NOTE: I’m told that my blog is feeling much better and that it is now safe to pay it a visit. If you see anything wonky, please please please let me know! Be sure to clear out your cache and cookies if you did visit my blog while it was infected.
NOTE 2: This is an extra long post!
I know I should have posted this last week, but there were so many other things I wanted to blog about, and it always takes me a while to recap a trip!
Todd and I had a great anniversary trip in New York City. We wanted a relaxing trip where we could just explore at our own pace and not feel pressure to do any tours. We had both already been to the top of the Empire State Building and had both been out to Ellis Island and to the Statue of Liberty. We wanted to see Greenwich Village, the Chelsea Market, and wander around SoHo. I am so bad about taking pictures when Todd and I go on vacation, so I really don’t have enough pictures of everything.
It was H-O-T in NYC for the days that we were there. We realized as soon as we got off the plane that we hadn’t packed appropriately.
Sunday
We arrived in NYC at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 2. We went straight to our hotel to check in. We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria and it was wonderful. We got a great rate and the service was impeccable. We were hardly there, but the staff really was so friendly and accommodating.
I had made reservations for us to eat lunch at Bar Americain which is one of celebrity chef, Bobby Flay’s restaurants. Because it was Sunday, there was the option to have brunch, so Todd had brunch and I had a cheeseburger. I had heard great things about the burger and fries at Bar Americain so I couldn’t pass it up.
Here we are eating at Bar Americain. I highly recommend it!
After lunch, we had about an hour to kill before our first Broadway show began. We were seeing a matinee of The Lion King, which was really wonderful. There is truly nothing like it. The music is familiar if you’ve seen the movie, but the costumes were incredible. The dancers and performers were mesmerizing. There isn’t much of a set and the actors take on the role of the jungle in some scenes.
This photo was actually taken on our third day there because the crowds were too big to take a picture the day we actually saw The Lion King. We just stopped back by to grab a photo!
On Sunday evening, we went to The Stanton Social for dinner and we both loved it. It was a tapas style meal and we tried so many different things that we couldn’t get enough of. But the portions were so small and everything was shared, so we were glad that we were able to try a lot of things. We had short rib tacos, macaroni and cheese, edamame, risotto cakes, and grilled shrimp. Then we ended the night with donuts dipped in chocolate. We sat next to a really fun couple from Mississippi. Our tables were so close together that we ended up talking to them a while. The conversation was mostly about SEC football, but that’s okay!
Monday
On Monday morning, we got up early and went to have breakfast at Balthazar. I had hoped we’d be able to have enough nights to eat at so many amazing restaurants, but we didn’t. So I was thrilled when I found out that Balthazar was open for breakfast– and it was a fantastic breakfast. Todd had sour cream pancakes and I had scrambled eggs with asparagus and mushrooms in a puff pastry. So yummy and so French!
Here’s TC at Balthazar! Happy to be there! I wanted to make it back to Balthazar for lunch one day just to try their French fries, but we didn’t make it. Balthazar is located in SoHo, so we were able to wander around SoHo when we were there.
It was raining when we left Balthazar, but we walked and walked and walked. We made our way to Bleecker and walked until we got to Magnolia Bakery where we stopped and picked up a few cupcakes. Then we went to a little store called Pumpkin, where I picked up some toys to bring back for Hudson. I got him this little ball set by Edushape, which is apparently sold at Toys R Us. Who knew?
After our two hour walk in the rain, we took a cab to Rockeller Center to sit and people watch. And eat Magnolia Bakery cupcakes. (and there happens to be another Magnolia Bakery near Rockefeller Center.) This cupcake picture is for Nina! (Can you tell how humid it was?)
Then we wandered around the flagship Saks Fifth Avenue store for a while and I didn’t buy a thing! If you’re proud of me, say, “Amen!”
My dear TC doesn’t ask for much. His only request for this trip was to go to Ground Zero. I had been in early 2002 and haven’t been back during any of my NYC trips since then. TC had never been. We stopped by the information kiosk to get a pamphlet to find out what the memorial plans are. We walked across the bridge that goes over the construction of the memorial site. Then we walked back to the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site. They have done a great job of setting up a temporary memorial site and giving people a preview of what the final memorial will be like. It was a very emotional feeling to be in there listening to stories and remembering the day.
