New York Part 2

 The next few days of our trip we went to church, which was interesting because we followed some sister missionaries in the door and followed them up a couple flights of stairs before I started to question if we were going the right way.  Sure enough, we got to the 4th floor and there was the chapel.  Weird.  Everything in New York is up.  I really enjoyed the sacrament meeting and listened to a young couple give talks about how they ended up in New York after attending medical school in Phoenix. After sacrament meeting we left.  We were standing outside the church when a homeless man came up to us and asked one of us to marry him since that was a church we were standing outside of.  We said no and hurried out of there to get a bagel for breakfast.  It was such a yummy bagel.  Funny how some things just taste better in New York. 

Then we walked to find the "Hope" and "Love" statues since they were pretty close and got pictures.  After that we figured out how to take the subway to the Brooklyn Bridge.  (thank you google maps...seriously.  I don't know how people did things with out it!  It makes things so easy!)  We got there and started walking.  We only made it about half way across the bridge before turning back because we were so cold. 

I believe after that we went to the Chelsey Market.  Or that might have been the day before.  I can't remember.  Anyway, we wandered around there and enjoyed some yummy Ramen and I bought my favorite souvenir.  A necklace with a round pendant and a rainbow heart in the middle of it.  I wear it all the time and I love it.  I didn't decide right away, I had to think on it for a night, but I'm so glad that I got it.  And Laurel got the same one.  They "never" have 2 of the same necklace.  At least that's what they told us...good sales tactic.  ha ha. 

We also hit up Stardust Diner.  It's a fun diner where a bunch of Broadway hopefuls work.  They sing and perform the entire night.  It is amazing.  I loved it.  It was one of my very favorite things we did while in New York.  Serious talent in there.  We did have to wait in a very long line to get in, but it was totally worth it. 

Something that we discovered after we booked our hotel was that it was smack dab in the middle of the fabric district.  Well maybe not the middle, but really close.  So on our last day there we hit up Mood Fabric.  Laurel watches Project Runway, so she knew all about this place.  I seriously need to watch that show.  It was amazing how much fabric was in there.  It's really overwhelming.  But I ended up getting a shirt there.  No fabric.  Although I did look for a specific fabric.  Couldn't find it because there was just so much fabric there. 

After the fabric store, we went and got 99 cent pizza and more Carlos Bakery.  So yummy.  Then we gave ourselves plenty of time to navigate to the airport because when we went to Paris, we came close to missing our flight home.  he he.  WE got to the airport like 5 hours early this time which wasn't bad at all.  It took us a while to figure out the trains to get there, but we did it and then we just relaxed.  It felt nice. 

I'm probably missing some stuff, but it was just such a fun trip.  Quick but perfect.  Now on to the pictures which are all out of order.  So i'll just type about them. 

Empire State Building.  My kids loved the movie clip I showed them of King Kong climbing up this building.  

 Brooklyn Bridge.

 It was so cold.  I looked like this except for the brief moments I took my hood off for a picture.  

 We tried Ramen for the first time.  The guy who made the noodles was hilarious to watch.  He was stretching out the noodles to the Taylor Swift.  He was totally getting into it.  I loved the ramen.  It had beef that was delicious, but I couldn't eat it all.  Not even close.

 Stardust Diner.  If you go to New York...you have to go here.  So entertaining.  

 This guys sang a song called "Cellophane" i think.  He was stretching that plastic wrap and wrapping it all over himself.  It was hilarious. 

 I got the yummy nachos and Laurel got a hamburger.  Those nachos were good.  

 Just trying to document the lights and hustle and bustle of New York.

The picture on the left is from another store, but the one on the right is at Mood Fabric.  Doesn't Laurel totally look like she knows what she is doing?!?!  She should become a seamstress.  

 The picture on the left shows what trash day in New York city looks like.  Just mounds and mounds of garbage on the street.  Then the garbage trucks come by and have to load it by hand.  The picture on the right shows me eating my 99 cent pizza.  So greasy and yummy.  And one dollar.  Perfect.

 The Love and Hope sculptures.  Pretty fun.  I think I want to frame this one.  :)

 Fun pillar we found.  We both thought it was beautiful. 

 Central park.  We walked here on Sunday.  I forgot to write about it up at the top.  But we kept taking pictures of the tunnels like this because it reminded us of Home Alone 2.  We wanted to show our kids.  We also came across the zoo and saw seals performing.  In the middle of Central park.  It was cool.

 Left: Me pointing to the Empire State Building.  Right: Laurel and I getting warm inside the Stardust Diner.  We were freezing waiting outside in line for a good hour at least.  Then we got to skip ahead in line because they had 2 seats open at the bar.  So we sat there.  The only drinks we had were our milkshakes though.

 More Brooklyn Bridge.

 Mood Fabrics.  So cool to be in there.

 Building in the background.  Pretty cool.

 There were so many people at the bridge.  I feel like these pictures don't make it look that way.  But there were so many people.

 Look!  I grew the Empire State Building out of my head!

 I'm just amazed when I think about how people figure out how to make things like bridges.  

 Cool Balloon baker guy.  

 I don't think I posted this picture of myself in front of the love wall.  

 We had to document our first time eating ramen. 

 Our Mood gear.  I love that we both bought the same necklace and basically the same shirt for souvenirs.  (her's was white mine was black.) 

 We also hit up the M&M store.  I loved all the rainbow backdrops.  I didn't actually get any M&Ms.  I just took pictures of them.  :)

 More Brooklyn Bridge.

 Central Park with the buildings in the background.  We stood here for a while watching the Seals do tricks.

 Who knew M&Ms could be so pretty??

 Subway Entrance.  They were everywhere.  The underground subway system is pretty cool.  I'm fascinated by it.  It is also pretty stinky.  You could always smell when you passed by one.

 Outside Stardust Diner.

 Another Balloon person outside that same Bakery.

 City buildings.

I mean this was just one aisle at the fabric store.  I wonder how long some of those have been there.  1 year?  5 years? 20 Years?  Who knows?

Also at one of the fabric stores we went in, there was a sign that said something like " more fabric downstairs".  So we turned to go downstairs and saw this long stairway with a dirty door at the bottom.  It was taped closed with masking tape.  That's for sure going to keep it from opening.  It was pretty creepy.  I wonder what was behind that door.  Not enough to actually look, but I'm still curious about it.  Such a great trip!  Thanks Laurel.  You are the best travel buddy!