I WILL FINISH THIS

Details are getting fuzzy but I'm on winter break and want to document them while I have them!

We woke up fairly early. I want to say it was around 9:00 am and headed to the catacombs. We arrived at exactly 9:45 and they were scheduled to open at 10:00. At the time we arrived the line was stretched around the entire perimeter of the church. With no advance ticket purchase, we ended up waiting about 2 hours. It was a long wait and it felt like we barely moved. I didn't care. I was in Paris. I made a few runs to the Monoprix on the corner to get us drinks and snacks. I noted on the walk there was a beggar with dark hair and dark skin holding a 3 year old blonde baby who was sleeping. It was somewhat alarming as growing up my parents told us gypsy's steal children. I hope this doesn't offend anyone. Just an observation. We got to the front, purchased our tickets, and headed in.

We were presently surprised to find that they only let about 8 people in at a time. We had a lot of space and time to ourselves. It certainly wasn't an overrun, people in our way, Disney-type experience. I prefer the long line since it made the experience pretty enjoyable. We spent about an hour and a half in the catacombs. Make sure you try to use the restroom before you enter. We saw one girl half way though the windy path that was sprinting to find a bathroom. I still wonder if she made it because she has a lonnnnggg climb and walk to a bathroom.

We climbed out and found ourselves near the entrance by a few blocks. We stopped in at the pharmacist as Billy needed some muscle cream and then decided to grab some lunch. My husband is from Indiana so of course we had to eat there. We enjoyed sitting outside, sipping wine, and eating somewhat familiar food.

We then walked back, strolling through the Luxembourg Gardens and vowing to return. It was so beautiful!


 We returned to our hotel and rested for a bit. I could have stared out of our windows for hours, I just loved them. Instead we headed out to see the Eiffel. My first time! We took the metro and I purposefully kept my head down the entire way so the first time I saw it would be the best possible way. I know, ridiculous. We got off at a residential stop and walked a few blocks until we saw it.

Of course I fell in love. I drug Billy down to the field. Passed all of the hawkers selling selfie sticks and cheap Eiffel Tower trinkets. There was an important soccer game happening so they had created a party area with a large jumbo-tron for fans to watch. We stopped briefly here but continued to find a spot on the lawn. Seeing everyone snacking and drinking wine, we decided we wanted to do that too. We walked to the MonoPrix and purchased wine, sushi, and cheese. Walking back we found a spot to sit and relax. We didn't have a blanket or bottle opener. The blanket we could survive without but the bottle opener we NEEDED. Thus, me walking around asking everyone in English is they had a wine opener. One was offered... I didn't know how to work it. So embarrassing.

The time was now about 6 and the sun would be setting at 8:00. I wanted to see the sunset so I convinced Billy to wait it out. He complied and we spend two hours sitting on the lawn. The sun went down, it was beautiful and the environment was buzzy. Once it was dark, we walked over to the Trocadero. We people watched and strolled over there before deciding we should stay to see the tower sparkle. We waited and waited. It lit up but didn't sparkle until 11:00. Worth the wait! It was magical. Everyone "oohhh"ed the second it began to sparkle and started clapping. I'm so glad we didn't miss it and it's still one of my favorite memories of Paris.

From there we headed back to the hotel the way we came. I think we may have stopped for sandwiches at some deli market.

Goodnight!

Day Two

We woke up the next morning relatively early. We heard that it is wise to get to the Tower of London before the crowds. Lines to get in can be hours!  We arrived at 9 and found only a few people in line. It did seem to take a long time for the few people in front of us to pay... So I can see how the lines could move slowly and build up.

Being honest, I had budgeted 1-2 hours for the Tower. WOW. I so underestimated it. We walked in and I was immediately 10 times more excited than I anticipated. We made a bee line to the crown jewels. Apparently, there can be a back up and long wait to see the jewels. There was no line when we arrived but there was one when we left. Either way, I looked on with envy at the beautiful gems.

Next we just sort of aimlessly wondered around. I tried to make it a habit to not over research and plan for this trip but I wish I had read up on the Tower a bit more. It was so interesting and I felt like I was only getting a blurb of the information available. We really enjoyed the torture exhibit and the rooms within the tower. We took a Beef Eater tour and absolutely enjoyed it. I wish we had done this right after the jewels because at this point the Tower was full of people. The Beef Eater did a great job at projecting his voice.

