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….