Thursday, January 4, 2018

The One Where We Went to New York

Back in October Ian and I were able to slip away for a quick weekend away. It was a mix of Ian's birthday weekend and a much needed child free escape. I felt pretty guilty about it at first, because we had to leave on Sophia's actual birthday, but quickly got over it, as she was in good care of her Mimi and I knew we would celebrate some more when we returned.



We took the train up to the city.

The train.

I was a skeptic of it, mainly because I had heard of so many horrible issues with the train, but it turned out to be okay. It was cheap, took us straight into the heart of the city, and you don't have to do a big check in, security, and waiting process like you do at the airport. You could arrive five minutes before your train and walk right on. That's a nice perk!

We stayed with one of Ian's best friends, Sam, who has lived in the city for a couple of years. Sam has made many appearances over the years on this blog, including when we lived in the same town as him during our first year of marriage and when he visited us in Abu Dhabi! We are thankful for his friendship for so long and we were excited to get to spend some time with him on his own turf.

We enjoyed our quiet train ride (I got to read! In peace!) stepped out into Penn Station and (mostly) successfully navigated our way onto the subway and to Sam's apartment. I'm fairly certain we walked around his neighborhood, had Cuban food, and walked down to a park with a great view of the skyline.



On Saturday, we did a great walking tour of the city! We started off with Washington Square Park, then down to Union Square Park (we walked!!!) then we ducked into Strand Bookstore, where we got absolutely lost amidst all of the books! I really loved the children's department and Ian enjoyed the rare books floor.




We made our way to The NYC Library, Bryant Park, Grand Central Station, and then on to the Empire State building and stopped for a yummy lunch in Korean Town. We did a quick run through of Rockefeller Center, saw St. Patrick's Cathedral, and headed back to Sam's place for a quick rest and to freshen up.

I'm going to be frank. I wore new boots. It was pretty awful. I thought for sure I was going to have to pull a Monica and Chandler and ditch the boots and catch a ride on Ian's back. I was able to hobble my way through the day and I added another layer of socks for the next day!




Later we hopped out to get a shwarma and falafal (YAY!) then headed to Times Square. It was every bit as overwhelming as we expected. We found a rooftop bar that was ridiculously full (think, unable to move,) then headed out to our Broadway show!! We went to see the Lion King! It was incredible and was such a good experience except I probably wouldn't go to see a show that I was so familiar with the movie again. I felt like I could have narrated all of the lines in the entire show!



Sunday we made our way to Central Park! I loved seeing so many of the iconic scenes from so many movies. It was surreal. It was so much fun to wander but I was so exhausted! I did get my only injury of the weekend at Central Park when I slipped on some rocks leading down to a bench. Three months later and I'm still sporting my NYC scar. We ended up wrapping up our morning a little early and going to brunch to just sit and hang out.







Sunday afternoon we headed to see the World Trade Center Memorial, the Freedom Tower, Battery Park, Trinity Church, and Wall Street. We took an Uber over to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked across it at sunset. This might have been one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. It was just a slow pace walk, lots to see and look at, beautiful sunset, and fun with friends, but it really stands out to me. When we got over the bridge we wandered over to Main Street Park/Pebble Beach and right as we walked up a random firework show began. It was amazing!







We came back on Monday, right after grabbing another amazing bagel! It was such a fun trip and we look forward to going back again. On my list for our next trip would be a trip to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, another Broadway show, and eating at some more amazing restaurants!

Also, let it be known that we got more pictures together as a couple on this one weekend trip than we usually get in an entire year! 

2 comments:

Emily Powell said...

Sounds like such a fun trip. I've been to NYC and didn't do most of the things you listed. Loved all your photographs!

Heather said...

We loved going to NYC last year...we saw many of the same sights. I think my least favorite part was Times Square...to much weirdness for me, ha! I did enjoy Broadway, though. My favorite was by far Central Park and the Bryant Park areas. :)

Did you see the Friends fountain?