hammers in NYC | brightest block in the world

our first day in New York was.. in a sense, kind of crazy! we ran into a New Yorker waiting for our plane to leave, and he told us exactly how to get around, so getting there wasn't hard. i cried when we landed at LaGuardia and there was a sign that said "welcome to NY!" that you could see from the plane, because i was finally there after my whole life of dreaming about going! the subways were super exciting for me, i really just loved everything about being there.

our place was nice, our neighborhood was in between SoHo and Chinatown, and we enjoyed exploring. we got our first slices of "NY Pizza" and ate it at a park across from our apartment. i have to admit it was weird. we saw rats wandering between the bushes, and that's when we realized that this was really New York. we were getting the full "experience" as you would say ;)

we then headed over to Times Square, where, as tourists do, we wandered around the bright block and marveled at the gigantic skyscrapers. we sat on the red steps and people-watched, and got a vanilla cone from the McDonald's (in Times Square!) went into the gigantic Forever 21, and felt pretty dang touristy.

things we learned this day:

+ New Yorkers don't wait for the walk signal, and neither should you
+ get on, get off, and do it quickly (for anything)
+ the Subway system is the neatest thing, super easy to navigate, and the third rail is kind of freaky
+ trains are fast, and nobody looks at each other
+ we were smart to decide to pack for our trip in only our carry-on suitcases
+ watching 30 Rock will never be the same!