for hours on Saturday morning while we went to the Statue of Liberty to get us discounted tickets to The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway.

Here is us in the theater.


For dinner on Saturday we went to his famous pizza place in Brooklyn called Grimaldi's. It is so famous that we had to wait in line for hours to get inside.

Mmmm...

We planned it so that we would walk across the Brooklyn bridge toward Manhattan as the sun set. Beautiful!
On our way to our next destination, we made a stop at Grand Central Station.


It has a cool ceiling.

For dessert we went to this cute little cafe called Serendipity. They have the most delicious and expensive desserts there.




On our way to church on Sunday morning, we walked to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It is said to be the fourth largest Christian church in the world.





After our visit to the cathedral, we walked through Central Park. I looked up as we were walking and saw the Angel Moroni sticking up through the trees!

While waiting for church to start, we sat out on the rocks.


And took pictures on the bridge that reminded us of the movie Enchanted.

The Manhattan temple!


After church we went back to central park to eat lunch.


And took the subway down to the World Trade Center. This is Harry. He has the most amazing story and was so interesting to listen to. Here is a video of him on YouTube.


Near the World Trade Centers is Trinity church. National Treasure, anyone?

And near Trinity Church is Wall Street. Here is the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange).


We woke up early on Monday morning. I went to Columbia University while the other girls went to a famous bagel shop. We met up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I LOVED it! Inside I saw paintings by Monet, Degal, Degas, Picasso, Manet, and VanGogh.


There were even annunciation paintings. This was the size of the whole wall!


This is the perfect picture to describe the weekend. Juliana and me looking at the map.


After the museum we made a stop by FAO Schwartz and were able to play on the BIG Piano.


And as we were walking to the UN, we took a picture by the LOVE statue.


Sadly, North Korea set off some missiles so the UN was closed for the day. World Peace!



Then we headed over to the Rockefeller Center. You can see all of NYC from up there.






After the Rockefeller, we swung back by our hostel to pick up our bags and headed to the bus station. It was such a fun vacation and we were able to do so much. I highly recommend New York! Here is us by the hostel.