Mid Sneeze on one of the Spiral Staircase

We ended up spending over 5 hours at the Tower and still feeling like we needed more. It was one of my favorite spots in London. Starving, we crossed to the other side of the bridge and ate outside of a restaurant. They had food trucks with Fish and Chips and a bar truck. It was a nice place to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful (sunny) day. The food was alright. It seemed like one of the better options in the area. 

Of course, we crossed over Tower Bridge next. What a neat experience! I couldn't believe I was really there. After crossing over, we headed to Borough Market. Unfortunately, we had just ate. Huge mistake. We decided to come back another day when we were actually hungry. It was also extremely crowded. We saw no empty seats. 

Onward to Shakespeare globe. We went inside but you couldn't really see much unless you bought tour tickets or show tickets. We did neither but it was nice to say we have been there. Afterwards we walked to Tate Modern. Very neat to have this museum free to the public. It was a cool space. We didn't hang around too long. Just enough to go into a few exhibits. This is another place I wish I had knew more about. I usually like to look up a museums highlights or get an audio tour. 

Our legs were killing us so we decided to head back. We crossed over the bridge, found the tube, and headed home. We may have taken a brief nap at the hotel and decided to head back out.

We woke up hungry so we started walking. Wow. At 5:00, the sidewalks are full of people drinking pints. It was very different from back home. This happened every day at 5:00. So interesting. We explored the M&M, Disney store, etc. Basically just walking around enjoying the tourist part of London. They were filming the world premier of Minions. We stuck around and watched for a minute and even saw Sandra Bullock. 

I believe we ate at The White Swan. It was okay. We were intimidated by the amount of people drinking beer outside the pubs. We thought that meant there was a long wait for a table (as it does in America). We were wrong. Usually the dining part was not full. You just have to go in. 

After this we decided to ride the infamous city buses. We picked one, heading towards Big Ben. Got seats in the front at the top. Tourist seats. Rode for about 30 minutes. It started turning dark, sketchier, and further away. We got off, waited 10 minutes and caught the next bus back.  We did get a bit scared being lost. The area we were in looked not so nice but now I realize we were just being silly. It was probably perfectly safe. 

We got some great photos of London at sunset via the bus. We got off at a close stop and walked back to the hotel 

Tenement Museum

I really want to finish this thing up. Unfortunately  my memory is fading so there's going to rough patches here and there. Bear with me. 

Today I woke up and it was raining and hot. I immediately opened all of the windows and listed to it rain for a little bit. It was nice seeing how quiet the city gets when it starts to rain. It seemed like no one was on the streets. It was short lived though and I had no plans today. At. All. I decided to give the tenement museum a go. I quickly got tickets online to the Hard Times tour. 

I was a little late getting there because I got distracted by riding the 6 train to the City Hall station. I really wanted to see the abandoned station and I was worrying that I wouldn't make it back down for the rest of the trip. It was pretty neat to see. I don't know if I would go out of my way to see it but since I was there anyways I gave it a whirl. The subway stayed at the last stop for a long time and I almost got off because we had been sitting there for a long time. As we started heading to City Hall station, I started to panic. What if they take this train out of service? What if the train goes down some secret hill at break neck speed and I should be on here? General ridiculous thoughts... Everything was normal. No one even blinked when they got on the train and I was already on there.

As a result I was about 5 minutes late to the tour. I would have been on time but google maps had the wrong address listed. The tour was really fun. I enjoyed it. The guide told us about two different families that lived in the apartment. It was really cool to see the old census and photos of the family. It was HOT in there though. I consider myself to be pretty in shape but I was shvitzing terribly. Overall, it was a good tour and I'm glad I did it. I figured since I was already in the LES I would explore a little bit. I began to just walk everywhere. I found Baby Cakes and remembered it being mentioned as a recommendation. I had two of the best brownies I have ever tasted. They were so moist and amazing. It was a very cool stop.  

