NYC 09

Two weeks ago JD and I spent a long four day weekend in NYC to celebrate our five year anniversary. What made it especially great was that Morgan stayed behind with Grandpa and Grandma Schlueter (thanks Dad & Mom) and did wonderfully (so now we know we can do this again!). JD had visited NYC on a few previous occasions, but it was my inaugural trip. And choosing to visit in the spring was a good choice.

There is just SO much to see in this city. We tried to scratch the surface by hitting the "must-see's", but even still we know there is so much more we would've liked to do. Our feet definitely told us each evening that we had seen a lot -- we did a ton of walking! I won't go through all the places we visited. Like I said if it's on your "must-see" list, we probably saw it. One exception: The Met. We're not big museum folk, and we couldn't justify the expense of time it would've taken away from other things we wanted to see.

We did see the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry (which is free and also offers great views of the lower Manhattan skyline). Next trip I think we'd add a boat trip out to the island to see Lady Liberty up close and personal ... and take the side tour to Ellis Island as well.

And, of course, I had the obligatory slab of New York style pizza and a Gray's Papaya hotdog (Ness, remember those from "Fools Rush In"?) :)

One of our favorite experiences was seeing "Wicked" on Broadway - a truly fun twist on the story of the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz. However, it was in purchasing our tickets for this show that we learned our credit card information had been stolen and used with out our permission. This was a definite downer. Thankfully, our bank caught it and cancelled our cards to protect us from further theft.

We experienced a few other disappointments along the way as well. One included not being able to see into the construction site where the WTCs once stood. Obviously the construction is due to erection of the 9/11 Memorial. We were just bummed it was completely walled off from view.

Deficient customer service was another bruise on the Big Apple. With very limited exceptions, we were treated poorly. It often seemed that servers at restaurants existed merely to take your order and bring you your initial drink -- and then they expected a good tip for this! Even our hotel management when told that someone on their staff may have stolen our credit card information seemed to act like "So? What do you want us to do about it?" Honestly, I've been treated better in France -- and they are openly rude to Americans -- than I was by New Yorkers. For real.

So all in all, it was a good trip with a few blemishes. Jonathan and I really enjoyed our chance to get away as a couple. Even after having Morgan in our lives for just 19 months, we realize how much we need to get away and just be us. And I'm glad to have checked NYC off my list of "Places to Go." To all my Midwestern friends, don't worry - Chicago is still my favorive U.S. city :)

Central Park

Strawberry Fields, Tribute to John Lennon.
I wouldn't be a good Beatles fan if I didn't include this.
But no, I didn't leave the flowers ... I'm not that weird.

A view of the cement jungle (as Jonathan called it)
from Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center).
The depth to the layers upon layers of buildings is amazing.

One of only three pictures taken of us together on this trip.

View of Central Park (all 5o blocks of it) from Top of the Rock.

Atlas

The hub-bub of Grand Central Station.

One of Jonathan's favorite pics taken at Grand Central Station.
He was the cameraman for the majority of the trip.

View of Our Lady from the Staten Island Ferry.

Like I said, JD had the camera most of the time
so there are a lot of shots of me.

Brooklyn Bridge

Yep, it's still New Year's Eve 2009 in Times Square.