Seven Days in the City

Oh summer, you tricky little thing you.  You get me all excited for vacation and then whoosh - vacation is done and it's back to work.  I recently took a week off from work and headed to one of my favorite places - New York City.  It was fun, but since NYC is so gogogogo, I really feel like I just need to go and fall asleep on a nice sandy beach somewhere to just relax.

I ended up visiting and staying with my cousins.  I was able to go and visit a few NYC sites that I still had always wanted to see, so they let me loose on the city and man, did I walk!  Seriously though, I walked from like 57th street all the way up to 72nd, walked across Central Park, then up to the Guggenheim, then BACK across Central Park and all the way down to 14th St.  All by choice though!

So why did I choose to walk so much?  Well, Central Park is one of my favorite places and I really wanted to visit Strawberry Fields this time.  It's just a part of the park where the "Imagine" (can't find the right word here....sidewalk? symbol?) is located.  And Central Park is so huge that I feel that I uncover new areas every time that I visit.  I saw the Bethesda Fountain this time too.  It was a gorgeous day.  I wish I had a bike to ride!

After walking through the Guggenheim, I walked back over to the west side and visited the Museum of Natural History.  I DID NOT realize how huge this place was.  If I did, I probably wouldn't have gone in because I was so overwhelmed.  I hit up the dinosaurs and then peaced out basically.

Inside the Guggenheim

One of my favorite parts was just going down to the World Trade Center site.  I unfortunately did not get a chance to go inside and view the museum and fountains because I didn't have a ticket.  You have to reserve your tickets online in advance and I tried, but of course all of the tickets were gone ONLY for the week that I was there - so very disappointing.  But I saw the new tower and the visitor center, which was quite emotional.  I look forward to seeing it all completed in the future.

New tower at Ground Zero

During my time in New York, I also visited the Bronx Zoo, went shopping (a little bit), and went to the Puerto Rican festival (talk about feeling claustrophobic on a subway and then even more so trying to get out at 116th street!).  Oh, and I got an ice cream cone from Mr. Softee!!!!!  Hehehehe, this made me so happy.  Mr. Softee drove through my neighborhood in CT all the time.  Yes, vanilla soft serve on a cone with rainbow sprinkles please!!! YUMMY!

One of my favorite parts of visiting though was meeting an animal control officer - Mr. ASPCA as I like to call him.  He's this big, tough-looking dude.  But this guy is so full of life, with a laugh that will shake a room.  He had two dogs that were so incredibly sweet.  He saved both of them.  And he sees some crazy things all across the city - from wildlife to horrible, disgusting cruelty to animals.  When I asked him how he could do his job everyday, he said that he just focuses on the animals.  Not the horrible people...just the animals.  As he put it, "People think I rescue the animals.  But the animals rescue me."  Tears welling up....sigh.  A wonderful person - so glad I met him.

Until next time NYC!