We're not in Texas anymore, Toto...

Ok, folks...the last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind. I have been making notes of things in my phone of things I want to blog about so I don't forget. There is so much material here in NYC! Lots of interesting people and happenings, and I am loving it all so far. So I'll just jump right in.

I arrived late Tuesday evening, so Wednesday was my first real day in the city. Like I said in my earlier post, I basically planned to just have a fun day in the city. And I definitely did. I slept in until about 10:00 and got dressed and headed towards Manhattan. It is about a 10 minute walk to the subway station from our apartment, and it was a beautiful day. I did stop at Mr. Bagel (as suggested by Sara) and had a YUMMY bacon, egg, and cheese bagel before I got to the train. (By the way, you should probably go ahead and get used to the fact that a lot of what I write is going to be about food).

But eventually I made my way to the M train and headed into the city. Out here in Queens/Brooklyn, the trains are actually above ground, which is nice because I can still do things on my phone until I get closer to Manhattan and go underground.

I took the train all the way into Rockefeller Center, because I pretty much just had one thing on my mind at that point, and that was the Magnolia Bakery. I only discovered this place about a year ago when we came to the city for Kristi's birthday/Shahla's pre-wedding weekend, but I absolutely LOVE their cupcakes. I got off the subway and headed straight for the bakery. In addition to my vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting (should've taken a picture for you, but there was no time for that), I also got a hot chocolate with their homemade whipped cream on top. Probably the best cup of hot chocolate I've ever had. So those of you planning to visit me, you can pretty much expect that we'll be going here at least once during your stay. :-)

After Magnolia, I found a nice bench in Rockefeller Plaza (where the Christmas tree is during the holidays and also right across the street from where they film the Today show) and enjoyed my treats and watched people for a bit. Then I headed to Starbucks. This was the guy behind the counter.

Let me tell you about this guy. When I got in line to make my order, he was standing over on the other side of the counter and looking in the complete opposite direction. But he kept saying, "Ma'am, what would you like?" I finally realized that he was talking to me, but he still wasn't looking at me or walking over to where I was. So I told him what I wanted and he continued to talk to me but never looked at me. I proceeded to watch him do the same thing to several other people who had walked in. New Yorkers are weird.

After exploring the city a little more, and getting some Garrett's popcorn (also a place we will be going if you come visit!), I headed down to the Union Square area to meet Sara for dinner. We ate some fantastic Thai food at this place called Klong, and then we went to Brooklyn Heights. This is the area that Sara and Leticia want us to move to when our lease is up in August, so she wanted me to see it. Her small group from church was meeting out there and we had a little time to kill, so we walked over to the promenade, and I was sold. It has an AMAZING view of the city, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty, and we just so happened to be there at sunset. Check it out.

That is the Brooklyn Bridge (and see the Empire State Building?) behind me.

Statue of Liberty

Sara

I also saw this in Brooklyn Heights, which made me even more sure that this is a place I would like to live. Can't beat Five Guys (I didn't even know they had them in New York!).

I've definitely noticed a lot of differences between New York and Texas in my few days here.

Here are just a few:

1) Smoking - It seems like EVERYONE in New York smokes. It kind of becomes this song and dance when you get stuck walking behind someone who is smoking. It's like dodgeball - you keep trying to dart out of the way of the smoke and figure out how to pass them up on the crowded sidewalk. I'm getting pretty good at it though.

2) Profanity - There is a lot of it. I think I have heard the F-bomb more times in the last 3 days then I did in my last 3 years in Texas. People use it so casually, which is a very weird thing for me. They also use it when they want to kill each other. Case in point - I was approaching an intersection near Penn Station on Wednesday and there was a left turn lane with two vehicles in it. They had a green arrow but there were some pedestrians crossing, so the guy in the first car was letting them pass (so as to not kill them, which I thought was a pretty good thing). But the guy behind him wasn't having it, so he begins honking and yelling, "You got a green ehhrow (NY accent), you dumbf*&#! GO!" Which of course created a lovely yelling match (think LOTS of F-words) that ultimately ended with the guy in back getting out of his car and running towards the other guys' car to fight him. Seriously?? But the guy in front just drove off, so that was pretty much the end of it. So crazy though.

3) St. Patrick's Day - Ok Texans, let's take a poll...how many of you have actually gone through an entire St. Patty's Day and never even remembered it until that night when someone makes a dumb joke about pinching you because you're not wearing green? It's happened to me on more than one occasion. But these New Yorkers are CRAZY about St. Patrick's Day. I got into the city at like 2:30 PM on Thursday and the bars were already packed, and there was just green everywhere. Also, there were people playing bagpipes outside just about every bar. Who knew it was such a big deal? I kind of felt bad for not wearing any green, and I was definitely out of place. I'll have to remember that for next year, I guess.

Notice the lone bagpipe guy

Wednesday was Sara's friend Andrew's birthday, so on Thursday, a bunch of us went out to celebrate. Now if you read Sara's blog (which you should - www.saraehenderson.blogspot.com), you may have already heard about Milon, which is the Indian food restaurant we went to for dinner, but if not, prepare to be amazed. This place was crazy. I'm gonna need you to look at this picture before I go any further.

There is so much crap hanging from the ceiling you can barely walk through it. And, yes that is Sara in the corner of the picture, but those guys are not with us. Just sitting ridiculously close to us because the place is tiny. There is like super loud Indian music playing that makes you feel like you are in the middle of a Bollywood movie. But it's awesome. And so is the food. I had never actually tried Indian food before, but I had a really good chicken dish with some basmati rice. Favorite part of the night was when the lights started flickering (like strobe light style) in the entire restaurant and the music changed to an Indian Happy Birthday song. Then the waiter brought out ice cream for our whole table and everyone clapped and cheered for Andrew. It was fantastic. Will definitely be returning here.

Ok, that is all for now folks, but I'll leave you with a couple more pictures I took in the city. Check back soon so you can find out how I ended up about 10 feet from a member of *NSYNC last night. (Don't get too excited though, it wasn't the good one. Haha)

Empire State Building

Really cool Barnes and Noble at Union Square