New York, New York!! The Friday Report...

Jamie and I had a nice, comfortable train ride up to New York City.  Got in about 6:30 p.m. and Chris was right there as we came up the escalator.  We dropped our luggage off real quick at his apartment and then went to his favorite restaurant, Artisanal, where we met up with his friend Megan and had dinner.  We got to sit in the "cave" which I have heard about ever since Chris first started going there, but the two times I went with him before, we never got to sit there.  Turns out it is a very small room  - room for one table - lined with refrigerated cases holding some of their wonderful cheeses.  They have a fantastic array of cheeses available at a counter right in the restaurant and their menu includes a lot of cheese dishes, including fondues of various sorts.  We had a gruyere and stout fondue which was delicious.  And I won't tell you what all else we ate, because it would be embarrassing to admit to it!  It was a great evening, wonderful company, delicious food and a real good beginning to our NYC visit.

Friday, we watched them filming the Today show for a bit from Chris's apartment - it's right across from Rockefeller Plaza which is so neat!  I can't remember why we went across to the Plaza first thing that morning but we did cause this picture I took from the Plaza looking at St. Patrick's Cathedral steeple is the first one I took in New York. 

On the way to South Street Seaport to buy our discount tickets to "Billy Elliott" we walked through Grand Central Station.  I'm not sure why I don't have any pictures of that... Once we got to South Street Seaport, it was extremely windy and quite cold, but we walked around the area a little bit to take some photos.

On the left is a portion of the Brooklyn Bridge with Brooklyn in the background.

On the right are three tall ships with New York City in the background.











Then it was back to Midtown and a visit to St. Patrick's Cathedral which is truly beautiful.  Quite different from the cathedrals I saw in Florence because it is so much newer and "whiter" and it has a very "lacy" look to it rather than the heaviness of the Florentine style.  Jamie and I both took lots of photos.  These are some of my favorites...

After St. Patrick's, we went back over to Rockefeller Plaza, ate lunch in the Concourse, an area underneath the Plaza buildings with shops and restaurants and lots of tables where you can sit and watch the ice skaters on the ice rink outside while you eat or enjoy a cup of tea.  Then it was up and away to the Top of the Rock, the observation deck on top of  30 Rockefeller Plaza.

The ice rink with the golden statue of Prometheus.  There were a lot more skaters here most of the time, some of them quite good.

I like this shot on the left because it really gives a good indication of how high we were.  The building almost in the center with the greenish glass windows is Chris's apartment building.  On the right is my best view of the Empire State Building (of the many I took!)

And this is looking out over Central Park and seeing a whole lot of the city!  Really an incredible view...

After that pretty much freezing experience, we were ready to take a break at the Maison du Chocolat, a tiny little chocolate shop I had visited once by myself and loved.  Chris and Jamie both got hot chocolate which they oohed and aahed over.  I had a cup of tea with four delicious chocolates.  Nummy!

The last photo op of the day was on our walk to the theater which took us to Times Square with all the buildings covered with neon.  I think each time I've seen it, there are more of them!

And, of course not only are they covered in neon, but they all change.  This building on the right that is blue and white was sometimes solid blue, sometimes solid white, and other times various multi-colored pictures.  Just really amazing!

Saturday would be another busy day, and, so after watching the world pass by from Chris's windows, we laid our poor weary bodies down for a good night's sleep...