When the Steelers packed up and headed to New Jersey to take on the Giants, so did this girl! I had the pleasure of staying in the ultra-chic New York City and had a fabulous time exploring the "Big Apple". I stayed with my college friend Kristie at her apartment in Murray Hill. Needless to say, the title of this blog says a lot about my sleeping habits for the weekend - haha!
I caught my flight at 7 AM on Friday so I woke up around 4:45 AM to get ready, finish packing and get to the airport on time. I landed in NYC around 10ish and was off to do some sight-seeing while Kristie finished work for the day. My first stop was Kristie's work building where I dropped off my bags and picked up a map of the city. From there I'll take you on a photography tour :-)
Gotta get in the "Empire State of Mind" by seeing the Empire State Building!
Love, Love, LOVE Bryant Park where I had a fabulous lunch at the B.P. Cafe :-)
Hello Times Square!
I see you Radio City!
Fancy seeing you here, Rockefeller Center!
And of course the beautiful St. Patrick's Cathedreal...
After a full day of walking I thought my feet were going to fall off...seriously, they were like numb! We cabbed it back to the apartment where I got to freshen up before heading out to dinner at ThaiNY...My first Thai experience! It wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be. I actually enjoyed it! At ThaiNY we met up with some of Kristie's friends and just overall had a great time!
After dinner we headed to a roof-top bar...very cool! I guess its pretty common in NYC but I had never seen anything like it before! It was an absolutely beautiful night and just seeing the city all lit up around me, it was just breathtaking! Another college friend, Katie, met us here. It was SO nice to see her! I'm so happy she could make it out for the night!!
Unfortunately, my lack of sleep was finally catching up to me at this point so I had zero drinks and was kinda looking forward to the night wrapping up. Before it did we hit up a little hot-spot called "The Joshua Tree" - if I was energized and my feet didn't hurt so bad I think I would have REALLY enjoyed this place! It was a super-fun atmosphere! They played all 80's music and played the music videos all around the bar. I remember specifically seeing The Rolling Stones "Start Me Up" and thinking to myself that Mick Jagger sure didn't look like the badass he is in his white pants and purple shirt dancing all over the place! Too Funny! Another favorite that was played...B-52's "Love Shack"...I LOVED this song growing up and so wanted to be the blonde in the video - haha!
After a few hours of sleep I was up and at it for another full day in the City! Kristie and I woke up early, got ready and grabbed some bagels at a little shop near her house. We saved them and ate them in Central Park. Gosh, it is so beautiful there!
As much as it is an "escape" from the City - there is no denying you're still there. We had a few little friends join us at breakfast...look closely!!
If you can't tell, that's two little mice scurrying away! They would run out grab some crumbs that run back in the bushes and chase each other. Normally I would have screamed and ran away if a mouse was just a few feet away but for some strange reason I accepted it and even wanted to document it - haha.
After breakfast we planned on heading to 5th Avenue for some shopping but I decided to detour our trip and splurge on a carriage ride - haha!
I've always wanted to do this! Ideally it would be on a crisp fall day with Patrick by my side (sorry Kristie!) but I decided to just go for it! Where it is a fun experience it is over-priced for the time you get. We were promised at 20 minute ride (no way in heck it was 20 minutes) for $50! The real kicker to make me do it was the fact that I found $20 on the street the previous night so I looked at it as spending only $30 on it - which is more reasonable for what you get! It was fun though...I'd suggest everyone to try it at least once!!
We spent the rest of the day shopping - including at least an hour in Tiffany's! I LOVE Tiffany's! I have a few pieces from Tiffany's and everything I've bought from there I've purchased from saving change for it. I think it's amazing that almost every year I can purchase a nice piece of jewelery just by putting aside my spare penny's. It's now a tradition and one that I just can't break. Currently I'm saving for the silver ball bracelet...to match my silver ball earrings. I'm just under half way there. I kept contemplating whether or not to just buy them while I was there. One minute I'd say "Yes! You have to!" while the next I'd say "Maggie, you don't need it...keep saving!". Surprise, Surprise - my brain won over my heart, who would have thought that would happen?! Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for my bank account I left Tiffany's sans the signature blue bag that I love oh so much.
