family

sue & sarah in the big apple: part I

the maccabees: precious time

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let’s take our precious time about it…

my mom and i arrived in nyc on thursday in the late afternoon and took the supershuttle (i love things with “super” in them, don’t you?) to our hotel in murray hill. i LOVED staying in murray hill- it’s close to so many things in manhattan. for example, here’s the chrysler building, just down the street! hi chrysler building!!!!

every time i think or say the phrase, “chrysler building,” i start humming the song from annie: “you’ll stay up, until this dump SHINES like the top of the CHRYSLER BUILDING!” i have the feeling this doesn’t happen to other people.

after we unpacked in our glorious room, we wandered around the neighborhood. one of my favorite things about nyc is all of the public space and how people USE it. for example, bryant park!

isn’t that just glorious? don’t you just want to throw down a blanket and lie around and read and watch people?

especially tiny people!

we had reservations at a french/cheese place called artisanal bistro, recommended by carter. cos carter knows how passionately i feel about cheese (technically, it’s probably more like an obsession).

of course, mom and i had to order the fondue. WHO CAN RESIST THE FUN OF FONDUE? it’s like getting to make yr own s’mores or ice cream but WAY BETTER.

i want to thank my mom now for humoring my need for food pictures throughout the entire trip. sue, you’re a patient woman!

my face doesn’t even begin to express how excited i was about the fondue.

know what i was even more excited about?

THE CHEESE CAVE!!!!!!!!

YES, THAT IS A ROOM WITH CHEESE. AND YOU CAN EAT INSIDE OF IT. i guess if you actually translate the french, it’s the Cave of Cheese. unfortunately, i wasn’t aware of la cave, so i didn’t reserve the table (plus, maybe it costs $$$ cos hello, you get to hobnob with expensive tasty cheeses). note to the future architect of my future home: I NEED A LA CAVE. thank you.

full of cheese, mom and i sought out some of the NYC landmarks. i love walking around the city at night, cos the lights sparkle and the air hums and the darkness just makes it all more exciting.

obviously, we had to go to grand central station.

and of course, we checked out the window displays at saks fifth avenue.

note to future closet: i need one of these dresses. thank you.

st. patrick’s cathedral was gorgeous, although i have to say, it’s kind of weeny after you’ve seen notre dame.

but my mom hasn’t seen notre dame, so it’s cool.

we found radio city music hall!! look! my mom’s in front of it! she’s so glad we found it!

rockefeller center was grand, even though the last time i saw it, the patio was covered with ice and skaters. and there were no 9/11 faces on the building back then.

i made mom stand in front of a lot of landmarks, so she could have proof that she’d been there.

it was that or make her write “sue was here” on the cement. and my mom’s not really into graffiti.

we snuck (ok, we just walked) in to the waldorf astoria, a super posh hotel. i love places with elegant names that really don’t make sense, because when something is so fancy pants, no one cares what it’s called.

this is why someone should name a hotel after me and make it really $$$$. just an idea.

the next day (friday), we woke up early (vacationing with parents = no sleeping late, but for this trip, that was a good thing) and took the subway down to battery park. the pitre women were gonna pay a visit to lady liberty!

i’ve actually never been to staten or ellis island before, so this was a totally new experience for me. this experience includes a ferry ride!

why are ferry rides so fun? cos you’re on a big boat? cos it’s the only way to get to a place, so it feels extra cool? cos it’s jam-packed with other tourists?

i don’t know, but i love love love ferry rides. see?

when we got close to the statue of liberty, every single person on the ferry pulled out their camera EVEN THOUGH we were about to get on the island and actually be CLOSER to the statue.

honestly, it was pretty cool to be so close to such an icon. there were a few moments when i wondered if we were on a film set, or an amusement park ride, cos i’ve seen the statue’s image so many times.

guess where else you’ll be seeing this image? on the pitre family xmas card, yo!

check out these three fine ladies!!!! daaaaang!

we got BACK on the ferry and rode over to ellis island to learn about a time when our country actually accepted immigrants.

i can’t imagine trying to fit my most precious items into one or two trunks. i’d probably pack a lot of photos… and samantha, my ipod! but immigrants didn’t have ipods back then, so apparently they packed linens, bibles and silverwear. how did they survive the longass voyage across the sea without their favorite playlists?!!!! i’ll never know.

here’s the room where people waited in line for hours in order to be inspected and then (hopefully) admitted into the country.

i can’t even imagine the line for the women’s bathroom back then.

the museum featured many pictures of the various people that passed through staten island. i stared at their faces and marveled at their tenacity, their sheer endurance.

it’s almost overwhelming to think about the sacrifices these people made… the hardships… the vast unknown world they faced to become the backbone of our country.

i definitely would’ve died on the ship, probably after day five of eating salted pork.

i thought a lot about my grandmother, who sailed to the u.s. from ireland with my two-year-old dad. what courage, what hope she possessed!

ok, i won’t get toooo cheesy here (ha ha, like i’m never NOT cheesy), but i’m really glad my mom and i ventured across the water to experience the splendor of the statue of liberty and the stories of “new” americans.

i almost felt patriotic about the whole affair, which is a pretty rare feeling nowadays.

LINKS

robots are either cool or scary. there’s no in between. and this one gives me the HEEBIE JEEBIES. WHAT PURPOSE DOES THIS ROBOT SERVE EXCEPT TO HAUNT MY DREAMS?

you know what would make pirates of the caribbean 3 a better movie? throw in some goonies!

winnie cooper: still hot, still smart, now a published author. GAH. throw me a bone here!

best transformers toy, ever. if only mr. potato head would actually appear in the new film… wow, now that i think about it, that would be terrifying.

there will never be a better ad for father’s day in the history of time.

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