Day 4 - Manhattan, New York

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Grand Central Station in the rain

As early as we'd been waking up every morning on this trip, you'd think we would have slept in a little today, but no, we wanted to be on the road heading to New York by 6:00 a.m. so the alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. (that is 3:00 a.m. Mountain Standard Time) and we rolled out of bed, got dressed and realized it was POURING outside. We hoped that it was only raining in Baltimore and that by the time we arrived in New York, the storm would be over and we could enjoy a sunny, spring day.

Well, that certainly was a good plan but it wasn't the way it turned out. We drove the three hours to New Jersey in a heavy downpour. We parked at the Newark Train Station in pounding rain. We rode the train across the Hudson River as it rained and rained. We came out of the World Trade Center Station and were instantly drenched as we walked the couple of blocks to the subway station to purchase our Metro passes.
Walking in Times Square in the rain.

We obtained our passes and rode the subway down to 42nd Street and Broadway. We were hoping we would be able to attend a matinee performance, but found out after checking at four different theaters that matinees are only shown on Wednesday and Saturdays and we were there on a Tuesday. We could have purchased tickets for all these shows (except Wicked which was sold out through May) for a 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. show, but that would put us back out of the theater around 11:00 p.m., then a train ride back to New Jersey and a three hour drive back to Baltimore AND since our flight was leaving at 6:30 a.m. the next morning; we opted not to attend a show.
Riding the subway allowed us to be dry for a few minutes at a time.

So we shopped instead!! We walked to 5th Avenue and ooohed and aaaahed at some of the window displays and the price tags on clothing and jewelery, then we found the H & M Store on 5th and had some fun there. Cami loves having clothes that no one else at her school is wearing. Well, we found her some very original things that won't be duplicated by anyone else at Weber High School.

We ducked into other shops and stores to warm up and dry off a little, drank hot chocolate as often as possible and made our way to Little Italy. Since our first visit to NYC back in 2003, we have loved Little Italy and the restaurant, De Nicos. So of course we had to go back there and have a delicious Italian dinner. We enjoyed the warmth (literally and figuratively) of this place and of sitting together and laughing about our extremely soggy day.

We rode the subway all the way down to Bowling Green so Kelly could have a look at the Statue of Liberty, which was barely visible through the fog and rain, but he was so excited to be in Manhattan and to see all these sights he had heard about from Dani over the years.
soggy tourists at Rockefeller Plaza.

From 5:00 to 6:00 p.m., there were so many people with umbrellas walking the sidewalks, it was almost impossible to walk without losing an eye or sustaining an injury. Cami needed a souvenir T Shirt for her friend, Emily, so we kept an eye out for tacky tourist shops wherever we went. It turned out that we didn't find the shirt until we were in the train station under the WTC getting our tickets back to New Jersey. Finally we had checked everything off our 'NYC to do' list (except the Broadway Show) so we decided we could head back to Baltimore.

We got back to Dani's and Kelly's apartment about 10:00 p.m., did a few loads of laundry and said our goodbyes. It was sad to see this part of our trip coming to an end. We had so much fun and enjoyed seeing our wonderful daughter and her husband. We also had such grand adventures in their new home area. We are so grateful to have their home and surroundings in our mind so we can imagine them working and playing and living there now.

We look forward to the next time we see Dani and Kelly...until then, these memories will keep us connected.