New York, New York - Part 2 - The Sites

Part 2 of the NYC "Travel Guide" (that was our trip) is all about the SITES of the Big Apple. We did not do too much of the traditional "site-seeing" but, we found ourselves all over the city anyway. There is so much to see in NYC and even though we saw a lot...there is so much more we didn't see!

PART TWO - "THE SITES"

We did a lot of walking around NYC in the cold and stopped at our fair share of Starbucks to stay warm...

but, here are some of the best sites we saw:

GRAND CENTRAL STATION - Our hotel was only 4 blocks from Grand Central and it was definitely our starting and ending point every day of our trip. But, it in itself is a beautiful site to see. I love how grand the main concourse is, the painted green ceiling, and all the above ground trains that come in every day.

RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL & ROCKEFELLER CENTER - We walked over from Times Square one day just to see Radio City Music Hall which is a gorgeous building and right next to it is Rockefeller Center and NBC Studios. It was snowing and the Christmas decor was still up and we loved it!

Then the last morning, we went to the "Top of the Rock" at Rockefeller Plaza. It was probably the most "touristy" thing that we did. It was the only clear and sunny day we had and it is pretty incredible to see New York from that height. I like the "Top of the Rock" much better than the Empire State Building. You definitely don't need to do both. From the the Rock you can see the all of NYC including Empire State Building all of Central Park and the Statue of Liberty. Also, there are 3 levels of observatory decks and a museum with videos about NBC, the building of Rockefeller Center and more at the top.

WALL STREET & GROUND ZERO - We decided late one night to go down to Wall Street. I actually loved doing this at night. It was so cool to see it all lit up and totally empty. We saw the NYSE, Federal Hall and Ground Zero. I am always totally moved when I go to Ground Zero and see what used to be the twin towers. The Fire House next to it has an incredible wall mural of 9/11 and is a year around tribute to all the men and women who lost their lives that day. It is definitely something to see.

CHINATOWN - I have never really spent that much time in Chinatown but, this trip we spent a majority of one day there. It was SO fun. You really feel like you are in a different country. Everywhere you look all the signs are in Chinese and there is no English. We went to Canal street and bought some awesome knock off Michael Kors purses. We also went to a fish market (which the Boys LOVED) and an open air produce market. These are some of my favorite pictures.

CENTRAL PARK & THE UPPER EAST SIDE - We visited Central Park on a very snowy day! It was gorgeous and the whole park was covered in snow. There were people having a snowball fight and snowmen that were built. There were horse carriages and pull carts going through the park and it was beautiful!

Our last morning before we left for the airport, we visited the Upper East Side. Mendy and I are big Gossip Girl fans and it was only appropriate that we visited the UES :) Ben was totally intrigued by Madison Avenue and the fact that it is the most expensive retail real estate in the entire world. The houses were beautiful and it was just the total opposite experience from other parts of New York that we saw. The city is truly a melting pot.

NYC Post - Part 3 coming next!

New York, New York - Part 1 - Food!

Last weekend Ben and I went to NYC for our 5 year anniversary! I cannot believe we have been married 5 years. Alot has happened in those 5 years...many life changes....many moves...many jobs...sweet Kinley. But, all I know is I love him as much today as I did the day I married him....even more. We decided to take a trip to celebrate! We also invited Alex & Mendy to come along...(I know that sounds weird for your anniversary...but, we were on vacation, with no kid, and we don't get that chance often) It was a great trip!

The Celebration....5 years!

For our anniversary day...Ben could not wait until I was even all the way ready to give me my plain yellow gold ring that I have been wanting for a while. It's very plain and simple and I love it. It is just what I wanted. I went a little more predictable and traditional. The 5 year gift is supposed to be 'Wood' so I gave him a humidor box (which I left at home) to keep some cigars in (which I brought for him to open!) We were both happy and celebrated. We also went out to dinner that night and to the theatre to celebrate. More on that to come!

It was both Ben and Mendy's first time to go to New York and so we did the perfect mix of site-seeing and just vacationing. We did so much in 3 days and also found time to just relax and sleep in. We ate and ate and ate, walked around the city, shopped, went to the theatre, and just loved seeing New York! I really think our trip was so fantastic that I am going to split my trip pics into a few posts and make it like a visitor's guide to NYC in three days! I tried SO hard to edit out some pics because we took a TON (391 to be exact) but, New York had a lot to see!

PART 1 - THE FOOD!!!

We truly ate every chance we got. We walked so much around NYC and it was so cold that we stopped in any time we could and ate. We also ate off the street from street vendors and as soon as our tummys were even a tiny bit empty, we ate again.

BRUNCH - I think all of our favorite place that we ate was Penelope for Brunch. It is so quaint and adorable you forget you are in the middle of a huge metropolitan city.

CLASSIC NEW YORK - The infamous Carnegie Deli was definitely an experience....and since we weren't that hungry, we all split their best sandwich, The Woody Allen.

MORE FOOD - We also ate at The Smith for another amazing brunch, Orso before the theatre and Lindy's Diner for cheesecake after the theatre and Pizza 33 for late night New York style pizza by the slice.

BEST CHINATOWN - We also ate at the most incredible restaurant in Chinatown called Joe's Shanghai. Alex's must-do was to eat pork dumplings and we had our fill. We met my sweet friends James and Katrina for lunch there. Joe's is a place that has been on their 'to eat' list for like 5 years and we got to experience it with them! It was SO fun seeing them. They are adorable and so fun and Katrina is uber-talented at interior design and fashion. You should check out her blog. We got to hang out with them one night at their apartment too and it was over-the-top adorable and I am pretty much going to copy everything in it.

Get Excited for NYC Posts Parts 2 and 3 - "The Sites" and "Entertainment & Other FUN"