New York, New York

Cody and I survived in the city of New York last week and we had a great time! A few days prior to leaving I had started freaking out because we were going to be using the subways and I had no idea how they work. So once we landed at JFK I really started panicking because I didn't know how we were going to make it to our hotel. (I am one of those people who likes to know exactly where they are going). This immediately annoyed Cody to no end, and he informed me that my family must have a "stupid traveler" gene, and I was no exception. So I calmly tried to let him figure out where we were going with having a heart attack (that was really hard for me to do). We stayed at the Cartel Hotel, which was right in Times Square and it was a dump! Before we left Cody and read the reviews online which weren't very promising just to give you all an idea here were some:

1. I have nicknamed this Hotel Hell

2. I wouldn't send my worst enemy to stay in this hotel

So we weren't really expecting much when we got there. My favorite part of the room was that when we walked in, there was a king size bed, and then the TV was to the right of the bed. I have never in my life seen a hotel room where the tv was not right in front of the bed. The bathroom was tiny, no tub either. It looked nasty so I have captured a picture for everyone. I decided right then and there when I saw it that I wasn't going to shower until I got back home. I think the soap on the shower floor really did it for me, how could I possibly know that anyone had cleaned this in the past 100 years? I wasn't taking my chances. We stayed here for 4 nights and during that time no one ever came in to make our made, give us new towels, or give us another roll of toilet paper. But we were grateful for a place to stay that was under $200 a night. One night we were going up to our room and there was another girl in the elevator so Cody asked her what she thought of the hotel. She told us she had just found a rat in her room so she was just going to check out her new room that the hotel gave her. Luckily we had no rats in our room...

One of our first stops in the city was dinner at Serendipity 3, home of the famous Frrrozen Hot Chocolate. They are really good, Cody and I went back another day just for another one. In the picture we got jipped on the whip cream, our second one the whole top was covered with it. Cody had his NYU interview on Thursday, and his Columbia interview was on Friday. So both of the mornings I had to myself. Thursday morning I didn't want to go out without Cody so I slept in and waited in the hotel room watching our 12 inch tv (ok so it was probably 18) that only had 10 channels. Friday I was a little more adventurous and decided to make my may to the Manhattan temple to do a session. Cody and I went there the day before so that I could find it again since I would be by myself. I even rode the subway by myself (that was a big accomplishment for me) since normally I just got on whatever train Cody told me to get on. The temple is just on a street corner which is so weird!

Cody was most excited to go to Yankee Stadium (even though he hates the Yankees). Even though we couldn't go inside we walked around the whole thing and he had to get his picture (or his head) with it.

He was like a kid at Christmas just walking around the thing. Sadly being there didn't mean as much to me. And now Cody can say that he was there before they tore down the stadium, which he is deeply devastated over. But let me remind you again we hate the Yankees.

Friday night we headed up the Empire State building. Which getting up there seems like you go from standing in one line, to standing in another, and then another. The lines NEVER end. Well there was this man standing right behind us and kept looking like he was going to butt in front of Cody (because the party he was with was in front of us). So Cody says to me if this guy butts in front of me I am going to say something. Of course I don't want a scene so beg him to not say anything if he does. And the guys butts...and if any of you know Cody you will be surprised to hear that he kept his mouth shut! I was so grateful, we ended up beating the guy through security anyone so in the end we were ahead of him. But here is our picture of Manhattan from the Empire State building. Here we are on top of the building. (Cody probably would not want me to post this picture because of his very slight double chin, but I am posting it anyway).

Saturday we got up at the crack of dawn to go to Battery Park and take a ferry to see the statue of liberty (on liberty island). I always thought it was on Ellis Island, but it is not. We left our hotel at about 6am. Cody wanted to get there early so that we were not stuck waiting in lines all day long, our tickets were the first ones for the day and they were for 9am. We got to Battery Park at 7am, and there was not a soul in sight. We were definitely the first ones there so froze to death for an hour and a half outside. They finally let us start standing in line at 8:30am and I am proud to say that Cody and I were the first ones! I have never been first in line for anything so I felt good about it. I love the bright blue sky in the picture, but don't let it deceive you we are both freezing cold. Cody wanted to walk down Wall Street just so he could say that he had but it was Saturday so there wasn't too much going on. We then made our way down to the World Trade Center Site. Right across from it is the FDNY who lost a lot of their firefighters on 9/11. Cody took a bunch of pictures mainly for his best friend Robin since he knew he would appreciate them.

And since we were in New York what could be better than a big slice of NY pizza?! On our way to finding NYU the first night we found this pizza place where it was only $2 a slice. Jackpot! We ended up coming back here for more pizza on another night. We were looking to go cheap for dinner so this was perfect and good. If you go to a real restaurant it is at least $40. I didn't like that everything was so expensive there. I also didn't like the fact that nobody spoke English! It was crazy, people who looked white opened their mouth and they were not speaking English. It was definite a culture shock. On our last night there I wanted to get ourselves drawn by one of the street artists they have there. Cody was reluctant...but he agreed and I am so glad because I thought our picture came out good! You will have to let us know if you think it looks anything like Cody and I. I will tell you the one thing wrong in the picture is that the money bag should be in MY hand not his!