Thursday, March 27, 2014

NEW YORK, NEW YORK! by Kerri Carleton

 
One of those Embarrassing Pictures


Kerri, here! I just got home from the BEST spring break trip a teenage girl could ever ask for—a trip to New York City! I always knew I was a big city girl, but this trip was absolutely incredible.

For one thing, our view from our hotel room was wonderful. We stayed at the Hilton in Times Square, on the 43rd floor, right above all of the action! As you could probably imagine, I bugged when we got there! The very first thing we did was go down to explore. I couldn’t resist trying one of those famous hot dogs from a stand on a corner, and I must admit, it was one of the best hot dogs I’ve tasted!
        
Ground Zero from Helicopter View

The first full day of our trip started with a late start, much to my dismay. We got to it at about 10 AM, getting Starbucks and a cab down to go see Ground Zero. Unfortunately, the line was extremely long, and it was ridiculously cold outside! Mom ended up just giving a donation, and then we were on our way to check out the Statue of Liberty! A couple of embarrassing pictures that my mother forced me to take later, we were on our way to Wall Street when a man approached us and asked us if we would like to take a helicopter ride. We said yes! Due to the hour-long wait, Mom and I warmed up in a sub shop called Lenny’s, and the next thing we knew we were in the air! The ride was breathtaking. I don’t think I’ve seen anything more beautiful in my life. We flew from the Statue of Liberty all the way up to Central Park and then back down in fifteen minutes!
Our Helicopter
We saw each magnificent building from the sky. Mom and I were in a panic trying to find memory on our cameras for these once in a lifetime shots! Have no fear, we found enough room to last us the trip.
        
Lenny's Sub
After the ride, we walked halfway up the Brooklyn Bridge, which was close to the top of my list of things to do! Then we snagged a few slices of pizza at an Italian place outside of Little Italy, which was fantástico! After that, we walked from one of the best parts of the day to the worst—China Town. I loathed my experience at China Town! At the wretched corner of Canal and Lafayette, we encountered this sketchy woman who talked on her sketchy phone and made us stand in this sketchy elevator. Soon, we took the subway back to Times Square, which was terrifying but exciting at the same time.
        

We were exhausted by the time we got back, so we took a bit of a breather in the hotel room for a few minutes. After that, we decided to get a little shopping done, and then we stood in the huge mob of a line to get tickets for a Broadway show! We decided on Once, at the recommendation of a seatmate on the plane, and it ended up being my favorite musical I’ve ever seen! (Being a drama nerd, I’ve seen quite a few musicals.) Although we were almost spent for the day, we made one last stop to Planet Hollywood to check out some authentic movie props! Once back at the hotel for the night, Mom and I snuggled up to watch Big with Tom Hanks to prepare us for future adventures.
        
Carriage Ride
On day two of our glamorous trip, Mom and I woke up and hopped down to a little diner called Junior’s in Times Square and I enjoyed their griddlecakes while Mom stuck to coffee. We then headed down the famously fabulous Fifth Avenue. Although Mom had the time of her life browsing through the expensive racks, I felt very much like a hobo in my oversized army jacket and combat boots. Next stop: FAO Schwartz toy store! Like any other seventeen-year-old girl, I fell in love with the enormous pink dog, Penelope that flopped over an entire platform. Due to my limited seventeen-year-old funds, however, I ended up settling for a much smaller version of Penelope.  Watching the movie BIG came in handy because it was here that I encountered Zoltar and the BIG PIANO! After we shopped till nearly dropping, our next adventure was with a beautiful white horse that carried an elegant red carriage! Mom and I huddled for warmth as we learned about the history of Central Park while we got the grand tour!
        
The next grand tour we experienced was the Rockefeller Center, where
Top of the Rock
we were at the Top of the Rock! We could see the whole city from the top of the building, and it was magical. We learned a little bit about the history of this famous building and all of the exciting things going on! Mom really wanted to get up one morning to check out the Today Show, filmed at the Rockefeller, but if you know my mom you probably know she isn’t much of an early bird.
        
Even though Mom might have been done shopping, I sure wasn’t! I hauled her down to SoHo where we took a minor pit stop at the low-key SoHo Café, and then I hit up my stores! Despite roaming the racks of chic stores such as Top Shop and Kate Spade New York, the only purchase I made was at Anthropologie. I so badly wanted to check out
the Urban Outfitters, but this time, I really did shop till I dropped! Let me tell you, combat boots aren’t exactly choice shoes when roaming a city like New York. Reluctantly, I was dragged back to “our neck of the woods,” Time Square while I scrunched in a little bit more shopping at Forever 21 and the M&M store while Mom got our tickets to go see Phantom of the Opera. (I may or may not have begged to go see Once again, but Mom wasn’t having it.)
        

The Phantom of the Opera definitely lived up to its standards, in case you were wondering. I mentioned earlier that I was a drama nerd, so you can imagine my delight to the out-of-this-world effects that the musical offered. I was in complete shock and almost in tears at the end! Although I could see why it was the longest running show on Broadway in history, I still liked Once just a teensy bit better! Unfortunately for you, this is not a Broadway review site, so I’ll stop with my nerd-talk for now!
        
Time Square
After the magnificent show, Mom and I caved to the recommendations and grabbed a bite of post-show dessert at the infamous Sardi’s! I loved looking at all of the caricatures of Broadway stars, and the Kermit the Frog one was adorable! I escaped the embarrassing photos this night due to rain.  On our 5 block walk back to the hotel, in the rain, mom gave our umbrella away to an elderly couple we encountered without one.  She said she would hope someone would help our grandparents in a similar situation.  Needless to say, we got soaked, but it was fun running in the rain through the streets of New York City.
        
Two huge days in New York = one tired girl! I was beyond ready to hit the hay after a trip like this! But no matter how much pain I was in or how much exhaustion I had, leaving the next day was tragic. We took a final lap around Times Square, and said our goodbyes to the wonderful city. The plane ride home is always the worst flight—but that’s a completely different story – and a separate blog!




1 comment:

Unknown said...

That was a great blog!