Mickey surprised me at Christmas by planning a trip to New York City for us in February. I have wanted to see a show on Broadway for the longest of times, so he got tickets for us to see Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre in NYC!! He did his research and found a great hotel for us that was very nice and also incredibly convenient. What a WONDERFUL surprise!
Our trip was this past weekend! It was the first time either of us have ever been to New York City. It was a lot of fun! We arrived on a Friday and traffic was a nightmare, but we got the whole NYC cab experience that way, I guess. We got to our hotel and found out that our room would be ready in an hour, so we took that opportunity to go out for lunch. We asked the concierge for a recommendation and he suggested Thalia, so we went there. It was fantastic! We really enjoyed it! After lunch, we got settled into our hotel room and then decided to go walk around and explore. Here are some photos from our first exploration around the Times Square area:
Radio City Music Hall
Mickey in Manhattan
The skating rink at Rockefeller Center
We took MANY self portraits on this trip. Here is one of Mickey and me at Rockefeller:
We visited Top of the Rock which is the top observation deck at Rockefeller. Here are some shots from there:
Another self portrait
In this photo you can see the Met Life building
The Empire State building is shown in these photos:
That evening, had dinner at Rosie O’Grady’s and then we went back out to the Times Square area. Here is a couple of shots of Times Square (not the best quality – sorry):
Yet another self portrait:
Times Square is really cool. SOOOO much going on at all times. It was fun to hang out in the area on Friday and just take in the sights. We didn’t stay out long because we were pretty tired from traveling, etc. So, we went back to the hotel and chilled while watching the Olympics. Okay, so it wasn’t the most “happening” way to spend a Friday evening in NYC, but we enjoyed just having some nice down time.
Saturday morning, we had breakfast at Route 66 Cafe which was recommended by the concierge on duty at the hotel. It was SO good!! I had the Challah French Toast and it was delicious! We really enjoyed Route 66!
After breakfast, we decided to take a bus tour. Since we only had Saturday to tour, we decided to just take the downtown loop tour.
Here is our first tour bus:
And, here we are on the bus – yes, another of our self portraits:
The tour was really fun! A friend had given me the tip about taking the tour as a good way to really see some sights and she was right. It was great! Our first tour guide was really witty and knowledgeable. We really enjoyed his tour narrative. I wanted to go shopping at Century 21, so we got off the bus at a stop near that store. Century 21 is crazy! It is HUGE and just full of clothes, shoes, etc. at discounted prices. Mickey was truly a good sport about me shopping there. I have to give him all the credit in the world because he is NOT a shopper at all. The store was a little bit overwhelming, but it was fun! I walked out of there with some great stuff at even better prices. Yes!!
After C21, we walked by Ground Zero and saw the construction sight there. It’s still surreal, even more than eight years later, to see where the Twin Towers once stood.
We got onto another tour bus to complete our downtown tour and this time we had a guide that was politically motivated and cynical. We didn’t enjoy his tour guiding as much. We saw some cool NYC sites, but could have done without his rants. We had considered getting off at Central Park, but by that point in the tour we were starving and ready for lunch, so we decided to finish the tour out back around Times Square and get lunch in that vicinity so we could get back to hotel and relax. We went to Ray’s Pizza and it was VERY good. I had a cheese calzone and Mickey got pizza by the slice. YUM! That really hit the spot!! As we were walking back to the hotel, we decided we wanted something sweet. We were heading towards Europa Cafe which we had been into the day before when I got a nice cafe au lait, but on the way there we saw Crumbs, so we stopped in for cupcakes. Their selection of cupcakes is amazing! We wound up getting a four pack – brownie, Oreo, chocolate chip cookie and Reese’s. We split the brownie cupcake back at the hotel and it was delicious! We brought the other three home with us. What a fun and yummy treat!!
We relaxed in our room for awhile on Saturday late afternoon. I actually took a nap which was NICE!! That evening, we went to Azalea for dinner before going to our first ever Broadway show. Azalea was also recommended by the hotel concierge. (See a pattern here? Always talk to the concierge.) Our food there was very good! I had the Pollo con Carciofi which is a chicken breast with artichokes and tomatoes in a white wine sauce. My dish was very simple and very tasty. I really enjoyed it. Mickey had a great steak there as well. It was a nice meal to have prior to a show and very convenient to the Gershwin Theatre where we saw Wicked.
Wicked was absolutely amazing!! We had seen it when a touring production came to the Fox Theatre in Atlanta in October 2008. Seeing it on Broadway was definitely a hit for us! It was beautifully done. And, now that we have had a taste of seeing a show on Broadway, we definitely want to see more in the future!
On Sunday, we got up bright and early. Our concierge had suggested leaving the hotel via cab by 7:30 in order to get to the airport and through security in plenty of time for our 10am flight back home. So, we got up with the chickens – except that there obviously aren’t any chickens in NYC. 😉 We went to Junior’s for breakfast. We were the first ones to arrive. Our waitress was super sweet. Being a good Southern girl, I had to ask her how their grits are because I was surprised to see grits on a menu in New York City! She said that for New Yorkers, the grits are good, but a Southern girl like me (I told her I am from Georgia) wouldn’t like them. I had to laugh. So, I ordered their griddle cakes and turkey sausage while Mickey got an omelet. Our breakfast portions were really big and the food was delicious! It was definitely the right place to go for a nice filling breakfast before leaving the city. We also got a cheesecake to bring home because we had been given the advice that their cheesecakes are amazing.
Here we are in front of Junior’s:
We left our hotel right around 7:30 on Sunday morning. Traffic was really easy and we got to the airport and through security by just after 8am! When we got to the gate, another flight was finishing boarding for Atlanta. Mickey asked if they had room on that flight for us and, sure enough, they did. A really nice man changed seats so that we could sit together and we were on our way home earlier than anticipated. (Better than sitting in the airport for two hours any day!)
This was the view from my airplane window when we were on the runway:
A few aerial shots of the city from the plane:
We had a very easy flight home. My ears hate flying, so they were popping and achy, but the flight itself could not have been more smooth. Here are some shots I took from the window.
A partially frozen river – I have NO clue where this is actually located:
Our Creator is such a beautiful artist! I am awed by how different and yet beautiful things look from the air. Check out these mountains:
We arrived home and were greeted at the airport by Mickey’s parents and our girls. It was a VERY happy reunion after a wonderful weekend! We all had lunch together and then we came home while Mickey’s parents stayed at the airport to await their flight home.
NYC is definitely a world unto itself. I really enjoyed our visit there and I had a lot of fun. I’m enough of a country girl at heart to know I couldn’t even begin to think of living there. However, I’d love to visit again. I’d like to see more of the sites, take in some more shows and show our girls around the city. I’m so thankful to have had this travel opportunity and thankful that Mickey put together such a fantastic surprise for me!