No Place Like Home

I arrived home from NYC late last night. I'm totally exhausted and I'm glad I have an extra day off work to relax a little. Yesterday was our last day in the city. We had a slow start because my sister wasn't feeling very well and we were all tired. So yesterday we just went in to Manhattan and walked around Central Park. We got of the subway at 5th Ave and enjoyed looking in windows of stores like Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Vera Wang, Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, and so many more! All of which had doormen determining who could enter or not. We actually went in Tiffany's and were dazzled by all the diamonds!
When we arrived at the park we first saw Wollman Rink which was crowded with ice skaters enjoying a sunny holiday in the park.

Then we walked over a few blocks from the park where we saw the Manhattan Temple.

Such a beautiful site, especially in a big city!

Then we headed back into the park and saw Strawberry Fields,

the Angel of the Waters Fountain at Bethesda Terrace,

the Loeb Boathouse,

strolled through the Ramble, and saw Belvedere Castle.

We didn't even make it half way up the park.

The park is huge

(it is a rectangle roughly 2.6 miles by 0.5 miles)

and beautiful!

After exploring a small part of the park we caught the subway back to Wollman Rink. Then we found a place to eat before heading back to the hotel.
We hit a few delays on the way to the airport including several train transfers, train traffic, and the bus making us get off over a mile from the hotel saying it was the end of the line! It must have been a change due to the holiday. We walked fast to the hotel and still made the 6pm hotel shuttle to JFK. Arriving at the airport we were told we were too late to check our luggage (even though there was still an hour until departure!) and would have to buy another ticket home on the next available flight! I contested this and was finally able to talk with a supervisor who expedited our bags onto the plane, we quickly got through security, and thankfully sat down on the plane. It was so nice to make it home to my own bed last night. I had a fun vacation but I'm happy to be home again!