BUSY DAY - in New York City

My feet are so TIRED but we had a packed day today.

We started off the morning with a cab ride to the Metropolitan Museum of Art - or The Met. We got there around 9:15 and they opened at 9:30 - this was just by luck. It was awesome because it wasn't too packed then compared to when we were leaving later.

Anyway this place is amazing. You could spend weeks in there reading about all of the exhibits - from artifacts, to carvings, to mummies - it was all there.

Here is the outside of the building:

I went and sat in the sun in the Gossip Girls - mean girls - spot!! It was COLD at this time - 37 degrees! So the sun was nice.

To get in was a "recommended" $20 per person. Not sure if you really have to pay this - but it is definitely worth it.

We started off in the Greek/Roman Empire area. There were a LOT of carvings and sculptures (I could be calling them the wrong thing, so please don't get too hung up on that).

For example, this carved stone was a stele, or grave marker. I told Eric I want something this awesome. The carvings on the front are a brother and sister.This one was like 13 feet tall! Amazing.

These are also steles - depicting those buried under them where they actually were brought from (I know my grammar sucks too).

This picture just gives an idea of the size of one room of sculptures. Just for this area of the museum there were probably 20 rooms!

Here is a picture of one of the Monet paintings.I tried to find this exact painting on the link at Monet's name - but I couldn't.

Then - here is a painting by Renoir - this link takes you to a gallery of all of Renoir's paintings. Renoir and Monet were friends.

http://www.renoirgallery.com/gallery.asp?id=80 this links to this painting of the image I snapped.

Here is a pic snapped for Cameron. Here is a set of armor.

After leaving the Met we were in a failry nice part of town. We took the following pics here and in some other spots of some architecture that we liked.

We then headed to Times Square. It was SUPER busy on the streets. It is so funny how people literally stop traffic by crossing the street - even when they shouldn't be. Cabs are always honking at pedestrians or cars for cutting them off or not turning when they should. Oh the city life - not for me but fun to visit.

Here are some of the main shots we got of Times Square:

Target had HUGE ads all over 2 sides of one building - this is just the view from one side:

We went into Toys R Us at Times Square. I think it was 3 stories - we didn't look through the entire store. But - the really cool thing is that inside there is a 3 story ferris wheel. The kids would have loved that - especilly Kiana.

Next up - we headed to Rockafeller Center to go to the Observation deck on top of the building. On the way we passed Radio City Music Hall:

NBC is part of Rockafeller Center - so we got this shot by the door that we entered to get our tickets to go to the top of the building:

It costs $21 per person to go to the top - but it is definitely worth it. We went during the day - but we plan to go to the top of the Empire State Building tomorrow night to get night shots. Anyway here are the day shots.

Here is Central Park. If you didn't know - Central Park is HUGE - 250 acres. You can see most of it in this image. Keep in mind we are at the top of a 70 story building. You can see it in the mid left of this picture:

Here is the Empire State Building:

Here is a picture of the Statue of Liberty. It is a LONG way from the top of this building - and we didn't bring our DSLR camera - so the picture isn't that good - but we are heading there tomorrow.

Another neat thing about going to the top of the building - is that the ceiling to the elevator is clear - and their are lights all the way up - so you can see you quickly getting to the top of the 70 stories.

After leaving there we headed back over to Times Square to hang out at Dave and Busters. We had  a few drinks - including some Yeager Bombs - and played some games. Usually when we go to D & B we are there with the kids and worried about keeping our eye on them. But today - we just had ourselves to worry about - which was a nice change - although we do miss the kids.

We saw Hello Kitty on our way to D & B:

By this time our feet were about to give out. We were going to go see Paranormal Activity - even though I didn't want to do it here - I heard it is really spooky! But luckily for me the line was SO LONG to get in the movie theater we didn't go.

Instead Eric made out with this old man:

Just kidding - that was a fake thing in front of Ripley's.

We then headed to Chevy's Mexican Restaurant - for some CRAPPY food and service. One thing I have noticed in NYC - even though you think things would be fast paced - these servers would NOT survive in NWA. They SUCK. You never get a drink refill - you barely even see them!!

We had Planet Hollywood for lunch and it was HORRIBLE as well - including the service.

We are hoping for better luck tomorrow eating lunch from the stands on the corner - Eric is dying for a pretzel.

Then tomorrow night we are going to Peter Luger. We saw this on the Food Network a few monts ago on a special "Best Steaks in the US". This restaurant was #1 - so we are hoping for a good experience there!! Check it out at the links. I believe it is a 3rd generation business - and they pick their own beef out daily (full cows or whatever you call it, maybe sides of beef) and then they dry age it themselves. Again - look for my comments on that tomorrow or Monday night.

Until tomorrow!