So I'm pretty sure I'm getting the hang of this place at this point. I'm more comfortable figuring out the subway system and my feet sure let me know that I've got the walking down. Shout out to Sketcher's with Memory Foam for the best walking shoes you can find! I hurt when I see people wearing flip flops around here, they must be locals.
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I finally got a subway selfie.
Larry was sick of my camera by this point haha |
Today we started off at the American Museum of Natural History. I have to say the layout to this place wasn't what I was expecting. Compared to the other museums it was really confusing. The best part was the dinosaurs, but those are all the way on the top floor rather than the entrance (as the movie would have you believe, which we happened to catch tonight and either they've majorly changed the layout to this museum since that came out or they had it way wrong in the movie). I think after seeing the three I'd recommend The Met most of all, it had a combination of everything the others had (from what we saw at least). Unfortunately because today is Monday there were tons of kids there, looked like it was for some class trip so we weren't lucky enough to miss the crowds this time. But I think starting from the top and working our way down helped a bit. I learned Larry is really good at guessing animals based on the bones (we saw one that I was convinced was a moose, but he kept saying deer. When we finally went up to it it turned out to be a deer with REALLY big horns). We also got to see a space show that Larry liked. Plus the gemstone area was pretty cool (I didn't realize there were some that actually glowed in the dark).
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Everyone needed a picture
Of Dum Dum haha |
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| The Aztec Calendar |
After going through the museum we walked the South end of Central Park. It's amazing how different the two sides could be. Technically we covered more terrain yesterday, but still never saw anything like how the South end is. The North side is so peaceful and calm with lots of gardens (and few sporting areas) while the South side has a zoo, an amusement park, I think I saw something for a mini water park, and it has a strip called The Mall that people sell all their artwork in. Yesterday we went down the East side and up the West side, whereas today we sort of zig zagged the rest of the way. We did decide we wanted to hit the zoo, this chess and checker house, and as many fountains and statues as we could see, but I felt we'd seen a lot yesterday so I didn't feel the need to stop too much today. Turns out the Chess and Checker house only has the boards, you need to bring the pieces, but I think Larry liked it (I'm sure he wishes there was something like that around our home). The Zoo turned out to be 1/3 of the size of our home zoo but was $18 to get in so we decided to skip it. But we still got to see a lot of fountains and statues. We ended our park run with lunch from a food cart (a must do when you go to the city I hear). I got a hot dog and Larry got a gyro, they were both good, but nothing to write home about.
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| Where they play with boats...I assume |
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| I found a fountain! |
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| The Mall |
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| The Chess and Checker house |
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| Food cart food in the park |
It was getting really hot so Larry treated me to some ice cream while we walked around the city a bit more. We were going to stop at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), but after everything we decided we'd seen enough museums for the day, plus it was going to close soon and I didn't want to rush through it. I did find out, though, that FAO Schwartz was really close to us and decided we had to go walk through that. I was hoping I'd find some good toys to bring back home for some people (which they did have a ton of and separated into little areas like Barby, Cartoon, girly, Legto, etc.). Unfortunately I realized we didn't leave a lot of room in our bags so the coolest toys I wanted to get wouldn't fit and I had to pass them up, but they had a ton of candy. They still have the Big Piano that you can play and get a picture on, but so many kids were in line I felt silly waiting myself. They also had awesome Lego displays, like of Batman, Dinosaurs, and the Statue of Liberty. Even though we didn't get to leave with much, it was still a fun experience. I got a big lollipop (because I never got one as a kid and I was finally able to buy myself one so why not?) and some salt water taffy...yum!
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| Looks nothing like the version in Home Alone 2 |
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Just gets me more excited for our
Day at the real statue! |
After all that we decided to head back to the hotel. I had decided early on I wanted pizza for dinner (a big NY slice sounded so yummy). Once we got back I started looking up places nearby with good reviews on Yelp. I found one called Patzeria Pizza and that they sold giant slices and had excellent reviews. When we finally felt hungry we headed over there to find they were closed for some renovations. I looked up on my maps and saw there was another one close by so we headed there. Turns out the other one was a sit down Italian Restaurant, not just a pizza stand. It was so hidden in a neighborhood we almost didn't see it. Once we got in (the people here were extremely nice) I decided a slice of pizza would be better for lunch rather than for dinner so I ended up getting their tortellini (Larry stuck with the personal pizza). Boy am I glad we found this place. So far it's definitely my favorite. The Stardust Diner was good from yesterday, but this was delicious! It's true what they say too, the hole in the wall places are so much better. Although at this point I have ordered root beer with every meal and have yet to taste the actual drink. One night I swore I was actually given a diet soda, one night I think they put some sort of chocolate into it, tonight was probably the closest, but I sure do miss my Utah Root Beer at this point haha.
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| I found another fountain! |
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We also ran into the Plaza Hotel
Fancy Schmantzy! |
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Our Anniversary gift from the hotel
Larry was the only one to enjoy it |
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| The best dinner place ever! |
So while I'm partially bummed we didn't get to all we had on our list today, I'm definitely not bummed with what we were able to fit in. I've got a makeup day planned so if we still feel like seeing MoMA we can go then, but I don't think I'd be too hurt if we missed out on that. Every day is such a fun new experience, even though it's really hot and humid and I need a shower all the time, it's still pretty exciting.
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