The rest of the day I just wondered around the LES. I saw a few shows being filmed. I took the bus around. I really don't remember much of anything else but it was a fun way to unwind and see the city. I had no schedule and no where to be. 

Cloud City

I am so far behind! School has started and so has my lazy streak.

I decided to visit the Met today. I do enjoy the Met but I never feel like I have enough time to even make a dent in it, today I had all day. On the way, I accidently gave a couple of tourists wrong directions to the Met. I caught them a block up and righted my wrong. Whoops! 

I paid a few dollars and also bought a audio tour. I made it through several galleries this time including the Egyptian art, medieval art, weapons, and I even made it to the roof! I found the audio tour to be a bit long winded and it didn't include a lot of the exhibits I was really interested in. Last time I was at the Met the Alexander McQueen exhibit was going on and it was fabulous!! I have not seen a more breathtaking exhibit since then. I was hoping for something just as grand up there wasn't anything like that. 

Cloud City

Around 1:00pm I made my way to the roof so I could climb cloud city. I didn't know you had to get tickets but the elevator attendant said we did so I followed his directions and got in line for them. The ladies who were working the counter were extremely rude to the two foreign visitors in front of me. I was ready for a fight with them when it became my turn but they just seemed mildly annoyed with me. I guess it was their lucky day.

My time for Cloud City was 2:45. I headed back down into the exhibit and continued my tour until it was my time. The roof was gorgeous. I know it's a bar so I was a little worried I would feel pressure to buy an overpriced fancy drink but that wasn't the case at all. The bar is in a tiny corner of the roof and there are many people around. I enjoyed the view from the roof and then climbed to the top of the Cloud City installment. Note to visitors: Wear pants. The lady in front of my had a skirt on. Apparently she didn't mind or realize but it must be a sight for everyone looking at their photos back home. No cameras were allowed in Cloud City though. Bummer!

I was done with the museum at that point. I was pretty hungry. I had decided to try for Wicked tickets tonight and the drawing was at 5. So I headed to the bus stop and caught the bus to Grand Central. I then walked to Gershwin, stopping and getting a dollar slice to hold me over at 2 Bros. 

At the lottery a girl from South Korea and I formed an alliance to win tickets. She was studying to be a doctor and was visiting the states to participate in a study of some sort. She had just left DC and I asked her what she thought about NYC. She said it was dirty and smelly (true compared to DC) but she liked it a lot. She told me she was studying to do a medicine sort of like acupuncture. Pretty cool! I told her I was studying to be a teacher and we discussed the problem with children these days. Oddly comforting to hear that other countries are having the same problem as us. 

The crowd thought all the names were called so started dispersing. Turns out, one person who was drawn didn't have CASH. He drew another name and the guy was in the ticket line already. He came running out but he wasn't actually in the lottery area when he was drawn so the guy wouldn't give it to him. NOTE: Always be in the lottery drawing area, not inside and always have CASH and ID. We didn't win tickets and she was disappointed. I felt bad as if it was my fault we weren't drawn! I told her that they offer $66 student tickets at the box office so she ran and bought those. She wanted me to see the show with her but I had more nights to try to win. We bid ado and I headed home. I wanted to clean the apartment and eat close to home tonight. Manhattan really starts to take a bite out of your wallet. 

I had Karczma for dinner. Karczma is a polish restaurant in Greenpoint. It was recommended to me by Lotuspath so I tried it out and I was glad I did. I can't say polish food is really my thing but they had some pretty awesome offerings and very reasonable prices. I was happy with my decision to stay close to home tonight. It was starting to rain a little and it was making me exhausted. 

The Frickin' Frick!!

Sunday is always a tricky day in any big city vacation. Often times, attractions close early or not at all. Of course, a limited amount of attractions and options in New York City is still a ton of options. I checked my handy list of "free admissions" for Sunday and found that the Frick had pay as you wish admission from 11:00am- 1:00 pm. I got ready and headed out the door.

No photos in the Frick.
But they didn't seem to mind in the
indoor courtyard. Which happens
to look a lot like my indoor
courtyard....not.

