New York City is about 6 hours from Buffalo. It was a pretty smooth and scenic drive for the most part...except for one slight issue. Mayhem almost got the best of us when, mysterioulsy, our GPS got switched to shortest distance instead of shortest time. And, unfortunately, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line... even if that line is straight up and over a mountain range. Long story short, we found ourselves on some one-lane dirt/mud/ice roads somewhere in the wilderness of backwoods Pennsylvania. The only sign of life we saw the entire time that we were on that road was a guy (just one) on a tractor. I think we were both at least a little at ease when we finally came to a stop sign where our little road intersected with an actual road, like one with lanes and lines down the middle and everything. But, the GPS said to stay straight and we obeyed.
Eventually, those random roads did get us to the city. We pulled in to the hotel, which was in Queens, around 8:30pm. Can I just add here that I was really impressed with my husband's city driving, we only got honked at once! Since it was my first time in New York, the awesome Marriott people gave us a top floor room with a view of the Manhattan skyline, which was so pretty to see every morning and night. The hotel also offered a free shuttle to the nearest subway station. The shuttle ran pretty late so we had plenty of time to see some of the city that night. My first subway ride was not really what I expected it be, which is a good thing. For some reason I was expecting it to be like something straight from a horror movie. You know, cold and dark, scary and rat-infested. 2 out of 4 is not bad, I guess! We did see only one freakishly huge (Splinter-sized) rat and it was awfully cold, but that wasn't the subway's fault. We never felt scared or in danger at all. The cars were more like oversized elevators, nobody made eye contact and everyone sat in silence for the most part.
Anyway, the first place we went was, of course, Times Square. We walked up from the subway and experienced immediate visual overload. There is so much to look at and so much to do. There is always something going on there, it seemed. We knew we had a busy few days in store, so we soaked it all in for a good little while but then headed back to Queens for some rest. We knew we would have to catch a cab back because we were too late for the shuttle to come get us. I was pretty excited for my first taxi ride too. Of course, my eyes were peeled for Ben Bailey in the cash cab, but that didn't work out for us. Our driver was so nice, though. He gave us some good tips on where to go and what to see, and he wouldn't even accept full payment from us. So, we finally made it back and tried to get a little bit of rest to fuel up for our week-long exploration.
The next morning, our first full day, we had to be in downtown Manhattan bright and early for a walking tour that Daniel had signed us up for. The guide walked us around and told us (in her harsh Jersey accent) about all of the different architecture and a lot about the city's history. We saw the building where George Washington was inaugurated, Trinity Church, Wall Street, Battery Park and the new World Trade Center to name a few places. Our tour ended at the 9/11 memorial which we got to walk around and check out. We headed towards the Brooklyn Bridge after that for some local pizza. Daniel had heard of this place called Grimaldi's that was supposed to be really good... and it was! We ate almost an entire pizza on our own. Not only did Grimaldi's offer a delicious meal, but also (and maybe even more important at the time) a warm place to sit. After walking around (even for only half a day so far) on nothing but concrete in my cutest pair of boots, I was already starting to be in pretty bad shape. My feet, legs and my right hip (I'm not sure what that was about?) were all harmoniously screaming for help. But, we were in the city that never sleeps, so we had to press on. I tried to talk my way out of the next activity due to my condition at the time, but Daniel tricked me because he knew I didn't know where I was going anyway. Before I knew it, I was at the cusp of the Brooklyn Bridge and it's a long way to the other side.
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