Day 1:
We arrived around noon, checked into our hotel, and immediately set out to explore. I had 2 agendas for the trip--yarn shopping (more on the Yarn Crawl on Day 2) and cupcake-eating. I love to bake and wanted to see what all the cupcake-craziness is all about, so I printed out a list of popular cupcake shops (according to Yelp) to try. We stopped at one, Crumbs, and sampled the Samoa Cupcake (chocolate, caramel, and coconut, like the Girl Scout cookie). The topping was delicious but the cake was a little dry.
Pumped up on sugar and caffeine, we walked quickly through Central Park and headed for the American Museum of Natural History. We were already missing the kids a little bit (having been gone from them for about 7 hours, ha), and we really wished Will had been there to see the museum. We snapped pictures of all the recognizable dinosaur skeletons to show him later:
I showed these pictures to Will when we got home, and he said, "Mama you forgot one. You forgot the allosaurus." Apparently I should have asked him for a list before we left.
He's also a fan of bears:
After the museum, we headed to the Spotted Pig for dinner. I'd vaguely heard of the restaurant and Susan recommended it on her blog after their trip, so I added it to the list of places to go. It was fantastic--we had an appetizer that was a special of the day (little balls of broccoli rabe and sausage, wrapped in prosciutto, rolled in panko, fried and served with marinara) and John had a yummy pork shoulder and greens dish. I, however, had the showstopper--ricotta gnudi in a brown butter sauce. It was soooooo good, if you go you should absolutely order it. The restaurant has a reputation for being crowded, but we ate early and without a reservation and only waited about 15 minutes.
After dinner, we went to the Gotham Comedy Club--true to form, I liked both of the opening acts better than the headliner (Pablo Francisco), as he was a bit too risque for me. But the entire experience of sitting at tables in a comedy club was fun and seemed like a very big city thing to do.
We also made one more cupcake stop on Day 1--Magnolia Bakery. Their cupcakes became famous after Sarah Jessica Parker ate one on Sex and the City (and other celebrities followed suit). I didn't realize how popular this place was and the experience was weird--we waited in line for about 15 minutes, had a bouncer (yes, a bouncer at a bakery!) let us in, and we served ourselves from cupcakes on tables. The cupcakes weren't labeled, but I think we ate devil's food with vanilla buttercream. These were actually some of the best cupcakes of the week--the cake was nice and moist, probably because they came right out of the oven. I would say they were worth a 15 minute wait--but I would not wait an hour for them, which I hear some folks do!
Back to the hotel for R&R before Day 2....Yarn Crawl!
Day 2
John departed for his conference while I enjoyed a leisurely morning of getting myself (and only myself, no munchkins) ready for the day. The shops in the city open late--around 11 am--so I had plenty of time for coffee and the newspaper before going yarn shopping.
I've been on a knitting kick lately, so when we decided to make the NY trip, I Googled to find yarn shops in the area and happened upon the web site for the second annual NYC Yarn Crawl. Basically, area yarn shops offered specials on yarn, demonstrations, book signings, etc., over the 3-day weekend.
On my way to the first yarn shop, however, I got sidetracked at the Strand. Have you been there? It's a huge 3-story bookstore (they claim to have 18 miles of books and I believe it). I spent an hour reliving my childhood in the children's section of the rare book library on the 3rd floor. I decided I couldn't leave without an edition of Ozma of Oz similar to the one I read in elementary school. When I handed it to the clerk to send downstairs to the cashier, he turned to an illustration in the front and pointed out how a stray line almost led to the book being censored (it was a picture of Ozma and the line looked vaguely like a navel--possibly indicating nudity in the picture; I'm pretty sure my eleven-year-old self never noticed that, so I vote that it remains on library shelves). I wonder if he knows tidbits about every single book in the department? I was impressed.
