New York New York! We finally made it! We took an Amtrak from DC to NYC.  It took us a mere three hours and allowed us some time to relax before we literally hit the ground running.  We got to the city earlier than we could check into our apartment (courtesy of AirBnB), so we hung out at the nearby McDonald’s.

Our apartment was located in Astoria right off the N and Q line…….I mean literally off the N and Q: we could see it from our window as it went by every two minutes…..

Once we got in, we put our stuff down and relaxed on our couch for a good while.  Being in transit always wears us out and hauling our luggage up the Avenue of the Americas was not a stress-free event.

When we recharged our batteries, I got some tips from my friend John (who I call JB and who is also the older brother of Kirsten – who was at Wendy’s wedding just a few days before) and we started our first leg of the trip:

First we made a little trip into Central Park:

Then we went a crossed the street to FAO Schwarz where we met Batman.

Lego Batman, that is.  Taking a German in FAO Schwarz is very fitting since the founder was German who wanted to bring the best European toys to the US.

Afterwards, we continued down 5th Ave until we made to to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  Unfortunately it is under renovation so we couldn’t see it in all its glory but it was still a sight to behold.

A crossed the street was Rockafeller center.  Of course I had brief day dreams of being Tina Fey in her awesomeness.  Someday, I keep telling myself, someday.

 

We did quite a bit of wandering around until our tummies started grumbing.  Then I called JB to meet up with us for dinner.  So while we waited, we hung out at the Nintendo World 😀

It didn’t take long for JB to meet up with us so once the reunions and introductions were done, we made our way passed Broadway into Hell’s Kitchen.  JB took us to a nice little place that he usually haunts: Chelsea Grill.  Great food; great staff.  It was great to catch up with him.  It has been several years….I almost didn’t eat I was talking so much!!!

It honestly doesn’t sound like we did much today, but trust me, it was alot.  After some more wandering, we decided to take the train back to Astoria where I was pretty pooped.   We had lots of things to see in this city and we wanted an early start!
Until tomorrow!