2013 new york trip: part two

part one is here.

this is part two!  after my family left, stacy and mickelle joined me for a new york adventure.  eryn and greg were very nice and let us stay with them at their apartment in astoria (queens).  stacy got in tuesday night and mickelle arrived wednesday morning.

wednesday, september 11th
on wednesday we headed out to tobay beach in long island.  we picked up shake shack and then ate it on the beach while trying to protect ourselves from the seagulls. unfortunately one of the seagulls side swiped my head with it's wing. fortunately it didn't steal my burger and it was hilarious.

after the beach we went into manhattan for pizza and then walked the high line.

thursday, september 12th
we started the day off with bagels from brooklyn bagel in astoria - i love that place.  all their cream cheeses are made fresh and have fruits and vegetables mixed into them, so good! it was supposed to rain that day so we decided to go to the met.  here is a little artwork sampling.

 i guess i just really like impressionism.

 the top of the met.

so as you can see in the top of the met picture, there were beautiful, sunny (yet hot and huuuumid) skies. sure didn't look like rain! and it sure didn't rain while we were in the met!

since we were next to central park we thought we'd wander around in there. well, about 15 minutes after we left the met and were standing by this pond the rain came.  it was so crazy seeing it move across the water toward us. everyone screamed and ran for cover and just got soaked. like so bad. and the rain lasted for what felt like forever. 

note the looming clouds.

and then i was in a terrible mood. until i bought the transformers sweatshirt below and some dry socks. it's amazing the difference that dry clothes can make.

 this is at sweet green.

after eating at sweet green we sat in some chairs and gazed at the flatiron building.  we met the most precious older gentleman that was doing the same. he said that he lives alone but you can never be lonely in new york city. super adorable.

then we got some ice cream from shake shack. and after several of the most awkward and unsuccessful attempts to use a restroom we decided to head back to astoria.

fun times on the subway.

as soon as we got back to astoria the downpour started again and we sat in a mcdonalds for 45 minutes until deciding to take a cab the rest of the way.

friday, september 13th

the best part about the rain the previous day was that it cooled off the city, hallelujah. friday morning we went up to lincoln center and saw the temple and then ate waffles from a waffle truck that i don't remember the name of (it was about as good as waffle love in utah county).

we went into a couple stores up there and then headed down to soho for some real shopping.  can i just say how proud i am of myself?  i of course bought a bunch of stuff but not nearly as much as i have in the past and i feel really good about all the purchases.

mid-hair-pinning picture in madewell.

stacy really wanted a picture of mickelle and me walking through the old and disgusting subway station. it was really difficult to get this picture. that doesn't even look like we're walking.

then we went over to the west village and got some pizza at joe's pizza, it was real good. after eating we walked through washington square park and saw these gross pigeon men.

 

 

then we walked over to the marc jacob's accessory/bookstore, bookmarc, and magnolia bakery to try their famous banana bread pudding. 

we were really excted about our tiny bags

while we were crossing a street we all of a sudden had a great view of the freedom tower.

the MoMA is free after 4pm on fridays so we decided to go there. it was cool and really nice to see it for free but the museum was PACKED. which was a little frustrating and flustering.

i really liked this mouth but i just don't know if modern art is for me.

after the urging of stacy, we decided to take a tour of central park. this was really all she wanted to do the whole trip so we gave in. and it was actually pretty fun and cheap.

 

"banana boom boom!" 

that's what our tour guide said when he took our picture.

 our precious tour guide from tajikistan.

precious times on the subway.

 the sunset from a train stop in queens.

we met eryn for dinner at this vietnamese place in long island city (queens) that was so delicious. seriously.  the pork spring rolls were like heaven.  we were all saying that we should have just had spring rolls for our entrees. not that our entrees were bad, the spring rolls were just mind blowing. if you are ever around there, i highly suggest going to cyclo.

this car was all burned up and was just sitting on the sidewalk/street.  the tape on the doors said "evidence" and it had clearly been there for a long time.

saturday, september 14th
this was the best day. every day was fun but this day was the best day.

our little cuddle buddy.

 the view from the top of eryn's building.

saturday was brooklyn day. first we went to smorgasburg (2nd time for me) and didn't see adam brody, which i am not gonna lie, was disappointing. smorgasburg is in williamsburg and is basically right on the water. it was breezy and freezing by the water, but we powered through (with a good dose of complaining) and stuffed our faces nonetheless.

bein' precious in williamsburg.

eating some doughnuts. in a really attractive way.

after smorgasburg we went to the artists and fleas that was just up the street and away from the cold breeze. i thought it was much cooler than the brooklyn flea, the stuff just seems more unique. it was smaller too. we all got some really cool t-shirts that a guy was selling there and some adorable tiny rings.

we thought this pin was funny.

when we were done in williamsburg, we went down to the brooklyn bridge.

 does anybody else have this hard of a time taking panoramics?

 

 

 

 

 

so apparently the trains don't run as well on saturdays from brooklyn to queens and it took us 2.5 hours to get back to eryn's because the trains kept just stopping and telling us to get off. at one point we had to walk a mile in a super sketchy neighborhood and it was slightly terrifying.

when we finally got to the train we wanted, we got on and were the only people in the subway car, which is always a bad sign. luckily it was running though and we made it back.

when we got back to astoria we decided to get mani-pedis, for only $23 total.

our precious friend rings.

we spent that evening in astoria and ate dinner at an italian restaurant with eryn and her friend lauren. the spaghetti was mediocre but the company was great. then we flew out the next morning.

till next time new york!

(sorry there are 52 pictures in this post)