EXILED FROM CHINATOWN: the girls take on the big apple! THE END!!! p.25

[DisneyLaura]

Ok all caught up. I have been away from the boards (I think the last post I had here was July 3rd). Loved the WTC site and the little church, yup I cried when I was reading as well. I remember watching the first tower fall and then calling my mom and said "mom one of the towers just fell on tv" and she was like "are you sure" and I said "yes it was hit by a plane" It was an awful day. I used to knit with a girl who had moved to NJ because of her husband's job and I found out 4 years later that her husband had died on 9/11. He worked in the WTC.

I love the Brooklyn bridge, little Italy, battery park and The statue of liberty and your cruise too. I have done none of those things. Oh yes I didn't include Chinatown because that scene just scared me. When I went to the city in April with a friend we rode in a cab too

I definately want to go see Lady Liberty one day. I so would love to spend the night in the city too so we have two days to do things.

 

[punkin413]

Well that's great! It doesn't matter what company as long as you got on with someone. But was that a typo or did you mean that you are NOT doing Disney trips? You need to be doing Disney, girl! But I'm sure it is fun no matter what. I always wanted to be a travel agent, but for some ungodly reason I went into teaching. Maybe once my baby is in school all day I will look into the travel agent thing again and make a career change when I go back to work. We have a AAA travel office here that specializes in Disney. That would be dreamy! You might have something like that near you too. Who knows, maybe you could do this full time one day! If I ever run across any other opportunities like that, I'll be sure to let you know. Congratulations!

BTW, are you liking it so far?

oops....that was supposed to be "now doing disney trips". so yes, i am doing disney, so far exclusively disney. it's great so far, although it's nothing i could live on. but of course i don't do it full time.

We just ate here on Fri. the 17th. The guy in your picture with the American flag tie serenaded us with "That's Amore" and "Volare' " The food was delicious! We were in NYC for the weekend to catch the Paul Mccartney concert at Citi Field.

very cool! i want to go back and eat somewhere down in that area.

Ok all caught up. I have been away from the boards (I think the last post I had here was July 3rd). Loved the WTC site and the little church, yup I cried when I was reading as well. I remember watching the first tower fall and then calling my mom and said "mom one of the towers just fell on tv" and she was like "are you sure" and I said "yes it was hit by a plane" It was an awful day. I used to knit with a girl who had moved to NJ because of her husband's job and I found out 4 years later that her husband had died on 9/11. He worked in the WTC.

I love the Brooklyn bridge, little Italy, battery park and The statue of liberty and your cruise too. I have done none of those things. Oh yes I didn't include Chinatown because that scene just scared me. When I went to the city in April with a friend we rode in a cab too

I definately want to go see Lady Liberty one day. I so would love to spend the night in the city too so we have two days to do things.

so sad about your friend's husband. i'm sure you guys will make it to NYC soon. it's only a short drive, right? i hope you get to go soon!

 

[punkin413]

i just wanted to say hi and let you guys know i'm once again swamped with work and have been neglecting the boards. we've had several expedited transcript requests so i've been really busy. i promise to update this as soon as i get some free time! i only have 1 update left on this trip and so i really want to get it done! and if i'm reading your TR, I'M BEHIND!!!!! i will play catchup slowly but surely.

 

[MagicShell]

I have been behind as well but I just caught up on your report. I love all the pictures. They are definitely worth framing. Chinatown sounds like a nightmare.

 

[punkin413]

I have been behind as well but I just caught up on your report. I love all the pictures. They are definitely worth framing. Chinatown sounds like a nightmare.

thanks! i really need to get those framed! and yes, chinatown was horrible!!!