From the Strand, I went to my personal craft mecca--Purl Soho, my first yarn crawl stop. I love Purl--I follow their blog and ogle their website. The store was just as awesome in real life as I'd hoped. It was fun to see all the different projects from the website, and I enjoyed looking at all the gorgeous fabrics.
It's hard to see, but the dress in the window is the Oliver and S Music Box Jumper in Liberty of London corduroy. I don't usually like corduroy, but that dress changed my mind.
After Purl, I recharged with lunch at the City Bakery. They offer a food bar at lunch, as well as baked items, and I loved the cornbread-crusted catfish and raddichio salad on the bar. After lunch, I hit up my second yarn crawl stop, the Lion Brand Yarn Studio.
See that map of the United States? Yep, it's knitted. How cool.
Lion Brand yarn is readily available at any fabric store, but at their New York store they offer their premium yarns--and thanks to the yarn crawl, they were all on sale. I picked up a few skeins, along with a free pattern.
By that time, it was getting close to time to meet John, so I just browsed while walking back to the hotel.
Is that red range the cutest thing or what? If you look behind the orange dishwasher, you can see another range in light blue. Wouldn't those two make a nice retro/Gator kitchen?
I also happened upon another cupcake shop on the list--the Cupcake Cafe. This one made the list because of the lovely flowers on their cupcakes. We had a chocolate one with vanilla buttercream, and a maple walnut cupcake with maple buttercream frosting. (I took them back to the hotel to share with John--I didn't eat both by myself!)
Madison Square Park:
John and I met up, then went to Rockefeller Center to take the NBC studio tour. The tour itself was just okay--we saw the Dr. Oz set and a green set where they film shots that are computer-enhanced later. The highlight of the tour came while waiting for the elevator--a tall familiar looking man was also standing at the elevator with an NBC page. He turned around--and it was Donald Trump! He asked us if we were going to the Jimmy Fallon show (he was going to be the featured guest). We (the tour group--15 or so of us) said no, and he said, "Oh, well the h*ll with you!" Jokingly, but I think that was a typically Trump remark. It was a little surreal.
After the tour, we browsed the NBC store. John posed with a Dundie trophy:
And we found a Bayside sweatshirt, complete with ripped-out neck, which John talked me out of buying for Laurie:
For dinner, John consulted his Yelp application on the iPhone and came up with Ipanema. Dinner was feijoada completa--we split it, which was a good hunch on our part because they gave us enough food to feed a family of four.
After dinner, we went to the Top of the Rock (the 70th floor of Rockefeller Center). We've been to the Empire State Building before, so we thought this would be a little different. One advantage is that you get a great view of the Empire State Building, and a pretty decent view of the Chrysler building.
Getting a good photo was another issue entirely--we were up there in a thunderstorm, so I was trying to take a photo without flash in driving rain:
Colors are in honor of Columbus Day (the Italian flag).
The observation deck was deserted thanks to the rain--I kept asking John, "Surely they would tell us to leave if they thought we could get struck by lightning...right?" Then I realized most people had probably left of their own accord and we were among the few idiots who'd stayed.
Safely back on the ground, we took a picture of where we'd been.
I wonder how they keep that ice rink frozen in 70-degree weather?
On the way back to the hotel, we passed the American Girl shop. I can't wait until Anna is older and I can take her there. I explained the American Girl concept to John--that initially they were historical dolls but now the attraction seems to be picking out a doll that looks like you--and he pointed out this doll and said he thought Anna would look like her.
He's probably right about the hair color, eye color, and, unfortunately, the freckles (one kid will probably get them and Will is freckle-free so far), but I quickly corrected him and pointed out this doll:
The myopic genes run strong in our family, so I think future glasses are a safe bet!
Day 3:
Back to conference for poor John....but another big adventure for moi!
