I HEART NY!

This week is school vacation week for schools in Maine. My week started with coaching at the state meet on Monday. Then, my plan was to get up early Tuesday morning and drive into CT and take the train to NYC with my friend Meg. We had bought tickets to see a show on Broadway Tuesday night so we had to make sure we got there on time. Mother nature had other plans. She decided that Tuesday would bring a pretty good storm. Meg and I were afraid that we would be slowed down by the storm and that we would be stressed about the trip, so we decided to leave Monday night. At about 8 p.m. we hit the road! I was a little tired, having coached all day, but the excitement of getting to NYC kept me awake and alert. Our plan was to get into CT and stay at a hotel then go the rest of the way Tuesday morning. In my head I wanted to get close to a town in CT where I had spent a year working. I knew that from that area we would have about a 45 minute drive to the train station I wanted to use to get into Grand Central. Because we left in the evening we were able to avoid a lot of traffic and made good time. It began snowing just on the other side of Sturbridge, Ma. At first it was just flurries which continued through Hartford. The snow picked up near Waterbury and at that point I was determined to get to the town I had set as my goal... and we made it...we checked into a hotel just before midnight, agreeing that we wouldn't set an alarm, and just get up and go at our leisure. The train station I had hope to use had changed a lot since I was there before. The parking situation was confusing, but we made it and next time I will know better! We were up and on the train by mid morning.
This is me on the train, so excited to be going to NYC. The last time I was in NYC was probably 2005 or 2006, before I had major knee issues - well before surgery. I was very much looking forward to being able to WALK around in NYC and enjoy it !
I LOVE arriving at Grand Central Station, there is something that feels urban and special each time I am there. When we got to the city it was really snowing pretty hard. The snow was the wet kind of snow and the wind blew it into our faces as we walked to our hotel. The walk was very cold and carrying our bags was a bit of a pain, but we were both too stubborn to get a cab. Part of the NYC experience, for me, is walking. In hindsight, a cab in such crappy weather would have been just fine! We arrived a bit before we could check into our hotel so we found a cool deli and had lunch. NYC is sooo unlike Maine. The deli we chose had such a variety of food, sandwiches, pizza, thai food, chinese food, barbecue choices, it was insane -in a good way. We got our food and went upstairs and sat by a window overlooking the street and people watched.


We then got to our hotel, it was a nice place, reasonably priced for NYC and we were only a block away from Times Square. Our room was small and FREEZING! We ended up having to have portable heaters in our room, but it was all good! I will probably stay there again sometime when in NYC. We were pretty cold and decided we wanted to do something inside for the afternoon before going to the theater that night. So we decided to go to the Museum of Natural History. And of course, we decided to walk up there. (Which was about 40 blocks!)








This is a globe that is outside of the Trump Tower near Columbus Circle. It was kind of cool to see the snow on the globe. The snow was beautiful. I would have preferred it to be warmer, but it was pretty. The other picture is a picture of Central Park. We walked along the West side of Central Park as we walked to the Museum. I have to say that the museum is probably not a place I would return to. There was a lot to see there... my reasons for not returning has more to do with my personality... I have learned over recent years that I am a bit of a control freak. I like to know where I am going and how I will get there. I think this is one reason I love NYC, it's a grid, simple. Streets tun north to south and east to west, so it is easy to locate places. The museum was chaotic. It had no rhyme or reason, at least in my mind. And the maps were not user friendly. There were few signs around the museum that gave you any idea of where you were on the maps and where to go to get to other places.
I didn't like it. But, I do think it was a good idea for the afternoon, it allowed us to not get too chilled before heading to the theater! On our walk back to the hotel we stopped and had a slice of pizza...mmm, so good! And I noticed they had black and white cookies! Black and white cookies is a NY thing and I have one every time I go there, they are good, but I do it more because it's a NY thing to do! Then it was time to get ready to go to the theater! Meg and I both were nervous about walking to the theater in our boots. Both of us had dress boots that had heels and the sidewalks were slippery, but we figured we would go slowly and we made it.












The show we saw was WICKED! I had seen it in Boston before but was very excited to see it again. I LOVE Broadway shows. LOVE them! The talent is amazing. I was in awe of the performers. It was WICKED good! After the show we stopped at an Italian restaurant we had scoped out earlier and it was a great place to have a meal. The wait staff was fabulous, so friendly! At this point we went back to the hotel and Meg was wiped out. I was pretty tired too, but knew that this was our only night in NYC. Originally we had planned to spend two nights in Manhattan, but because we tried to avoid the storm and stayed in CT for a night, we had to change our plans. I was bummed about that... As Meg was changing into her PJs I was looking out our window and knew I couldn't leave NYC without walking around Times Square at night...it's one of my favorite things to do. So I went, solo. Meg offered to go with me, but she was tired, her feet were killing her, and she wanted to go to sleep.
And, selfishly, I kind of wanted to go by myself. I needed some alone time in NYC... sounds kind of impossible, but I needed it. For me, NYC is an amazing place, where I feel differently than I do in any other place. It's not that I blend in in NYC, my height doesn't allow me to blend in anywhere... but in NYC, I am just another unique person... there are so many unique people that nobody really cares or notices... well maybe they notice my height, but the reactions are so different than in other places.
NYC seems to see my height as a cool thing, not as an oddity... like it is often seen in Maine.... In Maine I just can't get away from all the questions, wherever I go... and in NYC, it's just so different... a sense of freedom for me that I can't articulate well. There is a solitude that I feel there, a peacefulness in a way... a peacefulness amongst complete chaos, and I love that dichotomy. So I took my camera and wandered Times Square. The weather had drastically changed when I got there. The snow had stopped, the wind had stopped, and there were only a few people on the streets. I think most people had let the weather get the best of them. So I felt like I had Times Square to myself, not including the police officers that are everywhere, the guys on the street trying to sell tickets to late night peep shows or comedy shows, and a lone street vendor. He was selling artwork of NYC. I love these guys who sell this art stuff. They haven't created it, they are just selling it... and I found two prints that I liked and managed to get him to go from $10 each to two for $15. That's another fun part of the vendors, you can dicker with them. So I walked around Times Square, took a few deep breaths, exhaled, and felt happy... and then headed back to the hotel. I didn't want Meg to get worried about me wandering the big apple alone.
Wednesday morning we were up early because we had reservations to go to the Statue of Liberty at 9:00 a.m. We decided to take the Subway because walking that far would be nuts. I admit that I am nervous about the subway, not about being on it, but about how to make sure I am on the right train and getting to where I need to be. Meg was our subway guru, which worked out well because I was our street guru, she got turned around while we were walking and I had to navigate. So we made a good team. We checked out of our hotel before we left and the cool thing was our hotel allowed us to leave our bags there for $3 a bag, so we didn't have to worry about carrying anything with us. VERY cool thing to remember! This is us on the subway. (We took the red #1, by the way!)
We got to Battery Park (A park overlooking Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty) by 8 ish.. and headed towards the place where we would board the ferry. I figured that if our tickets were for 9:00, the first ferry of the day, we needed to get there early to get checked in by security, but I was wrong... They don't open the security area until almost 9 and then it takes time to process people to get us onto the ferry. So even though we had 9:00 tickets, we didn't get on the ferry until probably 9:30 or so. This meant standing outside for a long time!

I was okay standing outside, I mean I was cold, but it was tolerable. Meg on the other hand, not so happy. She has some circulation issues with her feet and being out in the cold for over an hour was very painful for her. I was worried it would ruin the Statue of Liberty experience for her. Fortunately on the ferry ride to Liberty Island her feet started to warm up and when we got to the island we immediately went inside one of the buildings and had some hot chocolate. After that meg was much happier! We took the rest of our hot cocoa to go and started walking around the island. I love walking around the Statue of Liberty. I was happy to have my new camera to get some close up shots and I am very pleased with my pictures.
I am posting a few here including me impersonating Lady Liberty and one of a cool silhouette taken from behind her. It was clouding up as we were out there and by the time we had walked almost around the island, the sun was disappearing. And I really liked the way it came out.

















The picture here, of the sphere, is a sobering one for me. I have a picture of this same sphere with me standing beside it in 1999 when it was part of a fountain at the base of the World Trade Centers... somehow it survived 9-11...

Meg and I headed towards Ground Zero. I had been to Ground Zero the last time I was in NYC and at the time all the rubble had been removed and there was a big hole in the ground. This trip it was very different. There were construction vehicles coming and going and LOTS of construction workers building...or re-building... and it was odd, it felt weird to me that people were there, building something new. I know that it is a good thing, to build something new there, but... it felt wrong... It was almost as if I wanted to have them all stop and just leave it alone... I felt protective almost... but, it doesn't make sense to just leave it... I think we all need the hope of something new... and I am sure it will be beautiful, and the tragedy will tastefully be honored... but it was hard to see in a way...
Meg and I debated about what else we wanted to do and both of us were kind of tired of the coldness and since we had accomplished the two things we had planned on, seeing WICKED and going to The Statue of Liberty, we decided to call it a day and head back to Maine.

We picked up our bags, walked to Grand Central and rode the train back to CT. We got in the truck and headed North! It was a good trip. I like NYC better when it is warmer... and I am psyched that I already have plans to return to NYC this spring! I had a great adventure with a great friend... and it was all worth it!