The Big Apple -- Part 3

Wrapping up!

Friday

We had been tipped off by the concierge that if we wanted to go to Ellis Island, we needed to get there early. The line for tickets opens at 8:30, but he recommended getting there an hour early. When we got there, we were probably already about 10th in line, but the line quickly grew to over 50 people in a matter of minutes. I was glad we listened! Oddly enough, there's no actual charge to go to Ellis Island or Liberty Island, but there is a charge to ride the ferry. After we purchased our tickets, we stood in yet another line to walk through security prior to boarding the ferry. In further proof that my Hubby knows more people than I could ever hope to, he ran into another guy from his work while we were waiting in the security line. We finally made it on to the ferry and had an AWESOME view for the ride in. We stopped at Liberty Island first. An interesting (and important) fact is that a ticket on the ferry does not necessarily guarantee you entrance to the Statue of Liberty; if your ticket did not say "monument access" on it, you were out of luck. There was a little French lady who did not speak any English in front of us whose son had stepped out of line for a minute, and the park ranger kept trying to explain that she wouldn't be allowed inside the Statue. It made me sad that I didn't speak French! Her son finally came back, and when she realized that her ticket wasn't also for the Statue, she got mad! Oh well, c'est la vie. ;) We had to go through another security line to get inside, and once we walked through the museum, we had to walk up about six flights of stairs to get to the observatory at the base. No one is allowed up to the torch or crown anymore, but the view was still great. Hubby took some great pictures! After we finished on Liberty Island, we went on to Ellis Island; we easily could have spent the rest of the day there, but we were getting hungry! We decided that we wanted pizza again since it's just so different and delicious up there. We had Lombardi's for lunch - yummy! That night we decided to enjoy another steak dinner at Benjamin's Steak House. We then walked over to Grand Central Station before heading back to Times Square. We wrapped up the night by visited the huge Toys R US (there is a ferris wheel inside!) and heading back to the M&M store to buy some candy and a little souvenir for me.

On the ferry on the way to Liberty Island

He always makes me laugh.

Still another beautiful day

Having fun

Hubby took this.

He took this one too.

Saturday
We were worn out, so we slept in late and had Jamba Juice for breakfast. We had to leave the hotel by 12:30 to catch our flight, and since I was craving a burger, we decided to walk over to Ruby Tuesday's and get something nearby that would be quick. The ride back to the airport was not nearly as eventful as the ride over, and we made it through security so quickly that we had an hour and a half to wait before the plane took off. Hubby and I relaxed through the uneventful ride home, and as soon as we made it back to Texas, we drove for about an hour to pick up Sebastian from Hubby's mom (we told him he was going to "puppy camp" for the week). Our vacation was awesome, and I couldn't have asked for a better week with Hubby, but it was still so great to climb back into our own bed and go to our own church the next morning. Anniversary vacation 2008 was a success!

The Big Apple -- Part 2

Continuing on ...

Wednesday

We had initially planned to go to Ellis Island this day, but after our big dinner (and the wine), we decided to sleep in. :) It was wonderful! Since Hubby is a platinum member at the hotel where we stayed, we were able to partake of the hotel's complimentary breakfast buffet each morning. When we went down this particular day, we happened to run into one of Hubby's close business associates who regularly works in New York; after talking for a little bit, the Associate offered to take us out to lunch - yay! This only left us with about two and a half hours to walk around, so we decided to amble over to Central Park. That place is huge! We watched a group of high schoolers play softball, little kids riding the carousel, and a group of people setting up to film a scene for a movie or TV show.

We could not have asked for a more beautiful day.

The tulips were amazing.

Strawberry Fields, a tribute to John Lennon

If you look directly over my left shoulder, you can see this weird guy who was dressed up like a wizard.

After Central Park, we met Hubby's buddies for lunch at Bobby Van's Grill; I was so glad I changed to get a little more dressy for lunch! We had the best steaks of our entire trip here (although I honestly do prefer Hubby's steaks -- my boy can grill like none other). After we finished lunch, we walked over to Rockefeller Center and perused the NBC gift shop for a bit; Hubby later ended up getting this t-shirt as a sign of his devotion to one of our favorite tv shows. We did a little more shopping, and I finally found a pair of black high heels that is narrow enough to fit my little heel. I was so excited! We were both getting pretty tired from all the walking and dodging, so we went back to the hotel for a nap before the evening. We had tickets to see Wicked that night, so we ate dinner at a little restaurant right around the corner from the theater. Can I just say that Wicked was amazing? WOW, I was so enthralled! It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

Thursday
After breakfast, we wandered back to Rockefeller Plaza to watch the taping of the Today Show. We actually made it on TV! We got really tired of having this group of pre-teens screaming in our ears over Fran Drescher (the Nanny? really?), so we left and went back to Greenwich Village to get more pizza at Joe's Pizza. The restaurant itself is extremely tiny, so we took our slices and sat out in a little park across the street. It was yet another lovely day, so we had a really good time! Afterwards, we walked down to Ground Zero and looked at some of the historic buildings in the area. We were craving sushi for dinner, but unfortunately the concierge was out that evening, and the girl at the front desk obviously didn't know what she was talking about when it came to recommending sushi (she was sweet, but a boring California roll is not my idea of great sushi!). Thanks to my iPhone, we found Kodama and were able to have some very interesting rolls that I'd never tried before. After dinner, we went to Serendipity 3 for their famous frozen hot chocolate. It was good, but I have to admit that I was a little let down after all the hype (plus I was slightly annoyed that the waiter made us each order one as there was an $8.50 minimum per person -- I only drank about a third of mine, and I knew ahead of time I couldn't come close to finishing one!).

9/11 memorial

9/11 memorial

Like I said, these things were huge!

Our last two days soon ...

