[ kristen ]: New York Minute

We went to go kayaking on the Potomac, but the sun was about to go down. This is Jack's Boat Shop.

The stars and stripes on the Potomac.

Left to Right: Me, Paige, Ashley, and Sara.

Sunset on the Potomac.

Over the weekend of October 6th we took a day trip to New York City. It started with our all-nighter on Friday, departing at 2:30 a.m. for the ritzy Chinatown bus that was a tad questionable at such an early hour. The bus finally pulled out from the station, and we drove in the dark for hours. I was in and out of consciousness, but I do remember waking up to hear the loud roar of the bus cease, feel our momentum to decreasing, and hear the bus driver's voice over the microphone: "Folks, our bus has broken down."

And that was all the word we had as we sat there in the dim of dawn....for two hours. I think I finally fell asleep against the cold, frosty window about an hour after our bus stopped. When another bus showed up to pick us up, we transferred buses, but found that there were not enough seats for everyone. Since there were so many of us Barlow-ites and everyone else on the bus didn't really know each other, we sat three people to a seat for the rest of our trip...real cozy-like. Like I said, these buses were Quality, with a capital "Q."

Here's an overview of our day in the Big Apple:

-We got bagels for breakfast and visited Ground Zero, which has changed a ton since I went in 2003. We visited a nearby church that served as something of an emergency room, shelter, and food bank during the aftermath of September 11th. Oh, yeah, and I got to meet up with my friend, Caryn, who I met in Jerusalem. That was so great to see her!

-We walked through Wall Street and saw all the companies whose names have been all over the papers in the past months. Crazy!

-We took a grimy Subway to the tip of Manhattan Island--the Subway really makes you appreciate DC's Metro system. We bought tickets to go out to Ellis Island, but as we got in the queue of thousands of people, we realized we would spend most of our day at this pursuit. So, we did what any other poor college students would do: we scalped our tickets, offering our place in line as an incentive to potential buyers, bough giant hot sausages with sauerkraut and all that good stuff, and called our one-hour wait and our distant view of Lady Liberty good.

-We made our way up to Central Park and meandered through its winding paths and shady trees. It was a gorgeous day, and there were people everywhere--picnicking, riding their bikes, walking their dogs, eating ice cream, strolling hand-in-hand, laughing and talking and relaxing. I loved the general feeling of relaxation and ease that could be felt amidst the skyscrapers and honking horns and madness that is New York City. We chose between getting our faces painted like different jungle animals and riding the carousel, but ultimately decided the carousel was a more practical choice. Besides, it was cheaper.

-We went to the famous Magnolia Bakery. I bought a cookie and some hot apple cider. Other than the bakery being really "cute," none of us was wowed with our purchases.

-We made it to Times Square, where we stayed all of half an hour. I was swimming in people, and couldn't take it.

-We made our way back to Chinatown and Little Italy, where we shopped a bit and ate dinner in a small, intimate Italian restaurant. Our waiter was an old Italian man who took a special liking to Sara, my roomate, whose birthday was the next day. Good fun.

-We walked down to the Brooklyn Bridge, had an ABBA dance party, and headed back early to the bus station.

It feels like we did a lot of walking, sight-seeing, and eating. Other than us getting back at 3 am and being completely slap-happy and ridiculous, it was great fun. Well, I guess that last part of it was all part of the experience :)