New York Bus Tour-Day Three

I apologize for not posting this after completing this tour but after the Yankee game...see the next post...the subway ride and finally trying to get some sleep I decided to wait til I could get home, really look at the pictures and try to remember what everything was when posting the pictures of the tour. The bus tour was something that was suggested to me by my boss at work Donna and she said that it was well worth the money. It was something that you can hop on and off of the bus and it takes you around all of the sites around New York with a guide to tell you things about all of the historical and other fun facts. Well, first let me say.....today was a very important day for me because today is the YANKEE game for me so time is of the essence so we must watch our time and be back in time to get to the stadium in time for the game. WAIT let me say that again. We must be back in time to get on the SUBWAY...to ride the SUBWAY to the stadium in time for the game.
So when purchasing the tour, we decided to just get the downtown loop because we already went through Central Park and felt like we walked EVERYWHERE else. We didn't need to go to Brooklyn and we had things to do that night. We also decided that we would not hop off that we would stay on the bus and just relax. But then we ended up getting off at one stop....at the Statue of Liberty because otherwise you can't see her at all. And you CAN'T go all the way to New York and NOT go and at least see the Statue of Liberty. Anyhow....let me see if I can share with you now a little of the photos (well al lot) and some of the history and fun facts that we learned on our tour.....sit back and enjoy. We did-
1-This photo is actually of the pole where the ACTUAL new years eve ball is mounted and drops from time square. It is kinda hard to see but it is beneath the sign that reads "VOTE".
2-Site of the Good Morning America show AND our hotel was actually right around the corner from here but on the opposite side of the street.
3-Empire State Building. Second Tallest Building in the world (oops forgot the height but you can google that). King Kong has been on it twice. Will Ferrell's father's worked here in the movie Elf.
4-Madison Square Garden-this is where the New York Knicks play basketball. And all the major concerts take place as well.
5-This is just the entrance to the Empire State Building. You couldn't see the top of the building when you were standing or sitting at the front. Pretty cool.
6-Flatiron Building-this was built in 1902 archilectually to accommodate the building site of the intersection between Broadway and 5th Avenue.
7-Tiles for America-this is an outdoor memorial created for victims of 9/11/01 and is one of the few memorials outdoors still standing outdoors to honor the victims.
8-for those of you who were fans of the television show Will and Grace...this is the building that Grace Adler studios was housed and videoed in.
9-This is the municipal building in downtown Greenwich. This is actually where Matt Damon and his wife got married. On the 5th floor (I believe is what she told us) of the same building, you can go and get a divorce....how nice!!!!
10-St Paul's Chapel. This is the only surviving prerevolutionary church and was a transit shelter for homeless men until it became a relief shelter on 9/11/01. It houses a memorial area for victims of 9/11/01 as well as videos, pictures, etc...and part of the chapel returned to normal duties beginning in mid 2002.
11-The next photo, although it looks just like a construction site, it is actually Ground Zero. I think that this was actually kind of the saddest thing for me because although it was such an impactful moment for me, everyone was just walking around as though that site was nothing more than a big site of construction and dust and nuisance. What a pity and what a time to remember all the lives that were lost on that day and all the families that were affected by the ungodly acts of so many people. The bus went by that site rather fast, and although you could see it from several different sites....it was just so humbling to think that so many years ago our lives as Americans changed so drastically because of the acts of other people but actually laying eyes on the site that it happened and seeing people carry on with their everyday lives makes you know that we still stand United together and will not let people take away our rights and our lives and we will continue to live our lives to the fullest each day that God grants us breath.
12-This next catholic church, forgive me I forgot the name of it, but it was actually the church that one of the clues were retrieved in the movie National Treasure with Nicholas Cage. Cool Huh?
13-Statue of Liberty-our gift from France....need I say more about her? We didn't take the ferry over. The Schumacher family doesn't have a good history with the ferry ride to the island but still....we were still watching our time!
14-Brroklyn Bridge
15-Manhatten Bridge
16-China Town-we didn't get around in China town but it was neat to see the different living environment and the way that housing was here with the houses built on top of apartments. They were referred to as people's "summer homes". I just wondered how they got to them???
17-Now for those of you who love Meg Ryan...and who doesn't???? When Harry Met Sally, you know the scene in the movie when they are in the cafe and she fakes the....well you know she explains to him that she is really good at....oh you know and then the lady says..."I'll have what she is having!" They ate at Katz's cafe and that is the cafe on the corner in this picture. Way cool!
18-This is a shot of Queens across the river. I just thought it was a pretty picture.
19-This is the Chrysler Building. It was a cloudy day so it was not as shiny and vibrant as it usually is BUT normally it is usually very shiny.
20-The black shiny building to the right of the photo is the Trump Tower building. This is residenial apartments that Donald Trump build and sells and they average 48-63 million each. Derek Jeter (captain of the New York Yankees) lives here and Mariah Carey used to live in one of the apartments.
21-The final photo is the 30 rock building. Hence.....the television show 30 rock is filmed here in this building.
And that completes the Hudnall Tour of New York City and you all got it for FREE....
Next you all get to see our time at the game so get ready....
Love to you all and next time-

