So since Jonathan's little sis lives there in Brooklyn, we decided to take a quick road trip for the holidays. Two reasons for this - one, I've never been here; two, we offered to drive Samantha home for Christmas and then she'd only have to fork over for a one-way plane ticket home.
We left around 3:30 on Sunday afternoon, and had a very easy drive. No bad weather to speak of, we kept a steady pace, we switched drivers, had some snacks... and my phone's GPS system, which I just discovered last week. HA! However, my dumb ass decided to leave the damn GPS on all the way through PA, therefore sucking up all the juice. By the time we got to the Holland Tunnel from Jersey - the phone was dead. ZAPPED. No GPS system. And we also never did write directions down... Long story short, Jonathan hopped on the phone with Samantha and she and her roommate attempted to talk us through the streets to their apartment. Mind you, these are girls who don't drive in the city - so there were several mistakes... i.e. "Honey - I don't think I can go south on West 3rd St..." It was a fun adventure for me. Jonathan HATED IT. He's not really fond of... "winging it". ;) We ended up parking the car at about 1am.
Sam's apartment is a very cute, very perfect 2 bedroom here in Brooklyn. Apparently this is very close to the Williamsburg neighborhood, so she has been dubbed a "hipster" by a few of Jonathan's friends. The neighborhood is on its way to a thorough gentrification. We crashed in the living room, thanks to a borrowed air mattress from Jamie and Matt (we owe you two one!) and had a decent night's sleep. One of the interesting things about the place is that the only two windows on the apartment are located in Samantha and her roommate Kat's bedrooms. So if the two doors are closed? NO light in the common area. Hence our sleeping in until 10:30am. WOW... you could VERY easily crash out all day long and never know where the time went.
After getting up Monday morning and having a bit of coffee, we got on the subway to Manhattan. Climbing the stairs out of the station after the ride was a little bit thrilling. Seeing the buildings for the first time, I was like a kid in a candy store. That is, until the wind whipped around and hit us all in the face. SHEESH it was cold out! I think it was somewhere around 0 degrees with the wind chill making it feel even colder. I was really hungry, and initially I wanted to try out a deli or some bagel place in the city but after a few blocks of walking into the wind I spotted a Starbucks and said "LET'S GO!" (I know, I'm pathetic...) Anyway, after warming up and getting a bite to eat we headed back toward Times square and the first place we stopped in was the Toys 'R' Us. It was impressive with the ferris wheel and 3 floors of anything a kid could ever want. The tyrannosaurus rex upstairs posed for a photo-op with Samantha.
We moved along after that, stopping to get some daytime shots of the city, and we made our way to Rockefeller Center. Since the one wish I had was to skate there, Jonathan and I jumped in line. We waited about a half hour to 45 minutes, froze our asses off, chatted with the people behind us in line, took some pictures, watched two couples get engaged within a half hour of each other (jealous, party of one...) and finally were able to pay admission and get some skates. They recovered the ice for our session and Jonathan and I took to the ice like ducks to water. Well... I did anyway. Jonathan had to sort of "remind" his muscles what to do on skates, and it took him a few go-rounds to get comfortable. He did pretty well from what I can tell!
After skating, we went into a few shops. Samantha and I spotted Cartier, and I made a special request to go in there. After all, I'd never been in one of those either... ;) It was like a museum though - they had some spectacularly HUGE pieces that made all of our jaws drop (and probably cost more than the three of our salaries combined!), plus some beautiful smaller pieces that I could at least *imagine* on my hand without penalty. :)
We did get a chance to check out FAO Schwartz, and the three of us spent quite a while testing the softness and snuggle factors of every single stuffed animal in there. We were shopping for Ainsley, of course. Around 4:30 or so, we started to head back to the subway and to a wine store. We picked up a couple bottles of wine to share for later, and went back to Brooklyn to get changed for dinner. Leaving the house again, Jonathan and I took the train back up to Central Park West and joined my friend Mike and his boyfriend Justin for dinner. Justin cooked... soooo delicious! He'd prepared a spinach and berry salad with a tangy dressing, followed by lamb and pesto, and homemade chocolate mousse for dessert. OMG I died and went to heaven. Unfortunately I was chewing on a piece of french loaf and was startled to hear a giant *crack*, like a firecracker going off in my mouth. A molar on the right side of my jaw cracked in half!!! HALF!!! Advil became my friend. I called the dentist but had to leave a message because he was on holiday. D'oh!
Tooth issues aside, after dinner we went home and Jonathan, Samantha and I opened up our Christmas gifts to each other. Sam got me a copy of "Dream When You're Feeling Blue" by Elizabeth Berg, and "Mamma Mia" on DVD.
And that, my friends, was my first day in New York City. Stay tuned...
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