The Greatest City in the World!

"New York, just like I pictured it, skyscrapers and everything..." Stevie Wonder

Yep, its big all right. If you have been, you know, and if you haven't been, it is really hard to imagine. Like explaining color to a blind person. Even though I have been here many times, I still have that sense of wonder when I see it again. A never ending sea of buildings. And all the people! If you stand on any corner and just watch, you will see every country in the world represented... in about ten minutes. It is so too much.

So, an uneventful crowded flight to JFK, an hour long bus to Grand Central, and then a half hour wait for a taxi to west Christopher St. We finally settled into our good friend's cozy 400 square foot apartment in the lower west side of Manhattan. Here you can find everything you could possibly want within a half block. We had pizza on Bleeker St. and in the morning tackled the subways to the Met. The subways can be a bit intimidating, but really do make sense once you figure it out... although the stench is revolting. The weather smiled on us and Central Park is such an amazing place to stroll around. The subway dropped us off on W 86th st. and then we cruised through the park to the Met on the east side of Central Park. You can see the building from Ghostbusters! Sweet. The Met is a monster, architectually stunning and filled to the brim with so much stuff. Mummies, swords, odd old musical instruments, paintings, and we're talkin' old, like 4000 years. After two hours, we had all the history we could handle, well for a family anyway. Cade and I could have spent all day there. We contemplanted the USS Intrepid, home of the Air and Space Museum, but opted for pretzels and hot dogs with red sauce instead. Honestly, why can't any hot dog vendor outside NYC get that red sauce right? It's just ketchup and onions, right?

After a busy morning, we walked on the 81st St. path back through Central Park and grabbed the subway down to west 4th and Washington (C train BTW). After a quick pack and farewell note to our friend who loaned us the apartment, we hailed a cab and returned to Grand Central Station. This is another monster of a building with a super high and stunning ceiling... and so many people, just like in the movies. Here we grabbed the metro north Hudson line to New Hamburg, about an hour and half out of the city. Now we're relaxing with friends that are really so close they are family and enjoying the country mouse life outside the city. The next several days will be our last bit of US normalcy for quite a while.

New York is a whirlwind, but so worth it. There is nothing like it that I have seen, so far...

XO The Moylans.