New York, New York!

I feel like breaking out in the Frank Sinatra classic, "New York, New York!". Friday we went into New York City. (And yes, that Friday was in fact Black Friday. Talk about hectic... but we'll get to that later ;) ) New York City was amazing. The sights, the sounds, the smells, it was all just... Wow! So cool!

Before we started on our journey to the Big Apple, we planned out where we would go. Damarise made the list, others helped with the directions. And then, we were off!

We took a bus down to the subway. I've never been on a subway before, and it was... great! The sounds down in the subway were probably my favourite part. No, not the loud clanging of metal wheels hitting metal tracks, or the screeching of the subway brakes. No, my favourite sounds were the sounds from musicians. The talent underneath New York City is amazing. On our way into the City a trio came onto our subway playing the guitar and accordion. They sang in beautifully harmonized Spanish. It was lovely! On our way out of the City we walked past a guy playing a saw. Yes, like the tool saw. It was bizarre, but sounded lovely. And right as we were about to get onto our subway we passed by a band complete with drums, guitar, and piano, but the star of the show was a guy playing the saxophone! It was amazing! This guy was so talented! I loved it! I loved all the talent and music that is around the subway.

We enjoyed the ride on the nice clean subway.

So cute. :)

First thing on our "To-See" list was the Apple Store.

Us kids by the Apple Store.

Dad and Mom.

It was, as I said earlier, Black Friday. Because of this the Apple Store was packed! Not just a few people packed, Ohhh no! Picture a can of pineapples. Now picture that hole in the middle of all those pineapples is filled up with more pineapples, so that you see no juice in the can only pineapples. That's what the Apple Store was like... a bunch of pineapples stuck in a can with no juice... or no breathing room. Yet, somehow in that chaotic mess of people, Andrew managed to find an iPod to play with :)

After the Apple Store we headed next door to FAO Schwarz. We met these "toy soldiers" at the door and couldn't resist taking a picture with them. (Yes, maybe we were acting like tourists... Hey, it was fun! :) )

This store was packed too. It was crazy! But we found some breathing space next to these Lego guys! Yes! That guy is built only out of Lego! Crazy!

We also found a Santa Claus... again, only Lego.

Ian and Andrew with a Star Wars character that they love.

The store was decorated with snowflakes. SO pretty!

Some were foam, others were wood, all were beautiful.

We got separated from the rest of the family while in the store. So we huddled down in a semi-uncrowded space to wait for them.

The view from the window. And this is one of the sights that was all too common. Yellow taxis. Here, there, everywhere! No matter what street we were on, a yellow taxi was always in sight.

Just to prove my point once more... another yellow taxi, or two, or three.

Pigeons were another common sight in New York City.

Waiting at a cross walk.

Central Park. After being in the City for even just an hour, I was ready to see some trees and grass. Central Park was beautiful and offered trees, grass, and a view of the City.

Family photo in the park.

Mom and her younger brother, Uncle Dennis.

The beautiful park with the City right outside its borders.

We left the park after a few minutes and headed back into the City. Most buildings were decorated for Christmas, and I think this one was my favourite.

New York City is full of old and new things. This amazing old cathedral is smack dab in the middle of modern tall buildings.

Rockefeller Center. And Andrew showing off his own muscular strength.

We seemed to find all the Lego things everywhere. We came across a Lego store, which was (can you guess?) overflowing with people!

All of the pictures on the walls were made out of Lego! It was incredible!

Need a Lego piece? I'm pretty sure this store had every piece in every size, colour, and shape you could ever imagine!

An amazing Lego replica of part of NYC.

We took a wee little break while waiting for everyone to make it out of the Lego store. I snapped a picture of my feet just to show that I was there. :)

The ice skating rink. Lovely!

More sights of New York City: Radio City.

Cross walks ... they covered New York City.

Craving chocolate? Yum! Hershey's store was amazing on the outside.

And on the inside, wow! The whole store smelled like chocolate. It was great.

We left the Hershey's store and ended up at Time Square, which, in my opinion, is the busiest place ever! I don't think I have ever been in a place with so many flashing lights, advertisements, and people milling about.

The lights, the sounds, the smells, they were overwhelming. Flashing advertisements everywhere, people talking and walking, vendors selling their baked goods–welcome to New York City!

We quickly dashed through the crowds of people and ended up on a little side street. It was right around the corner from Time Square, but the hubbub of people seemed to die down immensely. While on this street we stopped at Little Italy Pizza.

Yum! No pizza beats New York pizza. I don't know what it is, but it is amazing!

My wonderful parents!

All of us packed into the tiny pizzeria eating amazing New York pizza... it was great!

After eating we headed back out into the chaos of the city.

Can you believe how many advertisements are everywhere?!

We went into Toys R Us and were greeted by (can you guess?) a huge mob of people! I thought the Apple Store was bad. Ohh! This store seemed utterly chaotic. People and kids just shoulder to shoulder looking at stuff. It was crazy! We went upstairs and again found some breathing space next to the Legos :)

Sarah, Ian, and Damarise trying to avoid the masses of people.

We left the store and headed back out into the city once more.

I know I've already posted several pictures of all the people in Time Square, but I just can't get over how many people were there!

We cut off once again into a side street and headed for Grand Central Station.

Grand Central Station was beautiful. I love all the marble in it.

After looking around Grand Central Station we headed underground to catch our subway. But first, here is a quick fact about subways that I saw on a building in New York City. It says, "New York City has 722 miles of subways tract." Wow!

We got onto the subway and headed back to Uncle Dennis' house. A little tired and cold, but happy for the chance we got to tour a little bit of the Big Apple. It was definitely a fun afternoon. A big thanks to Uncle Dennis for navigating us around the City, it was a huge help.