The Big Apple -- Part 1

I had to skip work today because the dreaded gastroenteritis has hit me, and I don't want to get all the Heme-Onc kids sick (I'm cross-covering for an intern this weekend). I've been pretty much useless today, so since I've had a nice little nap, I feel that I should do something relatively constructive like blog about our trip.

Sunday
Our plane was an hour and a half delayed in taking off from the airport, so we were late in getting to NYC. When we finally landed and got our bags, we took a car service from the airport to Times Square. Scary!! The driver talked on his cell phone and was yelling in Arabic most of the time, and I was so thankful that we had seatbelts on! He was definitely not paying close attention to the road, but we arrived safely in one piece. After getting settled in, we decided to walk around Times Square for a bit and ended up having dinner at John's Pizzeria; the pie was delicious, and Hubby got to have one of his favorite beers that he can only find in the Northeast. After dinner, we continued our exploration by foot and made stops at both the M&M store as well as the Hershey store. We finally got tired and headed back to the hotel where we slept like babies; I was really surprised how quiet the room was considering we were facing 7th Avenue.

The wind was crazy!

My boy loves chocolate. :)


Monday
We got up that morning, had breakfast at the hotel, and headed out for our Foods of New York tour. Our tour guide was very interesting, and we spent over 3 hours wandering around the west side of Greenwich Village and tasting all sorts of different foods. We had a slice of New York style pizza from Joe's Pizza, samples of fresh bread, pesto, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar from O & Co, a cheese/ meat/ bread/ olive sampler from Murray's Cheeses, chocolate-covered pecans and almonds sold at this really cool herb store called Aphrodisia, chocolate chip cookies from Milk and Cookies, Thai chicken dumplings from Lime, and a final slice of pizza from Bleeker Street Pizza. We also learned quite a bit about local history and architecture and had such a blast! After the tour was over, we walked over to Chelsea Market; unfortunately, we weren't able actually to visit the Food Network, but we did see some really cute shops. I would totally shop there if I lived in New York! We easily walked over 5-6 miles that day, so despite all our snacking for lunch, we had still worked up a good appetite for dinner, so we walked up to Hell's Kitchen and had dinner at Uncle Nick's Greek Cuisine. I had some of the best gyros I've ever had, and Hubby enjoyed some lamb kabobs while we were both introduced to Greek wine. So good!

Hungry at the beginning of the food tour

Bleeker Street Pizza was a great way to end the tour.

These cupcakes from Chelsea Market were precious!

Tuesday
Our anniversary was here! We spent the morning shopping; I managed to find three pairs of petite pants that fit me, and (joy of joys!) they were all on sale. I was so happy! :) Then we went to what we are now referring to as the biggest rip-off of NYC, the Empire State Building. We got suckered into this thing called the NY Skyride; it turned out to be a Kevin Bacon-narrated movie attached to an inside roller coaster simulator. I got extremely nauseated at the end of the ride and took almost 30 minutes before I felt back to normal. :-p After visiting the top of the building, we walked back to the hotel for a nap before dinner. We had dinner at this extremely romantic restaurant called One If By Land, Two If By Sea. Hubby had the quickly seared buffalo rib eye, the beef wellington, and the dark chocolate souffle with rocky road garnish; I had wild mushroom and Parmesan crumble, the cushion of veal with butternut squash and broccolini, and the warm chocolate tart. All of the food was absolutely amazing, and my mouth is watering right now just thinking about it. We had an amazing bottle of French Bordeaux wine, and the service was superb. I will remember that dinner for a long time!

So in love

More to come shortly ...

So excited!!

We leave for New York City tomorrow; I am so so so excited! Big city, here I come!

Blah

My last day off was Friday, April 3rd; that was a relaxing and oh-so-fun day! Hubby was able to take the day off from work, so we cleaned the house together (actually not such a bad chore when he's around) and then had 2 of our sweet friends over for fajitas and Wii. I came in dead last in bowling but actually got 2nd place in golf. Good times!

Ever since then, I've been hard at work. I broke down crying Saturday the 4th in front of the NICU nurses over my frustrations regarding the inequality of the workload among the residents and the different management styles of my superiors that left me stuck in the middle. The next day I was on call and cried again in front of my fellow and my attending because the large majority of my patients were getting sick again in front of my eyes; I spent that 25 hours going to deliveries and just trying to survive the night. The following Tuesday I started an elective in child abuse; I have learned SO MUCH and even got to go to court one day to watch one of my attendings testify. Thursday I spent the day getting recertified for PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support), so if anyone under the age of 18 crashes, I'm your girl! Over this past weekend, I got to cross-cover Heme-Onc for the weekend -- definitely NOT my favorite thing. 11 brand-new (to me) patients with rounds that dragged on for 4 hours each day (they normally last 2-2.5 hours during the week) ... I was beat down by the end of yesterday.

I've spent the rest of my free time last week studying for my Step 3 licensing exam -- two FUN days at a Prometric testing center! Today honestly wasn't too bad; I was able to finish up early and did a little shopping while I was out. Now I have to get myself excited to go back tomorrow morning and finish it!

In six short days, Hubby and I leave for NYC. Since he travels so much, we have decided to use his airline and hotel points for an anniversary trip every year as long as he continues to travel frequently. Last year was Napa; this year is New York. I've never been before, and he's only been for work, so we're both so excited. We're going to be staying here, taking this food tour, and going to see this musical. The plan is also to go here for an anniversary dinner. We're going to work on a final itinerary this weekend (because I love having a schedule) to see if anything else needs to be pre-arranged before we leave. We're leaving our sweet puppy with his Granny on Saturday, so getting to see my MIL will be a nice way to start our vacation (yes, I actually like my MIL!).

If I can just get through the next 18 hours, I know I will be fine. It's all downhill from here!