Our first week in the big apple....

             Thank goodness for friends and couches! As we arrived in New York we quickly discovered that finding a place to land in the Big Apple lacks the laid back, "show me a pay stub and your license, and here are the keys." Attitude that many California apartment buildings have. By day 3 in the search we were beat. However, perseverance paid off and you will all  be happy to know that today, (after a week,) I picked up the keys to a lovely one bedroom in Murray Hill, (and for NYC, it is actually HUGE. All 550 square feet of it... It is amazing how one's standards change.) 
            Despite the stresses of finding an apartment in The Empire State, we have made several new friends and have learned that the stereotype of rude New Yorkers does not hold up at all.  So far, we have been greeted by friendly and extremely helpful people. A special thanks to John and Mike who have taken us in and showed us all that the 5 Boroughs (well, we still need The Bronx) have to offer. 

       So far we have explored Central Park, Midtown, Times Square, The Village, Washington Square, Upper West Side, and many others by averaging 60+ blocks daily. When the legs gave out, we tried the Subway, Buses, the Staten Island Ferry and numerous bridges (thanks to our Brooklyn friends.) We've even made it to the Mets game (see right), and yes sports fans, we saw the "big apple" pop up. 
       So....so far, so good.....more to come and yes, I will post pictures soon. 


~Lucy