Simply Rach: New York City!! (Day 1)

Where do I begin?

NYC must have been one of the best experiences of my life! This had to be one of the craziest decisions I made (read my previous post about how it was during finals week) but as I mentioned, it was worth it. We were offered roundtrip flight tickets for $150 from Southwest since they messed up on Stevey's most recent flight, so he and Emily got all of us together! There were 11 of us, and we all stayed in one tiny Air B&B--with one bathroom. Somehow we all made it work. In order to best tell it out, i will tell the trip day-by day by splitting it up into different posts so it's easier to read.

We left Friday afternoon from Salt Lake City with a layover in Denver, and then arrived at the New Jersey Airport late that night. We traveled to our place with Uber, grabbed some groceries and all settled in, so not much happened.

Day 1
We first headed over to the Staten Island Ferry Station, since the boat ride to pass by the Statue of Liberty was free (and tickets to go directly to the statue were sold out for a while.) It had to be one of the most freezing days of my life. The ice cold wind was overwhelming, and I felt like I was trudging through a pool of ice water all day, but we still managed to have a good time.

Outside our Air B&B in Queens and about to hit the city!

Don't mind me as my hair is all over my face

Did I mention it was windy?

Our group! (except for Tommy who must have been inside.)

After Staten Island we headed to the financial district, where the stock exchange is over on Wall Street. They also had a golden bull that was supposed to bring you good luck if you touched it.

Oh, and I cannot forget the dozens of Santa's we saw walking in groups all around the city.

(Apparently it's a thing for adults to dress up as Santa, drinking all day and wandering around until they pass out.)

After the financial district, we made our way over to the Ground Zero memorial that was outside. It was bewildering to see where the two towers once stood. You could feel how sacred it was, as many lost their lives there. I desperately wanted to go to the museum as well, and I am so glad I was able to a few days later, as it was one of the most life-changing places I have ever been to. I will talk more about that later--and it will probably have its own post.

Where one of the towers once stood, with individual's names engraved on the surrounding platform around the fountain.

After this, we wandered around the streets of New York looking for a good place to eat since we were starving (and freezing). We made it to "the Meatball shop" which claimed to be in Little Italy but was way outside of it and was not Italian food. However, it was still really good! It was small and had a cozy, modern feel to its atmosphere. It felt good to have a warm healthy meal!! I had beef meatballs with a cheesy parmesan sauce on top of vegetable sides.

It felt good to feed my (what people may consider) "different" healthy food cravings.

After the Meatball Shop, we went through China Town, but didn't find too much to do.

After that, about half of us went to our place to nap (while I did my treatment--trust me when I say I was exhausted by this point) while most of the guys checked out 5th Avenue. Next (after I LAYERED more than I have ever done before--I'm talking 3 pairs of pants and more layers), we all met up at Times Square, which was amazing!! The lights hit you left and right as soon as you arrive. I know that people don't like it when tourists stand and gawk at it all for a bit, but we couldn't help it!!

Trust me when I say the pictures do not serve justice!!

That's the church's "Light the World" video playing behind us!

Times Square was amazing!! Now, as you would guess from walking more and being out in the freezing cold, we were once again very hungry. Emily and Stevey found a Groupon for $240 worth of food for only $130--which was good as we all split it up and paid for our own meals--at a sit down Italian restaurant called "Luna Piena". Not all of us wanted to go at first because it was getting late and we didn't want to travel much more, but I am not exaggerating when I say it was THE BEST Italian Restaurant I've ever been to!!! (It made Olive Garden taste like it was stale food from the dollar store, and the other guys got pizza earlier and they sure missed out.) I've never had Italian food that would melt in your mouth with the most delicately rich flavors. We got calamari and a meat platter for appetizers, and then we all sampled each others. I had the BEST fettuccine alfredo I have EVER had!! (again, as good as Olive Garden's is, it made it taste like it would have been stale food from the dollar store, which I never thought would be possible.) We couldn't stop talking about it afterwards. I literally almost cried when my left-overs were gone.