NYC - Day Three

For our final full day in New York, Jim, Hoff and I decided that we needed to go for a run, and what better place than Central Park. We got up earlier than we probably should have, and found our way on the subway up to the park. The subway stopped us at Columbus Circle, right next to Time Warner Cable center (I work for them!) and Trump Tower, exciting stuff.



During our 8 mile run in the Park, we ran by a large amount of cool stuff, including that bridge they show in every romantic comedy, a race (if only we'd known) and almost beat some bikes up a hill on the North side of the park. Our run went a bit longer than expected, so we figured the ladies would just be sitting at the apartment waiting. Fortunately for us, they had decided to go get breakfast on their own, and get a little shopping in. They went to the H+M store, which I'm told is The Place to get your fashionable clothes. Each of the ladies made their purchases and we were off tourist-ing again.

Since the ladies hadn't seen Central Park, we all headed back up there to check it out. There were quite a bit more people than there were for our run, which made it look more like the tourist destination that it is. Jim and Amanda decided to rent bikes and take the tour that way, and they said it was pretty awesome. I am terrible on bikes, so Julie and I took off towards the fountains and bridges, and the Hoffs took off to much the same place, just in a different way!





We reconvened in Columbus Circle again and then got some well earned snacks. Before we got to NYC, Julie had found a place that sells waffles covered with Nutella, so we picked up some of those, and Amanda got herself a cannoli. Quite fantastic all around.



Even after those snacks, we were still quite hungry, and Amanda had heard of a trendy new place to eat near the Empire State Building called Eatly. I thought that Amanda just forgot how to spell Italy, but turns out it was a real place (and was even a category on Jeopardy! this week!). The place is an Italian Market and has several restaurants in it, and it was crazy busy. Fortunately they had an open table for 6, and we took it.



The Hoffs then went to check out the Feast of San Gennaro, which is a crazy big festival of Italian food. Come to think of it, we all should have spent a lot of time there. Next time I guess! The Lambs and us went to check out the area around the Empire State Building, and sat in a park for a little bit, and got some drinks at a nice bar down there.



Again the group got back together, and we headed to the Empire State Building. There are now two levels that you look out, one is the typical Observatory and they now have one on the 102nd floor. We planned it to be up there right around sunset, and we timed it perfectly. The lines were relatively short, and once we got to the observation deck, we were just minutes from sunset. We stayed for quite a while, taking pictures of the city at dusk and after dark.

Satisfied with our trip, we returned to the apartment to rest a bit, then went back out for some celebratory hamburgers, beers, and even some cupcakes at the place the girls from Sex and the City go for their cupcakes. Hobnobbing with the stars I guess (and we forgot to get pictures)!

The next morning came too early, and we headed back to the airport and back to Colorado. It was a great trip, and like all trips it was over too soon. But seeing the greatest city on Earth with some of our best friends was amazing. Can't wait to go back!

Ikea

So Julie has been way too excited about Ikea ever since it opened earlier this year, and she finally talked me into going up there back during the cycling event this summer. She found a nice bed frame that she wanted to buy for our bedroom, and had been bugging me about it ever since.

Well, this last weekend we finally made our way back to Ikea to pick it up. We took her parents old Ford truck, even with the old tires all the way to Denver to make our purchase. Debbie somehow got talked into going, but she was prepare and wore her hiking sandals. We picked up a few small things that caught Julie's eyes while we walked through the million rooms full of everything you could imagine. The bed consisted of five heavy boxes of wood, and Debbie and Julie were quite helpful in getting them into the truck after we had paid. Debbie said the warehouse room reminded her of Indiana Jones when they hid the Arc.

The next day we had lunch with my family (just before my Grandpa headed down to Arizona for the winter) and we just couldn't wait to get back home and start putting together our bed frame. We got home and got straight to work... for the next five hours...

Here are assorted pictures from the ordeal, keep in mind that I am programmed to smile for pictures, regardless of my current state of mind. So don't let my facial expressions lead to believe that this was pleasant.

First we had to take apart the old bed:


Then assemble the frame of the new bed:


And finally the headboard had to go up:


All in all, it wasn't as bad as people had made it out to be, but it wasn't fun either. We unfortunately got the wrong size headboard (as you can see in the finished picture below), but we aren't sure if it is worth going back to replace. Stay tuned!

NYC!

For Mikey's 30th birthday we headed to NYC. He always says it is the best city in the world so I figured getting our friends together on a trip for his birthday would be a great way to celebrate him turning the big 3-0!

We headed out on his birthday and got in the NYC around lunch time. We had set up reservations for three bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village and had to pick up the keys after three so we had a little time to kill. We dropped off are bags and headed out to get some lunch at Grey's Papaya.

After our first taste of New York we decided we would check out tickets to a Broadway show. We headed down to Times Square where they sell discount tickets to shows that night, and after about half an hour in the line we decided we wanted to see Billy Elliott! After we got our tickets we got rained on, but headed back to get our bags and then out to find our apartment. Once we were settled in we got ready for a big night out on the town. The show was great and we were all really glad that we ended up seeing Billy Elliott.

After the show we were all hungry so we found a place to grab something to eat, which turned out to be delicious NY style cheesecake!

After the sweets kept us up long enough to get back to our beds we all crashed. The following morning, Jim and Amanda headed out to breakfast with some friends and then Brian, Kim, Mikey and I decided to go grab some breakfast nearby and then walk over to Washington Square Park. We wondered around and then we decided to head over to NYU and look for their bookstore for some souvenirs. After picking out some souvenirs we met back up with Jim and Amanda and headed out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We finally got through the ticket line and then the security line and made it on the boat out to see Lady Liberty. We were running short of time to be able to see both so Jim and Amanda decided to head to Ellis Island and Brian and Kim and us decided we would give it a try to get around the Statue of Liberty really quick and jump back on the boat to get over to Ellis Island. We made a quick trip around the statue and got back on the boat to go see Ellis Island.

After our trip out we walked over to Ground Zero. We couldn't see very much of what they were building and we couldn't get tickets to get in to the Memorial that had just opened. We could see the new skyscraper that is being built and the firefighter memorial. After we looked around we stopped by the fire station that was right next store and picked up a souvenir shirt for Mikey's mom.

After we had walked around we headed over to the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) since they are open on Friday nights for free. Since the subway went through Grand Central Station on our way to the Museum, we decided to stop and look around there. After a quick stop we hit the Museum, we all split up and tried to see everything we wanted to see in the quick two hours we had there.

After the MOMA we were all hungry so we decided to hit up Katz's Deli. It has been on the Food Network for their pastrami, corned beef, and turkey sandwiches. It was also in the movie When Harry Meet Sally. We all ordered what she had! Just kidding, but we all left stuffed and exhausted.

Stay tuned for the last day...