Trip to New York City

We continued our fun weekend by heading down to NYC after the USMNT vs Germany friendly in Hartford.  While Todd and Natalie went to day 3 of Comic-Con and cosplayed as Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us (the game, not the show!)...

Grant and I went to explore lower Manhattan!  

Don't you think they look like the characters?  They were much cleaner than both the Ellie and Joel in the game, and the Ellie and Joel in the TV show, and there aren't any Cordyceps infected clickers (that we know of) but I thought they did a really good job!  In true Todd fashion, he even brough a bag of dirt from home so they could smear it all over themselves.  He made a huge mess in the hotel bathroom!

Todd surprised Natalie when we were at the hotel in the morning when he told her that he had purchased tickets to meet Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki in the Marvel movies (brother of Thor, and God of Mischief).  You might remember him as a guy that Taylor Swift briefly dated.  Natalie told him that she loved him. Hopefully he wasn't too confused by the two very weirdly dirty people who showed up to take a picture with him!

One more of Ellie and Joel, ready to take on the very busy Comic-Con. 

Meanwhile, Grant and I were busy exploring Nolita (North of Little Italy) trying to find some pizza - even at 10:30 in the morning.  We found pizza, but not before finding some Mario Brothers Star Coins on the street!

We went to Prince Street Pizza - and I really wanted to try the Spicy Vodka pizza but eh... even 10:30 is too early for pizza in my book. But not too early for Grant, who got a classic cheese pizza.  Here at Prince Street, they sell them in squares, and no... they do not serve ranch dressing, blue cheese dressing, ketchup, mayo, etc.

Grant waited outside for his pizza, looking so New York.

He gave this pizza a 9 out of 10.  Later he would say it got a 9 because there was too much cheese (he isn't a huge cheese fan!)  But the atmosphere cannot be beat here mid morning on a Sunday. You almost wouldn't know you were in New York City!

Back at Comic-Con, they let people try on Storm Trooper heads... and here we have Natalie who clearly got some pizza sauce on hers (I kid!)

Grant and I were waiting for a couple of VERY SPECIAL GUESTS to arrive for our Sunday adventures so we stopped in to the Little Cupcake Bakeshop for some post-pizza-pastries.

We met up with our very special guests and took the subway down to Battery Park where we then walked down to the Staten Island Ferry.  Who were the special guests?

Why, it was his cousin Greta and Aunt Brie!  They just happened to be in town for the long weekend for Greta's 10th birthday (hard to believe) and we were able to meet up with them for the day. How cool is that??? We waited inside for the boat to arrive while the cousins caught up.

Alas, we were able to board. If you go on the port side of the boat, you get a really nice view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Poor kid. I forced him to take so many selfies today, this one with the Brooklyn Bridge behind us. There wasn't enough time to get to Grimaldi's today, which is a pizza place under the Brooklyn side of the bridge. Next time!

And here we are with the Statue of Liberty!  Did you know that the Staten Island Ferry is FREE? If you want a nice view of the Statue of Liberty, just take the 25 minute ferry across to Staten Island, get off the boat and turn around and get right back on.  In an hour, you can have a lovely harbor cruise.  It gets crowded but hey, at least it's free!  There will be a bunch of people outside of the ferry terminal trying to convince you that this is a bad idea, but don't listen to them if you want to save some money!

It WAS quite windy on the Staten Island Ferry as evident by Greta's wildly dancing hair!

Ahhh, there's a good picture of the Statue of Liberty!

Once over in Staten Island, you have a nice view of Manhattan from the ferry terminal.

So we hopped right back on the ferry and went back to Manhattan!

Meanwhile, over at Comic-Con, things were VERY busy!

Look at these cute cousins in New York City!

A windy day on New York Harbor means a lot of hair going in all directions, but they're all so cute!

Another view of Lady Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry.

Everyone was going bonkers for this photo.  Me and my buddy.

You really get a nice view of lower Manhattan as you approach it by ferry and you really get a good idea of how tall the One World Observatory is.

Back on land, we made our way a bit north to the World Trade Center area so Grant and I could go to the top of the Freedom Tower.  They have since stopped calling it that, by the way - they want it to be known by it's real name, the One World Observatory. But it's all still a part of the World Trade Center complex. You walk through the complex (underground at this point) where there is a lot of places to eat and shop.

It seems very futuristic down here!

Finally, Grant and I, with our Auntie Anne's beverages in hand, made it to the security line at the One World Observatory so we could go to (not quite the top) of the tallest building in the United States, the Americas and all of the the Western Hemisphere!

Well ... it's not quite the top of the world. The tallest building in the world (and would, I suppose, therefore be the actual top of the world) is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which I have been to.

