Day 1

I have mixed emotions.

I had this picture in my mind of descending upon the endless skyline and falling in love and never wanting to leave. Well, I did love the skyline but I'm definitely not in love. It may be the fact that transportation is so utterly confusing if you're not a New Yorker. What you'd think would be an easy shuttle ride to downtown is actually a hellish nightmare for tourists. Angela and I both used the GPS's on our phones and we'd go the opposite direction to a destination EVERY TIME. Needless to say, we finally got back to the hotel in one piece.

Now for the fun stuff. We decided to get off the shuttle at the Grand Central Terminal just because it's the grand one, or whatever. We actually got lost down in those tunnels, too. We're awesome:). Anyway, we finally made it to Times Square and ate at a restaurant there that was way too expensive but what else should I expect? Then we went to a gigantic Toys 'R Us that had a ferris wheel and an animatronic dinosaur and CandyLand and WillyWonka and HotWheels and etc kids to the power of infinity. After that, we decided to see what coming really close to death felt like so we took a cab to Rockefeller Plaza. New York drivers (not just taxi drivers, all of them) are maniacs who could care less about your safety. It's constant honking and constant sirens. They go hand in hand. Since we lived, we went to the "Top of the Rock," which is the top of the Rockefeller Center. (sidenote: I realized as we were on the elevator going to the top of the building what 'top of the rock' meant. I previously thought it was just a random title. I'm dense.) After that, we watched a bunch of silly people try to ice skate, took pictures of Atlas trying not to shrug, and went into this badass cathedral. For me to call anything that involves god "badass" is huge, you know this. But really, I was in awe at the beauty of that place. Those Catholics definitely know how to impress. Architecture-wise, baha. Then we got lost in NY for at least an hour before we made it back to the hotel.

Oh, about our hotel. It's nice. It's also in Queens. Mmhmm. We got screwed and don't have the window facing Manhattan. We have the window facing the biggest cemetery I have ever seen in my life! (I have spent the entirety of my life sizing cemeteries across the world, FYI.) Biggest by the number of graves and by the size of those graves. We are going tomorrow to take pictures cause those are some epic tombstones.

P.S. Well, not so much P.S. but I wanted to say more and didn't know where to place it, so here: One of the reasons I do love this place is because it is so old. So much history. I love the decrepit subways(minus the odor). You can look up at the dangly fungus-looking shit on the ceiling and wonder how many decades it's been festering there. And about all the people who have walked under the festering fungus. I know that's probably disgusting to most people, but I loooove it. I also saw the best graffiti ever, too. I'll try to take pictures tomorrow.