New York, Day One

Andy happy with her goodies from Jacques Torres
see all photos »

New York City!  What a city!  We got in late last night - after we got to the airport we had to wait about 1/2 hour for the shuttle into town, which cost $17.  There were about 7-8 passengers and we were dropped off at our hotel last of all, meaning we had a two hour ride in that shuttle.  Needless to say, we were VERY glad to get to our hotel, about 3 hours after our plane actually landed!  Traffic is really, really bad.

Our first morning was taken up partly by taking care of business - my sister had to get pages added to her passport so we spent about 2 hours at the passport office/building waiting for that.  At least we were close to Jacques Torres Chocolates.  It is the best store, complete with a bar to order different types of hot chocolate, and a counter to pick and choose single chocolates from their massive lists - we got spiced wine, melon, key lime, and passion fruit, mm!  So much for saving those for later, we ate them all at once.  We next walked to Soho and did some shopping!  Things are really expensive here but it is still fun to look - and of course we were overjoyed to find a clothing store or two that we could actually afford.

Rockefeller Center
see all photos »

We took the subway into Times Square, close to where we are staying.  It is so glitzy, I almost felt like I was in Las Vegas!  Everything is super size.  We went into a Toys R Us that had a ferris wheel directly inside the entrance - that's how big it was!  We went to Saks Fifth Avenue but of course could not buy anything.  Still, it is interesting to look at tank tops that cost more than my prom dress!

The best part of the day was seeing RENT on Broadway.  RENT is my favorite play and was just incredible to see live.  Seeing a performance live is really great when you are very familiar with the play as well - this is the first one I saw where I actually knew every word to every song.  I still enjoy the movie most of all, but I got tingles hearing some of these songs live.