New York City, day 1.

I'm sitting in the Chelsea neighborhood in New York City for the first time ever. This is my second day in town, and I still haven't stopped being amazed at the size of the city. I have to wonder, after living in this city for a while, do New Yorkers begin to feel as if they have seen all of the intricacies of the city, or does that take a lifetime? There is so much to see, so much to do. I am alone for the next 6 hours, and I could probably still entertain myself by stopping into the various shops within a 4 block radius. Which, is probably what I'll end up doing because, even after riding the subway all night yesterday, I still don't feel confident in my abilities to go much further.

Yesterday, Tyler and I must have walked 15 miles. We saw Times Square, Central Park, went shopping, were escorted to a corner to look at designer knockoff purses, ate fabulous foods, shopped, walked around Greenwich village, and took lots of pictures. Every day could be like that, with different locations, and the 7 days we will be here still won't have been enough to cover everything.

We are staying in the Chelsea Hotel for the next 4 days, then moving onto Newark for the remainder of our trip. Before we arrived, I was very excited to stay at the Chelsea. It has so much history, the pictures of the hotel are absolutely awe inspiring. But I must say, this hotel is poorly represented online. Yes, it has a fabulous history, and therefore has historical merits, but our room is probably a step above a ratty studio in the city - It is aesthetically unpleasant. It does have a nice balcony to view the street and people watch, it also has a kitchenette with the strangest array of dishes (pots and pans, but no plates or bowls, etc.). It's not the prettiest room, but the location works, and it is still our home for the next few days, so we will enjoy it nonetheless.

I was really amazed to see how dog friendly New York is. There are dogs EVERYWHERE. The owners seem so proud of their little companions as well. As I oohed and awed at the little guys and asked to pet them, the owners were always happy to oblige and talk about their pets. Which brings me to another point, I had always heard that New Yorkers were relatively rude. I haven't seen any indication of that whatsoever. Perhaps it's due to the areas we've been in, I'm not sure. I mean, there's definitely a harder edge that comes with being around SO many people and having to adopt more independence to be able to negotiate a life in such a large city, but it's barely noticeable. Maybe this is something that will show itself later in the week. You know, aside from when I have to tell a vendor I'm not interested in his poorly made designer knock off purses. But really, Prada? Dolce? They don't get made with the cheapest fabric lining you can possibly find.

I'm about to get ready and explore some on my own. So far, I've been given SO many recommendations for places to visit. As it stands, I'm dying to check out canal street during the day (we went later in the evening last night), I'd like to head back to St Mark's (since we were caught in a torrential downpour yesterday and couldn't keep checking out the shops), visit the tokidoki store, go to the museum, maybe the zoo, Molto Mario's restaurant (he'll never live down that name in my heart), and go to Baskin Robbins to pick up my birthday cone (since they no longer exist in Minnesota). Oh, and the Sex and The City nerd in me wants to take a picture on a stoop just like Carrie's, somewhere in the Village.

New York has really proven to be a great city so far.