A Weekend of Firsts

This weekend was my big trip to New York to visit Marcia. I'm a little pissed at myself because I had my camera in my purse the whole time and did not take a single picture. I have nothing to show on my blog. Ugh. We did ridiculous amounts of shopping (which I've of course done many times before), but there were also many things that I have never done before.

1) My first train ride that was not purely for scenic purposed. I took Amtrak up. Surprisingly, there is a direct route from Harrisburg to New York City. Slightly shocking. Don't get me wrong its a very scenic ride there, but my purpose was actually to go somewhere not just to admire the cute Amish children frolicking through the farmlands. Overall, it was a good experience. The only slightly weird thing was that I got on and sat down and when the train started moving I was facing backwards. That's fine. It was a little fun, but then after we stopped in Philly and the train started moving I was suddenly going forward. That was weird.

2) My first NYC subway experience. I have been to New York many times but all the other times either a) my dad drove into the city which is a scary thought or b) I was with a group on a big charter bus. There was never a subway involved. But I had to take the subway from Penn Station to Marcia's apartment...ALL BY MYSELF. I'm a grown up though, so it was fine. The most difficult part was finding the subway part of Penn Station.

3) The first time I was in the same city as the Pope. My grandmother was very concerned that the Pope would cause me difficulty on my trip, but he didn't. I wouldn't have even really known that we was in the same city as me except for the news coverage on every TV channel. We simply checked the newspaper for the Pope's itinerary to make sure he wouldn't be inferring with our shopping, but he didn't so it was fine.

4) My first oysters. We went to Fish and I had oysters with their good horseradish sauce. They were pretty good. I'd have them again. While I feel pressure to say that I LOVE oysters, I will reserve that word until I've had them again when I'm slightly less intoxicated and can judge if I do love them or not.

5) My first popover. We had brunch with some other ND friends at Popover Cafe which is obviously known for its Popovers. They even had directions on how to properly reheat your popover so that it isn't chewy and you can also order a Popover Bouquet to mail to someone. I really wish I had taken a picture of the basket of popovers which were each roughly the size of my head. Maybe its me, but I wasn't really impressed with my popover though the strawberry butter that they served with it was REALLY yummy.

6) However, I was really impressed with my first PINKBERRY. It really lived up to the three days of hype. I daringly chose the Green Tea which was absolutely delicious. I highly recommend it with mango, coconut, and pineapple mixed in.

It was a great trip, and I will definitely be going to New York City more often.