DAY 2

It was Day 2 in the city of bright lights and we were still all smiles! And how could we be otherwise? We were about to embark on a tour...
THE TOUR OF SHOES!! Each of us had a request/mission on this trip. This tour, was Randy's. Each of those letters marked a shoe store that Randy wanted to visit. I don't think we got through all of them, but he came out with 2 pairs of Nikes so I'm guessing the mission was a success.

That day, we began with a breakfast at the Clinton St. Baking Company & Restaurant. All I have to say is, thank goodness there's always a lot of walking when we travel!
To walk off THAT meal, we went in search of a well-known basketball court - Rutgers. This was one of James' missions.
By the court was a playground. For every pizza place in NYC, there exists a playground/park. Typically they're filled in the afternoons with kids and parents.
But this place was empty so we went at it; climbing, hanging, sliding, etc. In the middle of me trying to take a picture of James through this short tunnel, a security guard walked up and told us to leave...

So James just ran. Dude, I was already on "2!" You couldn't give me one more second, Jaime?!We went on our way, headed towards the HUGE Macy's where James and Randy got lost. I can't believe how big that department store is. After walking around, doing some shopping, we walked up 5th Avenue and 'lo and behold, what did we see in the distance? A Philippine flag!

It was a random, but pleasant encounter with something I didn't expect to see.

The tourist part of this day came to fruition when we arrived at Rockefeller Center where we took an elevator that shot us up to the 67th floor so we could see this...

The "Top of the Rock" gives you a 360 degree view of NYC. We were lucky to have picked such a beautiful day to see the city. You can see all of Central Park, the Chrysler building, the Empire State Building, the UN building, the Statue of Liberty in the distance. It was, in one word, wow.

I thought I was scared of heights, but Christine I think, has it much worse. She could barely look over the railing - yet she found it in herself to jump! haha!

Cile, you're my travel homie forever! Like my scarf? It was the only purchase I made for MYSELF the entire trip. $10, thanks very much!

All that shopping and walking wore us out so I got on one of my missions: coffee from Dean & Deluca for mom and dad. We sat for a few minutes to gather some strength for the evening that lay ahead.

Most of you may have heard about our experience at Ninja New York. It's a blessing in disguise that Cile made reservations at the Morimoto in Philadelphia, otherwise we may never have found ourselves at such an adventurous birthday dinner.

Sparkling sake = new favorite drink, still a creeper but it's good! It might as well have said Riesling on the cute little bottle (which I got to take home). It tasted just like white wine. I think we each had at least 2-3 bottles of it.

I don't think I've ever seen food that necessitated a samurai sword and dry ice, so this was wow!

Food was not inexpensive here, but every dollar was seriously worth it.James was so excited to eat, I think he wanted to use 2 pairs of chopsticks! Dude, relax...

Fantone, as always, was a happy camper. Drunk Fantone doesn't come out often enough. The drinks asked her to come out and play - and she did!

Randy got his ninja star!

And Cile got a birthday that I'm sure she will never forget.

Remember how Cile used to sleep in the top/sweater that she wore that day, plus her pajama pants? Well, after how many sake shots and all that food on her 29th birthday, she almost had a relapse. hahaha!