New York, New York!

I love NYC, I love it with all of my heart. Last week I had the opportunity at the last second to go visit again and believe me, I jumped on it, big time. There is something about New York City that talks to me, it feels like there is something going on every possible second and it is all exciting and new. I really could move there without any hesitation.

The weather was a little drab, in fact we were soaked, absolutely soaked on Monday. We waited under the pavilion at the subway station for a good 30 minutes at Citi Field because they decided to cancel the Mets game. Even with a downpour, New York is an extremely navigable city.

The first thing we did when we got there was head down to Canal Street. I cannot pass up an adventure into a back room to buy a purse and some flashy costume jewelry. The is a restaurant of sorts just off of Canal Street on Mott. Its called Saigon bakery and it has the best bahn mi on the planet. Bahn mi is a Vietnamese sandwich served on a croissant bun filled with veggies and barbecued pork or chicken. When I say its a restaurant of sorts I meant that half of the store is a jewelry store and the other half is a deli. I wasn't able to capture it very well, but I tried to take a picture that showed that the left half of the store, as you walk in, is a long jewelry counter.



I was very interested in all of the little shops that lined the street with fresh vegetables and sea food. I was in heaven, I would love to be able to purchase sea food like this at any time of the day.





The next day we headed over to Brooklyn to partake of the reportedly delicious pizza of Grimaldi's. Grimaldi's stands up to every great review that you will ever hear. I felt like I was Europe again though, sharing tables and whatnot but it does not take away from the taste what-so-ever.

We spent the afternoon walking around Brooklyn until we got to the park sits right below the Brooklyn Bridge. Everything was going great, I was LOVING the scenery...





Until I heard Brandon start trying to get my attention. I wasn't too sure what he was pointing at until I realized that there was a person lying in a very uncomfortable position about 20 feet in front of us. He was lying in such a way that I thought, "there is no way this man is alive. He has slipped on the wet rocks and broken his neck and is dead." Instead of being a loving, caring, compassionate person, I was a little more concerned with how this was going to ruin my day...I know, not very nice. Brandon tip-toed up to the guy yelling "hey dude" a few times...no answer. I think he was going to throw a pebble or something when I guy suddenly sat up and waved us off that he was fine. Whew! I hate to sound heartless but that was the best thing that could have happened to us all day. No way did I want to be a witness to a dead body, regardless of the situation.

Brandon and I essentially spent most of the vacation, walking, eating delicious food, (I will have to write sometime in the future about our adventures eating in a basement in Queens...seriously the BEST lamb burger on the planet), shopping and going to Broadway. I had never been to a show in New York so we saw Phantom and Chicago. We spent almost a whole day walking Central Park in its entirety and then another day trying to find the perfect knock-off purse while the cops were doing stings and rounding up people on Canal Street. All in all it was a great vacation and a perfect birthday!