NYC - Day 4

The thing that I didn't mention in my last post was that Kelci, Jeff & I went to a deli late Saturday night for a snack. And when I woke up on Sunday morning, I was in terrible pain from what I'm pretty sure was food poisoning!

So even though I really just wanted to lay in bed & sleep all Sunday, I endured a full day of sightseeing & then a 3 hour flight home. It was painful yet wonderful all at the same time!

Since we were flying home that evening, we packed up in the morning & stowed our luggage at the hotel before heading out for the day.

Then we took the subway to Ground Zero.

We walked around the 9/11 Memorial

and then went inside the 9/11 Museum.

We spent about an hour or so at Ground Zero but that was not nearly enough time. It's definitely on my to do list next time I go to NYC. 

When we left Ground Zero, we took the subway again, this time to Brooklyn!

We got off the subway at the Brooklyn Bridge station near Dumbo. I really wanted to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge but we didn't have enough time & again, I was feeling horrible!

But the main reason I wanted to go to Dumbo was for the pizza!

We have a Grimaldi's in Sugar Land & it is my absolute favorite pizza!

So I really wanted to go to the original one.

But... I had read that the original owners had sold Grimaldi's & opened another pizza place right next door called Juliana's. So we decided to try to Juliana's so I could compare the two.

Juliana's pizza was just as yummy as Grimaldi's! 

Unfortunately, since I was still sick to my stomach, I only ate about 1/2 a slice. I didn't even get to savor the deliciousness that I had so been looking forward to. What an awful day to be sick!!!

After lunch, we walked down the street to Brooklyn Bridge Park for a better look at the bridge

and the fabulous views of Manhattan.

Look closely & you can see the Statue of Liberty!

As we were walking back to the subway station, 

we stopped at Cadman Plaza Park

to make a snowman

and snow angels.

After that, we rode the subway back to our hotel, got our luggage & headed to the airport.

When we got to the airport, I found out that the flight was overbooked & I did not have a seat. I did end up getting on the flight, but I had to sit by myself & I still felt horrible. It was an awful experience & I was so glad once we landed. I dropped everyone off at Susan's house & then drove the hour home & slept until 11am the next day!

Minus the food poisoning & the off Broadway play, this was such a fun trip! I had been wanting to go to New York ever since I missed the last trip & had been begging Nick to go with me. He wasn't interested in going but now that he's seen all there is to do, he's up for going back with me! So yay, I see another NYC vacation in my future!

NYC - Day 3

We didn't have anywhere to be til early afternoon on Saturday,
so we had a nice lazy morning & then headed off to the
main branch of the New York Public Library.

It's such a beautiful building with amazing architectural details inside & out.

(And it's very recognizable if you've ever seen Ghostbusters!)

Fortitude the Lion

detailing of the exterior walls

detailing of the front door

view as you walk in the front door

Look at that tiled ceiling!

the Salomon Room

and the Dorot Jewish Division Room

They have a gift shop on the first floor where I bought a few souvenirs

and contributed to their What Are You Reading Now wall.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls #readnypl

(Excellent book by the way!)

When we finished at the library, we split up. This was the first trip to NYC for both Molly & me, so we decided to go to Central Park while everyone else went on a Seinfeld tour.

We had to walk about 15 blocks north on 5th Avenue to get to Central Park. So on the way, we stopped at a few places... 

As we neared the 5th Avenue entrance, we were approached by a pedicab driver. He offered to take us on a tour of Central Park. At first we refused, but once he showed us everywhere that he would take us & dropped the price significantly, we agreed. And I'm glad we did because he ended up being an awesome tour guide!

Here's what we saw...

The Plaza Hotel

the Bethesda Fountain 

and the Bethesda Terrace

(where Chuck & Blair got married on the final episode of Gossip Girl. Just being there makes me want to rewatch the whole show!!! Hopefully it's still on Netflix!)

and the beautiful tiled ceiling inside the terrace. 

And while we were there this group was singing.

432 Park Avenue, the tallest residential building in NYC

The Cherry Hill Fountain

The Lake & the San Remo Towers in the background

Bow Bridge

Strawberry Fields

And the John Lennon Imagine Memorial

The entrance to the Dakota where John Lennon was shot.

Sheep Meadow covered in snow!

Tavern on the Green

And the Maine Monument at Columbus Circle.

We saw all that & more & only covered the southern half of the park.

Definitely need to go again & see the other half!

We had our pedicab driver drop us off at Nobu, 

a sushi restaurant co owned by Robert DeNiro, 

where we ate a late lunch.

Shortly thereafter, we met back up with the rest of the group

& walked around Times Square.

and went to the Hershey store

where Susan bought Molly a personalized chocolate bar

and had a birthday greeting added to the marque!

As we were walking back to our hotel, we came across this cute statue! There was also a Love one close to our hotel, but I didn't get a picture of that one.

Since we had all loved School of Rock, we wanted to see another show. So we went to the TKTS booth to try to get tickets. But since it was a Saturday night, there were limited seats available.

So we ended up going with an off Broadway showed called Perfect Crime.

Unfortunately, it was not great and I could barely hear the actress in the show.

But oh well, they can't all be winners!

Even though the show wasn't great, I had had another wonderful day in NYC!