I used to think of New York City as lots of concrete and tall buildings. There are a lot of tall buildings but I've learned now, after many trips, that there's so much more like the many parks and gardens dotted around Manhattan. Above is one of the many, many gardens that we saw even in pretty cool weather in April.
Another bunch of beautiful flowers in another beautiful park.
Funny sign, another example that Texans and cowboys are welcome!
Gotta love the Flat Iron Building.
Me and Lady Liberty.
Found Jamba Juice right around the first corner from our hotel. Yep, got to have at least one everyday.
We stayed near Times Square, wonderful all night and...
...then filled with bistro tables and chairs during the day for eating, hanging out, and endless people-watching.
Yep, another Jamba Juice. Hey, I left many JJ photos out of this post.
Would you ever guess this is a Mickey D's? Only in Manhattan do they look like very nice two story restaurants.
I took this during my first cab ride in NYC alone. I had walked Manhattan shopping all day and was going to Little Italy to meet Paul and Matt for dinner. I was totally chill while the cab driver drove 80 MPH in rush hour traffic.
A beautiful painting in the fab restaurant in Little Italy.
We ended up in this particular restaurant, Cafe' Napoli, in Little Italy by way of a pure NY Italian came right up to me on the sidewalk, put his arm around me, and said if we wanted the best Italian food, we should come with him. Having heard that every restaurant around there was great, we went with him...
...and it was one of the best meals we had ever had.
From the outside; as it got cooler they closed the wonderful iron and glass doors but still had the tables outside for the hardier folk.
Of course I knew that NYC was a foody town but we had not spent much time previously working on making the best of that until this time. We went to Greenwich Village to The Carnegie Deli which Paul had said was a classic "must do" (he's from NYC, so he should know).
While there I hear the waiter nearby say Texas loud so, of course, I had to check out the situation. This is a family from Midland who were two tables over. Right there, the daughter coined the term, "Bacon is the candy of meat."!!!! That's what the waiter was announcing to the whole place for historical record. New York and Texas do work well together-they are both so special...one more so than the other...guess which one I choose.
At the Carnegie Deli the walls are covered with celebrity photos who have eaten there since 1937.
Fun and full.
This is the only photo I have handy of the infamous Annex flea market where I've always wanted to go. I didn't have long or much cash but I did very well in this fab silverware department!
The creme de la creme of the trip, our first game at the new Yankees' stadium!!
And they were playing the Rangers! Not that I care about the Ranger but they would have been my choice just 'cause they from Texas. Perhaps I will bore you with the details of how I came to be a Yankees' fan. When I was growing up in Texas all we had were the Astros. Now the Astros got us the Astrodome and Astroturf, but they have never been very good at baseball consistently. I've never seen them win a game and I grew up going to their games (this was before the Rangers). Sooooo I was not a big baseball person plus Texas is mainly a football state. Fast forward to when Paul and I met, him being from NYC and growing up with the Yankees, I was ripe to embrace them.
And, last but not least, a grand view of the new stadium. Great trip. Matt got to be where in the world he love most and we all agree that we love it.
