5: Chinatown

On our fifth walk we had five (5!!) special guests: my beloved sister Melanie, her husband Frank, their super cute boys, Josh and Sam, and the Marvelous Mitzi. Mitzi wore the official honorary member hat.

Here I am trying to rally the troops as we got off the subway. It was my sister's family's first time to the city, so we ran all over town for the whole weekend. You can read about it at her blog.
This is Josh, one of the cuter honorary members. He did not want to come to Chinatown, but once he was there, he thought it was pretty neat. Except for the time Frank threatened to send him to Chinatown jail for almost walking off with shop merchandise.

Mitzi looks especially good in the hat. We think she should come every week.

In Chinatown, you can buy a whole roasted duck (head and all). For a special treat, you can buy just the duck feet.
Meg and Mitz at one of the many seafood markets. If she could, Meg would eat seafood for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

This crab would not stop bubbling. It was disgusting. Josh and Sam said they catch crabs like this all the time at their beach in Virginia. Lucky!

Meg feels especially sexy while wearing the purple hat. In fact, we all do.

Meg and Mitz happy to be in Chinatown ... reminiscing on the year 2002.

Here we are looking kind of serious in front of a Buddist temple.

Meg and Mitz are SHOCKED to see a Chinese lantern.

In Chinatown, you can do all sorts of fun things ...

Like try on cool hats...

Or point to funny signs!

Megan found the best one of the day: Wing On Wo & Co.

Mitz was attracted to the Ho Fun sign.

Here we are looking stoic with Lin Ze Xu. Did you know he was a pioneer on the war agaist drugs?

Megan is just on drugs.

This photo is a bit dark, but Josh just wanted to be in one with the girls. He really loved Megan and Mitzi.

Poor Sam about froze to death - it was bitterly cold. This is where we split ways with my family for the morning. They needed to head indoors to thaw out.

There were not many landmarks documented on this week's tour card - it mostly suggested that we "explore the side streets of Chinatown." It did, however, tell us to visit this Mariner's Temple Baptist Church. I don't remember why.

Megan fell in love with the "girls" sign above these doors. I just loved the red doors. Someday I will live in a house with a red door.

Remember "crazy money eye" from the Wall Street walk? Here, Megan displays it once again. She loves money almost as much as this money-hugging child.

Megan and Mitzi were able to achieve Enlightenment at this statue of Confucius.

This structure was not on the card, so we don't know what it is - pretty though, right?

We ended the walk with a short detour to the Doughnut Plant. If you are ever in the lower east side or Tokyo, I highly recommended it. I like to consider myself a doughnut connoisseur (being a former Krispy Kreme employee and all), and I have to say, this is the BEST doughnut you will ever eat! Get the tres leche doughnut. You'll die, it's so good.

This fine gentleman would agree. We bought an obscene amount of doughnuts and sat to chat with him while we ate. He LOVES the Doughnut Plant. He stands behind their products 100%. I have two regrets about our visit to DP. 1) We did not find out this man's name. 2) We did not request a photo of him wearing the purple hat.

mmm ... doughnuts

It is time for Christmas break, so no NYC walk for the next two Saturdays! :( Get excited though, because Megan and I are planning a very special Christmas Eve walk in St. Charles, Missouri.

4: City Hall

Warning: we let the crazy out on this walk.

The first stop for us was St. Paul's church. I am attempting to immitate this adorable poster child, but my wink (sometimes called the squink) is far less obvious than his.

Here is St. Paul's. It is beautiful and quite old. It is situated right next to the World Trade Center site, and they used it as a place to bring the injured. There were several 9/11 memorials inside.

Jill by the Bell of Hope. What is the Bell of Hope, you might ask? Keep scrolling; we have thought of everything!

A tree was knocked over outside of the church on 9/11. No damage was done (which is somewhat miraculous) and a guy made a sculpture of the tree roots. We saw the sculpture on walk 2. Feel free to revisit that post.

Our hearts went out to whoever is in this grave. This nub is all that is left of their headstone. For the record: this headstub is maximum 5 inches high and as thin as recycled paper. Jill seems concerned.

This is the Woolworth Building. For some reason - I find it to be hilarious. Perhaps because it used to be the tallest building in the world (for 17 years - until the Chrysler Building). It was built in 1913 and Woolworth paid 13 million dollars in cash for its construction. Note: That is an obscene amount of money for 1913.

At this point in our walk, we had just ran into a bookclub friend of Jill's. I don't know about Jill, but as we talked to the friend, I felt very aware of my silly purple hat and of the fact that we are 24 years old and purposefully matchy.

There she is again: Woolworth building - still among the 50 tallest buildings in the world.

This is the fountain in City Hall Park. This is the second time on our blog that I have gotten in a fountain (see walk 2). Who would have guessed that this would become a theme?

Jill loves that these lamps lit with real fire. Another second on our blog: Jill making a creepy face in reference to fire (see walk 2).

I am peeking at city hall.

This is a true beebopp moment. A friendly tourist allowed us to be in a picture together. BOOYA!

Have you ever done that thing where you press your arms against the sides of a small doorway for like thirty seconds and when you step out, your arms rise on their own?? Jill was not a believer. My first experience with this phenomenon: age 8ish, the towel closet at the Shirk home. Jill's first: age 24, city walk #4.

Jill immitating the statue of Horace Greeley, founder of the New York Tribune (circa 1841). I thought he looked like Russell Crowe. Jill said, "I was thinking Benjamin Franklin."

Cool courthouse.

(I just deleted the picture and am not a skilled enough blogger to get it back - luckily the cool courthouse appears again in the next pic)

Jill asked me to look judicial. I don't know how. I think I pulled off "confused."

ROCKY!!!

This is very dark - I hope you can see it! My hand is a perfect imitation of the sculpture. I felt like I was in a gang, and I liked it.

New York has EVERYTHING. This proves it. An African Burial Ground in the middle of downtown! I don't know what is crazier: that or the fact that Jill laid down on the nappy NY street.

My computer screen is dark, and I cannot read the sign. I hope it is self-explanatory.

SO exiting! Jill by Duane Street......

Me by Reade Street.....

DUANE READE!!! For those of you who are un-aware, Duane Reade is NY's version of Walgreens, but intensified. There is more than one on every corner. We adore Duane, and he adores the one zillion dollars we spend there each fiscal year. The corner of Duane Street and Reade Street is where the first Duane Reade was located.

An artistic end of the excellent Walk 4. Next week - Jill's sista and her fam will be along for the walk! Whoop whoop!

p.s. I LOVE this blog. I never thought I would, but I totally do.

--Meg