New York, New York! (Part 1)

Paul and I returned from our anniversary trip late last night. As usual I took a ton of pictures. I'm not even sure how I am going to go about documenting them all. I think I'm going to try categorizing rather than going day by day. 

We had a great time but I am very glad to be home. I missed the kids and I missed fresh air among many other things. This trip to New York has left me deep in thought about a lot of things which I won't go into, but I will say I think it changed me in a way. 

Our Journey

On Thursday afternoon we excitedly started our journey to New York. We knew we had a long day ahead of us. We left Salt Lake about 1:00 pm. We had a layover in Memphis, Tn. that would last about ninety minutes. It was really sad flying in. We saw some pretty severe flooding from the air. I can't only imagine what it must be like for those living there. My heart breaks for everyone who is suffering from a natural disaster at this time. 

While in Memphis we had some really good southern BBQ. Even though it was airport food it was delish. I've always wanted to visit Nashville and this only made me want to visit more. I think even Paul is wanting to go back to the south now. Maybe an autumn getaway to Tennessee? Sounds good to me. 

Paul had had a dream the week before we left that our luggage had gotten lost. We packed a carry-on with everything we would need just in-case our luggage didn't make it with the lay-over. Luckily it made it to New York with us. 

We had a late check-in at our hotel. When we got into the elevator we both thought of Elf where he pushes all the buttons in the elevator. We couldn't re-create that moment since you have to use your key to get to your floor. Dang safety measures LOL! 

This was such a happy sight. All of our bags. Lots and lots of them. I am notorious for overpacking. 

This was our little home away from home and the view from on of our windows. If you looked far enough down you could see a sign for Radio City Music Hall.  

The Food

This is not in order but it doesn't really matter. We knew going in that we weren't going to spend a lot of money on food. There were other things we wanted instead, like Broadway tickets and tours. We both sort of wish we had splurged and had one nice meal but we didn't and that's okay. 

I'm not a huge fan of Chinese food. I feel like you never know what you are going to get but we had a menu slipped under our door and decided to go for it. The price was right and they had free delivery. It was fine but mine had a lot of mushrooms and bamboo shoots (?) or something that I really didn't enjoy. Oh well it was fun ordering in. 

This place came highly recommended by one of our tour guides. We went during lunch and it was pretty crowded. We got to share our table with two German guys. They were really nice but it was just weird to secure a booth and then have two strangers ask to share it with you. We had burgers and fries. It was nothing special but we had a fun experience there.

Our first day in the city we really wanted Thai. So we went to this place, Pongsri that is right on the border of Hell's Kitchen. It was really good. I loved my dish that had pineapple in it. Yum. I'm going to have to look for a dish at Thai Drift that has pineapple. 

We were in Rockefeller Center and I saw this bakery. I got a caramel macaron and a raspberry almond croissant. They were so good! I think I need a program. I am a macaron addict. Paul got me two more to take home. I ate one and lost the other on the plane I guess. I am so sad over that. 

I had to have cheesecake while there so I ordered a slice of plain cheesecake at Junior's. It was great. I loved the crust or lack there of. It was more like a cake than a crust. Whatever it was, it was yummy! 

Paul got a cupcake. It was so rich he couldn't even eat the whole thing. 

I wanted to eat at least one dirty water weenie. I didn't pack Imodium for nothing. It was fine. I mean it's a hotdog. At lease there weren't any tummy issues after we ate it. 

We ate pizza a couple of times. This one was the best. It is a coal fired pizza from a place that is right next to, maybe even in the Ed Sullivan Theater where they tape Letterman. We ate the whole thing. 

On my list of things to do was get Frozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity. 

We both really enjoyed it. I would recommend it. Get there a little early though, like right before noon. We only had a ten minute wait. When we left it was up to 45 minutes. 

I found an article that was 10 things not to do in New York. One was don't go to Magnolia Bakery. They suggested you get a cannoli at Rocco's instead. We walked to Rocco's in Greenwich Village only to find it had been closed due to health code violations. Hmmm, okay. That's not good. While we were in Grand Central Station I saw Magnolia Bakery and thought why not. 

Paul wanted white with buttercream frosting. I got a devil's food with caramel buttercream frosting. He liked the Junior's cupcake better but said it was good. Mine was a little dry but I could have eaten myself out of a vat of the icing without one complaint. It was to die for!!! 

 I may have also gotten a caramel pecan cheesecake. (Do you see a theme? I'm a fool for caramel) It was delectable. I really enjoyed each and every bite. 

We also found Garrett's. It's a fun treat we found while in Chicago so we were excited to see it again. 

We walked past The Bread Factory in Time's Square and the case full of desserts drew me right in. Who can say no to baklava and gelato? I've never had a bad baklava but this one was amazing. It was practically dripping with the honey. I wish I could alway eat food like we had in New York. Anything you want is available and everything was good or great. 

While we were there we had pizza, burgers, Thai, hot dogs, Chinese and Mexican. We only went to two chain restaurants; Chevy's which we can't get here in Utah and Baja Fresh which we also can't get in Utah. I was really proud of Paul for being willing to try new things.  Eating is always fun for me and I had a lot of fun eating my way through the city.