New York, New York!

New York City!
We arrived in the middle of New York on Friday afternoon after taking a Greyhound bus 3 hours from Boston. The bus station is connected to a subway station so we were able to start our 30 minute trek across town to the studio we were renting without any problems. Through the wonderful creation known as Craigslist I came in contact with a great guy that rents out his second bedroom to travelers looking for a cheaper, cleaner, friendlier and more personal alternative to the overpriced NYC hotels. We booked our dates and later found out that we would actually have the opportunity to stay in his friend's studio apartment while he was out of town. We got great service, restaurant recommendations, and luxury accommodations for two nights for the price of 1 night at a NYC Motel 6. Can't beat that! (If you're ever planning a trip to the city and want contact info we'd love to share it!)
After we settled in our room, we headed into the city to get some lunch and do some exploring before meeting our friend Keren for dinner. We ended up in China Town and hopped into a busy restaurant (below) after hearing a guy on the street that was walking in say "This is one of my favorite's" to his friend. The food was quite good and the atmosphere was a great introduction to our time in New York.
After lunch we wandered around China town, bought Mel a real Dolce & Gabana purse for only $20 ;), and headed South to check out Ground Zero, Wall Street and the Statue of Liberty.
Ground Zero
The fascinating thing about Ground Zero is that, at this point, there's not a whole lot to see but there's a lot of people there looking at it. It's surrounded by fence and teaming with construction workers working on the new buildings going up in the place of the Twin Towers. There's a small informational center set up where a memorial museum is slated to go but other than that it's pretty much a huge construction site. It was also the quietest place we encountered in the City.

Battery Park
Next we headed down to Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty. Can't you see Her in all Her glory behind us? Yeah, it was totally fogged in. The good thing is that I hear She looks pretty much the same in person as in movies. We also saw this sculpture which used to sit in the World Trade Center and, though damaged, survived 9/11. It's been temporarily relocated to Battery Park while they are rebuilding the WTC site and will be moved again to the memorial museum when it's finished.

We then headed back up town towards Little Italy anticipating meeting Keren there for dinner. We ended up taking her suggestion and going to a her favorite restaurant instead and, WOW, it was amazing. If you're ever in New York, you MUST go to The Corner Shop Cafe.
It is familiar food done unfamiliarly well. I (Mel) think of it often and am still trying to de-construct the gorgonzola-walnut ravioli so I can recreate it at home.

After dinner we headed to the famous Magnolia Bakery for dessert. Again, this is a must visit place if you're in the City. Neither of us are big fans of cake, or cupcakes for that matter, but nothing has melted in your mouth like a cupcake from Magnolia's.


That pretty much wrapped up our first day/night in New York. We wanted to get a good night's rest because we knew we were hitting the pavement hard the next day.