NYC Day One: Hit The Ground Running

Going to our friends T & R's wedding in New York provided us with the perfect excuse to finally make our way over to the East Coast. It was mine and Scott's first time visiting, so we definitely wanted to make big embarrassing tourists of ourselves! We booked the red-eye on Virgin America (they had some low fares going on at the time!): left SFO at 11pm to arrive JFK at 7:30am.

The flight was restless, unfortunately. Take note, Virgin America flyers, that everyone will get excited over the free satellite TV on board, and that there will always be that one person that will find stand-up comedy very entertaining, thus filling the cabin with roaring laughter, fully damning whatever chance of sleep you thought you had going on. Also, take snacks, because they don't feed you unless you pay up $8 for some hummus and veggie sticks.

Finally, we made it to the Big Apple. Or the borough of Queens, at least. It was about $60 and a harrowing 45-minute cab ride later that we made it to our hotel in the Flatiron District, the MAve hotel. Check-in wasn't until 3pm, so we dropped off our bags and met up with our friend Verlee and her husband, Josh. The four of us had planned a walking tour of NYC with Real New York Tours. We really wanted to make sure we saw as much as possible in one day without having to go on a big bus tour with 50 other people. Going on this walking tour allowed us to be really flexible -- we were able to take our time in some neighborhoods (the ones with food and shopping, specifically) and explore places that most other guided tours overlook.

Led by our awesome guide Jimmy, a born and bred, yoga-trained liberal New Yorker with a nicotine habit, we ventured out into Manhattan.

We started with exploring the neighborhoods right by our hotels:
Flatiron District and Gramercy Park


The Flatiron Building (where 23rd St., Fifth Ave and Broadway meet)


Madison Square Park, home of the Shake Shack (we will revisit Shake Shack in a later entry)

Then we made our way downtown. First to the Financial District...


New York Stock Exchange at Wall Street


Federal Hall (where Kevin James met Will Smith on "Hitch")


Scott and his day-old stubble looking less-than-interested in the historical economic babble going on.


Tourists!

And Ground Zero...





Then we made our way uptown, and saw lots of things that I'll just randomly put here...








For the "Friends" fans


For the "Sex And The City" fans (I guess they got tired of people sitting on Carrie's stoop)

We wrapped up the tour at Strawberry Fields...



But there was still SO MUCH of New York to see. Too bad we all looked like this...


So exhausted!

So we made our way back to our hotels. However, during our tour, we did manage to stop by Gray's Papaya (two hotdogs and a drink for under five bucks!). While I enjoyed the hotdogs and my piña colada drink (and their miniature size!), my husband grumbled about how the $1.50 hotdog and drink special at Costco was so much better than Gray's Papaya.





We managed to cram a lot of sights on our first day. But with a full day of walking and virtually no sleep the night before, we were ready to crash. At 6:00 pm. In New York City. We didn't think it was a big deal. We had an equally full day planned for the next day -- a picnic in Central Park, strolling in Greenwich Village, and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. But when "Hurricane Watch" came on the evening news, we knew that our plans would have to change...