NYC-Our legs are going to be so pretty About This Page:

[chezp]

What a moving experience to visit the memorial site. That is definitely something we need to do one day, as I really would like to go there and pay my tribute to those who lost their lives on that tragic day.

[Colexis Mom]

More great updates! The memorial sounds like a great tribute. I hope to get there one day!

[Kelly66]

Continued Wednesday, July 31 Day 6 Around 4:00 PM or 4:30, we took the R to Canal Street to tour Chinatown, and Little Italy. Linda saw a Burger King and wanted an icy beverage. I sat down to take another look at the map. When they sat down I said, ‘Chinatown is to our right and Little Italy is to our left.’ Linda wanted to get out of Chinatown, but we really hadn’t seen much yet so we just took a street down there and looped around back up to Canal Street. Now Brittany originally had wanted to eat in Chinatown. It didn’t sound appealing to me and I told her to wait until she got there to decide. DH said something much less savvy than, ‘the aromas won’t inspire her to eat.’ But a (facebook-old) friend of mine who lives (part-time) in the city, did suggest someplace to eat ‘Go to Dim Sum in Chinatown for brunch on Sunday...’ although we did miss that. There is one street in Chinatown where they are selling shellfish on the street and we passed that. Perhaps they need more ice in the summer. We headed out of Chinatown back toward Little Italy.
We just kept following signs that said Tour Little Italy. They were kind of like banners strung across the street. I have never seen these signs before and that made our walking tour very nice. Brittany was very thrilled with the sidewalk cafes and the maitre d' who would come out to the street while you walk and try to talk you in to eating dinner there. There were cloth tablecloths and linen napkins and everything. She found it very authentic. Remember she just returned from studying abroad followed by a whirlwind tour of Europe.
On the map it looks like Little Italy is a big square that encompasses several blocks, however, the neat part to tour is now nicely signed...is that the word? meaning it has a sign, and is very linear. When we got to Bowery, that was, in my mind, the border of where we wanted to go. We turned left onto Spring Street, we were, by then in SOHO, that was a street that was in my mind and I knew we were near a subway. Beyond Bowery is Alphabet City. At one time, in the 90’s tourists were cautioned not to go there. I asked my husband before we left and his thoughts were that there is no real need for a tourist to be in that area and we would be very obvious even though we would probably still be safe. My plan was just to take the next subway I could find uptown until the streets were a grid. I stopped to read the map before we got too far out of the zone of a tourist. I knew where we were on the map, but I couldn’t see it. I told Brittany, we are on that fold there, we just passed such and such a street, point to which way you think is uptown (which was kind of trick question because this part is where the streets are still not perpendicular to the rest of uptown’s grid). Then I checked with the map and said -you think if we turn this way (pointing to the street) we will be going this way (pointing on the map). We agreed so we started walking and before you knew it we were on the train. I was a bit concerned because it was now about 5:15 PM and other times I have been on the subways between 4:00 and 6:00 it was absolute madness due to the work day ending. There was standing room only on the subway, but there WAS standing room-as opposed to squishing onto the train and maybe having to wait for the next one because no more people would fit. Or, as has happened to me before at that time, part of the party got on the train and the doors closed and the train left without the rest of the party. DH said in retrospect that those sets of trains don't really go to Walk Street and that is the part of town whose day ends precisely at 5:00 PM. Originally I was going to get off at NYU and go back down to see Battery Park, but actually I missed that stop, so we went to 49th Street because Brittany had mentioned that she had seen a framed picture of Wicked that she wanted to buy.
We were just randomly walking around Times Square looking for Brittany’s picture when I saw the Bare Minerals store and I asked Linda if she wanted to go get a makeover. That didn’t get anymore of enthusiasm than the idea of Battery Park did, but it turned out well. When we got in there the two people were helping other customers who had appointments but said they could be with us if we wanted to wait. We waited and waited, and Brittany said she was going to walk around outside just in a two block radius and try to find the pic and that she would be back in a half hour. She came back, oh in less than ten minutes, with the framed picture. Linda asked me if they could take off the stuff she has on, and I asked her what she was wearing. She said, ‘residue’? I said yes, they will clean your face for you. So the sales woman started there and talked about skin care and spent more time on the serum and cleanser and moisturizer than on the colors. Later we talked about if those people are actually a cosmetologist or just a salesperson? She did put the bare minerals make-up on her and it looked very nice. Linda asked if she would write down the colors that she used on her. She rounded out her eyebrows nicely and it was such a natural look. Over the years there have been people try to give Linda a makeover, but it was so dramatic and she is so beautiful to begin with that neither of us liked it. But this looked like Linda twenty years ago without make-up. So when she finished, it was very low pressure, she pretty much wasn’t trying to get her to buy anything. Linda walked around looking at stuff for another ten minutes and I was just trying to keep my mouth shut and not be bossy. But, finally she asked what I thought, and I repeated it just to be sure, you are asking my opinion? I talked her into getting just the kit with the cleanser and the serum and the moisturizer which was only half $$ of what she was going to get. As she paid for it, the girl who did her makeover wrote down all the colors for her, and gave me her card in case I can buy some in the city. Where did I put that card? I was trying to tell Linda to use only that stuff for a couple of weeks and not other stuff so she could tell a difference. The sales lady recommended four weeks to really tell a difference. Linda said, so I shouldn't wash my face in the shower with bar soap? NO!
When we left, Linda decided she wanted to buy a sweatshirt, and we had seen them up on 8th Avenue so we walked the long numbered street over to 8th Ave. When she got into the store, the guy kept trying to sell her stuff and give her a deal. They had said they wanted to leave after that and we were near the hotel where they had been keeping our luggage for us, so I called my husband to see if he wanted to pick us up or for us to get a car. He said he could be there in an hour and ten minutes, so that was perfect. Linda managed to get a sweatshirt and a t-shirt for the price she wanted to pay for the sweatshirt. Afterward, on the way back to the hotel, she asked me what I thought of her bargaining power. I am so cynical, I said, did anyone give you those kind of deals before the makeover? See this is why I need a friend like Linda to keep me in line.
We walked back to the hotel and got our luggage from downstairs and went up to the lobby to wait. There were tables, like coffee tables with big chairs so we sat down. I went to the bar and got a soda for a couple of us and I think Brittany got water again-isn’t she a good role model for us all? I asked if there were any munchies and he gave me a menu-no real bar food, but he had these little dishes stacked over there with something like Chex Mix in it, but I guess we weren’t good enough for that. I didn’t have the guts to flat out ask for it. We got tired of waiting up there and Linda decided we should go ahead to the street where DH was going to pick us up for a ride home. We were standing there waiting and someone was just taking video, it seemed of a sign across the street. I thought it was odd. Linda said something about a sign across the street about B.B. King. We waited a bit and a couple Police Officers came up and Linda said, “ I am going to go talk to them.” Brittany was asking me what she was doing and I didn’t know. Linda just told them that she appreciates their service. Then she came back and stood with us. Then a bunch of buses came up and we had to move. DH called me hands free through the car computer and said he was a couple minutes out, ok well he told me a minute and a half. We told him about the bus. He picked us up and we said goodbye to the city. Thus ends our trip.
However on Friday morning, the day after they went home, the morning news had a video running of the sign across the street from where we were standing-so that is what those guys were doing!
Last Day’s Complete Nike+ Fuel Data 1,545 calories, 14:53 active time, 24,765 steps, 10.2 miles, 6,0001 fuel points.
Thank you to you all for reading my trip report and interacting with me.

