Happy New Year!

Since I didn't have to be at work until 10am, we got to sleep in and April accompanied me to the subway stop at work...then went on to the Natural History Museum, where she spent most of the rest of the day. After I got off work, we headed 2 blocks over to the Empire State Building. I'm very glad to have gone to the top (AAAANNNNDDDD, we walked up the last 6 flights!)---although quite honestly I'm not quite sure that it was worth $19.00 (and that's without any bells, whistles, headphones, maps, or photographs). Here's why I question the $19: first of all, EVERY level/floor where they stopped you was yet another place to get you to try and "upgrade" your experience. For an additional $5, you get this, for an extra $10 you get that. Let's wind you through lines, lines, and more lines...now let's take a souvenir picture, it's only $25....it was crazy. Aside from the wind--and all the annoying tourists...ha!--the top was great. It was dark by the time we got there and there were some breathtaking views of the city. I tried pointing out a few bridges to April, but "they all looked alike" when I would reference them later.

We finally make our way down, checked out our photo--nope, not worth $25, sorry--and back down to ground level. By then (we also walked down the same 6 flights of stairs) our tummies were rumbling and so we headed down to Little Italy.

After strolling down Mulberry toward Canal and passing pizza and pasta places left and right, we decided on Giovanna's. It was quaint and cozy--the food was good, not too insanely overpriced. I had a great carafe of house wine that was only $13 and quite yummy, especially given the price! We got to indulge in the tiramisu, as the waiter forgot April's asparagus and didn't ask if I wanted pasta with my meal (YES!) and brought me potatoes instead. We pretty much rolled out of there completely stuffed (at least I did!). We got a chance to work it off while RUNNING to catch the ferry (what? we had 3 minutes before the ferry left and if we missed it we'd have to wait an hour for the next one!).

It was a good way to start the new year.

:) SHEZ