Dearest Boys,
Of course we want you to be generous and kind and respectful of others. And being humble and compassionate and laid back will take you far in life. But we'd also love it if you were travelers. Between the two of us, we've seen some of the world's greatest sights from Italy and London to Australia and Maui. Surprisingly, neither of us had ever been to New York City! When we found out that the Vaughns had never been either, we knew we had to make it happen! We planned our trip almost a year in advance and the anticipation was part of the fun!
We flew out on Friday, November 17th and had a great flight. It took our driver an hour to drive us the 7 miles from the airport to our apartment but we were pleasantly surprised with our 700 square feet once we finally arrived. We took a picture on our stoop before we headed out into the big city for the first time.
Turns out, there weren't many restaurant options by the bay (This is never an issue in the movies!?) so we opted for a Greek hole in the wall.
After dinner, we boarded our river cruise boat and enjoyed our VIP seats! We spent a lot of the cruise at the bow of the ship taking in the sights.
The cruise was one of my favorite parts of the trip as we got to peek at each borough and see the skylines lit up at night. Those lights drew us in and we headed to Times Square as soon as we docked back in Manhattan.
We made a quick stop at Macy's on our way home just because it was so gorgeous the way it was decorated for the holidays. Every window had an intricate scene displayed.
And the beauty continued inside too!
Thanks to the 6 miles on our pedometers, we all slept well that night!
We woke up on Saturday excited to see the city in the sunlight and it lived up to the hype!
Our first stop was all for me because I have a fascination with churches - especially Catholic churches! There was an open church nearby our apartment so we stepped inside for a quick look around.
Then we put our walking shoes to good use and hit the pavement! First up was Rockefeller Plaza. We couldn't get tickets to see a taping of Jimmy Fallon but we did check out the shops inside.
The world-renowned skating rink was the only thing that didn't live up to our expectations. It was tiny and expensive and a tourist trap so none of us wanted to trade our tennis shoes for ice skates. Behind that big banner is "the" tree but they were keeping it well covered until the tree lighting ceremony that was taking place the following week.
We quickly continued on our trek because at the end of the street we could see IT! See where the buildings stop and the trees start? That's Central Park!!!
We turned down the horse drawn carriages and pedicabs and hiked through the park instead. It was better than I imagined and there were gorgeous photo opps at every turn.
One of the best meals of our trip happened almost by accident! We took a chance by stopping in at The Boathouse restaurant. Not only did they seat us without a reservation, but they gave us a phenomenal table by the window that overlooked a lake. We sipped cocktails and ate seafood from the comfort of our yoga pants and we took our dear, sweet time because a rain shower started mid-meal.
The rain encouraged us to go underground and we conquered NYC's subway system!
Our evening was spent at dinner and the theater. Our first Broadway show was Phantom of the Opera. It was in the Majestic Theater which was charmingly old.
Sunday started off on a somber note as we took in the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
As expected, it was emotional and not really the sort of thing you photograph. We needed to figure out our emotions so we plopped down at one of NYC's oldest saloons.
We rode the subway home so we could get ready for an awesome night on the town!
We got a reservation at an awesome Italian restaurant that night. Not only did we taste some amazing food but we had the absolute best waiter in NYC! He really kicked off our night!
Our second Broadway show was The Book of Mormon at the Eugene O'Neill Theater. We had box seats which made our view intimate and fun! None of us had seen this show before but we laughed for almost the entire 2.5 hours (except during that one song...).
On the way home we stopped by the Empire State Building (HA! - that's as close as your dad's fear of heights would let us get!).
Then we did a little shopping and sent y'all this picture to prove that you're always on our minds!
That being said, we all agreed that NYC is sooo not a trip for kids. At
this point of the trip, we'd walked approximately 30 miles (no
exaggeration) and that's just not feasible with little ones. Maybe in about 10 years.?.?.
We took the divide and conquer approach on Monday. The Vaughns went to a taping of Good Morning America and Juilliard while Dad and I rode all the way down to the financial district.
We checked out the NY Stock Exchange,
watched people pose awkwardly with the charging bull,
and toured Clinton Castle (our country's first immigration station).
We slowly walked through Battery Park as we made our way to meet up with the Vaughns for lunch. Since we were feeling like New Yorkers at this point, we had to have pizza for lunch!
After lunch we divided up again. This time the girls went together to go shopping and the boys went together to go tour a submarine. Michelle and I shopped on all NINE floors of Macy's and rode their iconic wooden escalators up and down and up and down again.
We reconvened at the apartment and got ready for another lovely dinner out. We were ready earlier than our reservation so we took advantage of the self timer as we attempted to document our spiffy red leather couch.
Our last supper was atop The Museum of Arts and Design at Columbus Circle at a great place called Robert. We had quite the view from our table - although the restroom had its own special view! (Why didn't anyone think to photograph that craziness?!?)
We picked up dessert afterward at an adorable bakery that only offered bite sized treats. We attempted to photograph our tiny cupcakes once we got home and hilarity ensued!
Tuesday was our final day in NYC but we only had a half day since we had to be at the airport that afternoon. We started the morning by taking the window seats at a local coffee shop. We spent our breakfast chatting with these lovebirds about what an amazing trip it had been. There was nothing left of the island that we felt like we absolutely HAD to see, so we decided to just stroll around.
We walked along the high line and tried to soak up the views. Some of us took the views more seriously than others ; )
We made our way to Bryant Park where we did some more shopping.
We also fulfilled our mission of having a Nathan's Famous Hotdog. #success
With only a few minutes left, we stepped into the public library for a bit. It was almost like being in an art gallery with how beautiful the architecture was! I wanted to pull down a book and sit for a while but I knew we had that long 7 mile drive back to the airport looming over our schedule.
The picture above just doesn't do justice so I nabbed this one from the internet. Simply spectacular!
We spent the rest of our time together rehashing all that we experienced and laughing all over again. All four of us agreed that we would visit again - maybe more than once!
So, please be travelers. Explore the world. Soak up other cultures. Sample exotic cuisine.
And, if you're going to NYC, invite me to go with you!!!
