You can read Part 1 of this series here
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From Wall Street, we hopped on a Subway or two to go to Chinatown. I was surprised to find myself really excited to be there, even though I hadn’t given much thought to being in the world famous Chinatown of New York City. Everything was pretty much how I had imagined it: high buildings that were shops on the bottom and apartments on top, with banners and Chinese decorations hanging from them and sooo many delicious looking Asian pastries! Yummm. We agreed that Adam probably wouldn’t be game for eating an authentic Chinese lunch, so we walked a few more blocks to Little Italy, where the food was much more familiar for Adam.
In the top left corner of the red and white sign it reads "Munchies Paradise"
We decided to take a chance with a little restaurant that had a very persuasive Italian host on the curb promoting the lunch specials. I, for one, was very happy for the break from walking, so I could sit down, take a break, and chug some cold water! I ordered a dish called Spaghetti Puttanesca, which is a very simple dish that consisted of spaghetti noodles, sliced grapes tomatoes, whole garlic cloves (YESSS), capers, Kalamata & green olives, fresh basil, and anchovies all tossed in what I believe was just good ol’ EVOO. Y’all, I am STILL SALIVATING over this dish! I have to remake it again and post my version recipe of the recipe (probably sans anchovies) on here so you all can taste the magnificence of it, too. My top priority for my day in New York was to eat my way through it, and I think I did a pretty decent job of it.
After our delicious feast at lunch, we made our way to Times Square, which was another place that Adam was able to check off of his Bucket List. I was instantly hit with a electric walls of unending stimulation.
I did a little bit of research, and found out that the Theatre District- which Times Square is a part of- “at peak usage, the New York power company, Con Edison, estimates that power consumption in the Theater District is 161 megawatts of electricity being used at once, with Times Square accounting for a decent chunk of that power consumption.” [1] An example of what 161 megawatts looks like is, “About enough energy to power 161,000 average US homes” and “Twice the electricity required to power all of the casinos in Las Vegas” [2].
WHAT.
The most I could do in Times Square was look around in awe; I don’t think I talked very much while we were there. Just like when I visited Las Vegas a couple years ago, I’m glad to be able to say that I’ve been there, but I don’t have a longing desire to go back to either place any time soon.
We Subway’d (that is most definitely a verb now) due West to see the aptly named Grand Central Station. The most that I knew about Grand Central Station before arriving came from the cartoon movie, Madagascar, when the animals went there in search of their friend, Marty the Zebra (“Grand Central Station: It’s Grand, AND it’s Central!”), i.e. I knew next to nothing about it. But what a gorgeous place it is! It was a lot bigger than I had imagined it being, too. And if you want a nice, clean bathroom in NYC, this is the place to come to.
From Grand Central, we hiked up 5th Avenue for what seemed 175 blocks (okay, I guess it was more like 10 blocks or so, but it sure felt like more than that!). By the time we reached Tiffany’s, my. dawgs. were. BARKIN’. (Stacy lingo for,“My feet hurt SO bad!”). Seeing Tiffany’s again for the first time in 11 years, was just the jolt of excitement that I needed after feeling so tired. I really appreciate how nice everyone is inside Tiffany’s! Even though I can’t afford one single piece of anything in the store, I felt like Audrey Hepburn when I walked in, and that’s priceless ;)
Tiffany’s is just two blocks South of The Plaza Hotel and Central Park, so we headed in that direction next. You may remember The Plaza from the movie Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. They even have carriages just outside of the hotel, “Just like in the movie!” Adam exclaimed. Sadly, we didn’t have any extra time to walk around and look through Central Park, as we had to get to a Yankees’ game. But you know it’s on my list for my next NYC trip!
Lucky us that we were able to walk just a few more steps to catch the Subway(s) in South Central Park all the way up to Yankee Stadium in The Bronx. Yankee Stadium is, hands down, the most beautiful game stadium that I have ever laid eyes on. It looked like a glowing Roman palace in all of its splendor. Even though I would personally never root for the Yankees, I gotta give it to them: their stadium is gorgeous and their fans are die hard and totally into every play of the game. Just a few rows in front of us were men still in their business suits. I figured they must have come to the game straight from work. Talk about dedication! You'd never see that at a Mariners' game!
We found our seats in the 400(!) level of the stadium (Safeco Field in Seattle only has 300-level seats!) and quickly settled in, as it felt like you could easily make one wrong move and roll off into the field and be paralyzed. As long as you stayed seated, you felt semi-safe.
We got to go to the best of all rival games: Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees. Look how packed out the house is!
Adam’s initial thoughts on Yankee Stadium: “[It was] one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen with my eyes. As soon as you got out of the Subway and saw it, wow.
With the sun setting behind it and all those people. The thing about the Subway is that you go from one of the worst things [being the Subway] to seeing one of the greatest things; it was like BAM!”
We were only able to stay until the 7th inning of the game, because we had quite a ways to travel to get back home. The Yankees did end up winning 3-2 (I was rooting for the Red Sox, so I'm kinda glad we didn't stick around for everyone to jeer at me [or worse] while I wore my Red Sox hat).
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One thing I noticed on the Subway home was that everyone seemed to be "in sync" - we all moved together with the train as it bobbled along, swaying to and fro, and we were all tired. Whether it was from work, sightseeing, or what have you, I watched as people closed their eyes, exhausted from their day, and they were just there. Just five more minutes of rest was needed before getting off the Subway and facing whatever might be coming their way.
From the Subway our of New York City, we had to catch the train back to New Jersey, and we ALMOST missed it! We were literally running down the pavement to get onto the train. At this point of the day, I had lost all hope in the feeling of my feet returning before bedtime, so every step I took, it felt very odd/hurt very much, like I didn't have feet anymore and was running on the nubs of my calves.
Once on the train, we had quite a while before we reached home. I hit the jackpot and found myself smack dab in the middle of a Yankees/Mets dispute! I actually updated my Facebook status while it was happening:
May 8th at 7:41 PM: "Sitting on the train to go back home from the city, and I find myself in the middle of a Mets & Yankees argument
with two true New York accents on both sides. This is just what I’ve been waiting for!"
While my hopes of coming back from a week's vacation with a "Joysey" accent may seem a little far reaching, at least I got to hear two grown men with thick New York accents go at it over their teams' rivalry. I'm not sure I could have ended my night on a better note! The man who was for the Yankees kept repeating, "YEAHOKAYTHANKS" after everything the other man kept dishing out at him. It was soooo funny. You guys should've been there.
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In conclusion, I'm so thankful I've had the opportunity to see and explore New York City not just once, but twice, so far in my life. I don't get to travel as often as my heart desires, but when I do, I know am so blessed to have the opportunities. We've been home from New York for nearly 2.5 weeks now, and I'm still having really complex and intricate dreams about being there. It's almost like I get to visit the City again in my dreams, and that makes me really glad.
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P.S. this Seattle girl is happy to report that there are Starbucks on nearly every corner in New York City, just like in Seattle, and that made my coffee-loving, ex-barista-but-still-a-barista-at-heart heart very happy to see.
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