This entry is going to be long, so deal. I’m going to start from the first day of my trip and work chronologically. March 31-Thursday: Wednesday night I tried to get as much sleep as possible. I knew it would be hard because I kept waking up knowing I was leaving for NYC in just a couple of hours At 4:45 am I woke up, finished packing my stuff and left with my family for the airport to catch a 6:45 am flight (It took 30 minutes to get to the airport) Our flight barely was an hour and half. The first thing I saw flying into NYC was the statue of liberty and all the skyscrapers. It was so beautiful. We arrived in the LaGuardia airport around 8:30 and we got our luggage and headed to the taxi stand outside. Riding the taxi to the Marriott in Times Square was an adventure. We rode through Harlem, Spanish Harlem, and finally got to Times Square. It was an amazing view. Oh yeh, our taxi rider drove us through Central Park. In one corner, there was still some snow shoved into a corner! There were horse carriages and so many people out walking and running with their dogs. It was a really pretty day! The 1st thing I wanted to do in NY wad find MTV studios. It took me a while to find it even though it was right next to our hotel. We checked our bags into the Marriott and started wandering around Times Square. (My family was with me during all this) I took a picture of the Hairspray/Phantom of the Opera/Wicked sign. I made sure to get Wicked in there because I knew how much Lori loved the music from that even though she probably already has a picture of it. Oh well, my benefit! Right across from the Marriott was the Virgin Records store. I wanted to go in there because many celebrities had been in there. It was 3 stories and awesome. The first thing I said when I walked in there was “Ashlee Simpson was here!” I didn’t get anything from there though. Boo. We stopped to eat lunch at the ESPN zone. Since every building has to be built up rather than wide, this restaurant was a couple of stories as well! Did I mention that food is very high priced here? Well, they are. There were tv’s everywhere! Each stall had a mini tv in the bathroom. That was cool too. After lunch, we heard the wax museum was cool, so we went there. Thousands of kids were there in big groups…I assume with their school. I got my picture taken with George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Julie Roberts, Nsync, and Spice Girls. They weren’t the real thing, but very similar. Only they don’t talk. Those are the closest I’ll ever get to a real thing anyways. It was cool though! After the museum, it was around 3, and since we had been up since 4:30, we decided to walk back to our hotel before we had to walk to Madison Square Gardens. We left for Madison Square Gardens around 5:30. It was a 15-block walk so we have to get started early. We went to the NIT finals, which was fun. I couldn’t really see even though we were in the 8th row because we were down on the floor and the people on our side stood the whole time. With only 7 seconds left, we scored a 3 pointer and one by 3! We out cheered the St. Joseph’s fans even though there was only about ¼ USC fans. The other 3/4 s of the people were St. Joes. We headed back to our hotel and went to sleep. Friday was our busiest day of all! I think we ended up walked about 5-10 miles today. We got up early and I went on my subway adventure. There were a bunch of people on the subways that morning because everyone had to get to work. It was just like I saw on tv. We were all crowded until the first stop where everyone got off to work. I still remember the subway we rode to South Ferry Island. The 9 Train. Going to Ellis Island was our destination. It was sort of drizzling as we walked through the park to get our tickets for the Statue of Liberty. People were selling a bunch of knock off Louis Vutton purses and Kate Spade’s. I was going to get one but I ended up waiting because I though maybe I would find something somewhere else. The people selling the purses were like “How much for the purse?” “How much you got” They were badgering me to buy a purse and I don’t like that! Since there was such a long line for tickets to Ellis Island, we bought our ferry tickets and were just going to get up early the next morning to go on it then. We decided to walk over to the World Trade Center Memorial because it was pretty close. It was such a somber moment. It was hard to visualize what the two towers really much have looked like. I never got to see them in person, but I had seen them in pictures and what not. Of course on Sept. 11th too. They had to be an enormous size. My eyes watered reading all about them and stuff. Damn Terrorists. After the World Trade Centers, we took the subway/ This was Train R. We got off in China Town. It was very different than what I expected. I thought it would be all nice and big. It was kind of trashy and