Empire State of Mind

I spent most of yesterday with my mom and aunt in New York City.   Stupid me forgot my camera, thus I have no pictures of the city itself, but I'll post some googled pics instead.  We started off by taking the train from New Jersey to Penn Station right next to Madison Square Garden.  From there we crossed the street to the post office to mail some letters and then hopped in a cab to Central Park.  Interestingly enough, with all the times I've been to New York, I've never been to Central Park.  We explored Strawberry Fields, visited the castle weatherstation, walked around the lake, and then sat down for lunch at the zoo cafe.  We actually managed to wander in the zoo on accident without paying (oops!) and watched the seals in their exhibit. 

The weatherstation in Central Park.  Actually a castle built almost 300 years ago.

Afterward we crossed over to 5th Avenue and perused Tiffany's, Saks, Coach and other places before crossing over to Times Square to meet my cousin in John's Pizzeria. The pizza place was actually built into an old church and still maintains a lot of the original architecure!

Times Square

The ceiling in the pizzeria

Today, we drove out to the Hudson river on the NJ shore and walked the pathway.  Did you know that you can actually stand directly under the bridge.  Although they don't promote you taking pictures.   I got yelled at for taking pics of the underside of the bridge by a security officer.  There were beautiful views of the river and the city which was amazing because the shore we were on was a dense wooded area with beautiful cliffs.

24 hours until take off for Glasgow!   Tomorrow my parents and I will drive over to Philly mid-day and get ready for take off!