NYC with N | Mommy and Me Monday | 728th ed
N’s birthday present (yes, her birthday is in October) was “any trip where we go somewhere, but don’t drive.” After discussing and narrowing it down, I landed on NYC. It’s a relatively easy flight, lots to do and no rental call needed!
(This is a long, picture-heavy post, but I had to include all of the details!)
Friday
Our original flight Friday was changed, which put us arriving really late, but also gave us the option to change it more, so I opted for an earlier flight. We shared headphones and watched a movie together.
And before we knew it, we were flying over the city! We sat on the correct side of the plane and were able to see the Statue of Liberty as we flew over. We also saw a lot of other recognizable landmarks.
Our original plan with our late arrival was to take an share-ride from La Guardia, but with an earlier flight, we grabbed our bags and saw that there was a free bus to the subway station.
We grabbed a quick sandwich at the airport to get us to dinner time.
So, we hoped on the bus, put in our hotel (Hotel Edison) and made oru way to the subway. Like the goofs we are, we had to document our first subway ride together.
Our arrival was pretty well-timed. It was just a few minutes walk to the hotel and we were able to check in as soon as we arrived. We both had a workout to get in (N a run and me weights, so we got that knocked off the list in the hotel gym.)
We settled in our room and then got some recommendations for dining out and walked to 9th street for an Indian dinner a Bombay Grill House.
After dinner, we walked to Rockefeller Center to see the tree. As it turned out, it was the last day it was up and lit!
Then we walked around some more, looked at some store displays, went into St. Peter’s cathedral, and headed to Times Square to take it all in!
The ball was still up from the ball drop (do they take it down, I don’t know!) and then we called it a night. It had been a long day of travel and we were tired and wanted a good night’s sleep our next busy day.
Saturday
Both N and I had runs planned for Saturday. The weather was unseasonably warm, so we walked the mile to Central Park and started our run. We didn’t have a complete plan, but decided to go ahead and do the whole Central Park loop. Afterall, when would we be there again?
This is our obligatory post-10K run picture! We only stopped one time for another picture by a waterfall.
We walked back to our hotel, stopping for our “grab and go” breakfast and got ready for our bus tour. We got ready…and N even braided my hair.
Ready to see New York City….we just made one (relatively large) mistake. Since our run was so warm, we decided to forego our jackets because “it can’t be that much colder.” Oh, how wrong we were. Thankfully, we had put hats and gloves in my backpack.
Time for our Big Bus Tour. We even thought here about walking back and getting our jackets, but decided we’d be okay.
We planned a couple stops to get off the bus and adventure around. One stop we got off to go see Taylor Swift’s apartment, 23 Cornelia St.
There isn’t a lot to see here except to be able to say you saw the apartment. We did find a grocery store to get some hot chocolate and a hot tea. That was definitely a help warming us up.
We also walked to “electric lady studios” to see where some works of art were recorded. But, this is all you get to see there, too.
We stumbled upon Washington Square Arch, but this is when we started getting really cold. So, we snapped a picture and headed back to the bus.
We also wondered through a market and I grabbed a bagel for eating later. It was getting to lunch time, so N wanted to get off at Little Italy and have a slice of pizza. It was a pretty tasty slice.
It was back to the bus and off for another stop at the New York Stock Exchange. I had to get a picture of my fearless girl with Fearless Girl out in front.
Gotta remember mom is there, too. But, apparently, I didn’t know where to look for the picture.
N also had her first NYC street dog. I think it will also be her last! Then we went over to Trinity Church. How beautiful is this building? The stained glass was amazing.
We made sure to stop at Alexander Hamilton and Eliza Hamilton’s burial site, but it didn’t seem appropriate to take pictures.
At this point, we were pretty tired and cold. There were several stops remaining on the bus, but we couldn’t decide if we wanted to get off. The 9/11 Memorial was one of the stops, but we were nearing the last bus that was running and the line for people to get back on the bus was longer than there were seats available, so we decided to head back.
The bus started and ended at the m&m store, so we popped in to check it out, and found the peanut m&m and had to get a picture.
We made reservations for dinner, showed up, were seated, got water and then didn’t see our server again (and we really waited like 20 minutes), so we decided to leave and hit a deli for some sandwiches and dinner in the hotel room. That was more our speed, we decided.
Whew! That was a day. Between the run and the walking, we ended up with about 28,000 steps.
Sunday
Sunday we got to start a little slower. We booked a walking tour through the hotel and we both really enjoyed it. We were also the youngest people on the tour by at least 15 years!
We looked at and learned about a lof the buildings and the history of them in New York City. And the biggest part of the tour was Grand Central Station. It really is magnificent. I think we spent about 30 minutes walking around in the train station. So many layers.
And had to learn about the outside too and that cars literally drive around the station. Like it is built into the roads.
We ended our tour at New York Public Library and Grant Park (on the backside of the library). Unfortunately, city funding had cut the library being open on Sundays and Monday was MLK day so it was closed. We never got to go in.
We had a little snack after our tour and walked around and found our way to Serendipity 3 for a little birthday celebration for N (make reservations if you are going). She had a frozen hot chocolate…and they are huge!
Go for the frozen hot chocolate, stay for the fun photo opps.
After our late lunch, we decided to take the subway to the 9/11 Memorial and take it all in.
When people tell you there is an experience on the subway, every time we rode, there were people dancing.
I didn’t take any pictures at the 9/11 Memorial, either. I don’t think all of the water was on because of the wind and temperatures, but also, didn’t feel like it was a place to take pictures. It was a place to remember and feel.
We also walked over to St. Paul’s, the church that survived the towers collapsing. It really took me back to the footage of all of the people that came to help in the coming days and months after.
After spending time at the Memorial, we took the subway back to the hotel area, grabbed some dinner at another grocery store and enjoyed another quiet hotel dinner because we had to rest up to see Hamilton!
We had a 7:00 show and it was 0.2 miles from the hotel. We were finally going to see it live on Broadway!
Waiting for the show to start. I don’t think there was a bad seat in the entire theater.
It was so good! If you can see it live, do it!
Monday
Monday, we had a hotel run to do and had to set an alarm to knock it out in the gym. We had to decide between feels like 5 or 105 in the gym. We opted for the gym and I’m not sure we made the right call.
The run had to get done early so we could make our ticketed entry time to the Museum of Broadway.
It was a cool place to check out, with a lot to see and read. We realized there are a lot of shows that we had never heard of. And the history of broadway is long and amazing.
After the Museum, we had some time to walk around Times Square, so we went into the shops that we hadn’t yet had a chance to see. That included the Disney Store. Naturally, we had to get a picture of N with Liberty Minnie!
We grabbed lunch at the hotel restaurant (Friedman’s) and hung out for a big before getting our luggage and heading to airport via the subway and bus!
It was great to have a one-on-one trip with N. We saw all the things; some planned and some spontaneous and did a ton!
What did you do this week?
GET IN THE PICTURE WITH YOUR KIDS! Who cares what you look like? Who cares how you appear? Who cares what you are wearing? JUST DO IT! Come share your picture on the Facebook thread or use #MommyAndMeMonday!
It’s time again for Mommy and Me Monday. Pop out from behind that camera and capture yourself in action with your kids. Check out the inaugural Mommy and Me Monday for more information. Need another reason to participate in Mommy and Me Monday? Read my post about why I blog with words from a friend’s husband.
