Day 3 - NYC

Sunday morning we decided to do another tour on the double-decker since it expired that morning.  We did the uptown/Harlem route.  Here's some sites along the way:

Time Warner Building

Dakota Building

Ghostbusters anyone???

Can't remember name of this church...

Riverside Church

Brownstones in Harlem.. this just screams "New York" to me

Guggenheim

 Once we finished the bus tour I had to twist all 4 of mom's limbs to get her to go to Central Park.  I really just wanted to stroll through the park and enjoy the greenery.  Central Park is such a cornerstone of the city and in soo many books, movies and TV shows.  We decided the best way to see the park was to hire one of those drivers who pedals around on a bike while you ride in a cart attached to the back.  We had a knowledgeable guide who told us some history and pointed out all the famous movie scene spots.  I LOVED the park - it was so lush, green, calm and laid back.

My favorite picture of the weekend

The Plaza

The famous mall at Central Park

The Boat House!!

I think my mom wanted to shove her in her purse and run

The Friend's fountain

Once we finished at the park, Mom and I made our way back over to Rockefeller Square for lunch and then had tickets with the rest of the gals for a behind the scenes tour at NBC studios.  We saw Dr. Oz's studio (really small!!! Cameras must work wonders), where they film Saturday Night Live and Jimmy Kimbal and some other stuff.  Pretty interesting. 

Radio City Hall

 Mom and my next stop was Ground Zero.  Unfortunately, we got there about 10 minutes after the last tour of the day stopped (it was Memorial Weekend and in the early afternoon?!? Why don't they have tours all day?!).  So, we missed the tour and had to show ourselves around.  It's still so saddening to stand there and imagine what it must have been like for those people.  You really can't even begin to imagine.  There is a lot of construction going on in that area now - here's a picture of the "Freedom Tower" - it's supposed to be finished and open this September.  

St. Patrick's Cathedral

 From Ground Zero we headed back across town to the Empire State Building via Subway.. where we took the wrong line and ended up across the river.  It seemed like we waited forever for another Subway and I'm pretty sure we spent a good hour underground.  We finally made it to our pre-Empire State Building destination.. Macy's!  Anne and Lisa told us about a wonderful shoe sale they were having so we had to check it out - I did anyway.. I think Mom could have passed.  After searching for about an hour I only found 1 pair that I had to have.  Great deals though, just nothing really in my size and it was mass chaos in there.  I do love that Macy's though - it's amazing!! 

On to the Empire State Building.. our NY Pass covered an attraction called "Sky Ride" which is also in the Empire State Building.  Word of advice.. it's a waste of time and money!!  We definitely wanted that hour of our life back.  Then it was on to wait in the very very long line to get up to the observation deck.  After over an hour, no dinner, and being really tired and somewhat grouchy, we made it to the top.  I've decided I'm ok if that's the last time I go up to the deck.  Between there and Top of the Rock - Top of the Rock is a MUCH better view. 

Empire State Building

We came down around 10pm, grabbed some pizza by the slice, and drug ourselves about a mile back to the hotel where we crashed!