NYC NYC/ Sunday

Rob here.

After a fantastic Saturday we enjoyed another late start. What is a good vacation without sleeping in right? We started off with a little jaunt back to our favorite doughnut shop. Have we raved adequatly about this place to convince you to try it next time you are in New York City? Well, you really need to give it a whirl. Doughnut plant. Amazing.

From the Doughnut Plant we walked north through Chelsea photographing the city. There are so many interesting buildings that are both ordinary, swimming in a sea of buildings, while at the same time unique, varying by light and time of day.

There are a lot of things on the street to look at including people, cars, garbage, mannequin body parts, and pink call boxes. Who would have thought? When Nate saw this image he wondered what would happen if someone accidentally pushed both buttons at the same time. I imagine that has happened many times.

As you have probably noticed in the pictures above, the general rainy character of the weather was greatly reduced and a little sun was making its debut. However, the wind remained part of the equation and it was pretty chilly. We were sometimes surprised by a sunny and windless scene in between all the shaded and windy streets. One such place was Greeley Square at the intersection of 6th Avenue, Broadway, and 32nd Street. It was great.

Map

We continued walking up to the theatre district snapping photos as we went; sometimes with our big camera and sometimes with our phones. The signs and lighting on the buildings through this areas were very interesting. Seemed kind of Vegas-ish. Meh.

Then we took a little bus ride on 42nd street over to the Hudson to see the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum. It brought a smile to my face when we crossed 12 Avenue and happened upon the Circle Line Site Seeing dock. Fun times. Anyway, we walked over to the museum and I immediately got my geek on. Feast your eyes on this magnificent aircraft carrier. Julie had fun here also but she became a little bored after I continued to walk around like a kid in a candy shop; on and on for 4 hours!

I was struck by the shear size of the vessel. It was huge! I can only imagine this bow splitting the waters of the open sea.

I thought this preflight briefing room was really impressive. Time and time again, the pilots would sit and learn about typical and life-threatening missions. So cool to be there.

The SR–71 blackbird is the quintessential spy plane. I was obsessed with this plane as a kid and honestly I am still completely in love with it. I’ve seen similar A–12 in a couple of air museums around the country but this bird had eluded me until now.

I can’t really describe what it is like to stand on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Honestly, I never imagined that I’d have the opportunity to do so. Standing on the deck in front of the command structure was intense. So huge.

Here I am trying to look important. “Turn to port not to starboard, you scallywags! All ahead full! Something amid ships…”

Here is the lovely Julianna climbing a ladder on the ship.

What was my favorite part of the museum might you ask? THE SHUTTLE PAVILLION!!! I’ve wanted to see the shuttle essentially all my life and I finally had the opportunity. Here I am with the Enterprise! Look, it’s a space shuttle!!!!

So this specific shuttle was the prototype flown in atmosphere but never sent to space. NASA considered upgrading it for spaceflights but it was not down before the end of the shuttle program. Also, I like that Star Trek fans essentially lobbied to get this ship named Enterprise. Can’t think of the better name!

I love the lighting coming off the shuttle on this one. So cool.

Another cool part of the museum is the cold war era diesel-powered submarine that was equipped to carry two nuclear missiles. It was very small and interesting to walk through. So fascinating.

After Julie was able to drag me out of the museum we made our way into the Clinton (Hell’s Kitchen) area for a bite to eat at a very cool burger place called, Island Burgers & Shakes. I got a black angus burger with bacon and goat cheese. It was fantastic! Julie got a chili burger that was too spicy for her. It would have made my throat explode it was so hot. This area isn’t touristy at all. It’s a real New York neighborhood with people carrying their laundry to the laundromat and running other various errands people do on a Sunday afternoon.

Then we proceeded to walk north on 8th Avenue though Columbus Circle, past the Lincoln Center, and on to the Upper West Side. We walked on and on past the nice steers and parks. We started seeing many more families and children. Seems like a very nice area.

