Running Bébé Takes Manhattan: Day 5

Today we headed down to Lower Manhattan to wander around and also to go look at wallets at Century 21. We don't have those in Canada (Century 21's, not wallets). The department store was super crowded, so we did a lot more walking around outside than in the store.

Ian sipping coffee with Trinity Church in the distance behind him

It was a perfect day for aimless meandering through the streets - not too hot, not too cold, and not raining.

New York Stock Exchange Me on the steps of Federal Hall , which was the original capitol of the United States

Back at our room we were treated to quite a show, as the USS New York docked right in front of our hotel (picture above taken from our room!). Apparently part of the hull is made from steel salvaged at Ground Zero. Being our last day I thought it was important to get some shots of our room, which was AWESOME. This images don't do the hotel justice, but they're better than nothing.

Fabulous walk-in shower

View from the lounge area into the bedroom beyond

We had a great time in New York, and we highly recommend the Ink48 Hotel. The service is amazing, the rooms are well-appointed, and since the hotel only opened in October - everything is shiny and new!

Running Bébé Takes Manhattan: Day 4

Today we had a lot of fun exploring the modern galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Upper East Side. We LOVE modern art. We also saw the important Vermeer exhibit, including the famous painting of "The Milkmaid":

To be honest I'm not really one for Dutch masters. This stuff is way more fun if you ask me:

"Spectrum V" by Ellsworth Kelly, ca. 1969

As usual I was obsessed with finding funny shots at the museum, like this one I took of Ian - which was not staged. He had no idea until he saw this picture.

The painting, "Mark" by Chuck Close ca. 1978-79

Me admiring Jackson Pollock's "Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)", ca.1950

The Mall

After fun at the Museum, we cut back to the West Side across the park. After some pleading on my part, Ian agreed to take a rowboat out on the Lake, something we never got around to the 2 years we lived in the city...

There's a video of me rowing here and one of Ian rowing here.

A good day all around.

Running Bébé Takes Manhattan: Days 2 & 3

Day 2:  Halloween

Halloween night in New York City we were, literally, the only people NOT dressed up in costumes.  Check out this group on the subway platform at 50th Street:

They were good sports, they even struck a pose

Naive as we were, we thought it would be easy to take the subway down to the East Village, where we were meeting our friends for dinner.  When we exited the train at West 4th, this is what we encountered:

Packed like sardines at the W.4th subway station

We were stuck in that crowd for a good 20 minutes, and then I realized we actually needt to TRANSFER, not exit.  So we had to go BACK through that mess (against the crowd)!

Day 3:  The New York Marathon

I got up pretty early to meet my friend (Fellow Runner, Jeannie) in Queens at Mile 14.  I got a HUGE thrill when I saw the lead women run by, especially my all-time-favourite runner, Paula Radcliffe.  She looked great!  And tough!  Click HERE for the video!

Later on we headed into Manhattan, and managed to see the elite men run down off the 59th Street Bridge onto 1st Avenue.  There was a lot of loud cheering going on there, and the runners were eating it up!

Next stop was Mile 26 on Central Park South.  The marathon was slower than I expected, so we were actually able to see the lead women AGAIN!  Paula had dropped back and she really looked like she was hurting.  Her face was the giveaway.  I cheered "GO PAULA" as loud as I could, hope it helped.

Next, we got to see the lead men, Meb Keflezighi was way out in front haulin' ass!  He looked quite relaxed and confident too!

Here's Meb in the lead with about 1/2 mile to go!

Amserican runner, Ryan Hall didn't look like he was lovin' life the last 1/2 mile

Here are Jeannie & I in our "Paual is NYC Marathon Royalty" crowns