We agreed to meet at a commuter lot and then drive the rest of the way together. I arrived before Kim, so I entertained myself with some self-portraits while I waited.
Then Kim called and told me she was running late. So I waited some more...
When she arrived she was full of apologies, which included a donut for me. I just laughed and told her not to worry about it... it was all good, and there was no need to stress about it. Soon, we were on our way.
The drive there was easy... we took a slightly different route than the one I took last time I'd been, so I was a smidge nervous about screwing it up, but we arrived with no problems. Once we were parked, we hiked our way up to Central Park, where Kim whipped out her camera and started taking pictures. (I think she took something like 300 pictures while we were there. Don't worry--I don't have quite as many.)
We walked the lower loop of the park, and there were tons of people around. It didn't feel crowded or anything, though... it was just obvious that everyone was taking advantage of the gorgeous weather. I'd never walked too deep into Central Park, so I enjoyed all the new sights as much as Kim did.
We stopped along the way for some pictures... I took the first one, and Kim took the 2nd one.
Then we came across a random rock and I told Kim she should totally climb up there so I could take her picture. And she did, giving me this lovely pose.
Then she gave me a decent pose...
Then of course, she made me pose...
I'm not sure what I was doing here... Fixing my hair? Flexing my biceps? Who knows...
Me taking another picture of Kim taking a picture. No, this isn't posed at all... why do you ask?
We wandered along the trails, kind of looking for the Central Park Zoo. We realized we'd overshot it and re-routed ourselves, but by the time we found out, we weren't really too pumped about it anymore, so we by-passed it. We walked along the outside edge of the park, along 5th Avenue, and then popped back into the park to find some benches to eat our lunch on.
While we were eating, we enjoyed people-watching. Some guy dressed like Michael Jackson walked by us twice... the first time, I was the only one who noticed him, and it didn't dawn on me who he was dressed up as. when Kim saw him a few minutes later, she immediately said, "Oh, look, Michael Jackson," and it was then that I noticed his white face, silver glove, etc. Yeh, I'm quick like that.
After lunch, we left Central Park and hit up FAO Schwarz, which I think might have been one of Kim's favorite stops, judging by how much time we spent there. We had fun acting like kids and playing with all the toys. I took several pictures for Ari's sake, with some of her favorite characters... Elmo, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and the Very Hungry Caterpillar...
They had a bunch of little birds that chirped, and I found an oriole. So this picture is kind of more for Tony than for Ari, since he's a Baltimore Orioles fan...
There was a whole Harry Potter section... and we're both Harry Potter nerds, so...
After FAO Schwarz, we kept wandering down 5th Avenue, me pointing out all the big designer-name stores along the way. And once we got the Disney Store, of course we had to stop in there. And I had to get a pic with my man, Johnny...
We continued down 5th Avenue until we came to St. Patrick's Cathedral. We would have gone inside, except that there was a wedding going on. Our next stop was Saks 5th Avenue, and after that, Rockefeller Center.
From there, we made our way down to Times Square, where we entertained ourselves in Toys R Us, the Hershey's store, and the M&M's store (which I never knew was 3 stories). No pictures from any of those spots--they were massively crowded.
Behind me is the tower where they drop the ball on New Year's Eve. I was surprised to see the ball still up there... I kind of figured they just took it down shortly after New Year's.
You can't really tell in that shot, but I was standing in the street. I remember reading, months ago, that the mayor of NYC was considering blocking off some of the roads in Times Square in the summer to help with pedestrian congestion. I had completely forgotten about that until we got there and I saw it. I kept going on and on about it to Kim, because I've been to NYC so many times, and it was so weird to see people just walking along in the street.
It was about dinner time by now, and we were both dying to sit down and rest our tired feet. We hiked a few blocks back up toward Rockefeller Center, to Ted's Montana Grill. Kim had never eaten there before, but she loved it. We stuffed ourselves with bison burgers, onion rings and fries, and Kim even tried her first cappucino. It also gave us a chance to chat... it's kind of hard to carry on any kind of deep conversation when you're hurrying along the sidewalks and gaping at the sights (and, in Kim's case, taking pictures of everything).
While we were eating dinner, it started to absolutely pour. I had a view of the window from my seat, and I could see trees blowing in the wind and people scurrying by, huddled under umbrellas. The forecast had called for a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, but we'd been lucky enough to have perfect weather all day. We took our time finishing our dinners (and that was part of the reason Kim went for the cappucino--to kill some time). By the time we were done, it seemed like it had stopped raining, so we ventured out to find that not only had it stopped raining, but the sky was blue and filled with white clouds again. Our timing was impeccable.
Our first order of business after dinner was to find a pharmacy so I could buy some band-aids. I'd been developing blisters on my heels all day, but they hadn't really bothered me much. But after sitting down for a couple hours, they suddenly hurt so badly, and I realized I needed something. We took a gander at Radio City Music Hall as we left the restaurant, then headed back toward Times Square, keeping our eyes peeled for a Duane Reade. We found one pretty quickly, and I bought some heavy-duty band-aids. Kim bought some Advil, and while I wasn't looking, bought me Twizzlers to make me feel better. Between that and the band-aids, I was golden.
As we continued walking, Kim spotted this rainbow between buildings... yet another sign of the perfection of the day.
We walked by Madame Tussaud's... well, I should say, we tried. There was a mob of people around the entrance. I mean, Times Square is one big mob scene in general, but this particular crowd seemed unusual. We discovered why when we finally glimpsed the window--there was a wax figure of Michael Jackson there, and apparently, everyone was trying to get a picture of it. I'm not sure if Kim snapped a picture or not, but we quickly hurried along. She spotted a Sanrio store across the street, and we spent a few minutes in there.
I asked her if she wanted to see the Empire State Building, warning that it was still several blocks away. But she was game, so we headed down toward 34th Street via Broadway. Along the way, we passed by Herald Square, where Broadway and 6th almost converge. It's another little spot where parts of the street are blocked off, with little tables and chairs set up. We had a view of the Empire State Building from there, so Kim took a few pictures. We headed back uptown via 6th, and passed Bryant Park along the way. I had forgotten where it was, but I was happy to come across it, since I'd intended to show it to Kim. Really, I think the only major stuff we didn't see/do was Statue of Liberty, Battery Park and Ground Zero. Other than that, I think we hit up all the major tourist-y type stuff.
As we passed by Times Square again, I took a couple more pictures, simply because I was so fascinated with the idea of people being able to just walk in the streets. If you look closely in this one, you can see a couple people sitting in lawnchairs. I never did figure out where they got those from.
By now, it was about 8:30, and we were both exhausted from all the walking. I asked Kim if there was anything else she wanted to see/do before we left, and she said no. We reluctantly headed back toward the Crowne Plaza where we'd parked, neither one of us wanting to leave the city.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff from our little adventure, but I'll probably remember more once Kim gets a chance to go through her pictures. So there's a chance I may steal some pictures from her and do a follow-up entry. Of course, she's on vacation now, so that probably won't happen anytime soon.
It was a fantastic day, though, and we kept marveling throughout the day at how perfectly everything worked out. We got there without getting lost, and hitting no traffic... the city wasn't too crazy/crowded (as I'd worried it might be, on a summer weekend)... we had glorious weather... we got tons of exercise... we got to see tons of stuff... and best of all, we got to spend some quality time together. We've already decided that we definitely need to do this again sometime.
And, for the record, my legs are wicked sore today. But it was so worth it.
2 comments:
Aw, looks like fun! I'm glad you had a good time with your friend.
Looks like a great time was had! Glad you got to show your best friend around NYC!
Post a Comment