This is the first pizzeria in the United States. It has been in business over 100 years. Lombardi’s Pizza is in Little Italy. The pizza is wonderful. There were long lines but we got in quickly and had a great time. This is recommended for anyone going to New York City that likes pizza.
On Saturday, we decided to get out of Midtown and to ride the subway. We toured quite a bit of New York City on the subway.
At our first exit, Zack looked down at the tracks and pointed out a rat. In proper tourist fashion, we took a picture of it.
We started out in Chinatown. Everyone got a few good items from the street vendors. Next stop was Little Italy. Next, we went back to Chinatown for more shopping. From there, we went to Central Park.
The picture of Connor is on the main street of Little Italy. If you look in the background, you can see the Empire State Building.
We wanted to do something different. So, we decided to take the subway to the north end of Central Park and explore that area. We got off at 110th street and had a three block walk to Central Park. One of the great things about New York City and the subway is the neighborhood can completely change each time you exit the subway. Well, the neighborhood really changed. When we got out of the subway, I looked around and realized we were in a very different neighborhood. We were right up next to Harlem. After surveying the situation for a few moments, I looked at everyone and said, “We are not doing this”. We all went back down to the subway and waited for the next train south. It seemed like that train took forever to come.
On our next attempt, we exited at 86th street. This was a much more appealing neighborhood. We walked to Central Park and crossed from the east side to the west side. It was a great walk.
Ok, this was weird. In Times Square, there is a store for the Charmin experience. They advertise free public bathrooms. There is a person dressed as a toilet outside calling people in. Once you get inside, there is a line of people waiting to use the bathroom. A DJ is in the room cracking bathroom jokes and asking people in the line “Do you have to go number 1 or number 2?”. The atmosphere is funny and festive. A crew member cleans each bathroom between uses. When you enter the bathroom, there is either an iPod or a TV to entertain you while you do your business. Charmin has three types of paper available to try. After you are finished, there is a booth to “Rate your go” and a large toilet you can sit on to have your picture taken.
Only in New York City, could you find something like this. It was actually fun. We went here on two separate occasions.
FAO Schwartz is a classic Christmas shopping experience. The store is still open and doing well. There were all kinds of unique toys to play with.
Since very few people drive cars in Manhattan, we wondered what people did with large purchases. What do you do if you score the low price big screen TV at Best Buy? We just happened to find out. You carry it home.