I applied for tickets to the Martha Stewart show online a few weeks before we left--I did get tickets, but unfortunately they were for the week after our trip. So I declined those tickets and decided to take my chances on stand-by tickets. I took advice from this blog post and called in advance to make sure they were filming, then showed up at 8:15 am. I was number 2 in the standby line--I was given a number that stated this, and told to show up around 9-9:15, so I went for a cup of graham cracker coffee and a genuine NY bagel at the Brown Cup cafe around the corner. Arriving back at 9:15, I was informed I had a ticket and was shuffled into a waiting room with the rest of the audience. I ended up next to a woman from New Jersey who not only knits, but also raises Angora rabbits, collects their fur, spins it into yarn, and knits with the yarn. I felt like a bit of a slacker for just buying yarn off a store shelf. :-)
After a short wait, we all went into the studio to be seated. I was all by myself, so one of the staffers pulled me out of line and sent me to a seat IN THE VERY FRONT. I was dead center in front of Martha's kitchen--I was beyond thrilled:
It is doubly shiny and beautiful in person, and everything is arranged very, very precisely. I bet somebody used a ruler to line up those cake stands.
The studio was full of people scurrying around to get ready for the live show. The majority of the audience was seated in risers:
The show featured Johnny Knoxville (doing the rounds for his Jacka** 3D movie), heirloom gourds, and Halloween puppet crafts. Since it is filmed live, we basically watched the show as it is seen on TV, except that during the commercials we watched everyone prepare for the next segment.
We weren't allowed to take photographs during the filming, but were able to take photos before and after. After the show, Martha took about 5-10 minutes to answer audience questions--she was gracious and funny. (Despite John's suggestion, I did NOT ask her for stock tips--I suspect that would have gotten me escorted from the studio.) Then she filmed a promo for her quilt line for Macy's--and then she left (and so did we).
After my brush with craft royalty, I headed back to the hotel to meet John. On the way, I stopped at Mood Fabrics. I love Project Runway and thought it would be a cool experience and maybe I'd find some cool cheap fabric. Well....let me just say that I think getting in and out of that place must be fully 50% of the challenge on that show. It took me 15 minutes to figure out how to get inside, and once there, I got flushed and confused and ended up buying some knit fabric I will probably never successfully sew into anything. So I don't recommend that stop unless you are an actual fashion designer.
Okay, take a deep breath and get ready to pay attention again (for anyone who tuned out during the Martha bit)--if you go to New York anytime soon, you must stop at Eataly. It is an Italian food market opened by Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich, and Joe Bastianich. Along with selling all sorts of Italian foods (fresh pasta, meats, cheeses, etc.), it also contains a few restaurants and various seating points where you can stop and dine. We ate lunch in the vegetable section:
I had a roasted vegetable salad. John ordered the straciatella at the waitress's suggestion--a fresh cow's milk cheese, "straciatella" referred to the strings of curds which come soaked in the milk. Basically, it was like a very rich milky fresh mozzarella. It came with grilled bread and vine-ripened tomatoes (which I think were also grilled and then peeled). No exaggeration, John and I agreed that it was possibly the most delicious thing we have ever eaten.
After lunch, we headed for Chinatown. Our guide book had a walking and eating itinerary for Chinatown, so we followed that. We stopped at Vivi Bubble Tea and had an almond boba tea, then had an afternoon "snack" of dim sum at Joe's Ginger.
I feel sick just remembering that day. We rolled ourselves backed to the hotel and vowed to practice more restraint (and eat more veggies) on day 4...
Day 4:
Yay--no conference for John, so we could explore together. We took the subway to Bowling Green and John waited for his turn to pose with the Charging Bull.
It was quite a wait--this bull is evidently a big hit with visiting Asian businessmen, so we had to wait for a dozen or so of them to take their picture first. They were too funny--especially when they took photos from the rear side of the bull (let's just say the bull is anatomically correct and the businessmen were cracking themselves up taking pictures with the bull's nether regions).
We wandered around the financial district--not much to see other than the exterior of buildings, as the NYSE is closed to tourists (thanks to the 9-11 terrorists).
