Day 2 our 29th Anniversary June 30th

Me and our Big Apple Greeter, Carol.

Central Park Carriage Ride

Our 29th Anniversary

Behind us is the Brooklyn Bridge


Day Two our 29th Anniversary June 30, 2008

Today was an wonderful day. We celebrated our 29th Anniversary today in one of the most alive cities in the world. After we got ready for the day we headed out to find a place to get something to eat. We walked just up the street to a deli on the corner. It was the typical NY deli and a pretty cool place. The food was very good and the portions were huge. I could only eat less than half of my breakfast there was so much. I do miss my Herbalife shakes in the morning though. Once we get to Italy I will be able to have my shakes back! After breakfast we headed back to our room to await our Big Apple guide, Carol. She was going to be meeting us at 1 PM. Dan headed down to the lobby to do some work on the laptop. We have to go to the lobby to get free access to the internet other wise they charge you $15 a day. Ouch, I don’t think we will be doing that. Carol arrived promptly at 1 PM and she was a delight. She is 72 and has lived in NYC her whole life. She was so interesting to listen to as she talked about the way it used to be in all the neighbor hoods we visited. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with Carol. As she described how it used to be, I could visualize all that she was saying. It was so cool. We took the bus down to Union Square and from there we proceed to start our walking tour. We first visited Greenwich Village with all the old brown stones. They were beautiful. Then we walked by NYC University. Carol said that NYC is buying up all the old building and remodeling them. We then proceed to Soho where all the high end shops are. There were all over the place. She said you can see all the models walking around on any given day. Next we went to Little Italy and through Little Italy to China Town. There were a lot of places to eat but it was only about 5 block long. We stopped in a Chinese Bakery for something to drink and had a snack. They had a lot of really good looking pastries and breads. From there we went to Canal Street. This is where you can get good deals for watches, clothes, lots of sunglasses and jewelry. My friend Patti wanted me to buy her a “Rolex” which I did. I got her a gold Rolex for $42. Wow….
After I made the deal of the century we continued our tour to the Civic Center area. This is where Law and Order has taped the actors coming down the steps. The Civic buildings were huge. Our last stop before we took the subway back up town was at Civic Center Park This is were the Brooklyn Bridge crosses over the East River. There were a lot of people walking over the bridge today. We hoped on the Subway and took it back uptown close to central park because I wanted to get some photos. We walked a few blocks from the Subway and we walked along Central Park South street. There were a lot of sidewalk vendors selling their wares. I did buy something special for a little friend of mine. We only had 7 blocks to walk back to our hotel. Our hotel, the Sherton is at a great location for checking out NYC. When we got back to the hotel, we went into the bar for a drink. We figured that we walked about 4 miles in our tour today so we were ready for something cold. We wanted to go to a special place for our anniversary dinner tonight so we made a stop at the concierge to ask about nearby restaurants. We decided on Bobby Vans just two blocks away. We also booked theater tickets for tomorrow night. We decided to go watch Jersey Boys. I did call Carol back because we spaced out and did not get any pictures of her. I left a message for her to call me because we wanted to get back together tomorrow to get some photos. She was excited to get my call and we set up to meet in the hotel bar at 5 PM tomorrow.
We headed up to the room and got ready for our anniversary dinner. Bobby Vans is a very nice restaurant. We had a table by the window so we could people watch as we ate our dinner. We had a most memorable anniversary dinner. I’ve included a photo for you. The plan for tomorrow is to take the Subway to Battery Park to catch the boat to Ellis Island. We have another busy day planned and I’m so excited to go to Ellis Island. My Dad came through Ellis Island with my Grandmother in 1908. I have been dreaming if this day for years…until tomorrow….