After shopping we headed to "Sushi Samba" for some lunch. Mmmm! It was so good! After delicious sea bass and shrimp tempura sushi roll we were stuffed and all set to get ready for the Steeler game! After a quick swap of clothes and a pull back of the hair for me (I didn't do so hot in the heat!) we were off on the train to New Jersey. We got dropped off in the parking lot of the New Meadowlands Stadium which was so convenient!
This was the second game played in the new stadium. It was SO nice! One of the things I liked in particular were the four huge HD jumbotrons located all around the stadium!
This was the second game played in the new stadium. It was SO nice! One of the things I liked in particular were the four huge HD jumbotrons located all around the stadium!
It's a huge stadium so having those from every angle was really helpful. Our seats weren't the best - four rows from the top! For some reason visiting teams are never given good seats to games, but it was a seat none the less. The Jumbotrons were helpful from that high that's for sure. We did end up moving down before half-time though since there were a lot of empty seats.
Patrick started on Special Teams and went in as a second-string linebacker. He got a lot of playing time which is always a good thing! The Steelers ended up winning the game 24-17.
After the game we got to spend a little bit of time with him which was so nice. I've never gotten to see him after an away game that I've went to. Usually they get right on the bus and head to the airport. It was nice to get to say hello and congratulate him on a win :-) I'm also glad Kristie got to meet my man as she had heard so much gushing over him!!
After taking the train back to the City, Kristie and I cabbed it to grab some amazing desert at Serendipity 3! I loooooved this place so much!!! Serendipity is my all-time favorite movie so having one of the famous "Frrrozen Hot Chocolate" drinks from the movie was high atop my to-do list!
While the "Frrrozen Hot Chocolate" wasn't as to-die-for as I would have wished it to be, the "Strawberry Fields Sundae" was out of this world!
Try cheesecake, strawberry ice cream, whipped cream and fresh strawberries...AMAZING!!!
Serendipity 3 has such a fun energy about it. It's very sporadic with random knick-knacks hanging from the ceiling...
At the front of the building is a little shop full of different items that are very unique. This is where I treated myself to something nice to take home with me. I purchased their signature perfume called "Serendipitous" which has a sweet chocolaty smell to it. I also bought some cute spreaders for entertaining :-) Serendipity 3 was definitely one of my favorite New York experiences this trip!!
After we took a walk through Times Square all lit up at night which was so cool to see!
The night ended with rain which continued through the night and into the morning. It stopped long enough to walk down the block to grab some New York pizza...yum! The rain picked up again right as we got back to the apartment and didn't stop. It proved to be very problematic for me!!! First off, finding a taxi in the rain is zero-percent fun! Then the taxi-ride to the airport was zero-percent fun as the crazy cabbie hydroplaned at least 4 times...I seriously feared for my well-being. NYC cab drivers are scary enough, add rain to the mix and it's downright frightening! Fortunately I did make it to the airport safely only to find that my flight was delayed do to the rain. As the 10 minute delays kept piling up I soon missed my connecting flight in Baltimore. The delays soon after turned into a canceled flight which was a mess across the board! The entire airport was on hold and there were people EVERYWHERE!!!
To get home I had to get a stand-by ticket to Chicago and spend the night in the Chicago airport...can you say miserable?! All I wanted was my bed!!! But you always have to look at things positively, I at least made it home safely :-) But I do have to admit this blog is so long-coming because my sleep schedule was way off whack from this trip. It just took an affect on my entire life.
Overall this trip was very memorable. A big thank you goes out to Kristie for allowing me to stay with her...you're the best girl! I can't wait to visit the "Big Apple" again soon :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment