The Big Apple Part II

Morning arrived, and with it came the hope that this day was going to be better than last night. Tommy, my sister, and myself were ready early so we made plans to meet up with my brother and Lesley (my now sister-in-law) for breakfast. Our first exit out into daylight and already New York was a different lady. She was windy and cold, but nothing like what we had experienced only a few hours before. First stop was of course to find some coffee, and then a little exploring while we waited to meet up with the other half of our crew. After breakfast, we walked around Rockefeller Plaza, wandered through Times Square, and then started playing on the subway. We randomly picked a place to get off and then just started walking...and walking...and walking. We walked until we found a perfect place to view both the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, then walked getting lost in China Town, and then found ourselves very hungry in Tribeca...oh,and walking. Knowing we wanted pizza for lunch, we found a $1 slice pizza place (it was one of the best dollars I've ever spent), and after we were refueled we started walking again. A good #meadadventures tip to insert here: bring a solid pair of shoes! Next stop, a few shops in SoHo for the girls and then the iconic glass Apple store for the guys. By this point, we'd had a full morning/afternoon and while the rest of our group wanted to continue shopping, the Meads needed some rest. Dinnertime rolled around and we found ourselves at an Irish pub down the street from our hotel, and after dinner we went to see Times Square lit up in all her touristy glory. More walking ensued when we made our way to Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes and then to watch the people ice skating at the rink in Rockefeller Plaza. After all of this, we were ready to head back to the hotel and rest our feet for the night.

Day two began much like day one...coffee, breakfast, walking. Tommy and I wanted to go to the Museum of Natural History and the other half wanted to do more exploring on the opposite side of the city. To make each party happy we split up after breakfast with the intent of meeting back up for lunch, and then the Meads hopped on the subway to the museum. We love a good museum and find them very fascinating (nerd alert), but I think anyone could find something interesting in that museum. By the time the others called for lunch, we were only on floor two with so much more to see. After the countless hours spent in the museum, we decided that since we had missed lunch with the others we would go to Tom's Restaurant (we love Seinfeld and had to go to the "Restaurant" since we were in the area). There was no doubt I was a tourist with how many pictures I took from the outside. I mean, the outside was so perfect that I expected to find Jerry and Elaine sitting in a booth, but my TV world quickly crashed when we walked inside to find that it was nothing like the one in the show (but the food was really good). After lunch we got back on the subway and went to visit The Dakota (John Lennon's apartment building/place of death) before we headed back to the hotel. It had been a really good day, but we were ready to meet back up with the rest of our group for dinner. After we all met back up, we decided to go see Grand Central Station and then eat dinner there as well. I can't say that this was this best meal we'd had...actually it was pretty bad...but it was really fun to hang out in the station. After dinner we rode the subway to Union Square, walked to Bryant Park, and then Andrew and Lesley went to the Empire State Building while the rest of us went back to the hotel.

It was the last full day of our trip and I wasn't leaving until I went to a taping of the Today Show. No one really had any interest in waking up that early and even though Tommy said he would go with me, I just couldn't put him through it in good conscience. So I woke up, got ready, and ventured out into the city on my own to find coffee and Al Roker. Now when I said I wanted to make it to the Today Show, I wasn't exactly talking about one of the earlier hours...nope, the fourth hour was good enough for me and had a much more appealing taping time. When I got there, there weren't many people so I was able to get right up to the glass and get a really good view of Kathy Lee and Hoda in the flesh (and I was able to steal a little on-air time as well). After the show, I met up with everyone else for our exciting day trip to Coney Island. It was a fairly long subway ride to get there, but so much fun once we finally made it. While we were there we walked the boardwalk, ate a Nathan's hotdog, and played on the beach. After all it's luster had worn off, we headed back to Manhattan. Since the subway ride back was a long one, we were all going in and out of sleep but had woken up and prepared to get off when we realized our stop was approaching (except Andrew). When we all started to get off, Andrew (having just woken up and feeling a little disoriented) jumped up only to barely make it through the doors. However, pack pack decided it didn't want to get off. Just as Andrew was squeezing through the doors at the last minute, pack pack remained on the other side while Good Samaritans had to pry the doors open to free them both. All of this was just a blur out of the corner of our eyes, but once knowing Andrew was safe we all couldn't control the laughter. After we regained our composure, we began to make our way to the Staten Island Ferry and to see the Statue of Liberty from the shore. From there, we walked to the 9/11 memorial and to see the One World Trade Tower (still in the building phase at the time). Andrew and Lesley ate at a deli nearby while Tommy, Madison, and myself ate in Little Italy. After dinner we walked to Kurt Vonnegut's (Tommy's favorite author) old house and through a park that he used to frequent. The rest of the evening was spent walking around the city and then back to the hotel.