Weekend with Allie

     This past weekend my sister Allison came to visit. And since she hasn't been to NYC nearly as much as I have, there were lots of touristy things she wanted to do; not that I am complaining, I love visiting iconic New York landmarks and taking pictures. Friday, she came into the city al on her own, and easily navigated her way to H&M and Forever 21. When I got an e-mail from Mom later that day asking if I had heard from Allie, I freaked out a little because to be honest, I hadn't heard from her for a couple of hours...but not to worry, she was alive and shopping her way through Manhattan. After work, I met up with her on 5th ave and we made our way down to Little Italy for some tasty Italian food. I chose Vincent's since it is the oldest restaurant left in Little Italy (all 4 blocks of it), and to be honest, I was quite disappointed in the quality of food. I guess just because it has been there for over 100 years doesn't mean its still good... Well, our dinner may not have been outstanding, but our desserts at Ferrara were superb. See my Facebook album to admire the deliciousness. After stuffing our faces with chocolate, we went to the Empire State Building and watched the sunset from both the 86th and 102nd floors. If you happen to go, I would advise not spending the extra money to go all the way up, it wasn't really that much of a difference.

  Saturday we woke up early, an by early, we took the 6:50 train into the city to catch the 8:30 ferry out to Liberty Island. It was amazing to see the statue so close up--the air was nice and cool and there was a mysterious mist on the water. After walking around the statue, we took the ferry over to Ellis Island and explored the museum there.  They have done a great job there with artifacts and and displaying facts. Allie and I tried to look up our ancestors but could only find one on our mothers side--its hard when so many people back there changed their names upon arrival.
  After our morning of island hopping, we made our way to Broadway to have lunch with our Aunt Margaret and watch the Lion King. The last time I saw the movie, was probably when I was 10, and so I did not remember the plot line entirely. It was exciting to watch the show in a new view, especially since I could not remember all the details. That was until, I was standing in line for the bathroom at intermission, and the little girl with her grandmother, explained the whole end of the story to her g-ma: thanks a lot little girl. The show ended up being breath taking and I hope to watch another soon.

  Sunday, for fathers day, we took grandpa with us out to Rockaway to visit our cousins. It was beautiful beach weather and a good end to the weekend. I turned a nice shade of reddish-brown and enjoyed a chocolate mousse cake made by my aunt (the pastry chef). After an hour of cursing and struggling with my iPhone, Allie and I were able to locate Laguardia and drop her off to fly home. All in all, a quality weekend. And I knocked off 4 things from my NYC bucket list!