There's a cool display of how the structure was built followed by a display of what the structure is built on (you know... so you don't worry that you're about to go 1200 feet up in a building that isn't structurally sound!)

I could not be more thrilled that the weather was so perfect.  Originally, the forecast called for rain, so Grant and I almost scrapped the idea of going up because who wants to spend $80 to view the inside of the clouds?  Look at that view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island!

The whole floor is lined with these little buildings to make it look like a city skyline.

But here's the real (midtown) city skyline!

No matter where you go, the views are amazing.

This kid!

He knows I'm afraid of heights, so he is teasing me here. Meanie.

Hello down there, Brooklyn Bridge!  Also, you can see Trinity Church in the green space below.  Trinity Church is famous for being the spot where Alexander Hamilton is buried!  It's also known as The Chapel that Stood when it did not suffer any major damage after the (next door) World Trade towers fell down.

We could see the old footprints of the World Trade Center buildings and the memorial below us.

He's almost as tall as this building now, right???

After our visit to the top of the Freedom Tower, we caught up with Greta and Brie who needed a bathroom break.  Grant wanted to see the memorial, so we walked across the street.  The memorial is huge and very sad.

Isn't he the cutest?  It turns out he is NOT taller than the Freedom Tower!

We found Brie and Greta and headed north a bit - or at least this is what this sign in the sidewalk told us.

There were discussions about Dutch architecture (because duh... New Amsterdam)...

... and there was some hopscotch that we all partook in!

We may or may not have stalked Taylor Swift's New York apartment. I mean, it's public knowledge that this is one of her many addresses. We only took a couple of pictures and moved on. Greta was thrilled though, and Natalie was sad to miss it!

Meanwhile, across the street from TS's place sat a bunch of fans and guys with really long lens cameras. Groan. I mean... it was Sunday. She was obviously at Travis Kelce's football game and not at home.

One thing (out of a million things) that I really love about the New York City subway system is the mosaic tile work that make up the station stop signs. So pretty!

Grant really wanted to try a bunch of pizza, but we just couldn't eat pizza all day.  But we did swing in for a slice at Joe's!

"You saw us in Spider-man!"  This is true, but they have since moved locations from Bleecker Street to Carmine Street so this isn't the location from the movies but it is just a few doors down from there.

Everyone really enjoyed Joe's Pizza!  Grant especially, who got back in line for another slice. He said it was awesome because there wasn't a ton of cheese.  He declared this one the winner of the day, and I promised to take him back for some Grimaldi's and whatever other awesome pizza place he wants to go to. Joe's is cash only though, so bring your dollars!

Speaking of Spider-Man, back at Comic-Con, a bunch of Spider-People went and did this!

There will always be a little love for TB12, no matter how weird he is. I'm also really curious what the rest of this sign says.

After Grant, Greta, Brie and I destroyed some Joe's Pizza, we found a playground in Washington Square Park where Greta went rolling around beneath the play structures.  Washington Square Park sits among the buildings belonging to NYU.

I had to go see the Hangman's Elm (also in Washington Square Park), because as you can see, this tree is 344 years old! Although the official age is just "more than 300 years old."  Traitors were apparently hung from it's branches during the American Revolution - hence the name. This English Elm is 131 feet tall!

Also in Washington Square Park is the marble Washington Square Arch, which was dedicated to (you guessed it) George Washington in 1895. 

Not far from Washington Square Park, and on our way to Magnolia Bakery, we stopped by to see the Hess Triangle. It reads, "Property of the Hess Estate which has never been dedicated for public purposes" because in 1910, around 300 buildings in this area were demolished to make way for one of the MTA subway lines. The surveyors missed a very small (as you can see) piece of the property which David Hess, claimed as his own, refusing to donate it back to the city. At the time, it was the smallest property in NYC!  It's since been sold a couple of times, including once by the Hess family themselves for $1000 in 1938 to the cigar company it sat in front of. It's currently owned by a big realty corporation (of course) which owns the building here.

When in NYC you MUST visit Magnolia Bakery!  When we were in line, the girls in front of us were talking about how long this bakery had been here and how crazy it was that they still have a line out the door, and I was telling them that I used to visit here 20 years ago!  These cupcakes are by far the best I have ever had. I found the recipe online and sometimes will make them myself, but you do NOT want to know how much butter and sugar are in these things.

Finally, it was time to head back toward the Javits Center to meet up with Natalie and Todd so we could drive back to Boston.  We foolishly took a cab through midtown to soothe our aching feet, but that took forever.  But it was worth the surprise on Natalie's face when she saw her cousin Greta, who she wasn't expecting to see today!  We surprised Greta, and Greta surprised Natalie!

Until next time, New York! You'll always been my favorite city!