New York City: Day 4 – “The bird's eye view…”

By the last day in NYC, we realized that we had squandered too much time in Midtown and still hadn’t seen any of the rest of New York. So we got up, had breakfast and took the subway all the way down to the financial district and walked around for a bit. We went to the WTC site and saw the giant empty space where those enormous landmarks had once been. It was a very sobering visit. Everyone there was quiet while we read all the displays they had and the giant sign with all the names of those who lost their lives in the tragedy. Tim found the name of one of his family friends, David Rice, who had died. I took a few a few photos and we wandered around and then headed down to Battery Park for our ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty.

By the time we had gotten to Battery Park the wind had really picked up and as we came around the corner, we saw the ferry that we were supposed to get on, wobbling wildly from side to side. The water was relatively rough and the boat, although full of people already, looked as though it was ready to fall on its side. We decided to admire the statue of liberty from afar. I was not feeling like drowning that day, especially since I still had so much shopping to do.

Echo and Utku’s apartment is really nice and everything in it is brand new. However, since they moved from overseas, they weren’t able to bring a ton of stuff with them. They have all the basic things, but the place is still rather sparse. So we were trying to figure out what we should get them for Christmas that would be practical and useful. We meant to do more shopping throughout the whole trip, but we just hadn’t really gotten around to it. On one of our cab rides home though, our taxi had driven through Columbus Circle Shopping Center so we figured on our way home we’d try to find a “Home” store to pick them up a gift.

Anyway, after Battery Park (which was aptly named, since that was location in which I found out the rechargeable battery on my camera was about dead) we decided to take a cab to SoHo through TriBeca so we could get a good look at those neighborhoods. TriBeca seemed pretty nice, but SoHo was awesome. It was just the type of neighborhood where all the hip, young people hung out. So we started poking through the stores. Up and down different streets and into lots of little shops. I didn’t end up buying anything there either. I thought I would see a ton of stuff that we didn’t have in Denver yet. Perhaps some little fashion-y accessory that said, “New York”. But to be honest, everything there was about the same stuff they are selling in Denver, and at much higher prices. So, I didn’t really find anything.

After SoHo, we took a cab down to the lower east side and had lunch at Moby’s vegetarian restaurant, Teany. It was such a cool little space. We had a wonderful lunch with lots of “Faux Meat” and other delights. We were going to try the vegetarian Chocolate Cheesecake, but they messed up our order and it was getting really crowded with people waiting to eat, so we just high-tailed it out of there and went exploring on the lower east side. There were all kinds of cool little shops there as well. We poked around for a while and then took a cab back up to midtown to FAO Schwartz.

I was on a mission to check out the light up piano. And maybe… even play it. We got up there to the store, which was packed of course, and looked at all the cool displays and then finally found the giant musical piano. There was a big line to play it, mostly little kids, so I decided not to waste an hour. It was a pretty cool toy though. I gotta get me one of those! Afterwards, we pulled a George Costanza and went to Bergdorfs to use their bathrooms. They did have a lovely Ladies Lounge by the way. We poked around the store and admired the $500 cufflinks and large broad shouldered men named Mr. Covington and Sven and then moved on to Bloomingdales.

Now, I must confess I came to New York with the idea of getting a new perfume. I got tired of my old Ralph Lauren perfume. I bought it when I was stationed in Maryland and every time I wear it, it takes me back to that time in my life. I wanted something to take me back to New York every time I wore it. So, we hit up the perfume counter at Bloomingdales and sniffed upwards of twenty different perfumes before settling on my new favorite. Bulgari Omnia Crystalline. It’s sooo wonderful. Anyway, it was my last Christmas present from Tim. But poor Tim, after losing his keys, his gloves, and his cell phone (Oh, didn’t I mention that? There is a cab somewhere that has Tim’s cell phone. We’ve been calling their lost and found, but they haven’t found it yet…) hadn’t gotten anything new or special. So, we went over to this HUGE candy store. (those of you who know Tim, know this is his idea of heaven…) It was two levels of pure sugar. Chocolates of every kind, suckers, gummy sour things, a whole wall of Pez… So he stocked up on a few different candies, got a giant Unicorn sucker. Mmmm….. Corn Syrup.

After fighting crowds all day and still having no present for Echo and Utku, we headed over to Columbus Circle in a cab. (By way of the south end of Central Park, it was a really lovely view, right about dusk…) We went into Williams & Sonoma where we got promptly distracted by things we wanted for our OWN kitchen, but settled on a set of Caphalon cooking spoons and spatulas, and some pot holders, and a can opener. Boring stuff, I know… But, hey, people gotta cook! We then went down to Whole Foods and got a few things we thought they might want for dinner the next day, and then we grabbed some sushi from the Whole Foods Sushi bar. It was surprisingly good. Then we finally said Good Night to New York and headed back to the apartment.

The days that we spent in New York were so fun. I am so glad we came out here and saw all that we did. I get the feeling that we didn’t even scratch the surface of what the city had to offer though. We plan on going back sometime and really exploring the city more. Maybe in the spring when it’s not as chilly, or crowded. What am I saying? NYC invented crowds! What a vast and interesting place it is. I look at it on the map and it seems so small and then I get to the top of the Empire State Building and it seems like the hugest city in the world. I can understand why the people that live here love it so much. New York is completely unique in every way. No other place in America has this much history and power. It was quite an adventure we had this Christmas, and it was worth every penny. Enjoy pics from our last day in New York.