Tuesday, November 4, 2014

NYC Marathon - Day 1

We have been on a countdown to this trip since March.  As much as I would have loved to share our excitement, we didn't want to risk any kind of hi-jinx and kept the whole thing rather private.


Louis and I arrived on a gorgeous NY afternoon where Louis promptly took his first ride in a taxi.

We had big plans for the day and got started pretty quickly.

We checked into our beautiful brownstone in Harlem and jumped on the subway (another first for Louis) and headed to the financial district for some sightseeing.

the view of our pretty street

Our first stop was the World Trade Center memorial.  

 This day was just brilliant!

photo credit:  Louis Else

We chose not to see the museum as I thought it might be a bit much for Louis.  Even so, Louis was pretty awestruck at the events that took place where we stood.  

Louis' slice of NYC

Then we were off to the Staten Island Ferry to go see the Statue of Liberty!  If you ever travel to the city, this is a great way to see Lady Liberty without having to spend the whole day, or a lot of money on a tour.  The FREE ferry takes you right by it and provides some amazing views of the city. 

a lovely lady

Brooklyn Bridge from the SIF
 
We disembarked on Staten Island and headed back into the city towards midtown.  The Jacob Javitts Center was our next stop to pick up my race number and take a peek at the rest of the expo.


At this point I felt as though I had my own personal paparazzi...Louis (a photographer in the making it seems) took some great pictures for me at the expo.  We saw a lot of cool stuff, but I managed to leave after only purchasing a headband.


Picking up my number was super easy on Thursday, considering I'd heard what the lines were like on Friday.  It took about 5 hot minutes to get my number and my shirt (which I am never taking off).  

The expo itself got a bit crowded the later we stayed.  It seemed like it was in a different part of the building than other years, with the sponsors merchandise swallowing up a good 2/3 of the space, the rest of the vendors seemed to be crammed in what was remaining.  

After a long day of sightseeing we were pretty starving so we set off for Serendipity 3 - the place with the *amazing* frozen hot chocolate.  Luckily, I called ahead and made a reservation.  The first time I went there, it was a 2.5 hour wait for a table, with little room to stand inside.  Their food is kind of meh, but the dessert is what we came for.  


This dessert was pretty short lived.  It was *so* good!

By this time, we were both tired and cold.  It was time to head *home* to meet Ryan, who came in on a later flight.


Day 1 of Louis' trip (because, let's get real here....he was the main reason I chose to try to get into this particular race this year - he's been begging to go for over a year) was a complete success.  I could see the joy in his eyes as he experienced all of these "firsts".  

Louis for the *win*!!

Stayed tuned for the rest of the story!

1 comment:

  1. I LOVE these photos! The one of Louis and the pizza slice is hilarious! You guys look like you had SO much fun! Can't wait to see the rest of the story!
    So the headband you bought, hopefully wasn't the one that blew away!

    ReplyDelete