I want to wake up in the city that never sleeps..

So you know the shirts that say "I <3> what's left of my financial situation, after all the bills have been paid, I have $7 to my name until next week. That oughta cover me for about...3 1/2 hours. Yipes! Here's the very detailed break down of the trip...

Sunday:

• 3pm- flights land, collect luggage, time to brave the subways like a true New Yorker!!
• 4:30 pm- Britney has the horrible realization that it was not a good idea to pack 12 pairs of shoes, 24 accessories, an entire beauty supplies store, and enough outfits to clothe a third world country. Lugging my 617lb suitcase between subways during "rush hour" practically got me shanked.
• 6pm- check into the hostel, walk around a bit.

Monday:

• 8:30m- NY Party Bus Tour! Don't let the name deceive you. I did not feel like I was at a party. There were 8 people on the tour (including the guide and the driver). I must admit, I was a little miffed because we didn't get the free sodas and waters that the website had advertised (which was our whole premise for booking this particular tour...well free beverages and also, there were no grammatical errors on the website). And, our guide had a slight (actually, not that slight) speech impediment. He would be talking, then mid sentence (particularly with, but not limited to, his "f"s and "s"s) he would stutter, then change words. Kinda hard to understand if you weren't there, but let me give you an example: "This is where they filmed the hit show 'F..f..f..f..Sex in the City'. Are any of you sa.....a......familiar with this particular show?". Call me rude, but it's just my strong opinion that you should take your strengths and weaknesses into consideration when plotting out your career. If I were blind, no, I would not aspire to be an airplane pilot. Or if it took me 30 minutes to say my "f"s and "s"s, I would not be a tour guide. Other than that though, the tour was great! We saw a ton of stuff and were very f......f..f.......f..f..satisfied!
• 3:00pm- Times Square!! It was like walking into a movie! The whole experience of it was so surreal. I was amazed at how much it looked exactly like, well, Times Square. We shopped a bit at a couple of stores, namely Virgin Records and Sephora (I'm sorry, but I can't turn that store down regardless of my location. It's so inviting!). And, of course, we had to eat lunch at the best pizza joint in NY as according to Michael Scott...Sbarro!




• 4:00pm- Top of the Rock. We went all the way up to the 72nd floor of the Rockefeller Center where you can see the most amazing view of the city! The elevator ride was pretty awesome, as well. The ceiling of the elevator was all lit up and they played television clips on it. Pretty amazing! The view from the observation deck at Rockefeller Center made up for not going to the top of the Empire State Building.
• 5:30pm- 5th Avenue. Yes, we rubbed elbows with New York's finest shoppers, hitting up all the good stores including (but not limited to) the Apple Store, FAO Schwartz, and Berkdorf's.

Tuesday:

• 12:00pm- Today we were smart and slept in. We finally got up and found ourselves at the New York Public Library. I'm not going to lie to you and say that I would study harder if I lived near this Library, but I would definitely pretend. A couple blocks down was Grand Central Station, where, as you may remember, was the location that Gloria, Melman, and Alex found their dear friend Marty during his attempt to escape the Central Park Zoo to flee to the wild! Though we did not see a lion, giraffe, hippo, or zebra, I did see quite a few people that could possibly belong in a zoo...
• The highlight of my day- The Soup Nazi!! Yess!! It's called The Real Soup Man. Pretty bomb soup, and their paninnis weren't half bad, either. I loves it!
• 4:00pm- Britney Conquers Bloomingdale's. Ha, I wish! Funny story: Allyson and I really wanted a "Little Brown Bag" of our own, but there's no way our budget would have allowed us a purchase from this exquisite store. So I have this bright idea...let's buy a small cheapy ornament (meaning $15 because that's prolly the least expensive item in the store...). While looking at ornaments, I picked up this pretty glittery one to show Allyson. Well, when I put it back, I guess it wasn't on the hook all the way because all you could hear was swoosh, GASP!, *crash*, poof! (enter glitter explosion). Ha! I turned myself in and tried to pay for it, but they wouldn't let me. That was pretty much our cue to leave, but not before I purchased a couple other ornaments for my stupid bag! I'm pretty much black-listed.
• 7:00pm- Broadway! All those crazy strikes could not stop us from having a good time or from seeing a play! It was a lesser known play, one of the 8 that were still playing, but it was hilarious!! The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I strongly recommend this one! And for the record, I am pro-writers and stagehands, just in favor of a prompt resolution, as in any time before I go to NY with tickets to see The Colbert Report, Late Night with Conan, and The Little Mermaid. But as I said, Amazing!

Wednesday:

• 6:30am- The Today Show. Oh how I love Meredith, Matt, Al, and Anne! We did the tourist thing to do and made a poster. It read "Allyson and Britney are very happy that the Today Show is not on strike!!". Pretty accurate, I thought. We shook hands with Matt, got to see Celine Dion up close and personal and I also was able to catch glimpses of the back of Martha Stewart's head. What a morning!
• 10:00am- We took a tour of the NBC Studios, where we were able to sit in Conan's studio, see the SNL studio, and also where I realized that I want to work for NBC. I just love NBC!
• We walked around a bit afterwards, went to see the Manhattan Temple, got to go to the American Museum of Natural History, and attempted to walk through Central Park some more, but it was dark and I felt like I was at the murder scene of an episode of SVU, which is not a good one, because no one had been murdered...yet. So we got the hecks out of there.
• 8:00pm- We went to Comedy Strip Live! which is a club that has jump started many careers including Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Andy Sandberg, and a ton more. It was funny. A little crude at times, but a fun evening nonetheless. We took a cab back to the hostel. We're barely alive.
  

Thursday:

• 8:30am- Statue of Liberty. We spent all morning doing our hair and make up because it was our last day in the city, and hurried off to see Lady Liberty herself. We had been hauling our coats all week and the weather was great so we decided to leave them this time, along with our umbrellas since there was still no sign of rain. Well, when we got off of the subway, it was pouring rain. We had 15 minutes to get to the Ferry all the way on the other side of Battery Park, so what could we do but walk it out. And walk it out we did. By the time we got to the ferry, I had mascara running all down my face, my hair was a wet stringy mess, and I was drenched from head to toe. There wasn't a dry spot on my body. I looked like the love child of Medusa and the Loch Ness Monster! It was hysterical! The Statue was amazing, though. I was kinda bummed that we couldn't go to the torch because of security, until I climbed the 157 steps to the observation deck. I was pretty content after that. In fact, I would even say grateful, haha.
• 2:00pm- We just walked around the city a bit more. Shopped a bit, looked a lot, walked past Maggie Gyllenhaal in SoHo, you know, the usual.
  

Friday morning we missed our flights, but everything worked out just fine. I got back in time for dinner with the Munns and all was well. I absolutely love that city. I spent a lot of money on that trip, but it was worth every penny! There's so much to see and do. I'd be satisfied with doing absolutely nothing, even! I just love New York. I hope you can make it there someday, too. I'll let you stay with me under my bridge where I'll be living. :)