NYC - Day 2 - Part 1

I thought I was going to split the NYC blogs up by day. That won't be happening. It is just impossible to put everything we did in one day in one blog. I am now blogging in partial days.

One of the more bucolic images from Central Park. Our hotel was just two blocks away. The thing that surprised me most about Central Park was how much of the city noises (honking, buses, sirens) are muffled by the encircling trees and country. I felt like I was in a national forest far away from any metropolitan area. What a place to go for a run too.

Looking southwest from Central Park. Off to the far right is the tower housing CNN's NY headquarters. The Essex House hotel is clearly visible as well.

Another Central Park shot. Kate took this picture. Not much to write, except that I thought it was one of the best shots of the whole trip in terms of lighting, contrast, balance, and whatnot.

The Conservatory Pond at Central Park (right off 5th Avenue). We got stopped by some British ladies on holiday and we took their picture.

The famous Katz's Delicatessen, as featured in the movie When Harry Met Sally. This is the diner where Sally proved to Harry how easy it is for her to fake an orgasm. If you look closely at the ceiling on the left side in the background, there is a circular sign pointing to the spot where Sally sat. The sign reads, "Where Harry Met Sally...Hope You Have What She Had!" Katz's is insanely busy on weekends and holidays. But the lines move pretty quickly. There are lots of choices, but I went with pastrami on rye, the most popular, probably. The sandwich makers give you some slices of the meat as soon as you order. The meat was great, Katz's is worth experiencing if you are a foodie tourist, but it is certainly overhyped. It's historical. It's famous. However, the pastrami didn't blow me away as it should have. It was delicious, but not set apart from the pastrami I had at the Grand Lux Cafe (think upscale Cheesecake Factory, same owners, slightly different menu) in Chicago a few weeks before this.

Me biting into the aforementioned pastrami on rye.

We did not go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. There just aren't enough hours in five days to do everything we wanted to do. Plus, a trip to those two different islands wasn't at the top of any of our lists, but seeing them from the water was, so we took the Staten Island Ferry, which is free, and the ride provided us with great views of Lady Liberty. It was a great view of Manhattan as well. If you are ever in NYC and want to get out on the water and get some great views, but you want to do all that for free, check out the ferry.

On the way back to Manhattan we saw another cruise ship. We had seen the first one on Saturday. This one wasn't nearly as big and was quite ugly, as evidenced by the primary color palette painted on the ship.

I did mean to frame these people in the shot. This was at the very front of the ferry when we were heading back to Manhattan. This day, Sunday, was the closest it ever got to raining, but it never did that day. The weather was beautiful while we were there.

Part 2 coming soon.