Taking a :: crunch:: out of the big apple

Question: How do you see a city that's filled with 8 million people in one day?

Answer: you can't!

Two tired working souls (Al and I- oddly enough working the hamptons) boarded the 8am Jitney infront of our apartment. This was the first time that we were going to spend THE ENTIRE day together since starting work in new york and we were prepared to enjoy every minute of it.

....Okay, besides the nagging feeling that all we wanted to do was curl up in bed again.

I pushed sleep roughly away from me (trying to ignore to the two business men in the seats in front of me with large Starbucks coffees) and embraced a day of freedom, free from work and worries to be spent with my favorite person.

Once we ascended the bus in the busy downtown of New York City, help navigating was just a phone call away. Al's mom and sisters had all been to NYC many times (his sister Rachel has lived there for a while) and were eager to help us new comers find the local hot spots.

I found, as we explored, that I was getting "my city walking" back. In Chicago, I took long strides and kept my gaze fixed straight ahead when I went anywhere. All of this came back to me as Al and I dodge around people in the crowded streets, soaking everything in like sponges.

Not once did we get lost.

Not once were we asked for money.

Not once did we wish we were anywhere else or with anyone else.

Museum of natural history, FAO Swartz, Toys R Us, H and M and Broadway were our main stops. All fun because of the city and because of each other.

As we were about to board our bus at 9:30pm, I turned to Al and said "Do we have to go back?" We had just had the perfect day - full of color, light, sound, people, smells....I wasn't quite ready to leave. Al smiled and said "I don't want to go back quite yet either. But we'll see the city again."

That was good enough for me. I had my fix - it'll last me for a while.