New York City 2010 Day 1

A few people made this trip possible...

first of all... Thank you mom and dad for taking care of our kids so we could get away.


We also need to thank this lovely lady:

for helping us GET to New York (That's my awesome sister Lisa).


And last but far from least, this man:

My old friend, my brother, our concierge and tour guide... Chris.

Thank you all so much for making this incredible weekend a reality.

So now... where do we start? Oh yah... Buddy Passes.

If you or anyone you know has ever flown on a buddy pass before, you know the name of the game: Show up early and wait.



and then maybe wait some more...



But then the magic happens, you get on the red-eye (which Jet Blue calls the shut-eye) and the next thing you know, you're standing in a subway station waiting for your train.



And before you know it, you're sitting out front of a world famous bakery (Balthazar) eating some french pastry you've never heard of and washing it down with the best lemonade on the planet.

but no matter how delicious the food in SoHo is, the smell in the streets can change on a dime and make you look like this

We walked through the village and made out way to the meat packing district to the new Highline Park. It's an old elevated railway that the city has turned into a relaxing walk in the park with a view of the river (and New Jersey).



You can't see it in the picture - but we could see the statue of liberty from here.


We made our way toward Madison Square Park to enjoy a burger at the Shake Shack but as usual... the line was about 200 people long, and we were hungry. A quick snapshot with the Empire State Building behind us....

a quick subway hop...

to little italy... (couldn't pass up this spy photo of two guys who kept asking each other"heeeeyyy...how ya doin?"

for french macaroons

and a vietnamese sandwich... yes... you read that correctly. French macaroons and vietnamese sandwiches in Little Italy. It's New York! (and truthfully, that whole area seems to blend together... I can never tell where SoHo ends, and Chinatown begins)

Then it was back to Brooklyn to drop off extra gear and enjoy the view of the city.

But that place is loaded with papparazi who couldn't get enough of this pretty lady carrying her fabulous new purse...




After a quick hour nap, we headed back into the lion's den... We people watched for over an hour. So many people, so many cameras, so many kilowatts.


Gyro and pizza at 1am in times square. yum.



She's even stunning at 2am when our connecting train is running super late: