NYC Day Two (Part 2)

Alright, time to wrap up the second exciting day in New York City. The next step in our day took us back on the subway. This time we would be heading to Canal St. from the Wall St. station. For those of you that do not know, Canal St. is where Chinatown is known the most. While waiting for the train a very nice Jamaican lady who has lived in the city for 15 years helped make sure we were going the right way. She walked us out of the station and pointed us in the right direction up Canal St. As soon as we started walking we all wondered if we just entered another country. It was everything we had read about before going there. We were the tallest people around and probably the only ones speaking English. The area known as Chinatown is rather large, so eventually we just stopped walked and started heading towards Little Italy. Nothing like being in America and visiting China and Italy by foot.

The craziest part of it was the fact that on one side of the street you had Asian writing and on the other Italian flags and pizzerias. Ashley was mistaken for a Swedish model by a nice Italian guy that owned one of the shops. The funny part of it was the fact that he use to live and have a pizza joint in the Tampa, FL area. He was nice enough to take a picture of us even though Ashley was hesitant at first. I assured her I was quick enough to catch him if he took off running. Luckily I did not have to though. We had thought about grabbing a bite to eat while we were in that area, but decided to keep moving on and wait.

As we thought about heading back to the subway to return to the hotel, we realized we were near the SOHO shopping district. My sister Erin convinced me it was cool enough to warrant our time and we were glad we stopped by there. There were some very fancy stores and such a different perspective than what you get on 5th Ave. I think what struck us the most was the fact that on one block we were in China town, the next block was Little Italy, then just down the road was SOHO. It is mind blowing how all these different worlds just seem to blend together. With this our time in the downtown area had come to an end. The subway was calling our name to make our way north.

Well, north was the direction we should have been heading at least. We were not immune to the difficulties that the New York subway system can throw your way. As soon as we boarded the train we all had this feeling that something was not right, but we were trusting our choice. That trust lasted all of two stops before we realized that if we stayed on we would be visiting Queens (aka not where our hotel was located). Come to find out we were on the right letter train, just not going in the right direction. When it did not have the cool electronic board that shows you where each stop is a red flag was raised. It just added to the great New York experience we had been having so far. No harm, no foul, so we got off and hopped on the next train going in the correct direction this time. A little time later we were back at the Wellington resting our tired legs.

Then we realized it was just a little after three in the afternoon. Since no time could be wasted we all downed some aspirin and went to...tune in next time for NYC Day Two (Part 3). Ashley and I just realized after looking at the pictures from Day Two, that we did A LOT more than we initially recalled. Enjoy the pictures from this leg of the race!