New York Day 2

I woke up Friday morning STILL wiped out from the day before, so Paul took a trip to a local bread shop and came back with all sorts of breakfast goodies. I could have slept until lunchtime, but unfortunately, New York is huge and we had plenty to do! We had to book our own hotel for one night since Paul's company would only being providing our hotel for Friday and Saturday nights. I found this super cheap hotel online with great reviews, so we got a room and hoped it was decent. Well, it was more than decent and we even got a room upgrade for no extra charge. Thanks Expedia for the great deals.  

We checked into our new hotel - which couldn't have been in a better location. We were next to Times Square and right along 5th Avenue. We took a quick walk down a few block of 5th Avenue, just to admire the ridiculously nice shopping. Kind of like Chinatown . . . except Folex is actually Rolex on 5th Avenue.   

We skipped shopping on 5th Avenue and spent our afternoon at the Modern Museum of Art. The museum was so much fun because they have this great mix of classic paintings, drawings, sculptures and such with this fun, new, innovative art. 

Monet's Water Lillies was one of our favorite paintings at the MoMa. Neither of us had even seen an entire picture of the work, so it was pretty mesmerizing to see the entire thing up close in person. Quite a contrast to one of the exhibits that would turn your shadow into dinosaurs and chickens every time you moved. 

From the MoMa, we trucked it across the city to board a Harbor Tour cruise before dinner. It was a little chilly, but luckily we got to see some amazing views of Manhattan along with Ellis Island, The Brooklyn Bridge, and Lady Liberty herself. 

Paul had a dinner in Midtown Friday night with everyone from work, so I grabbed dinner on my own and spent the evening shopping around Times Square. It was pretty liberating being able to walk around a city that big by myself. A silly accomplishment, but fun nonetheless! 

After Paul's dinner, we met up for dessert and then a trip to the top of the Empire State Building. It was 11pm at night, freezing cold, drizzling rain, and really windy - so, other than the security guards, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Who knew people wait in line for hours to go up there?!   

 

To avoid the hurricane winds, I did most of my sight seeing from inside the observatory.

But here's proof that we smooched at the top of the Empire State Building!