[chezp]

Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us. I've really enjoyed reading it and you certainly explored a heck of a whole of the city, much of which we've never had a chance to see for ourselves, so I found it fascinating.

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you had a great time in the city! Thanks for sharing it with us!

[Cam22]

You all packed so much into a few days at NYC! for sharing them all with us.

[Kelly66]

I want to add something fun that we did NOT do. Brittany had 'orders' from people at home who wanted souvenirs. Someone asked her for a doll and she never found one. I know in the 1970s when my Grandmother went on a Caribbean Cruise, she collected a doll at every port. Many of hers were plastic dolls, some with handmade little dresses. When I went on our Caribbean Cruise, I decided to collect a doll from every port as well. I found some that were wood carved and some that were totally fabric. I don't think I had any plastic ones at all. But it was really neat because right off the boat at the little stands they always had these dolls. One port where we didn't have a shore excursion, I think it was Dominica, we talked at length to the woman who made the doll who told us about her Granddaughter playing while she made this specific stitch and all sorts of nice memories. It was so special. I thought perhaps they would have something like this if we went to South Street Seaport. Now there are many 'regular' stores there in an inside kind of mall, but I wondered if perhaps they might have something like this at a kiosk or something outside. Another idea is over by the Intrepid where the cruise ships actually dock, but I have never really seen anything like this in New York City. It would be interesting if anyone knows anything about this.
Another thing is that my daughter used to love to get little erasers that looked like the Empire State Building, and I didn't see any of those. DH did say he talked to someone, who was using a 3-D printer and making things right there. Isn't that neat? The guy said he was thinking about getting another one but that he had to interact with it a great deal and may not be able to interact with tourists as much so he might not.

[pamcarey]

I just had a chance to read through this entire TR. It sounds like you really got to show your friends a lot of NYC. I've been to NYC a couple of times in the last few years, so it was nice to be able to "see" some of the locations in my mind. Thanks for sharing!