We found Alexander Hamilton's grave outside Trinity Chapel, and admired the stained glass windows inside the church. Then we walked down to St. Paul's Chapel, which has been transformed into a memorial:
When John and I made our previous trip to New York in January 2002, only 4 months had elapsed since the terrorist attacks. We climbed onto a wooden platform that had been erected to view Ground Zero, which was a mound of rubble at the time. There were fences full of pictures of those missing or killed, and the mood was somber.
On this trip, there was a hubbub of activity--tourists, of course, but mostly construction trucks and workers. We stopped to look at the plans for the future memorial at the site, and one building is nearing completion already. It was still a sobering experience--many of the pictures from the fences were moved inside the Chapel, and I had to stop reading after awhile, as there was so much grief and pain represented in all the photos and notes. The exhibits honoring the efforts of the rescue workers were uplifting, however, and it was awesome to see how people from all over the nation contributed to the rescue effort--made me proud to be an American.
From Ground Zero, we cut back across Manhattan and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn:
See the Statue of Liberty in the distance?
We rewarded ourselves with a Grimaldi's pizza after making the trek--and we only had to wait in a 45-minute line to do so! Seems like we spent half our time in NY waiting in lines, but this slice was worth it:
We also stopped at Jacques Torres' chocolate shop for truffles, then caught the subway back to the hotel. We went to Bobby Flay's Bar Americain for dinner--I had the skate with capers, chile butter, and crispy hominy (fried grits!) and John had the country-style ribs plate of the day, yummy and fattening. After that, we saw Wicked on Broadway. I loooooooooved it, and kept belting out Defying Gravity at random moments on the rest of the trip. You can imagine how much John appreciated that.
On the way home, we attempted to stop at the street meat cart at 53rd Street and 6th Avenue due to multiple vehement recommendations we received from several people. However, we were still so stuffed from dinner that I swore I would vomit if I ate one more thing, so we just eyeballed the meat and headed home. I'm sure it's delicious and will attempt to stop on the next trip. :-)
Day 5:
This day started bright and early at Battery Park, when we caught the ferry to Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty!
Here I am, freezing to death in front of Manhattan:
Lady Liberty:
Those are the only pics I took the whole day! I am still a little bitter about some pictures John and I posed for together in front of the statue but then forgot to buy before catching the ferry to Ellis Island. Sigh.
We really enjoyed the Ellis Island museum, and, if you're limited on time, I think it is a better stop than the Statue. We purchased pedestal tickets but didn't have time to go up in the Statue, so I can't vouch for that experience. If you plan a few months ahead, you can request a ticket that will allow you to climb up to the crown. I think that would be awesome, but they were sold out by the time we made reservations.
After returning to Battery Park, we headed to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. This was probably the highlight of John's trip. There are two things to see inside the bank: a large self-guided exhibit, and the gold vault. We toured the main exhibit, which detailed the role of the reserve banks and included exhibits of coins and paper notes from throughout history. I really enjoyed the section dedicated to counterfeit money, although I discovered I am no good at spotting funny money. The main attraction of the bank is its gold vault. It holds the largest gold reserves in the country (more than Fort Knox), though most of the gold belongs to foreign countries. Tours of the gold vault get snatched up quickly, and we only scored one ticket, so John took the tour. He said it was fascinating, though, and would recommend it.
We spent the afternoon window-shopping in Soho and stopped at Babycakes for a gluten free brownie and spelt cupcake. I think I prefer gluten-full and spelt-free cupcakes, but it is a nice alternative for vegans or folks with food allergies. (They have a cookbook, in case you're interested.) For dinner, we went to Mario Batali's Lupa. I chose Lupa because I wanted to try one of his restaurants, and Del Posto was too pricey and Babbo was full-up as far as reservations. Lupa is surprisingly small inside, but the food was delicious. They offer little vegetable plates, so we had broccoli rabe with ricotta and brussels sprouts with apple as antipasti. I had the special (baccala, a fried salt codfish), and John had gnocchi.
