New York City

For our 20th Wedding Anniversary Brad and I spent five days and four nights in Manhattan, NYC! My personal photographer, Brad, took this great picture in front of the Statue of Liberty.

Here we are on Liberty Island with a view of the mainland behind us. After taking a million pictures (we chose not to wait in a long line at the crack-of-dawn to get tickets to the museum and base), we went to Ellis Island, which I found very fascinating, and became one of my favorite places we visited during our stay.

Here, I am standing on the Staten Island Pier; behind me is the Financial District of Manhattan. One of the buildings on the left is where we stayed our fist two nights in NYC thanks to our friends' Jason and Brianna Griffiths. The building on my left is the National Museum of the American Indian.

Brad is posing (one of the few times I could get him to cooperate) by a touching statue of American Immigrants in Battery Park.

Here I am riding the "Charging Bull" statue at the New York Stock Exchange. (Brad's idea--I am glad that I am a better sport than he is when it comes to posing for pictures!). Other sites we visited in this area were "Ground Zero", City Hall Park, Woolworth Building, and Trinity Church. 

 

For this picture I got lucky, and snapped the picture just as Brad turned around. I couldn't figure out why Brad was getting so upset with me for taking pictures until after we returned home and realizing that I had taken 450 pictures over the course of our trip! We strolled along the Brooklyn Bridge, because that is what our NYC Frommer book suggested we do.

Here I am posing again on top of the Empire State Building. It really was an incredible site! We truly experienced NYC as we walked from the Financial District to the Empire State Building while passing through Greenwich Village, Washington and Union Square Parks, and Madison Square Garden.

Here we are returning from a beautiful carriage ride through Central Park. Even though it was terribly overpriced, it was something that both Brad and I have always wanted to do. We also got a hot dog, and warm honey roasted peanuts for memory sake.

At the Rose Center for Earth & Space we watched a star show in the Hayden Planetarium, and because I loved "Night at the Museum" so much, we just had to go to see all the sites at the American Museum of Natural History (I think the movie made it a little more exciting than it actually was). However, my favorite place in all of Manhattan was The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I could of stayed there for weeks, and still not experience everything I wanted to!

This is one of several billboards with Brad's name on them. They were so great, I just had to take a picture. I told Brad that the couple was a striking resemblance to us (not really)! When we finally got tired of walking we took the Subway. The highlight of the Subway: Grand Central Terminal, with its amazing architecture, marbled floors, huge chandeliers, and breathtaking sky-ceiling! And did I mention that the food there was really good too?

 Here I am at Rockefeller Plaza with a view of the Empire State Building behind me. Even though it's not as high as the Empire State Building (70-stories compared to 103 stories), the views are still amazing, with a better look of Central Park. Other sites at "30 Rock" included the famous Ice Rink, and NBC Studios. We stayed at Midtown Manhattan for our other two nights and appreciated the convenience to window shopping on Fifth Avenue and other intriguing sites such as Trump Tower, the NYC Public Library, Chrysler Building, Radio City Music Hall, and St. Patrick's Cathedral.

And of course, you couldn't go to Manhattan without experiencing Time Square. We walked through it at night and saw filming of a new TV series, as well as screaming Harry Potter fans waiting for some kind of movie-star about to walk the red carpet (we did't stick around long enough to find out who). Speaking of Harry Potter, we also had the opportunity to see a Broadway Musical--How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at the Hirschfeld Theatre. The cast included Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), John Larroquette (his Broadway debut), and Anderson Cooper's voice (he was the narrator). We loved it! Who knew that "Harry Potter" could dance and sing so well? The show quickly became Brad's favorite thing to see or do in NYC.

We had a wonderful time in NYC, and I couldn't think of a more entertaining thing to do for our Anniversary! Thank You Brad for providing such a wonderful experience--I love you, and look forward to another wonderful 20 years together!!!