Over 50 million people visit New York City’s five boroughs each year and we swear they were all in town for our three days in the “Big Apple”. Since Jason and Indi put the new in New York, our itinerary consisted of a happy balance of touring, face stuffing, and literary pursuits.

We saved a lot of money by staying outside of the city in a KOA campground and parked and rode the train two of the three days into Central Station, just like real New Yorkers. It was a fun experience, but not one we would want to do every day.

The only day we drove was to catch a New York Yankees baseball game, we parked in Brooklyn and hit Sleepy Hollow on the way home. “What could be more American than the Yankees?” we asked ourselves, sitting at the only table in Mei Ya Kitchen, deep in the Bronx, eating a pregame meal of Kung Pao chicken and egg rolls. While we finished our lunch during the top of the first inning, the Yankees jumped to an impressive 7-0 deficit. By the time we sat down however the sun had come out and we found the fans in the bleacher section “happy” despite the home town team being in such a large hole. It was just not meant to be for the Yankees on this day as Tampa Bay held on for a 9-2 victory.

 

As Indi’s ‘Merican tour guides, we knew we had to get a closer look at the lady in green and, the cheapskates we are, decided to take the Staten Island ferry for a glimpse. It wasn’t the closest encounter but, hey, it was freeeee! An important consideration when you haven’t had a paycheck in nearly a year.

 

Since we are all fans (Jason denies this vehemently) of Project Runway, we knew we needed to meet Swatch the dog and to see, first-hand, where the drama transpires each episode as the designers create their material masterpieces.

 

For an off-broadway show, and after hearing rave reviews, we decided on NEWSical the Musical. The Windusts gave it 4 out of 10 stars. The actors were talented and it was funny–at times– but, we can’t say we’d recommend it to friends.

On our grand tour of the Big Apple we sampled as many deli’s as possible in Hell’s Kitchen & then tried to walk off some of the calories along the High Line, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and a jont through central park

 

And when all that walking around got to be too tiring, there was always the NY Public library to explore and book stores to raid.

We left New York feeling like we had seen so much, yet at the same time hardly scratched the surface of this great American city.