NYC-Day 2

Well, Today was another great day for the Hudnall's in New York, although I must admit that with getting up and about this morning it did make for an interesting start to our day. It is never a great thing, no matter what state or city that you live in, when you look out your windows and are greeted with television news trucks lining the streets around your hotel. But you know I still thought, okay, we are in NYC....it may be a celebrity, a politician, who knows maybe they know that I am in town and a Derek Jeter fanatic and want to talk to me about it? You just never know? So we got ready, had a bite for breakfast and headed out of our hotel in to the thick of a picket, protest, rally...whatever you would like to label this. But boy were they marching and boy were they shouting. And there were cars parked EVERYWHERE. And then we proceeded to note that not only were there cars and such parked everywhere, there were vehicles that appeared to be secret service vehicles parked around, so naturally we had to check that out. And low and behold....Mayor Bloomberg was perched at a together.com rally, conference, meeting (again choose the word you would like here) right in the heart of Time Square. So we decided that we had enough of this excitement and decided to start out 15 block walk to head to Central Park. Now the one thing I have to know is do horn run on fuses? Because I know if they do I know that around here I bet that horn fuses get replaced ALOT. I have heard MORE people honk their horns at people(red or green lights) AND alot of profanity (I guess that could also be considered road rage)and even about saw a homeless and hungry man about attack a tourist today because he had THE NERVE to be trying to take his picture holding his "I AM HUNGRY AM BROKE" sign and had the nerve to ask his to hold it up. Now I can't type in here the words that the man used with the tourist today BUT I told Chad that I felt quite alot safer last night in the dark than I did in all the excitement in this short hour out this morning.

Anyhow....on to the evening. After the Central Park visit we did visit Toys R Us looking for something special for Bryson and say these really cool lego exhibitions and then headed to Ann Taylor Loft (oh yeah...my favorite store), rested at the room for an hour or so then it was out for a night on the town. We headed to Broadway Joe's for dinner. It has been the best meal that we have had since being here. And I think that we have both agreed on that. Then we headed to the theater on Broadway for the Phantom of the Opera. IT WAS AWESOME. I don't think that I will ever get tired os seeing that Opera and hearing that music. It is such a beautiful love story and they did a wonderful job at the production of it. It was another WONDERFUL day in the CITY and I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Tune in...

Much love and til next time-

NYC-Day 2; Central Park

Today we got up and decided that after breakfast we would walk the 15 blocks from our hotel to Central Park to walk around and see what it was all about. We have heard so much about the park, seen it in magazines and have heard so many people talk about it that we decided that we would just head on over and just "walk around". Well, after out little 15 block trek, we found out that the park itself it over 580 ACRES and then we settled on a nice little carriage ride. The ride that we took (which took about 45 minutes) would have taken about 2 1/5 to 3 hours if we had decided to just walk it. I decided to do 2 blogs for today because there was so much to see in Central Park that I wanted to be able to tell you all the different things that we saw just from riding around, and include the pictures. And YES...it was more than just some people sleeping under trees (which I did NOT include any photos of). Our carriage driver was originally from Istanbul, Turkey and came to New York to learn English and is now getting his masters degree here at the University. His knowledge of the area and the history of the city was unbelievable to both Chad and I and we told him that we were very impressed. He said that he had alot of American friends but it was also his job to know alot about New York. And let me tell you...he did his job very well. We asked him if he saw alot of celebrities riding through the park like he did and he said that he actually rode Robert DeNiro and his daughter around, Russell Crowe, Keanu Reaves, and has seen Jessica Simpson, Chuck Norris and many others. Then Chad and I both decided that he looked very much like Russell Crowe.