The line wasn't as bad as the other museums I had visited during their free or suggested admission hours. I paid my dollar, got my audio tour, and started exploring. The house that the museum is housed in once belonged to Henry Clay Frick. Most of the art was from his own personal collection. The art was lovely but it isn't my favorite genre. Most of the art is 18th century European. However, the mansion that the museum is housed in is GORGEOUS. I tried to imagine myself living in that house, right by Central Park but even my imagination doesn't stretch that far. I enjoyed the Frick but I don't think I would want to pay full admission because it's just not my style of art. I really like the more contemporary stuff. However, if this interests you it is not to be missed. The audio tour was great and the layout was nice. 

I saw on The Village Voice (I think) that there was going to be a free comedy show in Greeley Square. So I headed there. Which was an adventure in itself. I had 30 minutes to get there and there isn't great subway access from the Frick to Greeley Sq. I decided today was the day to get over my fear of the bus. Ok, I don't really have a fear of the bus but I just have never taken a public bus before. I pulled up a map on my phone and determined that the M1, M2, M3, M4 buses were going my way. I decided that there was no way I could screw that up. Wrong. I tried to board the wrong bus. The bus driver asked where I was going and I said to 32nd. He told me to wait for the next one. He was really nice about it especially because I didn't want ask. He could just tell I looked confused. The next bus rolled along and I got on. Success. 

I really liked riding the bus. We went right down 5th Avenue and I almost felt like I was on a tour bus. My feet were resting, my sweat was drying up, and I was getting entertained by the bus window. What a nice ride! A gentleman two seats infront of my turned to an older lady one seat in front of my and asked if he would be able to walk across the Williamsburg Bridge. She didn't know but I did! I told him he could and we spent the rest of the short ride chatting about all the places he has visited with his bike. He was a bike enthusiast! The older lady also joined in every once in a while with a question. Nice people on the bus!

Koreatown

I got off on 33rd and Park and started heading east to Greeley Square. I walked through Korea Town and it looked delicious! I have been making it a point to try different cuisines so I decided I would eat there after the show. The comedy show as about 4 or 5 different acts. It was lovely. There were chairs out and a lot of people enjoying the show. I sat next to a lady who was eating a Popsicle and before long she offered me one. Suddenly every word my mom told me about taking food from a stranger ran through my head. But it was hot and I had watched her open the box so I thought "what the hell" and took the Popsicle.  I didn't die. She even took my garbage from me and put it in her grocery bag to throw away later. And this whole interaction didn't include a word. She just thrust the Popsicle in my direction and then took the garbage out of my hand when I was done. Of course, I thanked her but she didn't respond to that!  New Yorkers are a hoot! 
http://www.nylaughs.org/online/home.html

I walked back over to Korea Town and looked at a few menus posted on the wall but I didn't find anything really appealing. I don't eat rice or pork so I was pretty limited. Next time, my friends! I decided to head to try my luck at the Wicked Lottery. This time I actually partnered up with someone. He was nice and said he had seen the show 5 times. Yikes! We didn't win but it's always really fun to see how excited the winners get. I get so happy for all of them. 

It was Sunday and a lot of things were begining to close. I headed home to Brooklyn and went to C-Town Supermarket. I grabbed some groceries and cooked myself dinner of bagel bites and potato chips. Ok, so maybe it wasn't "cooking" but I'm in college I still haven't graduated to cooking actual dinners yet. I ate my dinner on the fire escape, watching the Polish wedding party arrive at the reception hall across from my apartment. It started to sprinkle so I called it a night early, planning to call it an early morning as well. 

VIDEO: I took this in Times Square. Of course. I say of course because if this were to happen in any other station, I doubt they would have a huge crowd let alone a singing one. I thought it was cute. Sometimes it's nice to slow down and enjoy random people singing The Beatles together. 

Last day of DC!

K.I.S.S

• Conserve your legs by riding the bus around Arlington. The cemetery is very beautiful but also very hilly. 
• Currently a lot of DC attractions are closed due to renovations or earthquake repair. Don't let it slow you down.
• Don't miss Union Station. It's gorgeous and a good place to eat with a group because they have a food court. 
• If you are catching a train, get there early!!

