NYC part II

Okay. We are finally able to take some time and catch up on our blog a little! This is a brief summary of our second week in NY city...I believe we left off on Sunday, and on Monday we spent nearly 6 hours at the Natural History Museum which was inspiring for lack of a better word. We got to do the planetarium, an awesome frog exhibit (most of which were poisonous frogs from central/south America) and a dinosaur exhibit that had a real T-Rex skull in it! Besides the special exhibits, there were so many amazing displays of natural history that 6 hours actually went by really fast. We stepped outside to enjoy the park for a minute and out of all the people in New York, who should walk by and spot us but Shaheen on her way to work!! After the museum we went to The Tangled Vine again for wine and delicious food! Mmmmm.

We hung around the girls' loft on Tuesday and then met up with Jena at Eatily (where she works) and she gave us a tour of all the products and different areas. It was so fun!! Eatily is such a cool concept, they need one in every big city! Veggies, meats, pastas, cheeses, wines, breads, olive oils - they all had their own section and then there were different areas to eat too (pasta, pizza, sandwiches, wine, everything)!! We tasted olive oil and bought some delicious ingredients, then went back to the loft and made a fabulous dinner (Jena made the main course, we just did a side dish).  It was a great day and a really yummy night!

Wednesday we went for a run to a park that had a track, we ran a few miles and sweat a lot, which felt great considering all we do is eat it seems like! Then we went with Shaheen to a cute '20s themed restaurant/bar that has a great variety of oysters for $1 during happy hour, so we got about 30 between the three of us (clams too)!! Shaheen had to work after the food but Sean and I went back to the loft and got ready for a free Ozomatli concert in Red Hook park. They put on a really, really great show that was two hours long and it didn't rain like everyone said it would!! After the concert we went back to Williamsburg (the girls' neighborhood) and went to an adorable little restaurant called Sal de Mar for dinner and drinks.

Thursday we went to Elyse's in Jersey and her and Pete (her boyfriend) cooked us dinner and showed us around. They were extremely hospitable and we had a blast! On Friday we went to breakfast/brunch with Pete and went to see Elyse's school in Newark for their end-of -the-year party.  The kids were amazing, especially considering their situations, they were smart and funny and really nice and extremely entertaining (they put on music and danced their butts off for at least a half an hour and man were they good)!! After exploring the school a bit we went back to Elyse's and they took us to a great Vietnamese restaurant and a super fun little Irish Pub. We left Jersey at about 10pm (we had a hard time leaving cause it was so fun) and we met up with the girls in Union Square at the W.  We bar hopped the evening away and ended up staying up until 4 or 5 am!! Good Times!

Saturday we slept a lot and then Shaheen, Sean and I went to Governor's Island and met with Mason and Emily. We were there to see a Jazz festival that was all '20s themed, with old cars and everyone dressed in 1920's fashion - it was so cool! We even got to see Olivia Newton John doing a sound check at a beach stage on the other side of the island! We drank some St. Germain cocktails and a lot of beer! That evening we went to a bar that was below our friend Meghan's apartment which was more like a house party than a bar. It was all outside in a big courtyard and there was even a taco truck! We met up with other friends too, Nicki and her boyfriend Joe, Sasha, and Meghan's roommate, it was a really good time.

Sunday was the infamous Gay Pride Parade which was so crazy!! So many people! The floats were fun and the people were even more fun! After the parade the bars were so packed we could barely get in, and once we did we could barely move, unless we were dancing. It was a momentous week and day for New York, and of course for all the gay couples that can now get married!! Yay! After a day of celebration we went back to the loft and watched a marathon of Six Feet Under before bed.

Monday we went to Prospect Park with Shaheen and walked all through it, such a cute park (cute as in scenery, not size). We ate on the back patio of a nice little restaurant and then, once again, Shaheen went to work. Sean and I got ready and went out for a romantic date night.  We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset which was unbelievably gorgeous, then ate at a charming and delicious place called Fadora in either SoHo or West Village (we are still a little confused about some neighborhoods). We walked by the infamous Stonewall Inn, which we learned about during the gay pride parade, and then we headed back to the loft.

Tuesday was our last day, so we went to Central Park again and picnicked with Shaheen, then went to the Tangled Vine one last time and Elyse met us there. It was a grand time, and we laughed the whole time since Elyse is so hilarious, plus we learned a lot about wine from Shaheen (she knows so much it is like taking a class when you drink wine with her)! Elyse, Sean and I eventually went back to the loft and hung out with the girls until about 2 or 3am, cause we were thinking about trying to stay up until we left for our flight at 5am, but we ended up passing out before Shaheen even got home from work! We got up at about 4:30 and said some quiet goodbyes before heading to the airport.

It was a bittersweet bye because we were excited to start the rest of our adventure in central america, but really, really sad to leave our friends and New York because we had such a great time!! Thanks again to all who made it possible, you are amazing and we couldn't have done it without you! Our whole lives we wanted to explore New York City and we are so lucky to have friends and family to help us out and support us in our travels - they are experiences we will never, EVER, forget!!!!!! Oh yeah, and more pictures are on the way, in the meantime check out facebook cause they are all on there!!