New York City!

In July Bryant, Garrett, and I had the amazing opportunity to go to Washington, DC and New York City. It was one of the funnest and most entertaining trips I've ever been on. We left on Wednesday (July 13th) and spent the first three days in Washington, DC (That's a totally different post that's in the works, I promise!) then we took an Amtrak train to New York and spend Saturday and Sunday there. (Garrett went and visited one of his friends in Philadelphia on Saturday and met up with us in NYC on Sunday)

This was taken right before we boarded the train:

Going through Maryland. The scenery was beautiful!
We arrived at Penn Station, which is located under Madison Square Garden
We had quite the adventure trying to figure out the subway system to get to our hotel, which is located next to Ground Zero. The construction around that area is CRAZY!! This is looking up at one of the Freedom Towers they are building in the same spot.
We took a slight detour while walking to the hotel (not really by choice, but the view was beautiful!)

This is the view from our room Apparently this was a huuuuge giant hole not too long ago. The construction crews were working 24/7 to try and finish the 9/11 Memorial for the 10th anniversary this September.
Steve's Pizza- Where we had our first "authentic NY Pizza"
Wall Street- Only a couple blocks from our hotel
Wall Street

Tiffany & Co!!!! I was pretty excited...

This is the Jacqueline Kennedy Reservoir at Central Park
It was so pretty!

Eventually we made our way on the subway from Manhattan up to the Bronx for our FOURTH Paul McCartney Concert. I'm starting to feel like a groupie.
Yankee Stadium!

At this point we were enjoying our Philly Cheese steaks that we got from the stand that was literally right next to our seats. (We left smelling of beef and onions. I'm sure the people we were squished next to on the subway loooved that.)

--Billy Joel made a surprise appearance and sang "I Saw Her Standing There". I screamed like a 13 year old girl.

Yankee Stadium was gorgeous!
The next morning we ate breakfast at the restaurant at the top of our hotel that overlooks the 9/11 Memorial


After breakfast we walked down to the boardwalk to see the Statue of Liberty
Bryant and Garrett
We didn't have enough time to take a ferry out to the island. (Kinda wish we would have...)
One of the major MUST-SEE sites for Bryant was to go to John Lennon's (Lead singer of The Beatles--for anyone who doesn't know) apartment where he was shot and killed. The building is called The Dakota.
And here we're standing right where he was shot. Kinda creepy...
This is the corner of the building looking over at Central Park
In Central Park there is an area where John Lennon and Yoko Ono would always go-Strawberry Fields.
There was also this beautiful mosaic dedicated to one of John's most famous songs- "Imagine"
It was pretty cool to see in person since Bryant has a poster of it at our house.
Central Park
Radio City Music Hall

Rockefeller Plaza

I watched way too much "Today Show" growing up so I was excited to see this.
GE Building for all you "30 Rock" Fans!
I think I love "30 Rock" a little too much...

Times Square
"The Naked Cowboy"- A lovely NYC Attraction
...and the nasty Naked Cowgirl who's boobies were hanging out

Bryant decided he wanted to buy some Beatles stuff from one of the street vendors. He didn't really barter with the guy. Garrett decided this was unacceptable so a block later, Garrett showed us his foreign country bartering skills. I was impressed!
(I still like Jay Leno more...)


If you watch David Letterman, you'll appreciate this.
Times Square!

Sooo...it was super hot. And SUPER humid. And we didn't want a lot of luggage on this part of the trip so we cramed everyting into a backpack that poor little Bryant had to pack around the city. This is my favorite picture from the entire trip...

Mad Men!
Empire State Building
My cousin Cole is going to NYU for medical school and he gave us some awesome recommendations for visiting the city. This picture was for him :)
Down by the East River with the Brooklyn Bridge behind us. Also- Please notice that I was wearing the backpack at this point.
Bryant was complaining so someone with real muscles had to take over

Grand Central Station (Sooo pretty inside!)

Our train didn't leave New York until 11:45 PM and we didn't arrive back to DC until 3:30 am Monday morning. Before we got on the train we had pizza at NY Pizza Suprema by Penn Station. When I asked the guy what kind of pizza this was he looked at me like I was crazy and said in a thick NY accent, "It's Sicilian! It's just the plain Sicilian! Do you want the Sicialian?"...Uhh...Yes?

Turned out to be the best pizza I've ever had in my 22 years of life.

New York City was absolutely amazing! I wish we could have spent a little more time there, but we got to see some amazing stuff--Paul McCartney at Yankee Stadium (With Billy Joel making a surprise appearance!) was definitely my favorite part.

Hopefully we can go again soon!