Re-charging the batteries in NYC

Hi everyone. Sorry I've been away for a while. In New York City sans kids!!! I met up with hubby in San Francisco and we then went to the eastside. I can't tell you how jet-lagged I was by the end of this trip. Anyway, two more aeroplanes (and a half hour midnight delay in Chicago) later, we finally made it to New York. I'm liking all the new automated ticketing kiosks they are using these days though. I was a bit anxious about LAX but it wasn't as bad this time around. Plus, I was messaging hubby as to where I should be going. My luggage went straight through to NYC so I didn't need to pick it up and walked all the way out to Terminal 7. But I'll leave that drama for another time.

I can't remember much about Saturday (the day we landed) but I can tell you that Sunday morning we headed to church at St Patricks Cathedral. It's only a 7min or so walk from our hotel. New York is pretty easy to get around by foot. So wear comfy shoes. The Cathedral was spectacular. There were security personnel inside so it was very different to attending mass at home. Nevertheless there was a lot to see and the Bishop joined us at the end. There was a mass for the Polish community and a few of their dignitries and youth groups who attended. There were big screens all around so you couldn't miss what was happening on the altar. We loved it.

We took the subway down to the Twin Tower pools. They are in the place of where the Twin Towers use to be and the names of the fallen are engraved all around the pools. It was very sad and I felt so sad looking at the names and the names of Fire Brigades and Police departments who lost their lives in this terrible act of terror.

This was the other pool not far from the North Pool. Needless to say the South Pool is identical if not for the names engraved here. The water flows right into the middle and there's lots of tourists around. There was a memorial but I felt too sad to go inside. I would have just cried looking at it all.

This is m inside the Westfield that they built in the same area. It's right outside the subway entrance. You can get lost trying to find which exit to take to the pools or to see the World Tower which is taller than the Twin Tower buildings. The shops are expensive here so we didn't shop. The architecture was amazing though and very impressive. It was kind of like stepping into a space ship.

On our last day we squeezed in Central Park. I would have liked to do the carriage ride but it doesn't open until 10am. I was really disappointed because we had to check out of the hotel by 11am and we had to leave to get our flight back to LAX. We should have done it the day before when we were at Barney's (big mistake, just go to Macy's instead). Anyway it was cold like most of the days spent in NYC and here I am at some fountain.

This was taken from Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Centre). We didn't realise there are three levels. Everyone is crammed into the first observation deck but we saw people above us and kept finding stairs to the top two levels where it was less crowded. It was sprinkling on us at first but it stopped and we enjoyed the views although not particularly clear.

This was Times Square. It's normally packed with tourists and guys selling tickets for the buses. We didn't feel the need to get on the tourist buses. We just walked everywhere or took the subway. All in all we enjoyed our week there. I wish we could have stayed longer but the kids were home with limited sitters so we had to make do with what we could get.

I came back to birthdays, a wedding and work. I do feel better having a little break. Reviving our marriage and remembering what it means to be able to communicate our thoughts, feelings and needs had made a big difference to the way I live my life. Sure there are ups and downs but if I focus on making more ups happening and getting through the downs together I think we'll be fine. I'll be fine and that means the kids will benefit.

Next post.. my day back in San Francisco.