Monday, April 20, 2009

Survived New York......Not without a bit of drama of course

I thought about doing this NOT ME style but that will take WAY to much effort.



I had SO. MUCH. FUN. in NYC.....even with an unexpected bit of drama.



We got there around 6AM. I had not slept much on the bus and I was SO tired but there was not much to be done about that. We were dropped off at Rockefeller Center and told to meet back at 8 that night. We got lucky with beautiful weather all day long. The first thing we did was hop the subway to head towards the ground zero area since all of the shops were still closed.


We took the subway all day long...some of the people on the trip wanted no part of that but it really was not bad at all, yeah some were dirty but we did not have any trouble getting where we needed to be and we were able to see so many more parts of the city that way.


The World Trade Center is actually under construction to be re-built right now. It was kind of a bummer not to be able to see it due to construction fences up everywhere. The one thing that I thought was SO cool was the St Paul's Chapel which is directly across from where the Twin Towers stood was left unharmed after the attacks.



We spent some time in a store called Century 21 which had a lot of designer clothes and shoes at a more reasonable price. I bought one little bathing suit cover up for Mallory (Kate Mack brand) but I was not about to go nuts there because I needed to save my money for......



PURSES

We hopped back on the subway and headed into China Town. This was where the real fun began....as SOON as we got up onto the street they started. And by THEY I mean the purse people. They walk around the streets mumbling under there breath and this is what you BARELY hear....."Coach, Chanel, Prada.....Coach, Purses?? Chanel?" Seriously....all just so you can barely hear them. Once you make eye contact they give you a "look" and you kind of nod and the next thing you know you are in the back of some shady parking lot in a kidnapper van with no windows filled with purses. It was awesome. At one point I was so excited to be following someone through a parking lot that I tore a hole in my jeans on some rusty van and barely avoided a nice case of tetanus. That however was not the best part about shopping in China Town. The best part was when we followed some guy into a shop, went behind a curtain, down a hall and then he OPENED PART OF THE WALL to reveal another hallway that lead to a room full of bags. You could not even tell it was a door. These people are pretty serious about not getting caught...they use walkie talkies to find out if it is safe to bring people in. Scandalous!!


Once I scored my 2 "Pradas" and a pair of Chanel sunglasses we headed back to the not shady part of our day which was lunch at Hard Rock and then shopping at Macy's.

Feet are starting to hurt by now.


We capped our day off with a quick visit to Central Park which was super pretty and then headed back towards Rockefeller center to grab dinner quick somewhere and wait on the bus. One last stop into an AWESOME cupcake bakery that thank GOD is not in my city and then we were ready to go home.

And then the drama started.


About 10 after 8 one bus has shown up along with the owner of the company. Apparently when our awesome bus driver Rudy went to start the bus that my group was on it did not start. And we had to spend the night. A lot of people were pissed because by this point everyone was so tired and just wanted to go home. But what could we do, better it broke down here than in the mountains in PA. The owner of the company was awesome....she put everyone in a hotel just outside of the city and paid for it. We ended up not getting home until 7PM instead of 7AM.

One complication of spending an unexpected night.....clean undies!! Thank goodness that I am super smart and am always prepared but SOME people....who shall remain nameless....because they did give birth to me had to ride home commando and SOME people who shall remain nameless but might be related to me in other ways might have turned their skivies inside out.

Once I got home I pretty much turned right around and went out again.....yes I AM a rock star thank you......how could I not go and see THIS GIRL who came into town. So I capped my night off at a Mexican restaurant with her and This other girl I kind of like.

Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure if you made it this far.....

Group pic with our awesome driver Rudy I'm the one under the B.


Mini Van (not to be confused with the kidnapper van that was also visited) full of goodies....you can barely see me, I'm the blue shirt with her head in the van.
Happy Monday!

30 people fed my need for attention:

E @ Scottsville

NO FREAKIN' WAY, Cammie! Weren't you afraid going into that place with strangers? What if they killed you and hid the body? NObody would ever be the wiser!!!

You're one brave woman. tee-hee!

Glad you had such a good time.

Aileigh

Okay, maybe not so jealous. A wall behind a wall behind a door way in the back!??!? If I could just send you on the mission without risking life or limb! :) Glad you had a great time and yes you are a rock star! :)

Sandy

Glad you had fun! I have to ,make a trip to NYC this summer:0)

Sally's World

i think its very good of you not to name names...i'm sure your mums very grateful hee hee!!!

gotta take clean undies wherever you go...surely NY is too breezy to go commando!

glad you had a great time...i'm a teeny bit jealous xxx

Anonymous

Oh my word - I had no idea that that kind of stuff went on - the whole purse thing!! I'd be so afraid of being kidnapped and butchered!!!

