NYC - part 2

On Sunday morning E and I left for NYC to meet two sets of friends. First we were going to meet Colette and Jen at American Girl Place for lunch, and then later in the day meet up with Ben and Jo who were coming in to spend time with us from Washington DC. We were so thrilled to have set something up with Ben and Jo. We miss them like crazy, and haven't seen them for a year (remember how sad I was when Ben left to go to DC with Jo?).

Anyway, I digress. On Sunday we left Long Island and headed into the city. After a painless train ride and a quick taxi ride we were on the way to American Girl to meet Colette and Jen! Colette is a friend I met online through one of my doll boards (she's a crazy doll person like me!) and Jen is her partner. They moved from Wisconsin to NYC last year, so when I found out we were headed to the city, I was thrilled to have time to finally meet my internet friends.

Cute set up at American Girl Place.
E and I didn't know what to expect. I knew Colette and Jen are both very smart and well read, and also well traveled, which all seemed like good signs. Once we finally met we really hit it off. Colette and Jen are great. We ended up looking all over American Girl place chatting about life, love, babies and everything else. Soon it was time for lunch in the American Girl Cafe. We brought our dolls in and they even had their own seats and dishes.

Colette and I share lunch with Inky and Lei Mei.
After lunch we headed up to FAO Schwarz to look at more toys. We admired Playmobil, dolls, Legos and Harry Potter goodies. Then we walked along the park, stopped at Whole Foods and ended up sitting down and chatting near the park for another hour. Finally it was getting late and E and I were having such a great time I suggested dinner. We headed to Joe's Shanghai in Midtown and ordered soup dumplings. All too soon our day with Jen and Colette was over, and we said our goodbyes to our friends.

Literally five minutes after saying goodbye Ben called to tell us he was in the city! Within moments he and Jo were outside our door and we all started screaming and hugging. It was so wonderful to see old friends again. Because it was our first night, and the night was still young (only 11:00) we decided to go to the Empire State Building. Ben had never been to New York, so walking through Times Square on the way was fun. He said it reminded him a lot of Tokyo. Ben and Jo had not eaten, so we stopped at Ray's Pizza on the way.

Once at the Empire State Building we were warned about low visibility because of clouds. We decided to go ahead anyway, and never had to wait in line! We were even alone on the elevator as we ascended 86 stories. Once at the top we loved the views of the city in all directions. The sky was a little foggy, but it gave the night almost a dream like feel.

Finally around 1:00 we returned to the hotel to fall into bed, before starting another day of NYC sightseeing.