We made our way to café Lalo which was featured in the movie, “You’ve Got Mail.” The hot cocoa and desserts were wonderful. It was pretty loud but charming none the less. Check out a few shots of the place.

We then took the subway a few stops back down to the Rockefeller Center area where we then walked past all the noise of the streets and tourists of NYC. Here is a picture of us with Radio City in the background. Julie is so beautiful. I had such a wonderful few days spending all my time with her.

Kind of a strange place for Christmas ornaments but we thought it was still pretty cool.

The stylish floors of the Rockefeller Center.

The area was brimming with Christmas décor and tons of people. We watched a light show on the side of Saks 5th Avenue, checked out some very, very expensive shoes, and had ourselves a very good time.

After Rockefeller we walked all the way down past the Empire State to 34th Street and Lexington Avenue for a late and tasty Thai meal. The end to a perfect day.

Merry Christmas for 2014

NYC NYC: Saturday

Since we were only going to be in New York for 2 full days I decided it would be best to just focus on the upper half of the city so we could enjoy the scenes of Christmastime. Next time we go we'll explore Lower Manhattan. We really enjoy walking cities. It's the best way to see and get a feel for where you are. Over the two full days and two half days there, we walked over 27 miles!

Because of the time difference and not wanting to wake up early on our vacation, we took each morning slowly. Sleeping in is lovely. We stayed in Midtown/Chelsea. We were planning to have breakfast at The Breslin but decided against paying $17 for yoghurt and grapefruit. We had breakfast at a diner on our way to walk the east side of the city.




































Walked past the Chrysler building and into Grand Central Station.

Walked past the U.N. building (this area of the city was clean and quiet) on the way to the Roosevelt Island Tram. This was another one of our favorite things. The island was such a contrast to the noisy, dirty city. We hardly saw anyone else there. Being surrounded by the East River and the sea smell reminded me that I was on the coast, which you'd never guess by being in Manhattan. The view across was nice. Walking hand in hand in the quiet rain was perfect.

Back to the Upper East Side, we walked to Maison Kayser, our favorite meal of the trip! The owner and executive chef is one of the best in Paris. He recently opened this location and we were excited to taste his fare. Since it was still cool and raining outside we ordered Gratinee a l'Oignon. I'm a sucker for French Onion Soup but many times it's bland. This was NOT bland. It was the best soup I've ever had! Rob agreed. We ordered a side of Jambon de Paris (house-smoked ham) and a baguette. For dessert? Financier Pistache (like a pistachio cake) and Plie aux chocolat (chocolate and custard croissant) with an eclair chocolat and yuzu (japanese lemon) pastry to go. French desserts are so different from American desserts. They are so much less sweet that you actually taste flavors other than knock-you-down amounts of sugar. The first bites are always like,  "Well that's a little bitter and bland for a dessert" but a few bites in you can't stop eating it because of all the nuanced flavors and textures. It makes your mind think about what you're tasting  where American desserts you have to stop after a few bites because they're so rich and sweet. We had such a nice time at lunch that we didn't really want to leave the warm restaurant (warm restaurant...how often does THAT happen??) back into the rain but the rest of the day was calling.

We walked through the lovely, sweet, well-to-do neighborhoods then on through a small section of Central Park.

Into the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

We knew we wouldn't have time, nor would we want to, walk through the whole museum so we chose a few sections to visit. We'd already been to fine art museums in Paris so we wanted to see something different here.

Arms and Armor

Musical Instruments

The Costume Institute. The current exhibition is titled "Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire. I was so impressed and loved viewing the beautiful pieces. I was only disappointed because I thought there would be other costume exhibitions as well. I wanted to see more! Textiles are so fragile that they can't be on display very long so they can only show a portion of their collection at a time.

Then we saw a few other sections as we walked by.