On our way, day 1

Dan at the Hour Glass Bar

Hour Glass on the Wall above our table

Time Square


It’s been a long day so far, but well worth getting up at 3 am…well I was awake at 1:30 am not feeling to good so that was my wake up time. We decided to have a town car come and get us and take us to the airport considering the time we need to leave for the airport.. 4 am. Our flight left at 6:30 am. The price was not that much more than a taxi and it was a very comfortable ride. We fit three big suitcases into the trunk which I though was amazing. We decided to bring three full size suitcases because we always have to much to bring back home and usually end up buying something in Italy. This time we are better prepared. I do know that I probably brought to many clothes..always do and my Mom told me not to! Sorry Mom…After we checked in we went to the Alaska Airlines Board Room for some breakfast snacks. Dan is a member so it was great to have a healthy snack before we left on the flight. Our plane was a Boeing 737-800 and it was nice. We had the first two seats on the right side of the plane next to the bulkhead. They were very comfortable and reclined nicely. When we took off, we circled over Vancouver Lake and then started making the turn to the east. Our circle took us over a friends house and our house so that we neat to see from the air. We flew right down Salmon Creek. I was very tired so after our breakfast….scrambled eggs, ham, potatoes and fruit I crashed for a nice two hour nap. It was great not having anyone sit in front of us so that I could put my feet up on the wall. It was the perfect distance for my legs. I had my neck pillow, ear plugs and eye cover so I was very comfortable. We each had our own small video screen on the wall, probably about 8” x 8”. The choices were music, HBO, movies, TV or games. He watched a movie and then turned on the NY Mets baseball game. I just relaxed and rested most of the way. It got a little bumpy over Milwaukee and the Great Lakes but didn’t last all that long. When arrived to NYC with a big noisy landing..not my favorite part of the ride. We were the 2nd and 3 people off the plane and walked a short distance to baggage claim. We had reserved a town car in NYC also, but he went to the wrong terminal so we had to call the company and he finally arrived about 15 minutes late. He was a nice young man from Morroco and he was a very good NY driver. I was impressed how he maneuvered through the streets and cars to get us to our hotel. I got my first glimpse of the Empire State Building as we crossed the Queensborough Bridge. Impressive to say the least. Just like Sleepless in Seattle…ahh. My first thoughts about NYC as we drove to our hotel were…Wow there are a lot of cars on the roads and Wow there are a lot of buildings along the way. And then as we approached Manhattan, it was Wow these are some Big Big buildings and OMG look at all the people…Wow. OK how many times have I said WOW? I hope I made my point..this small town girl was thoroughly in awe of what she saw. We had no problems checking in and getting to our room. It is an older building and has been remodeled. The rooms are a bit small but then how much time will we be in there anyway? We were getting hungry so we decided to head out to find a place to eat. There are restaurants all over the place. We just kept walking and looking and finally Dan asked a Traffic guy where to go and he told us to go up a few blocks and we would find restaurant row. There was every type of restaurant that you could imagine. Italian, Spanish, Thai, Chinese, Steak Houses and it goes on and on…We finally picked out the Hour Glass Bar. The food was very good and the ambiance was fantastic. Each table had hour glasses hanging above the tables that measured an hour because it is in the Theater District you are limited to an hour to eat. We didn’t have to worry about it tonight as it was not very busy. The service was great and it was nice and cool in there. We were going to go for a bit more of a walk but I was not feeling up to it so we came back to the hotel. I’m hoping that tonight I will sleep well and my nose will quit running! One can only hope. We have a big day planned for tomorrow and I am anxious to check out the city. Signing off till later tomorrow

Family Photo Day

Top row, my sister in law Serrena, brother Tim, sister in law Cheryl, brother Richard, brother Tom and my husband Danseated: my niece Sasha, Mom with Pepper, and me

Tim, Tom, Leta and Richard

Mom

I want to take updated photos to our family in Italy so today we got together at my brother Tim's house in Kelso for our first family photo since the 1970's. I can't believe it took us this long to get together for a photo. The sun broke through just as we were getting ready for the photo session. We had a wonderful time. My brother Tim and sister n law Serrena have a lovely home with a very large yard. My Mom really enjoyed having all her kids there. She is 92 and very proud of all of us. We had a nice picnic after we were through with the photos. My brother Dick's dog Pepper had to get in the photos too, she is on my Mom's lap. All the dogs were there have a blast also. If any family members want copies of the photos let me know and I can email the files to you. Have a great week, I know I'm going to be busy getting everything ready for the trip.

Ciao for now.

Getting ready..

Hi All,
I've decided that instead of sending a bunch of emails to everyone on our trip to Italy I would find a blogging site and set it up so I can blog! The only person that I will have to email is my mother because she does not have a computer. We have only 8 days until we leave for Italy, with the first stop in our trip being New York City. I have not started packing yet, but I have been shopping for clothes to bring. It is going to be very hot in Italy, as the temp over there has reached the high 80's and low 90's already. I am so excited to get our adventure started. It will be wonderful to see all of my family once again. Keep checking back for updates as I get prepared for the trip.