NYC...

The first time I visited New York City was when I was in high school. My Dad took me on a trip to Washington D.C. and NYC during my spring break. It was a great trip, but we had a limited amount of time in each city so we were a bit rushed to see as much as possible. My absolute favorite part of our trip to NYC was when we visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We only had a few hours to explore the museum, which is no where near enough time to check it out, but the exhibits were phenomenal. Since that trip with my Dad I have been eager to go back and commit an entire day to exploring the MET's exhibits.

The MET opens at 9:30, and so I was sure to be there as soon as it opened so that I could spend as much time as possible in the museum. The MET is by far one of my favorite museums I have ever visited. My favorite exhibit is the Egyptian exhibit, but they are all pretty spectacular. I spent the entire day there, and it was once again one of my favorite things that I did while visiting.

Justin and I walked a lot while I was visiting. In the evenings after dinner we would walk along the outside of Central Park. It was a nice way to end the day and walk off our meal. One evening while on our walk I glanced ahead and saw a raccoon staring directly at us as he was making his way to the trash can. Upon further inspection there was another raccoon with him. We stopped in our tracks and watched as they rifled through the trash for their dinner. A moment later another one came crawling over the wall to join them. And then another! It was pretty cool to watch them. And they were completely aware of us; and not scared at all.

My last day in NYC happened to fall on the 4th of July. Which also happens to be the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. And since the contest takes place at Coney Island, there was absolutely no way that we were going to miss it. It was pretty awesome. There were so many people there to watch. I had happened to watch it the previous year on TV. I couldn't believe how many changes my life had gone through in the past year and that I was actually going to be watching the contest in person this year. Kobayashi was the winner last year. He almost won again this year. Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut tied after the 10 minute race, but Chestnut ended up winning in overtime. It was pretty intense!

As soon as the contest was over we took off. We didn't want to deal with the massive crowd any longer than was necessary. We headed off to O'Brien's Irish Pub for some lunch and some drinks. After lunch we decided to walk around and find a good spot to watch the fireworks display later in the evening. Everyone seemed to have the same idea as us; the streets were filled with people. After finding a suitable place we headed off to McFadden's for some cocktails. Unfortunately, it began to rain. It was looking as though the fireworks weren't going to take place this year. We headed back to our spot to wait it out just in case they were going to go off. Finally, they were able to shoot off a display close to where we were at so we had to hurry and move so we were able to see them. It was a little disappointing, but still a great day nonetheless.


And so that ends my trip to New York City. Thank you Justin for your hospitality. I had such a great time.