It was dark when we finished at the museum and a long walk to our next stop so we hopped on a bus to FAO Schwartz. I promised the kids we would Facetime them from the big toy store. I was expecting a large expansive space but it's actually kind of closed off and dark and looking a little old. After the kids chose their souvenirs of toys they can buy from a million stores right at home, we went off to get dinner.

There are two food halls in The Plaza Hotel but only The Todd English Food Hall was open so that's the one we chose to dine at. The ambiance was cool and slightly upscale and the food was good (Chicken and Ginger Handmade Dumplings with Lemongrass Pesto, Pappardelle Pomodoro with toasted garlic, tomato, basil, and whipped ricotta).

One funny thing, though. We were sat next to a couple of obnoxious women talking about their daughters menstrual cycles and how horrible it was try and get along with the girls. I ran to the restroom in the middle of this so Rob was left alone having to listen. He was glad when I returned.

By this time the weather was very windy and cold and it was getting late so we took the subway back to our hotel. We had an absolutely magical and marvelous day full of sites and tastes.

NYC NYC: Friday

A few months ago I opened a Marriott Rewards Premier Visa card with the sole reason of getting a vacation out of it. They had a great point incentive and we use Marriotts all the time so it was a no-brainer. The first thing I love about this card is that it is made out of metal and is hefty so whenever I pull it out and hand it to someone I feel so sophisticated and elite :) The cashier always comments on how cool it is and my pride kicks in. So lame of me! Of course, the second thing I love about this card is that it was super easy for us to earn a bunch of free nights of hotel.

When I was deciding when and where to use our hotel nights I wanted to optimize. We get Friends and Family rates anyway so I didn't want to use them in California or something like that because the rates there are relatively low anyway. I saw it as a waste of use. But in New York City, well, hotel nights are easily $250-$600 per night. Badda-bing! Rob and I had been wanting a weekend getaway to NYC for a few years now and this was perfect timing. I had just missed the chance to go to Israel so was anxious for a trip and Rob wanted to cheer me up. All year we had focused on the outdoors so this city with a good dose of culture was calling me. Plus, how fun would it be to go to NYC at Christmas time? The stars aligned.

Early Friday we caught our flight and arrived at dinner time. Rob had his heart set on using Lyft to get to the hotel and it worked out well. We dropped our bags and went to get some pizza-by-the-slice (another thing he had his heart set on).

We walked in the rain to the Morgan Library & Museum and made it in time for free night with beautiful live classical music being played in the Court.

This was one of the places I had most looked forward to visiting and it did not disappoint. I have no idea why this isn't a more popular attraction for tourists because it's wonderful.

The shelves were filled to the max with first editions of about every classic book you can name dating to the 1500s including an entire wall dedicated to different editions and versions of the bible, again dating back to the 1500s. Amazing.

Some of the collection's highlights for us were the Crusader's Bible made in Paris around 1250, Charles Dickens original manuscript of A Christmas Carol, original manuscripts of Mozart and Beethoven, a draft of the Declaration of Independence, and Benjamin Franklin's copy of the U.S. Constitution. WOW!

Even the building itself was awesome. It was truly a treat to visit.

On the way back to our hotel we walked past the Empire State Building enshrined in clouds.

We also ran into a large, loud gathering. We realized it was a protest so we turned around and walked the other way. Minutes later, at least 20 NYPD cars with their lights on drove down the road we were walking on. Then, we walked straight into the very head of the march. Again we turned around and eventually made it out of the mess back to our hotel. We called the kids while we waited for things to die down in the vicinity and then went out again for doughnuts.

And doughnuts they were!! The best doughnuts Rob and I have ever had. We ended up back at the same shop stuffing ourselves three more times. Our favorites were citron, chocolate hazelnut, coconut cream, creme brulee, orange blossom, etc, etc, etc. We brought some home but found out they have a very short shelf life and the life had been sucked out of them. By the time we got home they were dry and stone-hard. So sad :(

And check out the bathroom! Sweet!


So that was our wonderful first day.