The Final Chapter: New York

We were really sad to be at the end of our trip and leave Italy. We had such a fantastic time there!

We really hate flying so having to go back to the states was not very fun. Security in all of the airports (even the ones in Europe) was really heavy due to the Chicago incident on Christmas. We were glad we had plenty of time to get through security. Our flight ended up not being too bad and we got to New York around 7:00 in the evening. We headed straight to our hotel and went to bed. It was about 2 a.m. in Italy and that is what time our bodies were on.

We got to spend all of the next day in New York! It wasn't near as scary as it had been when we first were there, Italy changed that for me! Though we did see a guy pull down his pants to got to the bathroom right off of Times Square. Haha. We went to the Sony Wonder Technology Lab. It was free, so that was awesome! We got to go and learn about different kinds of technology, it was really cool, Jon had a blast!

After that we went on a photo tour in Central Park. The guide gave us photography tips and told us things about Central Park. It was really fun! We learned that the entire park was man made, including the lake. It was very interesting! From there we walked over to Times Square so we could see if we could get some last minute, half price tickets to a Broadway show. We wanted to see Wicked but we pretty much knew that we wouldn't be able to get tickets, and sure enough, we couldn't. So we got tickets to see Phantom of the Opera! We walked around for a bit and saw some of the cool stores in Times Square and then we saw Grand Central Station.

We went to dinner after getting the tickets and got some New York sushi. The restaurant was really cool looking but we were really disappointed in the sushi, good thing we know how to make it! Before the show we went to China town and wandered a little bit. We bought a nice Chinese fan that will hopefully help us when we make sushi rice! We headed back to Times Square to see our show and we saw David Blaine doing magic there to help make money for Haiti! It was awesome!!

Phantom of the Opera! It was absolutely amazing! The actors were so talented and the effects they used were breathtaking!! It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen!! We really really loved it! Broadway really is all that its cracked up to be!! It was amazing!! And that is how we ended our vacation, it was the perfect ending! We were so happy! The next afternoon we flew back home. It was pretty sad, but we were excited to be home too!

So, after 20 cities, 13 hotels, tons of walking, and a lifetime of memories, we ended our trip! We feel so blessed that we were able to go and do something like this, especially while we are so young and without kids. It was the experience of a lifetime!!