I figured since I’d gotten to see Lady Liberty in Paris on our honeymoon I should visit our own Statue of Liberty in New York.  So for our first wedding anniversary Burk let me choose New York City and Québec.  We arrived at the airport and some Russian guy approached us saying we could ride in his limo for the same price as a taxi … with no waiting.  We said sure like a couple of idiots and found ourselves in the bowels of the airport parking lot.  I was relieved to note some type of badge in the guy’s dash once we eventually made it.  He was really very nice and took us to our hotel in a white stretch limousine that reminded me of the one I wanted to take to prom in the ’80’s.  It really was something in a dated sort of way and turned heads for varying reasons I’m sure.  Our hotel was right by the UN and they had a federal officer with a drug sniffing dog checking everyone’s bags before they entered.  Much to my horror, the yellow Lab lingered and lingered over ours … to the point of humiliation.  She just wouldn’t stop!  I finally explained to the large, well-muscled, non-smiling man that we had wolves and cats and that must be why she was so interested.  Yeah, like that made it any better.  We were eventually cleared and our poor bellman took our well-snuffled luggage up to our room.  Much like our honeymoon when we headed straight to the Eiffel Tower that first day, we decided to begin our trip by going up the Empire State Building.  As I have mentioned previously, we are not ashamed to be tourists.  At 102 stories, the limestone structure was the tallest building in the world from 1931 until 1970.  I loved its Art Deco style and had no idea it was named one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.  The project involved 3,400 workers including hundreds of Mohawk iron workers, many from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal.  We also saw the beautiful Grand Central Terminal with its Beaux-Arts style and intricate designs both inside and out.  I was surprised to learn it is one of the world’s most visited tourist attractions.  Burk’s paternal Grandmother used to live at the incredibly posh, very exclusive Sutton Square in the ’70’s for over 20 years and he knew the streets like the back of his hand.  As a girl coming from the wide open spaces of Texas, I felt a little hemmed in.  It was hard to see the sun with the tallness of the buildings and my eyes continually burned with everything seemingly under perpetual construction.  Still, we’d had a nice first day and I made friends with our doorman who was from Cuba.  He and I spoke about cigars at length and he seemed genuinely delighted to have found a fellow aficionado.  As we headed up the elevator I found myself praying our building wasn’t going to sway in the wind; we were up pretty high.  Kurt Vonnegut referred to New York City as “Skyscraper National Park”.  That was my view of it as well.