New York, Day 2

Me crossing the Brooklyn Bridge

Okay, here are more tales from my adventure in New York. Last time I posted, I told you about Friday - the day I saw Wicked. So now I'll start with Saturday. Darlene had work off, so we had a good time going all over. We started on Canal Street buying me a knock-off purse. I felt like I was in Tijuana again - all the bartering and junk everywhere. At first it was a little too much for me - how was I supposed to pick my favorite purse and then get a good deal on it? There were SO many purses and I am not good at bargaining. Finally, I narrowed in on one. The barganing began. After some back and forth and me staring the seller down, I got my price! It's all in the eye contact - stare 'em down!

I also bought a handful of plastic I *heart* NYC bracelets for my primary class. They begged me to bring them back something. I guess I'll have to do the same thing for Italy, too.

Little Italy

We headed from Canal Street to Chinatown and Little Italy - where we weren't sure what to do, except keep on wandering around. Little Italy was great - the whole place smelled like garlic and onion. And FYI - I LOVE italian food, so this was like heaven for me.

In Chinatown, we admired all the random vegetables, fish and more at the groceries. On our way back to Broadway, I happened to look in a junky shop that turned out to be nicer than the outside. It was the cutest little boutique with lots of fun summer dresses and skirts for reasonable prices. Darlene and I had fun trying stuff on. I bought a summer dress and my new favorite skirt with ladybugs and lace on it.

My aunt and uncle (Darlene's parents) were flying in that afternoon. So Darlene and I quickly shoppped at a few other places - smelled heavenly chocolate at some bald-man chocolate shop ('bald man' was seriously part of the store's name) - and hurried back to her apartmentDarlene and Marshall

After Marshall and Debbie (my uncle and aunt) settled in a little, we left for dinner. When you go to New York, you MUST do this. It was my favorite part of the trip - besides Wicked. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset. Ate at Grimaldi's pizzeria under the bridge and then walked back to Manhattan under the stars. There was amazing food, beautiful views, and great family time.

Here's the crew, crossing the bridge. (L - Greg, Darlene, Debbie, Marshall).

Me, Darlene, Greg

Me.

The long line outside Grimaldi's - the pizza is worth the wait.

Although, let me also mention this is a LOT of walking. We got back around 11 pm and I was dead tired. My air mattress looked like heaven. Have I told you about how we all squeezed into the apartment? It was a great slumber party - Darlene and Greg's futon was against one wall, Deb and Marshall's air mattress was next to theirs, then I was next to them and the other wall. We filled up the whole room. It's crazy to think that some families do live like that! Luckily, there wasn't much snoring - or if there was, I slept through it.

Okay, there is only one day left and it's not too long. To be continued...