 

[punkin413]

after our unbelievable cruise it was time to go get some grub! we didn't have specific dinner plans that night, but we were close to 9th avenue which i had read had lots to choose from. on the way we saw a smart car dealership, something you don't see every day in my neck of the woods!

we walked a few blocks and came to a corner where there were 3 restaurants that looked interesting. we checked out all their menus and decided on this place for some italian......

we got a table right near the opening of the patio. it was a nice night and i love how a lot of restaurants in NYC open up out onto the street. i loved the decor here! it was such a cute little place.

look at the music sheets on the wall.....

i ordered a cosmo again, but just a regular one this time.......

we got some calamari for an appetizer, which was good......

brooke and anna enjoying the evening.....

we decided to order 2 dishes and share them between us. we got some sort of pasta with chicken, veggies and a tomato sauce and chicken marsala. both were good but the marsala was AWESOME!!!!!!! the BEST chicken marsala i've ever had.

during our meal a tiny little blonde lady came up to our table and asked how everything was. we told her it was great and she ended up being the owner. she was from italy and i couldn't understand most of what she said but she was SO cute and had the coolest accent ever! i told her i want to go to rome and venice and tuscany one day. she said, "oh, tus-CAN-y is BELLA!!!!" apparently i've been pronouncing tuscany wrong because she put the emphasis on the middle syllable! she also told us something about a couple that was sitting nearby that were from rome (pronounced ROM-ah) and every time they came to NYC they always visited her restaurant because it was the best italian in that area. glad we picked a good place!

after dinner we had someone take a picture of us in front of the restaurant. anna was doing the kissy-thing italians do when food is good!

we headed back to times square for some souvenir shopping.

we saw this policeman on a horse and the horse was SO pretty!

it's amazing to me that these animals are calm in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the city!

and people like this.........

this idiot was yelling at the horse as he walked by, like OBNOXIOUSLY yelling! i'm surprised the policeman didn't say something to him but he didn't.

we hit a few souvenir stores to get what we needed for family and friends. i had already gotten some stuff but i ended up getting a tote bag and golf ball for my mom, a magnet for my grandparents (they are so hard to buy for because they have everything!), a christmas ornament, a few post cards, a NYC fire dept. shirt for ray and brooke and i got this for our dad.....

he loves the beatles so we figured he'd appreciate it. i think it said, "give peace a chance" on the back. i gave it to him the weekend i went to nashville (when we had the hippo meet - that picture was actually taken just before!) and he loved it. brett was super jealous because he loves the beatles too. but i had gotten margot a bib and a onesie so those counted as his gifts, too!

by the way, i took that picture with my phone to send to my sister because it was from her, too. he's tilting his head to the side because i told him i was gonna send it to brooke and she used to do that as a toddler. EVERY picture we have of her between the ages of 2 and 4 she has her head tilted to the side.....she said she was "modeling".

continued in next post: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32855245&postcount=367

 

[punkin413]

after our souvenir shopping i had to potty soooooooooo bad so we went to planet hollywood to use their facilities. look......we found the "big" piano that we had missed at FAO schwartz a few days before!

the final times square pics before we headed back to the hotel room exhausted......

i believe we went by junior's again for more cheesecake that night but i didn't take any pictures. my brain was fried from our experience in chinatown!

we packed up and hit the hay because we had to be up and on our way to the airport by around 10 the next morning. our flight left at noon. brooke was walking down to penn station to take a train back to connecticut. we said our goodbyes to her (and i can't believe we didn't get a picture together before she left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and then got a cab to the airport.

this cab ride was so frustrating! the guy was scaring me to death with not pausing for people crossing the street. i mean, i know they shouldn't be jaywalking but why would you SPEED UP when you see someone crossing the street? then we get out near the east river and are on a road that's kind of hilly and i felt like i was gonna puke because he was going so fast. i hate riding in the back seat of a car! THEN to top it off we are like 2 miles from the airport and we're up to like $28 cab fare (including a $5 toll) and i start looking around notice he doesn't have a credit card machine. i said, "do you not take credit cards?" he says, "no, cash only." i was LIVID. i said, "well, that would've been nice to know before we got in your cab!!!!!" the guy didn't say anything in response. me and anna looked at how much cash we had together and we barely were able to cover the fare. i thought all cabs had a credit card machine these days!!!!!

