Foto Friday #3- New York City

TGIF everyone!

This week for Foto Friday I thought I would share with you my pictures from New York City. My mom and I went to NYC to celebrate my 25th birthday, July 2007. It started as a trip to see Michael Buble perform at Radio City Music hall (I was thisclose to getting her to agree to see him in Rome, but she had second thoughts and said "New York or Chicago, you pick". So I picked New York (although Chicago is still on my list of places to visit). Honestly, before this trip, I never had any desire to go to NYC. But I fell in love, and I fell hard. I loved every second of it. Immersed in the culture, the architecture, the theatre, the food (mmmm, Carnegie Deli) (although we didn't get to see a Broadway show) and everything else the Big Apple has to offer. We were there for four days- much too short, but still a worthwhile trip. We unfortunately never got to see Harlem, so we're planning a second trip to see what we missed the first time around.




We had my birthday dinner at Tavern on the Green, and it was magical! It was raining most of the day, so we didn't get to sit outside, but when we were done eating, I snuck out to the lantern terrace to snap a few pics.













Central Park was amazing, although there was a brief moment of panic when a park loiterer got down on one knee and tried to kiss my hand at the John Lennon memorial. It's funny now, but it was definitely AWKWARD! (You can see my legs and him getting down on one knee in the picture- YIKES!) I never felt like I was in danger, but it wasn't the most pleasant of moments.


Our first night there we decided to go to Rockefeller Centre- Top of the Rock. My guide book said it was the best view of the city, and even though it was foggy, it is something I will never forget. (*note to the man of my dreams- propose marriage here!) Rockefeller Centre itself is pretty spectacular, and my mom, sister (who hasn't yet been to NYC) are trying to convince my father to spend Christmas in New York this year...although he's saying we should go back to Italy, so really, it's a win/win!

We took a bus tour through NYC, and it was the best thing- hop-on, hop-off. We've done that in many cities in our travels, and it really is the best way. I snapped this picture of cabs waiting at a red light, while we went through the intersection. I've played with the colouring a bit, and this pic is one of my favourites.









We saw Ground Zero- I'm not sure what I expected, it was really just a construction site because it was 6 years later, but I can't even fathom the what it must of been like to be down here. We asked our tour guide where she was on that fateful day- she replied simply "Cheesecake saved my life that day". We asked her to elaborate: She lives in New Jersey, and works for the tour company in Manhattan. Her mother's birthday is September 11th. She was later getting to work than usual because she stopped at a bakery that morning in New Jersey to pick up a Cheesecake for her mother.


We took a tour of the harbour, and I snapped this picture of the Brooklyn Bridge- which is another of my favourites. Before we left, I had an idea of what pictures I wanted to take, so that I could blow them up, frame them and decorate an entire wall of my apartment. I did it, and the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the pics that is up on my wall. We saw the infamous Statue of Liberty- our tour was just of the harbour, but since 9/11 there is no more visitor access to the Statue (you can't climb up it anymore) so seeing it from the water allowed a perfect vantage point.







I'm going to stop the post here, because it's getting quite lengthy and I still have many NYC photos to share with you next week. So this Foto Friday is to be continued.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Ciao for now,
S.

(ps- I'm sorry for the text and pics in the weird layout, I've got to get better at it!)

Posted in: foto friday,new york city