We woke up at 8:00 and all started getting ready. Right as we were walking out the door we hear a loud nail gun on the floor above us. Good thing we didn't want to sleep in. The hotel was undergoing renovations and I was somewhat put off that the front desk staff didn't at least tell us that during check in. We booked the hotel for a mere $99 dollars and it was in a great location, close to the metro and White House. Despite the renovations, I still feel that the hotel was worth what we paid. All the other hotels in that price range were chain hotels in Arlington or Alexandria. 

We decided to head to Arlington. We hoped on the subway and we were there in no time. It really was a short effortless ride. We exited the train station and walked to the visitor center to buy passes to the tour bus. We opted to do the tour bus instead of walk because New York City really did a number on my friends legs (I'm used to it by now), Arlington was very hilly, and we had limited time. We got our passes for $8.75 and jumped on the bus. It was a full load and we were off. I liked riding the bus and we heard a few informative things on it but we were mainly using it for transportation. If I had expected actual interesting facts, I might have been disappointed. 

First stop was the Kennedy grave sight with the eternal flame. I am too young to really mourn the Kennedy lose. I mean, of course its tragic but it wasn't "the moment of my generation" like it is for my parents generation. Next stop was the Tomb of the Unknown. We walked around the beautiful amphitheater until it was time for the changing of the guard. It was a cool thing to see and the view of D.C was nice. 

The last stop was The Arlington House which had an amazing view of D.C and was my favorite stop on the tour. Unfortunately, they were going through renovations and the recent earthquake had caused some damage. We couldn't go on the second floor at all. The bus dropped us back off at the visitor center and we decided to grab some food and then head the National Museum of American History. We grabbed some McDonalds because it was easy, cheap, and fast. 

Chelsea and I made these potato heads!

I only had 2 hours to take in the American History Museum and I thought that it might be possible. I had previously been to the Natural History Museum in DC and got through it somewhat quickly. However, the American History Museum was much more interesting to me so we spent a long time here. I really enjoyed this. Highlights for me were playing in the room with pop culture icon toys like potato heads and etch-a-sketch, seeing the star spangled banner flag, the pop culture type room with Babe Ruths baseball, Dorthys shoes, and a part of Plymoth Rock.  Very cool! 

Union Station is actually my favorite building
in DC! Everyone's coming and going to all
over the country! Not to mention the
architecture...

We left and I grabbed my bags at the hotel and headed to the train. The line at the train station was long. I got there 20 minutes early and was about 20th in line but by boarding time it was a loooonng line of about 150 people. Glad I wasn't in the back because I wanted a window seat. I was actually looking forward to some alone time on the train and I got it. It was nice and the ride was easy. 

Arriving back in Penn Station, I actually got lost on the train platform. It was Friday night so I knew service would be a little screwy. I waited a long time and then finally a C train rolled through, but I needed an E. The C train was absolutely covered in graffiti and looked very old. I thought it was strange since usually MTA is very good about pulling graffiti trains off the tracks. Next train comes, and its a C too. I then see the E heading uptown on the next platform over. Shoot. I tried to find the stairs leading up to the E but I don't know if I was in such a hurry that I wasn't paying correct attention or if I was just so tired. I ended up taking a tour of every platform in the station, some twice. I finally ended up on the right platform and was home at 12:30. My train had arrived in Penn at 11:30. I told my mom I took a cab to make her feel better but I am way to cheap for that and I feel safer on the subway usually anyways. Sorry Mom!!

Tomorrow kicks off my week long solo time in New York City. Hands down my favorite time on the whole trip. Of course, I enjoyed the time with my friends but I was able to wake up each morning with no plans and unlimited possibilities. I loved it!! 

Famous Ladies

I wish I could give you guys another post full of fun activities to do and ideas for your New York trips but honestly, we didn't do much today. We sat in the apartment until about noon until I couldn't handle it anymore. New York City was calling to me from across the East River and through my apartment window. I forced Shayna out the door to grab a mani/pedi. Mani/Pedis can run you from $40 to $100 dollars in Manhattan!! In Greenpoint, they will cost you a whooping $20. This is even cheaper than back home! Of course, the places are no frills. You don't have a chic 20-something receptionist taking your name and all that jazz but I just don't feel comfortable in those places. The two salons I tried in Greenpoint were Black Pearl and the one on Manhattan Av and Kent St. Both were good.

After we got our manicures, we headed back to the apartment. We had a good friend coming into town to shoot our photos today. This might sound a little ridiculous to some but I can't take a photo to save my life. Too many times I have got home to   upload my photos and found them all fuzzy or blurry. I have known this photographer since I was 17, he has shot many photos of me and done my best friends wedding so we were already comfortable with him and he gave us an excellent price. Unfortunately, he doesn't live in NYC so he had to commute from New Hampshire. He was excited to have a chance to come to New York City. We were meeting him at 4:00 at Pulitzer Fountain (SE corner of Central Park). 

We got ready and fretted over ourselves for a while. Three girls getting ready for pictures in the city- not a pretty picture. But we were finally ready! Only 30 minutes from go time, we boarded the G. I knew we would be about 10 minutes late but it was fashionably late so it was admissible. What I DIDN'T know was that the 7 train was going to take 20 minutes, then pull 1/3 into the station and just SIT there. At this point, I could see the train was full and the platform was dangerously full. So we headed down and caught the E. This required walking 10 extra blocks down 5th. Did I mention it was 100 degrees that day? All of our earlier primping had been sweated off. I'm kind of glad because I think everyone just said "oh well" at this point and we let our hair down more. 

We are FAMOUS!! 

We were an hour late. I was kind of bummer and I felt bad for keeping a good friend waiting but he was understanding. We headed into the park and started shooting, just walking around and stumbling on beautiful locations. I love the park. I have used that entrance tons of times and I find new things each one. We came across a beautiful wedding of two guys down by the pond so we watched them for a while. It was just the two of them and an officiant but they had quiet a crowd forming on the bridge. We all cheered and wished them happiness when they sealed the deal. 

We kept shooting in the park, climbing over rocks, watching the baseball game, anything we could find. Then we grabbed the 1 at Columbus Circle down to Times Square. Well, of course we get the train with a broken air conditioner. It;s a good thing we had already given up on not looking like a sweaty mess. We just laughed it off. It was really unbearable in there though. We got off on the next stop, I felt bad for those continuing on. 

Very excited about the Flatiron Building
apparently 

We shot some photos around Times Square. There was one specific shot that I wanted to get. It was our photo on the American Eagle big screen with us all in front of it. We headed in AE and to the 4th floor. You had to buy something and show your receipt to get your photo on the big screen. I quickly grabbed something for about $4 and bought it. I turned around to get everyone over to the photo area and Shayna was shopping! That girl! Eventually, Shayna gathered her purchases and we got our picture snapped. Unfortunately, while we were waiting a family approached our photographer and asked them to snap a picture of them on their iPhone. Right when he said yes our photo came up and we missed it! We did get a picture of the screen (as you can see) but not in front of it. It was still really cool though!! 

We then headed to Central Park and got some photos of us standing still in the center of the station, while the rest of the people blur past. That concluded our pictures so we bid our ado. We were starving so we grabbed some Wendy's. Yes, fast food. Bleh. We just didn't want to search for something because we were so hungry.

Me and Shayna

We took the train down to a bar that I enjoyed on my last trip called No Idea. They have any drink you could ask for in a 16 oz drink for $8. Bargain prices in NYC bars when drinks can cost you up for $16. There was about 20 people in there so we had a good time! We made friends with the bartender and tipped him well. Soon some of our drinks became free. :) We were there until about midnight and then headed to 230 Fifth. I just wanted them to see the roof. It's definitely not my favorite roof top bar in NYC. I prefer Hudson Terrance or Mad46 but it WAS the closest so that's where we went. Short walk and we saw the Flatiron on the way. 

We only hung out long enough to walk around and make a few drunk memories that I won't share here. ;) We headed down to the subway but unfortunately, the 7 wasn't running and the E wasn't coming into the station we were in. Too drunk to decide an alternate route, we hoped in a cab. It ended up being about $10 +tip so it wasn't bad! I love riding in cabs in NYC! So exciting! This was my first cab ride of the whole trip so I think I deserve a pat on the back. 


I'll get the photos from Chris on here as soon as I can but he's doing edits and such so who knows if anyone will still be following along.