New York: A Little Drama

We left Washington four hours behind schedule, so we missed Amish country (which shuts down at 6 pm) and headed into the city that never sleeps. 

We could feel the hustle, bustle, and excitement of the city right while we were still driving. Annie Sanchez had extended her home to us in Brooklyn, so we were greeted with a cute apartment complete with two bedrooms just for us. 

Our first day out on the town, Annie took us to a cute restaurant "Farm" for brunch. After a hearty breakfast, and a quick lesson on riding the subway, we ventured into New York all on our own. We walked the Manhattan bridge, got assaulted by Chinatown (never seen so many people in such a small space, smelled so many smells all at once, or been asked so many times if we wanted to illegally buy designer purses). We were helped out by an undercover cop who gave us directions to the subway we needed. He was arresting a tiny, old, and very surly Ukrainian woman. After we had pushed and fought our way through the crowds for about 7 blocks, we found our stop...... and ran into the cop with the old woman in tow. His face registered shock at seeing us again (I don't think you see the same people twice in NYC), and said that we'd made good time.

Speaking of walking, we walked A LOT. We'll spare you all the details, but between the subway and walking, we really got around New York. Manhattan bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero, Staten Island Ferry, City Hall, Wall Street, Times Square, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Madison Street, Trinity (the oldest cathedral), St. Patrick's (the largest cathedral in the U.S.) and Trump Towers. We also saw a famous choir sing at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, went to a show on Broadway (Little Mermaid), and caught an impromptu breakdancing performance on the subway (very New York). 

We also experienced New York's famous pizzerias, delis, and cheesecake--the most fantastic cheesecake we've ever had! We also got take-out Thai food, and had an amazing pre-Broadway meal at Centrio's, a well-known Mexican restaurant. The owner came over to talk to us, and we sat next to Sylvia Winestock, a famous pastry chef. Her table clapped for us when we all stood up to take a picture. 

In other happenings....

*Toy's R Us is HUGE! Three stories, complete with a running ferris wheel, and a Barbie land which we loved. 

*In Times Square, a man wearing a huge python asked us if we wanted to have our picture taken. We said no, but before leaving, the man looked at Steffanie and said "Damn! You got hit with a bag of beautiful!" 

*So there we were, all dressed up, already running late, riding on the subway, headed into Manhattan..... and Katrina suddenly remembered: she forgot the Broadway tickets!! Her and Annie had to RUN (in high heels) 6 blocks back to the house to get the tickets. Then they caught a gypsy cab (any cab that's not yellow) back to the subway station in a record 20 minutes.   

*Our first day in New York was a 10 hour marathon discovering the city. It was huge, crowded, dirty, loud, colorful, and full of flavor. 

We returned home to Brooklyn late at night, with blistered feet.... and SCARY MOMENT #1: 

A normal looking guy, (who was occasionally talking to himself under his hand) started to follow us on the subway. Good thing we were in a group, because half of us were oblivious, one of us was swinging on the subway poles (yeah, bad idea), and two of us were watching this guy's every move. He had definitely attached himself to us, and was consulting the voices in his head. Thanks to quick thinking, we managed to escape by sneakily jumping off the train and on to the car behind us. 

We returned home to Brooklyn late at night, with blistered feet.... and SCARY MOMENT #2:

got lost in a bad part of town. We didn't realize it at first, but the longer we walked, the deeper in we got. Cat calls, hollering, whistling, hassling, and even more menacing, the shadowy groups of guys staring but not saying anything. At first, we were okay because it felt like we were just running through. But then it got scary when we decided we were going the wrong way....and had to turn around and walk back through the same neighborhood we'd just escaped from. When we got back to the place we'd started.... we were still in a bad neighborhood. Then Kevin "Slim" Wells came to our rescue, a fast talking gangsterish guy. He introduced us to his neighborhood: it was a bad one. A lot of famous rappers had come from there. He said he'd seen us wandering through it and thought "what the (bleep) are they doing down here?!" He insisted he escort us the 15 blocks to our house, explaining that it wasn't safe for us, but he'd grown up on these streets, so we'd be fine if we were with him. And safe we were. Slim was like a guardian angel to us, and after 15 blocks we'd made a new friend. We all hugged goodbye, Slim said he loved us and if we ever needed anything, we knew where to find him (guarding his neighborhood). 

That's the quick version of New York. Our visit here was a big adventure! We are very grateful for the hospitality we were shown in such a big, potentially mean city. Annie was an angel, showing us around, and saving us a ton of money by giving us her home. Strangers everywhere in New York, gave us directions, impromptu tours (thanks George!), and helpful advice. We had so much fun here! SEE NEW PICTURES XXXXXOOOOO