The Big Apple

Dad and I surprised mom with tickets to NYC for her birthday last November! I must first say it was MAGICAL... and very very very cold!
We arrived February 19th and departed February 23rd! We were able to get incredible prices for round trip tickets because (I assume..) we planned our trip in an off season! We booked through Southwest Airlines and signed up for early bird seating. It worked... we were able to sit beside each other both there and back!
PS: I forgot to mention... It was planned  a girls trip! No boys allowed! Pinch me, I know!!! Trips like these don't happen very often so we were on countdown starting November 18th!

                       

I found this very helpful blog on Pinterest during our planning! We were not disappointed with any of her recommendations including our hotel! You can find her link in blue(I think)below! Cheers to you!

NYC Girl Weekend with Picky Palate!

We stayed at the Omni Berkshire Place Hotel! I was able to get another incredible deal though Expedia on our rooms! They were clean, warm and perfectly decorated! The bathroom was exquisite! Spacious, fully equipped for two women and it was a great location for our first trip! Jumping ahead a bit, our last night at the hotel we dined in, in our pajamas, and it was DELICIOUS! We were exhausted, needed to re-pack and the Oscar's were on! Psssss: I am an extremely picky eater and I ate my entire plate! 

                                   

                       

Our first few days consisted of a lot of sleet, snow and shopping! There are so many places to shop in New York! Compared to Texas, most of the stores are about five times bigger and by bigger I mean stories bigger. I don't recall ever going into a store that wasn't at least two stories. We laughed at ourselves the first three days we were there because every time we would walk inside a shop we were shedding layers of clothes and then we had to stop ten minutes before returning back outside to get all of our layers back on. I've never been happier to be a walking onion, though. Their winters are for real. 

We ventured to the famous Tiffany's on 5th Avenue to see a very special person! (Different scenery and shops from the 1961, Breakfast at Tiffany's) but the people as nice as they are in the movie!  See his link HERE!!!
5th Avenue was spectacular! Down a few blocks is an Apple Store that is open 24/7/365! Wowza! There are so many places to shop and see! The St. Patrick's Cathedral is breath taking! They were having mass when we stepped in so I dif not take pictures of the inside of the building and i'm not sure it is even allowed! I've never stepped foot into a cathedral as intricately built. It was much more romantic, especially when choir was signing, than the modern world we live in today. I left that moment with sweet vibes and chills on my arm. 

                                    

                     

We ventured to Rockefeller Center and a few Anthropologies from there. (: And yes I meant for Anthropolgie to be plural. One of our favorite shopping stops ever! 

                     

We met Cam for dinner at Serendipity 3! I had the best cheese ravioli's I have ever had in my life followed by Frozen Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. I know no other way of explaining this except by saying- Holy hot chocolate it is life changing. In fact, the whole trip was absolutely worth just the frozen hot chocolate!! If you are from the San Antonio area of Texas- the building reminded me of Mi Tierra's vibes. I wish I would have taken a few pictures. Funky stuff hanging from the ceiling and all sorts of pictures and things hanging on the walls! 

                                    

Our second day we ventured to Chelsea Market! Very cool and very packed! I ran across the www.verrierboutique.com and picked up a handful of fabulous prints! One of my favorite souvenirs that I left the city with! If you are a fashionista you will not regret clicking that link! We had lunch at Amy's Bread then headed to LaDuree in SoHo for macaroons.  

                                

Found another Anthropologie, a one of a kind kid clothing company and an amazing resale store (picture above)! That night we went to Wicked! Another life changing event that I can not say enough amazing things about. I highly recommend seeing this show. Though there are a few "dark" parts it is kid friendly, hilarious and I can not wait to take Hendrix. We sat behind a family of four with two small children and I still remember seeing the excitement on the small boys face! They served delicious "Ozmopolitans" at the bar and a few other "Oz" related drinks that will make any one giggle! Make sure to take quite a bit of cash, if I remember correctly, two drinks were around $36. Yes, that included the cups! Yikes!

                  

                                 

                      

Our third day we ventured through Little Italy and had a FABULOUS lunch at Parm! Highly highly highly recommend that you visit Parm if you are ever in New York! We had no idea how to order and explained to our waiter that we were visiting from Texas so he brought us his favorites! He has excellent taste buds, I must say! Best ricotta cheese I have ever had in my life. Melts in your mouth like ice cream. Speaking of ice cream... Supposedly, Parm is famous for their ice cream cake! I give it 5 stars! I am now a fan of pistachio ice cream and I rarely try new foodie things.

                                  

From there we headed to Union Square and did more shopping! We met Cam for dinner that night at Max Brenner - Third life changing experience. WOW! I recommend that you make reservations ahead of time as we did! This place was jam packed but worth every bite! Everything minus the meals is made of chocolate, I think! Being that I am a chocoholic, I was extremely overwhelmed and refuse to go into further detail in fear of hopping on a plane tomorrow.  

                                 

                    

Fourth and and final day was beautiful. We could not have asked for better weather to be tourist in. We started out at Battery Park, explored Century 21 and finally made our original destination Ground Zero. It was all wonderful.
I've started new sentences several times and I have deleted them not knowing exactly what to say to make you feel what I felt and still feel. It was real. I felt the same way walking through the museum, I didn't and still don't know exactly what to say. I remember people, that had already visited, telling mom and I, before our trip, how depressing and empty we would feel walking out. It was heart wrenching and very hard to fight back tears. It gave me anxiety to be in such a wonderful city that someone had attempted to destroy. It gave me pride knowing that I live in a beautiful country that will stand tall and fight together. There is an entire wall of hand-drawn cards from small children-"never give up". We bought a book about all of the search dogs that spent weeks looking for life in the debris and another about the Little Chapel That Stood. There are so many beautiful people that were payed tribute to and actual parts of the building standing that survived. Pictures of thousands of people that lost their lives. A wall of paintings from at least a hundred different people of their memory of the color of the sky that day. I pray that at some point everyone in the world will have an opportunity to walk through those doors. It was more than, as a proud American, I could ever ask for. May we never forget the innocent and courageous lives that were lost.

                  

We hiked over the Brooklyn bridge to (what we think is) the original Grimaldi's and headed back across to the Empire State building. Mom and I were curios to see how different Grimadi's in New York would be from the ones in Texas. They were definitely different! The crust was fluffier and maybe sweeter ?(we never could pin point it) and the olives were fresh, giant olives (like the size of ping pong balls)! The empire state building was HIGH! It was also crowded (not like Sleepless in Seattle lol) but we made it to the top along with about three hundred other people! It was breath taking and a little bit scary all at the same time! I hope to go again someday when it is a little less crowded. Something cool I didn't think we would get to see was the fire escape. They actually had so many people their that Sunday that they let us walk down several floors. It was old time-y and reminded me of Titanic for some weird reason.
                                           

                              

                               

We had a blast and it was a great way for my mom and I to get one on one time adventuring in a place we had both never been before! We also both enjoyed getting to see Cam! It is a blessing to be able to sit around and lose track of time conversating with the ones you love. I am counting down the days until we are able to go back!

"New York is always a good idea!"