And, good job about being smart and packing "extras." I'm that way too.

I loved the ending of the series - LOVED it. I should've blogged about that, but I was keeping it short (or trying) due to the fact that I'm at work! LOL

Emilee

omg ~ I totally know what you are talking about with Chinatown. When we were there and in the 'back room', apparently the cops showed up, so they got all 'crazy' acting, slammed down the iron grate, drew back the curtains and shoved us into the closet until the coast was clear. It was so freaking scary! But, I still got my chanel purse, which made it completely worth it! :) Glad you had a great time!

Me (aka Danielle)

Freakin' Hilarious! How do you get yourself into these things? Seriously?!!

Yet another reminder to always wear clean underwear and an extra pair never hurts!

Anonymous

Glad you had fun! I dont think that Id ever be able to handle the SUBWAY, not only have I heard there are nasty ppl, but your in a freaking tunnel! YiKES! I should of sent you some dough to get me some "Chanel" Glasses ;-P

Jenny and the Princess Peonies

That is awesome. Seriously good stuff. I love what you would go through to get some knock offs. Glad that you yourself didn't get knocked off.

Kristina P.

I am still so jealous! And I love Century 21!

Ali

You are a braver woman than me! Now, tell me more about these cupcakes:)

Connie

Great job scoring some designer labels!

Funny about the underwear....

Kat

I buy all my "Prada" online. LOL!

Kamis Khlopchyk

Yikes! So waht you see in the movies is true then? CRAZY!

And um, I may or may not have done the inside out thing when we got overnighted unexpectedly, without luggage.

Rosee Rouge

Wow, you are brave! but I'm glad you got your "Pradas' and your "Chanel" shades!

I actually have a real Prada but I never use it. It's big. I'm more of a Coach lover.

Dani

Wow...What more can I say...wow!

---
By the way, your Tuesday Toodles spotlight will be up tomorrow at Dani's Daily Drop! Don't forget! :)

The Rantings of a Drama Queen's Mum

Glad you had fun.

Dawn Parsons Smith

LOVE IT! I love that you were skulking around the alleys and near windowless vans all in the name of fashion! You go!

And good for you for packing extra panties!

Nicole

This is my kind of trip!

Laughed out loud at the kidnapper van selling purses - I would have SO been right there with you! Love it! :)

Tanielle

How stinkin' fun!!!! I am sooo jealous! Sounds wonderful, too bad I live across the country!!

Kelly

-I live 5 minutes away from another Century 21 store. You needs to be getting on a plane to NY.

-I picture you heading off to be lunch in Volterra when I picture your journey to the purses.

-OMG your bus really did say Fun Bus.

The Wife O Riley

Man, that looks so awesome!!!

Anonymous

Wow glad you had fun! :) I haven't been to NYC since I was in 6th grade! I really want to go so I can go to the Today show! I love that show. Weird I know, but eh, oh well. It's my mom's fault...she passed the weird gene on to me.

The Rambler

You are soooo scand-O-lous. LOVE it.

Will you take super secret Coach purse orders next time? PlEASE.

:)

Angel Ginger Jasper

Hello saw you over at Dani's and came over for a look. I love your post. Te right mix of laughter and serious al mixed up. I can relate to the wall that was not there lol. We had a similar experience in Thailand, only it was for watches. We followed down alleys and back alleys and then we went through a door that was a wall. we then saw wall to wall watches wow. But being a handbag freak, I would have loved your trip.

The clean underwear bit made me LOL, that has happened to us all.

I will pop back again if thats ok. GJ and Carol x

KS

Glad you had fun!!

You made me want to go on a Fun Bus trip. Hubby has never been to NYC, I even looked it up. We might go in June!

Anonymous

Great post. Crazy stories about purse shopping. You're brave. I can't believe they had a hidden door.

NYC is awesome. I haven't been in years.

Kami

Sounds like an awesome trip! You are braver than I am...I don't think I could go into some shady room and walk into a wall/door without requiring an oxygen mask and new undies! Glad you had such a fabulous time, with the exception of your unexpected stay over!

Jenners

We were in NYC on the same day!!! I didn't see you though ... haha!

And was your cupcake bakery Crumbs? Cuz I posted about that on my blog -- http://mrsfligs.blogspot.com/2009/04/best-cupcake-in-nyc-plus-other.html -- because they were basically the highlight of my trip! That would be TOO funny if we both are talking about the same place!

I love NYC!

mommy4life

I knew I'd find this post if I looked hard enough. Looks like an exhausting and fabulous time.

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