Anyhow....back to the photos. The first photo is the driver and his horse Billy. Next he drove us past a section of the park where there was a play ground, rides and a carousel that is run with live horses. It was packed with people. The next photo is a statue of Shakesphere in the area of Shakesphere in the park. The do plays and reading in the periodically. This next photo was WAY COOL!!!! This fountain is the Angel of the Waters Fountain and it is thought that anyone who touches the cascasding water is brought good health. The Angel holds a lily in her hand which represents purity and then the 4 figurines under her, under the water each represent purity, peace, health and temperance. (Can you tell that I really found this fountain most interesting to me....maybe it is the whole health and healing issue and relation!?!?!?). The original fountain is built in Jerusalem BUT the really cool thing about this fountain and this area is that this is where they filmed the scene in Ransom where Mel Gibson and Rene Russo's son is kidnapped...and while we were sitting there, you can just imagine the scene and see the kite or whatever it was flying away when they are trying to find him. Eerie but way cool!. The next photo is called Cherry Blossom and it was originally a fountain that was built for the horses so that they could walk around and get a drink of water (aaahh how sweet!!!!). The building in the next photo in the oldest building on the west side on NYC and the apartments are 45 million to buy. YES MILLION. Steven Spieldberg owns an apartment in this building. I forgot who else. He was talking kinda fast. The building with the little ball on the top (don't you like my technical terms) is the American Museum of Natural History, and the next building used to be a castle but now are residential buildings. I don't know how much they are each (although I am sure that they are BUNCHES) but I do know that Seinfeld has an apartment here and George Steinbrenner (NY Yankees Owner) houses one of his Porsche collections here and he opens it up two or three times a year for people to see. The next to last picture is Strawberry Fields. This is the memorial built for John Lennon. It was really pretty and the picture didn't really do it justice. And then the final picture is the home of John Lennon, where the American flag is hanging.

And that completed our tour of Central Park...

See the next blog for our PHANTOM OF THE OPERA NIGHT......

New York City Day One

Well we arrived safely in the Big Apple last night around 10:15PM rode the shuttle over to our hotel that was only a few miles from the airport. Although it was a little late in the evening we were both a little "wired" so Chad sat up and worked a little while on the computer and I started reading a new James Patterson book that I brought along for the trip....

And then this morning at 8:30 we were awoken with a visit at our hotel from the FDNY...thank goodness though a false alarm...but yet I was caught by one of them sitting up in our window sill taking pitures of them. Oh well, I just waved and continued taking photos. After completing my "photo shoot" with the FDNY, we ate a quick breakfast then cleaned up and headed into Manhattan to our hotel room at the Millennium in the heart of Time Square. We were able to check in early, drop off our bags, and spent the next 4 1/2 hours shopping down the 5th Avenue shops. We found Rockefeller Center and the spot for the Today Show so that we know where to head out in the morning so that we can run down there and try to be a couple of the goobers who stand behind Matt Lauer and Ann Curry on the telephone while they are talking about some really important crisis going on in the world. Won't you ALL BE PROUD to be associated with us if we are on television doing that??? Then we continued to head around to all the shops until LOW AND BEHOLD I was able to find the one shop that I was destined to search out and go into and come out with a little "blue box" with some little bobble from there. I was able to find Tiffany's. Chad didn't really have any clue what Tiffany's was...not even when we first went inside. Until he asked if there was anything BESIDES jewlery. I answered that there didn't need to be anything else, and then he knew that he was in big trouble. But he treated me to the most beautiful sterling silver earrings and necklace set. And I almost felt like Audrey Hepburn as I was trying them on in the store......I felt like a princess! I can't wait to wear them at the opera tomorrow night! We left Tiffany's and continued to walk around shopping and headed back to the room around 5-ish to rest for a while before we headed out for dinner and an evening in Time Square.

We had dinner at Bubba Gumps and enjoyed shrimp, Forrest Gump style, then headed into the thick of Time Square and just ooohed and aaahed at all the lights, sights and sounds of the Square in the evening and when all the people are out in the evening. It is really an amazing place and I just can't even imagine being in this every day of my life. Might be a bit much but for right now it is just amazing....

We are having the time of our lives and I am taking it all in. It is an amazing experience and something that I will never forget. I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds and can't wait to share it with you!

With much love and til next time-