The Big Apple

 

[This post is a continuation of the previous post]  We got in to NYC pretty late so we hopped in a cab to head over to the apartment. There’s just something about getting jostled about in the backseat of a NYC Yellow Cab that is exciting. The moment of truth was getting to the apartment and going in for the first time; it was beautiful and clean. The following morning we slept in (a requirement on vacation) and headed to the Museum of Natural History. I was very impressed, it was so well done.

We headed over to Times Square which always mesmerizes me when I first get there. I saw this kid and immediately jumped up for my free hug. I’m all about free hugs. Then he insisted Doug took a picture. Doug says no and he insisted again. So he took the shot. Then the kid asked for money and Doug kindly pointed out that according to his sign the hug was free and the kid responded “for the picture”. Free hug my butt…

We decided to go to a Broadway Play that night and by luck found Newsies on the half price board. I’m a huge Newsies fan. If anyone remembers riding in Winto (my ’92 Mint Green Honda Accord) during high school there’s a very good chance that the Newsies soundtrack was on deck which meant you had to listen to me sing along. The play was fantastic, the dancers were amazing and the singing was superb. Top notch show.

The next morning found us with a slow start so we went straight for lunch at Pomodoro’s, a little Italian restaurant near the apartment. Food pictures always make me so hungry afterward

Then we walked over the the Metropolitan Museum of Art via Central Park. This shouldn’t come as any surprise but I love Central Park. It’s amazing to me to be walking around in a beautiful park with the stark contrast of concrete just beyond the border.

 

I loved this museum. I could have stayed in the Greek/Roman section the whole day. I love sculptures and the museum was set up so well and organized. I could’ve spent a lot longer here and would definitely go back.

This day was a bit of a repeat: Sleep in, eat food, go to a museum, head to Times Square for a show. When we got in line at the half price ticket booth we hadn’t thought through what we actually wanted to see and before we knew it we were at the window to purchase tickets so we got tickets to Chaplin on a whim. It wasn’t a blockbuster show but we both really enjoyed it. I really didn’t know much about Charlie Chaplin before so I found it intriguing. The production was done as if it was a black and white movie so all the costumes/makeup were done in different shades of gray, black and white. It was a really neat effect. We both enjoyed it a lot but now we need to catch up on some Charlie Chaplin movies so I can better appreciate the play.

Wednesday we headed to Eataly for lunch. It’s a pretty unique establishment with an Italian market, fresh breads meats and pasta and a few places to eat.

 

Next was David Letterman. Luckily, this time Doug got us the tickets so I didn’t have to go through the stress of the phone call to answer the trivia question right . Letterman is really fun but it eats up most of your day. Our guests were Bill O’Reilly, Snooki and The Lumineers. Snooki is a complete embarrassment to mankind. We had pretty good seats and you can see us for a small fraction of a second on TV. Working our way to stardom.

Thursday we spent at the NYC office getting a little business done. Then, we luckily discovered the best Chinese restaurant we’ve eaten at since…China. I haven’t been this happy in a long time. Everything about the restaurant was so Chinese. Including the fact that it’s served family style so we weren’t able to order the whole menu like I wanted to. It’s the only thing close to the food we had in China and my stomach is sad and growling just thinking about the food it’s missing. This place is highly recommended. Plus it is right by the Nintendo store which might be a bonus for some (Doug).

There is never a lack of activities/sites/things to do in NYC. It blows my mind. We got tickets for a concert at Carnegie Hall to see Gabriel Kahane. We’d never heard of him before but really enjoyed the show. It was modern yet classical mixed with poetry. It was different and refreshing. We were {very slightly} disappointed when we got there and realized there more than one hall at Carnegie Hall. So ours wasn’t THE one but it was still really cool and the acoustics were awesome.

On our way home (after picking up some new york cheesecake) we get to our street and it’s being blocked off. They let us through with no problem but we still found this a little puzzling. Once we got close to the apartment we realized they were filming something! What?! I asked someone on the crew what was going on and he said they were filming a pilot for a new HBO show. I was a giddy little school girl. Doug was not as stoked as I was but I could hardly contain myself. When does that happen? Besides Hollywood. They made us a move a little because we were right in the shot. We went in to the vestibule of the apartment and I just watched the process, transfixed, until Doug dragged me upstairs. Maybe I should’ve gone into film making. I could be the person that shoos annoying bystanders away.

The next morning I really wanted to go shopping on the black market street. We made it over there and I surprised myself by not being very excited. I guess after living in China where basically the whole country itself is a giant black market, it wasn’t too exciting. We did make it to Chinatown though, that’s probably as close as we’ll get to the real thing for awhile.

Then we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. We didn’t really plan on it, we were just going to go a little ways, snap some photographs and then head back but we enjoyed ourselves so much we walked across the whole way.

Thank heavens we did too because we had the great fortune of eating at Grimaldi’s pizza. Sometimes I hate eating at places that everyone talks up like crazy because I’m always a little let down. However, this place lived up to all the hype and then some. I think this was our third meal in about 3 hours. Good thing we walked so much, eh?

We convinced Riley and Chel to come visit us on our last day and we had to cram in as much of NYC as we could.

1. Statue of Liberty at Battery Park

2. 9/11 Memorial

3. Brooklyn Bridge and a failed attempt at eating at Grimaldi’s again. We went for an imposter to save time and were gravely disappointed.

4. Raced back to Times Square to see The Lion King. I’d never see it before and was completely blown away by the sheer talent and production. It was worth every penny. Two thumbs up.

5. Chinese food (again). We had to share this place with someone else because it’s as close as we could get to sharing a piece of China with someone. I think it went over well.

6. Rockefeller Center. We saw someone propose at the ice skating rink as all the bystanders cheered. Cute.

Alas, our day came to a close and we had to say goodbye. We went straight back to clean up, do laundry and go to bed seeing as how our alarms were set for 3:40AM to catch our 6:00AM flight. Now, you’ve already heard me complain about this once but this time I’m here to tell you how grateful I am for our 6:00AM flight out of NYC. This was literally hours before hurricane Sandy hit. We narrowly escaped it and had our flight been any later, it would have been cancelled and we would have been stranded there, borderline helpless, for who knows how long. I’ve never been so grateful to be up that early in my whole life. It sounds like life is getting back to normal over there but my heart still goes out to all that suffered the effects of Hurricane Sandy.

As fun as going on vacation is, it’s always so nice to get home. Especially when you have 3 boys anxiously waiting for you.