NYC Post 1

So.. after months and months of keeping y'all waiting, the New York City trip is finally here!  I had to go up to New York for a short business trip on one Friday so Lia and I decided to take off Monday and Tuesday and turn it into a fun little vacation.  

The trip started at good old MIA.  I flew back from Orlando and Lia met me in the airport.  My flight was delayed from Orlando so I was pretty scared that I was going to miss my connection to New York.. but of course that flight was delayed too.  Lia and I then proceeded to fly on up to NYC together.  Flying with Lia is a lot like flying alone since whenever the seat belt touches her she immediately goes into a coma and can only be awoken by landing at her destination.  I did sit next to a cool Jewish guy who decided to dispel stereotypes and live in Miami and New York.  On to the trip...

Thursday night was exciting.  We landed at La Guardia and rode into Manhattan with some sketchy lady driving her own suburban and hand choosing her victims out of the taxi line.  The line you had to wait in to get a taxi had to be over 2 hours... I guess New Yorkers don't move at the pace I thought they did.  

Friday was exciting... for Lia.  I woke up early and went to work while Lia slept in and then went shopping.  5th Avenue was exactly as dangerous as every husband in the country thinks it is.  After work I met Lia and we went and saw the Chrysler Building and then hung out in Bryant Park for a bit.  I would have to say that the Chrysler Building was probably my favorite building in NYC.  It's also pretty cool how they were sneaky and made it the tallest building in the world without anyone realizing it would be.  Google it.

And now we are getting to the point in the story where I start showing more pictures and saying less boring stuff.  Friday evening we took our maiden voyage on the New York City Subway.  It was a semi-disaster.  Lia doesn't like to travel without her entire wardrobe, so I was lugging a 50 pound gigantic suitcase down stairs and trying to get it through the turnstiles.  I looked like quite the idiot until some lady felt bad for us and opened the handicap door which I then proceeded to walk through with the bag.  I may or may not have forgotten to pay for my first subway ride... oops.

We made the voyage from Midtown to the Upper West Side to meet up with one of Lia's best friends from high school, Sam.  Sam was kind enough to let us stay in his very nice apartment for the weekend.  We had to spend a ton of money on food at some point, so we decided to go to a small restaurant in the West Village that got good reviews.  The food and wine was fantastic, and I learned that a Char was a kind of fish. Go figure.

The next day we woke up and walked over to Central Park.  I brought along my camera, so prepare for some awesome pictures. Before you critique my use of a certain lens or comment on my exposure rates, please realize that I just see something that I think would be cool to take a picture of and then point the camera at it and press the button.  If something appears artsy, I apologize as that was not my intention.

Central Park had some beautiful views combining nature and architecture.

One thing that I will say is that New York City has to figure out what to do about that algae.  Their ponds were forest green.  Not green like Florida pools in the winter.. I am talking about a rich shade of green that even Augusta National would envy.

Fun fact for you knowledge grabbers out there:  Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed Central Park, also designed the gardens at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC.  This particular fact is fun because that is where I proposed to my wifey way back when we were immature college kids.  Go Dores.

According to Lia, this picture is evidence that she is taller than any of the buildings in Midtown Manhattan. Spatial reasoning is not necessary to be a good baby snuggler, and it is a dang good thing.  Lia tried to convince me multiple times that 10 story buildings a block away were taller than 100 story buildings 10 blocks away.  I have decided to not be frustrated by this and instead accept Lia's beliefs as a unique perspective that has just as much merit as my own views.  I am applying this "Why Care About Anything?" philosophy in all aspects of my life.  I am not quite there yet with Scientology, but I am trying.  Watching the new Star Trek movie was a surprisingly enjoyable first step.

Lia stopped playing with random people's dogs long enough for us to snap this picture together.  Please note the contrast between the green of the water and the green of the trees.  Oh wait.. there is no difference. Never mind.

This picture shows Lia posing on a balcony of Belvedere Castle.  This castle is where the Shakespeare performers hide whenever drunk frat stars start heckling them.  I am pretty sure it serves no other purpose and you really should not care about it.

Please give credit to my artsy side as I took an extra effort to capture the garbage can within this frame.  It really helps set the mood for this picture.  Also, garbage cans are just for show in NYC.  Only tools and tourists actually use them.

After our wonderful morning in Central Park, we met up with one of my good friends from high school.  Marianne, who was actually attending grad school in London at the time, heard that we were going to be in NY so she made the flight all the way over the Atlantic just to have lunch with us.  It also turned out that her sister was getting married in town a few days later.. talk about a lucky coincidence.  

After lunch we met up with Sam again to go take a look at the American Museum of Natural History.  They have the neatest racket there when it comes to buying tickets.  I am not going to tell you all and spoil their scheme, but let's just say that if you pay for your entrance you are being generous... whether you know it or not.  

The sign said that this was a dinosaur.

Lia posing with one of her ancestors, a very primitive donkey.

This dino reminded me of an Italian mobster for some reason.  I feel like he would never have to ask for his money twice.  Also, in a completely unrelated weird fantasy, I imagine him wearing glasses.  Big round Harry Potter style glasses.

Possible Fact:  A video of Lia playing soccer in middle school was used to model the movement of the raptors in Jurassic Park.

After our time at the museum, we went back to Sam's place to change before heading to the Theater District to see the greatest movie of all time performed on stage.  

Considering that my idea of cinematic genius is Role Models, you can probably assume that it was an uphill battle for Lia to convince me to see a Broadway play.  But how can you turn Simba down? 

The Minskoff Theater also had really cool views of Times Square. 

We also made a delicious discovery before the show, and its name was Shake Shack.  Just a burger joint with fries and shakes.. and some kind of secret illegal ingredient that makes everything taste amazing.  After the show I was intent on getting some authentic New York pizza, since really the only point of traveling for me is to eat cool stuff I can't get at home.  I was so excited to test out some New York Style Pizza against the Chicago Deep Dish Pizza that I love so much, that in my haste I probably did not pick the best place possible.  It was pretty mediocre pizza.  Granted, it was a hole in the wall place serving reheated pizza and I had not been drinking.  Oh well, it wasn't that big of a deal because there were much better pizza experiences to come.

After that, we went back to Sam's apartment.  That concludes our activities for Friday and Saturday.  If you would like to continue, please deposit another quarter now.