The big (glittery) apple - Day 1

I arrived last night to New York in a town car from Tarrytown House Estate.  Once I arrived at my boss, France’s, apartment she showed me around her cute little condo about the size of a cracker box (typical New York I suppose).  I really like this apartment, and could see myself living here if I ever wanted to live in New York.  The location is AMAZING!  94^th and Madison…only 1 block (literally) from Central Park…so GREAT!

My friends Mandy and Kayla arrived in the city from Chicago at 10:30pm and we quickly decided that we needed some sustenance, so we went to a local market around the corner.  The box of Apple Jacks that Mandy bought was almost $6, a little pricey if you ask me…but once you pop you can’t stop…wait that’s the wrong brand. 

This morning when we woke up we had a little snack and headed over to Central Park.  I found a nifty Central Park Running Map online, and came up with the grand idea the night before of running the entire Park Drive Loop.  So I began my run with wool socks and a long sleeve shirt because it was about 35 degrees out.  The run was sooo great and I felt like a real New Yorker (I can hear the Dougy Houser theme song in my head right now…I feel like him writing notes about my day…and I’m wearing leg warmers right now so it’s almost like I’m in the 80s).  A city really begins to feel like your own when you’ve run through it.  I’m super amazed by Central Park, it is ginormous, and I’m proud that the city puts the money ($25 million/year) towards keeping it up in such a great way…I was in awe.  Before spending time in the park I expected it to be one large lawn with some trees in the middle.  This is so not true.  This park is fantastic, every corner you turn there is something new to see and enjoy, it’s a real treat.

After going back to the condo to get ready, we headed of to the Guggenheim Museum and pondered some amazing pieces of art.  I got to know the works of Picasso much better, I had no idea that he painted so many different types of pieces, I thought that he just focused on the cubist style, but some of his works are quite straight forward and inspiring.

At 4:30pm I came back to France’s condo to help her with some things that she needed to ship back to Seattle.  What a little adventure that turned out to be.  We packed all of the things into a huge 2’x3’box and loaded it on to the hand cart, we had 10 blocks to pull that thing through the city.  Half way there one of the wheels broke off, the dolly came completely apart.  So there we were, two women carrying a 50 pound box down Park Avenue in downtown Manhattan…what a riot.  After a few blocks we couldn’t carry it on our own anymore and I stopped into a flower shop to ask if any of the workers could lend a hand.  AND then, when I got the snottiest little reply I could imagine I realized that we were on Park Avenue.  I felt like a was in a classic New York movie with the attitude that was being dealt.  So we tried to hail a taxi.  While we were trying to find a cab, a nice upper class older gentleman offered to help us carry it the rest of the way, for 5 city blocks.  I swear he was an angel.  The whole time, of course I was thinking about how great of a story it would make (as usual).

That little adventure sure did raise my heart rate…and blood pressure J.  Next, we got all dressed up and pretty and headed out the door to Madison Square Garden to enjoy an evening of Wintuk, the winter Cirque Du Soleil show.  We had all wanted to see a Cirque Du Soleil show for a long time, and it was definitely everything that I was hoping for.  The whole show was filled with fun tricks and acrobatics…things I didn’t even know the human body could do.  The end was the best part, where it started to snow.  I think there was a good 2 inches of accumulation in my lap, of different sized tissue paper snowflake.  I smile just thinking about it!

On our way back to the condo, we took our time and stopped by Rockefeller Center to take a quick look at the tree.  It was nice, but not nearly as big as any of us expected, probably because they make such a big hairy deal about it on TV all the time.  We also stopped by Times Square which definitely isn’t my cuppa’ tea (or coffee for that matter), but I can definitely appreciate it for what it’s meant to be.  However, I definitely think that if I lived in Manhattan I would only end up in Times Square if there was a specific purpose or if I was passing through.  I definitely wouldn’t seek it out or spend time there on purpose.