We had a little bit of time to kill before getting to our next show and we had to take a cab from Ground Zero back to our hotel. We had the cab driver stop off at Serendipity 3 so we could get a frozen treat. I hadn’t planned on going back to Serendipity on this trip. I had been before and the crowds made it a little hectic. But when we got there, there wasn’t a line and we were able to get in and get our frozen hot chocolate very quickly!
We went back to the Waldorf to clean up because we were going to see Mary Poppins that night! It was a fantastic show. The kids were so talented. There was lots of dancing and terrific voices. And the sets were so impressive! It was truly wonderful. I’m a huge musical theater fan and most of my favorite shows were produced by Cameron Mackintosh, so when I saw that he produced Mary Poppins I knew that it was going to be something to see!
After Mary Poppins, we went to Babbo, Mario Batali’s restaurant, for dinner. This may just be my favorite dining experience of all time. TC and I got the pasta tasting menu. We had Blck Tagliatelle with Peas and Castelmagno, Casunzei with Poppy Seeds, Garganelli with Funghi Trifolati, Papperdelle Bolognese, Frittelle d’ Ananas with Ricotta Salata (little fried pieces of pineapple!), and lots more! We weren’t even sure what we were getting into, but we both love pasta and we both devoured every single tasting.
Tuesday
I have an entire day that is missing because I forgot to charge my camera battery. I was able to take a few pictures with my Blackberry camera and then I tweeted them, so the quality isn’t great, but they’ll have to do.
On Tuesday, we slept in a little bit and then headed out! We walked to Fifth Avenue and made our way down to FAO Schwarz where we explored for a long time. It was so hard not to snatch up everything for Hudson!
We had lunch reservations at the Central Park Boathouse that day, so we took off heading for the restaurant. But we found out we were going the wrong way and had been going the wrong way for at least 15 minutes. So we went the correct way and made our way through the park on a gorgeous day to have lunch.
A fantastic view of the city from Central Park!
After lunch, we didn’t have any plans, so we decided to enjoy the gorgeous day and take a carriage ride through the park. We were looking for just the right driver that would entertain us and we found him! I so wish my camera had been working, but our carriage driver was wonderful. He is the President of the horse and carriage association and just got a bill passed that requires all horses to get five weeks of vacation every year. How wonderful is that? You always wonder how much those horses have to work and pull people around, and this great guy is working to protect them.
He knew everything about the city and Central Park. His father started driving a carriage in the 1960s and then he started driving one, too. Our driver has been driving the carriage for 25 years. We talked about his family, about Seinfeld, about New York’s professional sports teams. It was a great afternoon!
We headed back to the Waldorf to rest for a little while and then headed out to see Jersey Boys. Of course I don’t have any pictures outside the August Wilson Theatre, but I have to say that Jersey Boys was our favorite show of the three. It was funny, the music was wonderful, and it moved quickly. The actors were so talented and fun to watch. We’ve been singing some of the Four Seasons’ songs for days!
After Jersey Boys, we headed down the street to eat at Carmine’s in the Theater District. We were worn out from all of our fabulous meals. Carmine’s was wonderful and relaxing. Again, we split a big bowl of pasta and then headed back to sleep it off!
Wednesday
Wednesday was our last day in NYC. Our only plans for Wednesday were breakfast at Pastis in the meatpacking district. It was another fun breakfast on a gorgeous morning. When we left Pastis, a delivery truck driver started verbally accosting our cab driver, which was lots of fun. I always get so uncomfortable in those situations because I’m not sure if we’re supposed to say anything to our cab driver when it finally ends. But he broke the ice and started talking about how stupid the truck driver was. Then it just became funny.
We checked out of our hotel and decided to go visit the Shops at Columbus Center at the Time Warner Center, which neither of us had ever visited. Then we went back to Rockefeller Center because we decided that we wanted to do the Top of the Rock experience and get a great view of the city before leaving to come home. It was absolutely beautiful and a nice stranger even offered to take our picture together!
At this point, we were actually ready to come home. We missed Hudson and missed our bed. We missed the ease of getting around at home. But New York in the spring time was absolutely wonderful!
We headed to the airport and we headed home to see our precious boy and our sweet dogs.
If you read the whole post, bless your heart!
