Seeing New York was definitely a priority on our planes, trains, and automobiles trip. I mean, how could Katie see any more of the world without first seeing the Big Apple? But she’d have to wait first. After arriving at Penn station, we had to take the subway out to Brooklyn to check into the hotel, then back into Manhattan at Rockefeller Plaza before she could catch her first glimpse of the city. She was mildly excited, to say the least.
We did a lot of walking around in New York, and on Thursday our feet carried us past St. Patrick’s Cathedral, through Central Park, around Ground Zero, and down Wall Street. We also stopped in at the Stage Deli for some major pastrami sandwiches. The free Staten Island Ferry gave us a good chance to peek at Lady Liberty and take some sweet photos of the harbor that night, after which our feet gave up and we made a B-line for the D-line back to Brooklyn.
On Friday, we had our official interview at the Korean Consulate General, so we decided to prepare with a promenade through Koreatown, stopping for some Korean barbeque and checking out the fare at the import market. After a lot of paperwork and an interview on official Korean territory, we were back on the streets headed for MoMA, which gives out tickets for free on Friday nights. Little did we know, however, that the line would wrap around the block. Impressions of the museum itself: it’s a museum, complete with nice art and me trying to act like I understand any of it.
We met my cousin Michelle for dinner in Soho (stopping for a quick look at the Flatiron building en route), which is a beautiful area. I think the Soho/Greenwich Village neighborhood takes the cake in Katie’s “Man, if we could afford to live here…” contest with its classy apartments, upscale shops, and swanky restaurants. After dinner, we checked out Washington Square and the NYU campus on our way to the Empire State Building (a.k.a. the How-Much-Money-Can-We-Get-Out-Of-You Building) for a great view of the city at night.
Saturday we started off with a walk around Brooklyn Heights and across the Brooklyn Bridge, then uptown to Grand Central Terminal and through the fires of Hell’s Kitchen (seriously, it was hot), but not before a slice of real New York pizza. We saw a show on Broadway later that night (August: Osage County, titled with an entirely unnecessary colon), which was funny, sad, and excellent. It turns out that Times Square at night is almost brighter than Times Square in the daytime, in case you’re wondering. Katie and I both agreed that it beats the pants off Picadilly Circus. I should have been wearing sunblock (and not just because of my burn from the Potomac).
We said goodbye to NYC on Sunday morning with our new camera full of photos and our brains full of memories. It was a fitting end to a great trip, but for now we’re glad to be home for a week or two.
