Grand Central Station
So after seeing the not so impressive Shea Stadium we headed back downtown on the 7 train... I asked brandon if he'd ever been to Grand Central Station (which was a stupid question because he's only been to NYC twice--- last year with me and the other time was for new years and he and a friend hopped into a car... drove the 7 hours... parked a car... saw the ball drop... walk back to their car and drive away for a total of an 18 hour trip)... so the answer was no but he's always wanted to catch a glimps of it. So we hopped off the 7 train and made our way to the main concourse of GCS (or how it used to be know is Grand Central Terminal--- GCT).
It's interesting... I'm a go with the flow type of person... I take life as it comes and since I've been here oodles of times I was just following Brandon around like a lost puppy dog.
Brandon and I in Grand Central Station
.. doing some touristy things. He wanted to see everything... the empire state building, ellis island... some of them I said no to.
But we meandered around the terminal and I headed off to go to the Metro Gift Shop... right next to the Metro Museum. Brandon saw me walk away and chased after me.... confused as why I was going to a gift shop. Well, I had these socks I got a while ago and wanted to replace them... they're of the subway map... and as I'm on my trip I was picking up little things for my employees to pick from and I thought I might find something there--- and score; I did... a metro map lip balm... I put it in my bag!
Next up is going up to Central Park... see earlier this morning we went to see the Ghost Buster fire station.
Central Park
.. next up Brandon wants to try and find Dan
a Barrett's apartment (who was played by Sigourney Weaver). He didn't have an address so we couldn't hopstop it at hopstop.com but all he knew was in the movie they said she lived at Central Park West. I told him that just because they said that in a movie that doesn't mean it's factual! They film stuff in one city and it's not really there... like when I went to see Punxsutawney Phil for groundhogs day... it was nothing like the movie with Bill Murray! I ended up guiding him away by telling him we can check on the internet and come back tomorrow and I told him that I know where FAO Schwartz (where the movie Big took place in) was and he followed me like a kid getting ready to get a present!
We walked across Central Park and it is very Beautiful.
Central Park
.. despite the trees not having leaves on it... but it did make it more beautiful because you could see the buildings behind the lovely landscaping and the ponds were all frozen. On the way to the toy store we got another movie photo op... the Plaza hotel from Home Alone--- Aaaauuugh! (as I slap my hands to my face).
FAO schwartz isn't too impressive... I was there once... it's pretty cool how everything is merchandised... but beyond that it's a toy store with big lego statues...
After FAO Schwartz I told him it was my time to do something... Serendipity 3... time for some frozen hot chocolate--- which is another movie place... it was featured in the movie Serendipity with John Cusak and Kate Beckinsale. I have wanted to go here the past 7 times I've been here.
Central Park
.. and either I'm by myself (my friend in NYC refuses to go there) or the one time I went there --- even by myself--- the line was an hour and 20 minutes. I told Brandon that this would be my last time to get my wish fulfilled... so he obliged and we headed towards Bloomingdales... because I remember it was tiny and near it. Which didn't help at all. Brandon was getting cranky because he was hungry and I was cranky because I was tired. On our way there we saw a Subway... we stopped in and he got a footlong sub... he was impressed that I didn't eat but the burger from Rare and all the french fries still filled me up --- I eat a lot less than him and I can see why men lose weight when they marry and women gain it... it's crazy if I were to keep up with him.
The Plaza Hotel
.. so I just ate every other meal he did.
Well, we walked out of Subway and we went around the block and there was Serendipity! We walked in and there was a 5 minute wait and got seated in the corner! We look at a menu and he was like... ummm... why didn't you tell me it had food... I would've waited. I told him I didn't know it did... I just knew it had frozen hot chocolate and anyways I figured if it did have food it would've been really expensive... which is was a little expensive. While we waited he asked me if I thought I might be hyping up the experiences (sort of like he did with not going into Shea stadium earlier that day). I told him yes but it's still worth the experience... atleast I'll leave knowing if it's bad rather than wondering if it was good when I'm half way across the U.
The Plaza Hotel
S. But he thought the frozen hot chocolate would be nasty (I wrote a blog but it's under New York City---I only put this under Manhattan so I could split up my day and if they were both NYC then they'd mush together and I didn't want that... so go check out NYC on the 21st for my review). So Brandon just got chocolate cake and I got some corn soup and the frozen hot chocolate. Well, let's just say Brandon kept stealing gulp fulls of my dessert when I wasn't looking... he really liked it and didn't finish his cake because it wasn't up to par!
It was getting late and we both thought about going back to Ronnies... but we decided on the way down to stop off at Time Square to get some cheap souvenirs... I was going to go to the shirt guy I usually go to.
Brandon infront of FAO Schwarts for some toy time fun with the piano from BIG
.. you can get 6 T-shirts for $10 and I had to get them for my employees... the one wanted a I <3 NYC shirt so I figured I'd just get them for everyone. So remember... don't pay $15 bucks for them... hecks don't even pay $7 bucks for them... head down times square and you can get I<3 NYC shirts 4 for $10 and designed NYC shirts 6 for $10... so I got 10 shirts for $20 not too shabby!
Finally home for the night!
