Our Trip Home Part 1- New York!

Dahl and I recently (Aug 20-27) visited my family for a week. It was so much fun!! Here's a summary or our activities from Monday and Tuesday:
1. Monday (Aug 20)- We flew to NYC! The flight was delayed, so we arrived around midnight.
2. Tuesday (Aug 21)- We woke up around 6:30 and hurried to catch the shuttle from the hotel to the Subway. 

Then we started our adventure! First we went to a strange, slightly sketchy place that apparently will hold your luggage for you for the day. We dropped off our luggage and rushed off to the Empire State  Building after grabbing a quick breakfast at a deli. I LOVED the ESB. It was so cool to me! Dahl is a huge fan of tall buildings, so whenever we go to big cities he wants going to the top of (one of) the tallest buildings to be part of our experience. This is my favorite one so far. 

They had this little iPhone where you could take a tour of the city from the ESB by going to different numbers in different locations around the viewing area. This cute little old New Yorker man would talk about the different locations you could see from that vantage point (Dahl and I shared one so we each got one earbud), and tell personal anecdotes about his ancestors and his life in NYC. I really liked that because usually I just look at buildings with no idea what they are or their significance, but this let us learn about the history and  it was so personal that it was really enjoyable. One thing I would recommend to anyone going to the ESB is GO EARLY! Dahl and I arrived around 8:15 or so (it opens at 8), and there was no line. When we first got up there it was really empty. But it very quickly filled up. I can't even imagine how ridiculous it would be to go during the middle of the day!

Next we went on a harbor cruise. Dahl found it for a really great deal on one of those deals sites, so we just took a boat tour of NYC. I really like to learn about the history of our country. I'm not really into a lot of history, but I love the inspiring stories of courage and sacrifice that allowed this nation to be built. It is nothing short of amazing to me. One of the highlights was getting really close to the Statue of Liberty! I love the Statue of Liberty! The tour guide told us this week was WAY cooler than the last few weeks had been which was nice because we were SO hot all day!

Next we went to Lombardi's- America's first Pizzeria!! It was SOO GOOD!! We would definitely recommend going there if you are in NYC. Some of the best, if not THE best pizza we have ever had! Then we went to Chinatown for some fun there... those salespeople are SO pushy, it was so funny! They would grab Dahl and pull him back into the stores to try and get him to buy things... it was a little ridiculous. I was really glad they didn't grab me!
Next we went to Katz, a famous deli. We got an amazing (although extremely overpriced) pastrami sandwich. I was a little leery at first, but I ended up loving it! Katz is probably the most confusing restaurant ever. It was pretty much pure chaos. You're handed a ticket as you walk in that you must return when you leave even if you don't purchase anything (they write the order you place on the ticket) or you get a $50 fine! The line is a mass of people, and it is pretty much impossible to find the end. Tables turn over so quickly, which is good because if not you would never find a table. It was so hard to figure out what to do first! Get in line? (Which part of the line?) Save a table? Get your food? When do you pay? (It's as you leave, handing them your ticket). Once we figure it out, it was fun, and very good!

Lastly, we went to Times Square and then over to Central Park. I really loved Central Park. We were only able to stay for maybe 15 minutes because we had to go grab our stuff and get on a bus, but it is so beautiful and peaceful compared to the rest of the city.

Then we rushed over to get our luggage and get on a bus that took us to Delaware. The first hour was really quiet, Dahl and I mostly just played stupid games on our phones/ the iPad and talked a little. The next hour the girl in front of us turned around and talked to us the whole time! She was SO chatty, but very entertaining. She complained about pretty much everything from working in customer service to the stupidity of people to customer service received to travelling... it was very interesting. We enjoyed it. She thought we were really cute and complimented us profusely on our wedding pictures.

I will finish our vacation in my next entry!!