New York City makes Washington DC look like the boondocks. As we stepped off the bus when we arrived, I was just amazed by the hordes of people and the tall buildings everywhere! Nut stands, hot dog and gyro carts everywhere. Going in, I thought if I could navigate the MARTA, Metro, and BART, there should be no reason why I can’t navigate the Subway.

I can not navigate the NY city subway. It’s wild. Multiple tunnels, lines, and levels. If not for our wonderful NY resident hostess, we would’ve been lost. But thankfully, she knew where we were going and we went everywhere!! Hudson River, Chelsea Piers, West Village, Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Little Italy, Empire State Building, 30 Rockefeller Plaza all in the course of 1.5 days. Wow. When we arrived back and stepped off the bus in DC, it was so quiet and calm. What a difference, NYC and DC.

Friday, right off the bus, when we flagged down a taxi, this black Cadillac type car picked us up. We figured something was amiss when we didn’t see a meter, and everyone knows NYC cabs have meters. Well, he charged us $15 for what should’ve been $7 but I’m grateful we didn’t get kidnapped! After arriving and dropping off our luggage, we had dinner at Puttanesca, an Italian restaurant not far from where we were staying with our hostess. We shared dishes of monk fish, gnocchi, and goat cheese ravioli. So tasty. But the most memorable was the panna cotta dessert. I will return and I will get the panna cotta! It was light, cool, creamy, not too sweet, melt in your mouth.

Saturday. Food. Gluttonous amounts of it.

1. The Grey Dog’s Coffee. They have great (huge!!) sandwiches and breakfast items. We made a rookie mistake trying to eat the whole thing. We should have shared our entrees. It was a lot of delicious food and I couldn’t stop myself from finishing it all myself!
2. Bubble Tea at Chinatown. We all know how filling bubble tea can be. Ooof!
3. Banh Mi Saigon Bakery for banh mi. We shared this time, but I think I wound up eating almost a whole thing myself because I guess I was the only sardine fan. What!? They’re good!
4. Mamoun’s Falafels. Their falafel sandwiches might have been my favorite out of this entire trip. So flavorful. I will be back for this one!
5. John’s Pizzeria. Three of us shared a medium sized cheese pizza. I was already too full but managed to eat a slice. Fresh tomatoey sauce, thin crispy crust. Don’t try to soak up the grease with your napkin. It will pick up all the good cheese. Just enjoy! I will be back for more NY pizza but I do want to try others. Not that John’s wasn’t wonderful, I mean as full as I was, I still thoroughly enjoyed it, but there are so many choices, I figure I needn’t have the same one twice.

During the day, we went to two farmer’s markets and then Chinatown. I wanted to experience shopping the knockoffs and bargaining. And I did. Only I came home with 2 non-functioning janky watches. Ah street peddlers, it’s part of the experience though. We also walked by Little Italy. Then to the Empire State Building. Even at 10:30 in the evening, the lines were still a little over 30 minutes.

The views at night were spectacular though. You could see the city all lit up. In between, we took a break and played 5 hours of Fat Princess on the PS3. The object is like capture the flag. You have to keep the opponent’s princess in prison while rescuing your own princess. Meanwhile, you want to feed your prisoner so she gets fat and hard to carry. After you rescue yours you can also feed her so she’s harder to kidnap. “I’m hungry” she says during the whole game. It has cute graphics and yet it’s bloody.

Sunday we woke up and watched VH1′s Tough Love Couples. The drama is Jerry Springer-esque. I have it on my DVR queue now! After packing up, we walked out to eat on 9th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen. We were expecting to just have a normal brunch but lo! There was a huge street fair.

I felt like I had won the vacation lottery!! So we shopped jewelry and ate along the way. It was the perfect combination of food and shopping. We shared pupusas with slaw, tamales, crepes, gyros, arepas, emanadas and the girls got the rings and necklaces. I know they’re tchotchkes but that’s the charm of them. I didn’t want to leave, but we had to catch a bus back and before that, I wanted to check out 30 Rock! We got a nice little tour of the NBC office building and checked out the Saturday Night Live set.

Tina Fey used this restroom!
For our trip back we grabbed a final lunch, reuben sandwich. I wanted a street vendor hot dog sorta, but I was afraid of being trapped on a bus and eating questionable foods. Maybe next time. There will definitely be a next time and another and another.

Visiting New York City was like taking a 5 hour bus ride to another country. I pictured myself having to live there and how my life would change. I’d have to walk up 5 flights of steps daily. If I forgot something, I would think long and hard about whether I really needed it. Laundry? Suddenly, handwashing doesn’t seem like such a hard task compared to lugging it to and from a store to have it done. Closet space is such a premium, I’d have to quickly learn how to shop judiciously and toss frequently. Grocery shopping would be different. Cooking in a limited spaced kitchen would require some creativity and resourcefulness. My herb garden would probably not exist. I now have a different appreciation for the slower paced life in Washington. It’s much more relaxed and spacious here. And this trip really made me see how little we really need. Maybe I do have enough shoes. And I won’t complain about not having enough closet space anymore. It’s all so spacious!