we had no problems getting on the flight EXCEPT that like a dummy i had forgotten about all the liquids in my toiletry bag. see, we had checked an extra suitcase on the way to NYC and it was carrying my toiletry bag and nothing else inside. well, it was now carrying all our souvenirs so i had to carry on my toiletry bag with all my liquids that were not all less than the required ounces. i realized this AS my bag was going through the x-ray machine. as soon as i realized it i walked over to the security guy and said, "i'm so sorry....i totally forgot about this stuff. i will check it - just tell me which way to go." he looked through my bag and was EXTREMELY nice and let me carry it on anyway. i thanked him immensely and we went on our way. phew!

brooke called me at some point when i was at the airport and told me that a bird pooped on her while she was walking to penn station. i felt so bad for her!

a couple of cloudy pictures from the plane.....

it was raining in atlanta and the last few minutes of the plane ride were really bumpy. not enjoyable AT ALL for me even with my xanax. it made me really nervous!

safe on the ground in atlanta we got our luggage and headed for the car. when we got out to the parking lot, i clicked my keyless entry thingie and nothing happened. to make a long story short, somehow a light got left on in my car and the battery was dead. with a dead battery, you can't use your keyless entry. AND I HADN'T TAKEN MY REAL KEY, ONLY MY KEYLESS ENTRY THING. they have a service at the airport where they'll come and jump off a dead battery, but the thing is i couldn't even get INTO the car to pop my hood! so i called ray and he had to drive down to atlanta with his extra key to let us in my car. this was around 3:00 so by the time he got down there we were gonna have to fight atlanta traffic.....fun!

while we were waiting on him i walked back up to the food court area and got us some lunch from atlanta bread company. we didn't want to have to drag our luggage back up and roll it around everywhere with us. so i just brought lunch back to the parking lot and we ate there......

we weren't really that sad.....just playing it up!

on the way home i noticed that something flew up off the road as i changed lanes and later into the ride anna couldn't find her phone. yep, she left her phone on my hood while ray was jumping off my battery and now it was in pieces on I-85. i felt so bad, but hey, at least she got a new i-phone out of it!

kind of a crappy way to end our trip, but otherwise it was SUCH a great time!!! the only thing i would've changed is our time in chinatown. other than that, i had a GREAT time and i really hope to go back one day! it was so much fun to spend time with my sister and one of my best friends in the big city for a few days.

THANK YOU to all of you who helped out with suggestions and tips. you made our trip even better!!!!!! AND THANKS FOR READING, EVERYONE! hope you enjoyed this little adventure with us!

 

[Happy Elf]

What a fun trip! It sounds like you had a great time minus the end at the airport. I enjoyed reading about your adventures!

 

[hlrababy]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us Dawn!!!!!!

I LOVED it!!!!

 

[troobabiee7]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us Dawn, I LOVED reading along! I'm glad you girls had a good time, and hope you get to visit again some day!

 

[pooh'smate]

Loved your tr as always. I saw this http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4240966169/ the other day and thought of you. Have you seen it yet? I can not wait!

 

[shannon47142]

what a fantastic trip
loved the decor and martini glass from the last restaurant
yucky that you had to wait for Ray to jump start your car--but I'm glad that it didn't make you too upset

 

[ArielSRL]

Great TR. Thanks for sharing. Now I need to get up to date on your Christmas one!!!

 

[ktmetke]

What a great trip report! You are a great storyteller!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!!

 

[AussieAngel]

Awww, thanks so much for sharing your fabulous New York adventures with us, Dawn!!

It seemed like you all had a fantastic time! Lots of fun and laughter!

 

[tinkgurl]

Oh man, that's too bad about Anna's phone!

Thanks so much for sharing this trip with us!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Loved it! Thanks for sharing! I can't wait to go back someday myself. I think everyone should go at least once.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Thanks for sharing your awesome trip with us, Dawn!!!

Okay, where did you get the Got Disney World sticker? I really want one for my car!

 

[Camster0307]

Ok girl - I'm here! I've been such a bad DISer this summer and have missed out on sooo much!

But I do really enjoy your TRs and I just wanted to let you know I'm on board and will catch up. I'm anxious to see how you feel about my favorite city in the world!

 

[kenyadh]

Loved your NYC trip report. I'm from Long Island (all my life) and I have yet to step foot in Central Park. Loved viewing NYC from your perspective. Great report!