We turned in early because we had a train to catch the next day...
Day 6:
I thought an entire week in New York might be a bit much--we are not city folk, after all--so I planned a quick getaway "upstate" (I didn't really think we were upstate, but apparently everything north of NYC is considered upstate). We took the Metro-North train to Tarrytown, rented a car, and drove north to Hyde Park.
We stopped to admire the Hudson River and fall foliage along the way:
Our destination in Hyde Park was the Culinary Institute of America. The campus has several restaurants, and FYI, you definitely need advance reservations if you want to eat in them. We didn't think that far ahead, so we settled for eating at the Apple Pie Bakery which does not require reservations. The restaurants are staffed by culinary students, so we had a very eager beaver waiter. I had a chopped salad, John had a banh mi sandwich, and we split some french fries. However, this was the CIA, not McDonald's, so our fries came with truffle salt and grated Parmesan, delish! The desserts were gorgeous, and they had all sorts of unusual macaron flavors.
We drove back from Hyde Park using a driving guide I found on one of the Westchester County tourism sites. We also took a quick detour to West Point; too late to take a tour, we just looked around the visitor's center. I realized I wouldn't survive as a West Point student when I saw the supplies issued to the cadets--forget a loofah and Aveda shampoo, they are given something that looks like a horse brush and some general purpose body wash/shampoo. I wonder if they're allowed to use hot water?
We passed some beautiful parks--John isn't quite back to hiking shape, so we didn't stop, but there are some gorgeous areas for hiking and kayaking in the area. We did stop at Croton Dam:
Beautiful leaves!
Washington Irving is Tarrytown's claim to fame, and they have some fun Halloween activities centered around the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. We attended a retelling of the legend at the Old Dutch Church, which creeped me out to the point I was checking nervously for the Headless Horseman on our way back to the car. We were cold and tired and opted for sitting in front of the fireplace at the hotel instead of driving north to Van Cortlandt manor to see 4000 Jack o'Lanterns on display--boo on us. I'm sure it was impressive.
Day 7:
We took the train back to Manhattan and tried to fit in everything we hadn't done or wanted to do again. Sooooo....we ate lunch at Eataly again, I made one last stop at Purl Soho, and then we went to the Met:
We looked at lots, but that's the only picture I took (figured Will would like the armor). On exiting the Met, we spotted a Cake and Shake cart--I saw the one in Washington Park earlier in the trip but we were too stuffed to try a cupcake at the time. Not a problem on this day, so I tried a moon cake--tasty.
For dinner, we stopped for a hot dog at Papaya King, of Seinfeld fame (and John's choice, of course):
We spent the evening at Side Bar in Union Square with the Gotham Gators, watching our team get demoralized by Dan Mullen and Mississippi State. Unfortunately, a bad football loss is no less painful in New York.
Day 8:
Sleeping in, a stop at Crumbs for cupcakes to take back to Florida...and on to the airport and home!!
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We had a fantastic time, and really, really, really appreciated Nana watching the kids. I fully expected her to say, "Never again!" when we walked through the door, but she managed to act like she had a good time and might at some future point watch the kids again...maybe a distant future point, but the door is open! I'm thinking Europe next fall..... :-)
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PS....Nana and Papa are planning their own trip to New York in the spring, so if any of y'all want to chime in with your own NY must-sees and must-dos in the comments, go right ahead!
3 comments:
Angie, I enjoyed seeing all of your pictures! What a fun trip! I think leaving the city for a little while was such a great idea...never would have thougth to do that. All of the talk about food has me salivating. :)
You look so cute -- love all the pictures! I think you need to come see me next; I do live within walking distance of two cupcake stores and at least one hip knitting store. =)
Love the post! SO happy you enjoyed Spotted Pig...I'm salivating just thinking of it. Oh, and the cupcakes! Glad yall had such a good time.
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