NEW YORK - DAY THREE

Well, apparently I was so involved in my blogging last night that I didn't hear my husband tell me that we were starting early today.  I didn't get to bed until after midnight and was looking forward to sleeping in.  Nope, didn't happen!  The alarm woke me at six this morning. When I complained, Richard didn't care too much and made it completely impossible for me to go  back to sleep.  We left the hotel just after 8:00 this morning and stopped for some Hot Chololate and donuts at Dean & Deluca.  I love Dean & Deluca!  I've been dying to go there ever since Nick Heller bought those cookies in Vanished by Joseph Finder.  When I found out that we could find a Dean & Deluca in every major location we were planning to visit in New York City, I was totally beside myself.  I dreamt of Nick Heller once.  There was no conversation and I was in the wrong coffee place, but still, it was a great dream.  I'm hoping now that I've actually been in a Dean & Deluca that I can dream of Nick Heller again.  Only next time, I'd like a little conversation.

After breakfast we headed to Rockefeller Plaza and wandered around taking pictures.  The wind picked up and I was dying to buy a hat, but I didn't. A decision I regretted all afternoon while I was walking the streets of New York with winds gusts that froze my ears off.  I found one that I really, really like and I'm hoping to purchase it tomorrow.  We took a walk through Saint Patrick's Cathedral and admired the beautiful artwork in the stained glass windows.  The statues of the Saints were so beautiful and the organ was magnificent. 

Later we ended up in the Diamond District by accident.  Does anyone really walk there intentionally and if so do they really drop the kind of cash that is required to walk away with an item there?  Holy Crap!  It was so difficult not to look.  We were strolling around and then out of nowhere I noticed this beautiful pendant hanging in the window. It was so beautiful and shiny and sparkly and perfect!  I made the mistake of stopping to point it out to Richard, which led to a store employee inviting me in to try it on.  Honestly, I figured at the most the thing had to be worth fifteen grand.  NOT!  For $776,034.00 I could own a really cute heart shaped pendant that I would never wear for fear of losing it.  When we told him we weren't interested, he actually wanted to know what price range we were looking at.  He was CRAZY!  They are all CRAZY in  the Diamond District.  I still had a great time snapping shots of the windows.

We walked back to Time Square and  had lunch at Junior's.  I had so many people Facebook me this week to tell me about it that I made sure to add it to my list of places to go.  Stopping proved to be a mistake.  My muscles became so stiff that I could barely move when we got up to leave.  We stopped at the Yankee store and bought us some Yankee stuff just because we could, and because it would have been senseless to not do so.  A hundred bucks later...we were on our way to the hotel to rest for a few minutes.

We wandered through a section of Central Park and took some photos. It's a beautiful place and there is so much to look at there.  Richard and I decided that we definitely want to come back to New York.  This is the most amazing city I've ever been to in my  life.  The sounds, the smells, the food, the people.  I love all of it so much already.  I'm truly going to miss this place when I leave. Later we went to the Empire State Building and took the elevator to the 86th Floor where we looked at the view and froze in the wind.  Then we road the elevator up to the 102nd and looked at the view again.  I fell in love with the elevator control operator.  He was the cutest man I've ever laid eyes on.  He even posed for a picture with me.  After stopping to pick up some NYC Fried Chicken we headed back to our hotel.  That's where we are now, watching The Blind Side on television while I sit in bed typing this blog post and resting my extremely sore ankles.

I'm hoping to be able turn the lights out early tonight so I can be well rested in the morning,  Tomorrow is our last full day in this beautiful city and we still have two museums to hit and a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.  The Brooklyn Bridge has an amazing story behind it.  You can read about in The Great Bridge by David McCullough.  The first part of the book actually brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion.  Dang it, does crying turn into a normal occurrence when you turn 40?  If so, I wasn't warned and I'm having a hard time adjusting to it.  Well, this chick is out of here...I'm headed to the tub to soak my weary bones and prep for a good nights rest! Now, if I can just keep Richard from turning on that alarm clock...