small. Oh well. I got a hoodie that said “NYPD blah blah” We were going to go to Little Italy, but it was getting late. We knew the Plaza hotel was close to where we were, and my mom really wanted to see it. This was the hotel where Home Alone was made. We walked in and took a picture. On the side of the building, people were crowding around like a celebrity was coming out. I was hoping it would be Jessica Simpson or Nick Lachey. It turned out being Dick Chaney. Boo. FAO Schwartz was our next stop. They were a block apart. I was disappointed. Toys R Us was way better. Oops, I meant to say that the Toys R Us has a ferris wheel in it! My brother and I rode in the Cabbage Patch Kid Car. It was an actual sized ferris wheel too! It was awesome. After we left FAO, we walked to the Trump Towers. Guess who walked out of the Towers right before we walked in? Donald Trump himself! I had seen Radio City Music Hall as we walked to the Plaza Hotel and I pleaded with my parents to let me go see it. This is where they have the VMA’s each year on MTV and I had to go see it. I got pictures and then we saw Rockefeller Center. I really wanted to go ice-skating, but we couldn’t. I got to go inside NBC Studios, which was cool. I wanted to see Regis and Kelly, but they didn’t tape there. I didn’t even get to see where they taped! L We had to walk about 15 more blocks to get back home. My dad insisted we walked. Oh well, I needed the exercise. We were all very tired and we headed back to the hotel. We were there for about 30 minutes and then…. My dad went outside with me to MTV studios to see TRL! The cameras were aimed at the area was in so me and the other people down there with me waved as well! Don’t worry, my dad wasn’t the only dad there. I wasn’t sure who was on the show that day. I don’t think they even had a guest because it was High School Week. It was awesome. Then the time came. My mom and I got ready to go see the Broadway play, Hairspray. I had waited to see it so long and I was excited. It started off with “Good Morning Baltimore.” I kind of sang it to myself while everyone watched. I LOVED it. I hated it when it was over. Sure, my knee hurt really badly from being bent and cramped, but I was loving Hairspray. I wanted to get up on stage and start dancing and singing with them. Too bad it didn’t happen. After the play, my mom and I hailed a taxi. It was my first time doing this and once my mom put her hand down because she said it was no use, I got one! I was so proud. They took us back to the hotel and I went to sleep. The next morning we left the hotel at 7 to try to be the first in line for the ferry to Ellis Island. We didn’t even make it down the street to the Subway because it started pouring rain and it was only 40 degrees. We decided to go eat breakfast and go back to the hotel. I went and slept for about a hour and then we left our hotel to go to Macy’s. Macy’s was awesome. I loved seeing Herald Square because that’s where they have the performers at the Thanksgiving Day parade. Totally cool. Their Macy’s is 8 stories! NO joke! We left Macy’s and went to this hole in the wall pizza place for the lunch. One piece of pizza was longer than my plate! I got cheese and it was SO good. I loved it. We decided to go to the Empire State building because we wanted to go inside it. It wasn’t crowded at all! WE did this sky ride thing that took you on a Virtual Helicopter tour to sight see in NYC. It was cool. Next, we rode to the 80 something floor to look out the windows of the Empire State building. Wind gusts were 40 mph so we couldn’t go outside to see NYC. The wind was scary! You could see the rain blowing up against the window and you could hear the wind. Since it was foggy, there was nothing to see. After seeing the Empire State building, it was pouring down rain. Since I had gotten a cute NY umbrella from Macy’s, I used it and I felt cute! We took a taxi home because it was raining so hard. That night, we got ready to see Phantom of the Opera. I knew it wasn’t going to be as good as Hairspray because I like lively and upbeat shows. It was still good though because I would have given anything to be up there and dance. We came back and went walking in Times Square at night. It looked so beautiful. I knew it would be the last time I saw Times Square lit up at night. My eyes watered. The next morning, I didn’t want to get out of bed. I knew the time had come. Our flight left at 9:30, but we got there really early to get checked in and eat breakfast just in case it was crowded. Once our plane took off, I tried to look outside the plane window for as long as possible to see NY before clouds covered the sky. Then, I slept the rest of the way home. I was tired from the lack of sleep that I got. Now I know that I want to go back to NY. I don’t want to live there, I just want to be in Times Square looking up at everything. I miss NY and I LOVE New York!