Amy in the City

WOW! That's all I can say! You know, you see New York City on TV and in the movies all the time, so you think you know what's it all about. Well you don't know until you go that you know NOTHING!! And I was so lucky to have my own personal tour guide, my cousin Elizabeth who is studying at NYU.

She and I walked miles and miles and miles taking in so many sites. We went to Times Square which was INSANE! I have never seen so many people in my life. We went to Rockefeller Center, saw Broadway, 5th Avenue, Park Avenue, all the fancy shops which I managed to stay out of, thankfully. As much as I wanted to go up in the Empire State Building, there was zero visibility so that was a no-go, but the sheer size of that place is impressive.

We went to FAO Schwarz. I rode on the subway and didn't get mugged. I bought lunch off a street vendor and it was yum-o. We spent a long time in Central Park which was just amazing and I HAD to take a carriage ride. And I seriously wanted to run through the park like Princess Giselle and sing That's How You Know but I exercised some restraint.

We drove by Ground Zero. At Battery Park we saw the sculpture from the World Trade Center with an Eternal Flame for the victims of 9/11. That was a moment. We also saw the Statue of Liberty. I wish I could have gotten closer and gone to Ellis Island but there are only so many hours in a day. Oh and I rode in a few NYC cabs and have lived to tell about it though I was quite close to having a heart attack several times.

And when I think about all that I DIDN'T see, it is truly mind blowing!

So the whole reason I took this little jaunt up there was to celebrate my brother's birthday. It was so nice to see him and his family and his friends. His friends that he has known forever, therefore I have known forever. These friends who are all now married and having children of their own. Which is so hard for me to fathom because I just always think of them as the punks that he played Little League with and that I had to drive to school. I am truly amazed and insanely jealous that this group of friends has remained as close as they have for this long, even though they are all spread throughout the country now. I keep in touch with no one from high school. That's probably not a bad thing.

We ate at some great restaurants, we hit up some fun bars where I saw plenty of people in jeans by the way, we got poured on in the Meatpacking District, we were certain that we saw a dead bum in a garbage bag but I saw his foot move, we took the craziest limo ride ever!! Who knew you could hail a limo like a cab and then stuff 12 people in there like a bunch of sardines? We may have had way too many cocktails. It was great fun.

But you know with all the craziness of the weekend and all the fun partying, my favorite thing was just hanging out with family. The day I got to spend with my cousin in the city was awesome. And when all of Mr. T's friends left and I got to just be with them, that was great. I miss these guys so much and playing baseball with his kids in the park was the BEST!! It was so important to me to spend that extra time with them which is why I took a late flight out.

Which just got later and later and later. Being stuck on the runway due to "traffic" for 40 minutes is no fun. Flying through nasty turbulence is no fun. Sitting next to two ladies who talked non-stop for 4 hours and not even in English, is definitely no fun. Having to walk across three terminals to get your luggage which was distributed onto two carousels, not even side by side was not fun.

But the weekend was fun and I am so glad I got away for a bit. And glad to be home, I sure did miss all these brats even the big one!

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