Seeing All Sides: NYC!

About a month ago, we headed to NYC for our friends Brian and Heather's wedding. The wedding was on a Sunday, so we made a mini vacation out of the ordeal and stayed Saturday through Wednesday. Perfect timing for Craig--KU basketball played Kentucky at Madison Square Garden that Tuesday night, so of course, he bought tickets for that. Don't tell Brian and Heather, but ~~I think~~ he was more excited for the game than he was for their wedding! We had a great time and couldn't have asked for better weather in NYC in November (60s-70s and no coats)! Here our some highlights of our trip and of course, an abundance of pics! (I've been dreading this blog post due to the massive amount of photos to upload.)

Saturday: Checked in to our hotel (Dream Hotel - which was a couple blocks from Time Square) and wondered around/shopped for a few hours. Met up with some of the guys for a beer and then headed to the yummy rehearsal dinner.

Sunday: Walked around Central Park, more shopping, wedding & reception. The wedding was in Manhattan in an old hotel. The reception was on the top floor, complete with an outdoor terrace overlooking St. Patrick's Cathedral. Beautiful!

Monday: Took the subway to Chinatown (where we ate lunch) and Little Italy. My personal highlight--buying a knock-off Coach purse! Man, it was sketchy, I tell ya! This little Asian lady took us into her store, then into the "secret" back room full of purses! She wanted us to pay $80 for the purse, and was SO offended when Craig offered her $40. We told her we'd go elsewhere and that we weren't paying $80 for a FAKE purse, and of course, she accepted! Then (get this) this had to call the cashier of the store on her little walkie talkie to make sure it was safe for us to come out of the illegal back room! Next, we headed towards the Brooklyn Bridge and walked across, then on to the WTC Memorial Site. Monday night for dinner we found a tapas place that was just so-so, but stopped on our way back to our hotel for a couple slices of NYC cheesecake! Oh, it was heavenly!

Tuesday: Back to the WTC Memorial Site since we didn't want to wait hours the day prior. I'm very glad we visited, but other than the two memorial pools, there isn't much to see. The mood was very somber and it felt very weird to be there--especially just over 10 years after it happened. After that, we went to Washington Park, and then to a KU pep rally at a local bar. I headed back to the hotel to nap for awhile, and Craig headed to Madison Square Garden to catch the Duke/Michigan State game. One basketball game is plenty for me...I didn't need to watch two. Unfortunately, KU lost to Kentucky, but I think that was expected. They put up a good fight for awhile. And props the hubs for not being in a bad mood afterwards. :)

We headed home on Wednesday, and boy, was I ready! I love big cities, but NYC was wearing on my nerves. I wouldn't say the people were unfriendly, but they just aren't the same as they are here in the Midwest. All in all though, it was a great trip!