I'm in New York City for a 10 day vacation and much like last year's road trip, I plan to blog about it.  We flew in last night and arrived at the hotel around 8pm.   I've never been to NYC nor this far north.  We flew into La Guardia which is located in Queens and took a cab to Manhattan.  I think it took a solid hour to get over the shock at how busy it is here.  Keep in mind we're looking to move here in May.  Last night we got to our hotel which has a small kitchenette (since we're going to be here for so long).  The hotel has an awesome view of the Empire State Building.  

Once we unpacked we hit the streets.  Starving, we made our to a mom and pop pizza place and grabbed a bite.  Only 11 bucks for pizza and sodas.  I thought New York was supposed to be super expensive?

Anyhow, from their we hit Times Square.  Advertisment central.  Or if you like, tourist central.  It was packed, but we did stop in a super large 3-story Toys R' Us (just a toy store).  Didn't have the camera with us, but they had a huge animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex not to mention a Ferris Wheel all located inside.

Times Square is bright, noisy and packed.  Some girls went all giggly because a rapper was next to us.  Little JJ? Not sure who that is, but those girls came running from no where.

I saw people hocking Obama Condoms, Purses, T-shirts, Sun Glasses, etc... Oh and some Scientologists passing out pamphlets.  If you've been to DC it is much like that.

It is very smelly here as well. Some good, some bad. NYC has a way of taking all 5 of your senses and overloading them.  I love it though.  Jacksonville can be so boring and this would be the total opposite.

We finished the night by grabbing a drink at a neighborhood pub and heading up the Empire State Building around 11pm.  The observatory is on the 86th floor which allows you to see the whole city.  It was awesome.  However, if you are scared of heights then you're screwed.  The lower temperatures are taking some getting used to.  It was windy and in the lower 50's.  We're still used to 70's at night.  Jackets were a must and the dryness here is killing my contacts.  I must say though, if you are in New York make sure you do the Empire State Building at night!  It was easily worth the 20 bucks a person.  Trust me.  

We're heading out to Central Park today and to some Yo Gabba Gabba free event.  Should be fun.  We're taking the camera and the video camera.  I'll be sure to post lots of pictures.

Stay tuned...

Nick Veneris is the owner of Xomba.com.  He likes to blog his vacations for family, friends and Xomba users.  He throughly believes that Xomba now needs a spell checker.

Read about Day 2