NYC in the Fall

"One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years."

-Thomas Wolfe

David and I took a trip to New York City a few weeks ago. Our friends, Martin and Mim, were getting married in the Manhattan Temple, so we decided it would be the perfect time for me to experience the city. Here are a few highlights from the trip. Actually, I'm totally lying. This is probably going to be my longest post ever, sorry!

Thursday:

We had a nice, safe plane ride. David is always kind enough to let me have the window seat wherever we fly, because nine times out of ten, he's already been where we're going. My knuckles were white from gripping the arm rests for the entire flight, and I made a few "what if the plane crashes" comments that David thought were inappropriate, considering that we were 5,000 feet in the air. I was relieved when we landed safely in Laguardia around noon. I don't like flying, but I'm getting better.
I was so excited for my first cab ride, but I soon learned that a cab ride is not something to get "excited" about. Cab drivers really are as bad as the stereotype suggests. I don't understand the honking and the speeding up, only to slam on their brakes at the red light that is thirty feet away. Oh well.
We made it safely to our hostel, which turned out to be way better than expected. I am so thankful for the hostel, because when you're trying to do New York on a budget; $250 a night at a hotel just doesn't figure in.
After we relaxed for a few minutes, we headed out into the city. Our first stop was Rockefeller Center. We walked around and David tried to convince me to go to the "top of the Rock", but I am a firm believer that when possible, my feet should remain on the ground. We then headed to what I consider my idea of heaven - the Anthropologie at Rockefeller!

In case you can't tell, this is my happy face.

I am very proud of myself. I restrained the shopping addict within me and only bought some jewelry from Anthropologie. The crazy shopping would come later at Madewell in Soho, my new favorite store!

Then we headed to Times Square. I have to say, this stop was my least favorite of the trip. Times Square is crowded with tourists and it's noisy. The only way that I can describe my experience there is complete sensory overload.


David had me make out a list of everything I wanted to see in New York, and our next stop was at the top of that list! I didn't recognize Parson's The New School for Design at first, because the orange banners were not on the building (I guess that is just for Project Runway?). I didn't want to leave. I kept hoping that maybe Tim Gunn would come out and offer to adopt me. But sadly, he did not, and I am still far away from my dream of being the adopted child of Tim Gunn and Paula Dean.

Happy hands.

Our next stop was Bryant Park. I am still sad that I was just a few weeks late for fashion week! Not that I would have actually gotten into a tent, but it would have been fun to be there anyways. Bryant Park is perhaps my favorite place in New York! The day was beautiful and the park was so peaceful. Before we left for the trip, I did some research on what would be going on during our stay. I found out that Bryant Park hosts free concerts during the fall featuring the various New York orchestras. I immediately knew that I wanted to be there for one. So we left Bryant Park to kill time till the concert started and made a stop at the New York Public Library (the site of Carrie and Big's "almost" wedding). The library's architecture is amazing. I could have spent all day just walking around and looking at the different book rooms - I loved it! After the library, we returned to Bryant Park in time to hear the New York Pops perform.

It was a bit chilly that night, but the evening was so nice. We wrapped up our day with dinner at an awesome vegetarian restaurant in the Village and dessert at Pinkberry.

Friday:

Friday and Saturday are tied for my favorite day in New York! Friday was dedicated to Martin and Mim's wedding. Their entire day was beautiful from beginning to end! Martin and Mim looked gorgeous and so happy. I am so grateful that we were able to be at their wedding.



We went for pictures in Central Park and then walked through the park with some friends, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Beky. We stopped at the Shakespeare Garden and Strawberry Fields on our way to have lunch at a restaurant Mim recommended called Popover Cafe. If you have never had a popover, have one, they are delicious!

After lunch, we took the subway to Soho for the reception. Martin and Mim held their reception in a beautiful Italian restaurant called I Tre Merli. The night was wonderful. We really loved getting to see Martin and Mim with all of their friends and family. It was a very special day!

Saturday:

Saturday morning we went to breakfast at Les Halles Brasserie. It is owned by Anthony Bourdain, David's favoriter person, ever! It was so good!

Next we went to the Modern Museum of Art. All of my favorite art is there! We got to see paintings by van Gogh, Matisse, Rothko, Pollock, Warhol, Wyeth, and so many more. The contemporary gallery was particularly interesting . . . and strange.


After MOMA we headed to Central Park. On our way, David took us on a detour to a great pocket park near MOMA. The fountain was designed to drown out the sounds of the city, and it works! When you're in the park, all you can hear is the sound of falling water!


We didn't get enough of Central Park on Friday and the weather was perfect for taking a long walk. The park is such a singular place. I never wanted to leave!


That evening, we went to dinner at an awesome sushi place, Haru Broadway.


Then we were off to see the Phantom of the Opera. My mom and dad are the best ever. They paid for us to go to see Phantom and we were able to get really great seats!

Thanks mom and dad!

After the show let out, we noticed a hoard of people gathered near our theater. We wondered what the commotion was for. We thought it was for the kid with no shoes on getting arrested in the middle of the street.


However, this was not the case. We looked up and saw the marquee next to ours and realized that Phantom is next to the theater where Equus is playing, starring a nude Daniel Radcliffe, aka Harry Potter. We waited for a little while and realized that he would be coming out of the theater soon! I was so excited. The streets got really crowded and his car pulled up and almost blocked my view of him, but luckily I was standing in a pretty good spot and I got to see him! I won't even bother putting the picture of him up. The picture is dark and there are guards and people all around him. But he is the one famous person I saw while in the city (other than when we went to Soho and saw who we think was Sisquo, but I don't really count that)!

Sunday:

We wanted to spend our last day in New York walking around Soho and seeing a few more sights on my list. We ate breakfast at a great little diner in Soho called Waverly Restaurant.

Yum!

Before breakfast, we stopped by Magnolia Bakery. Everyone I talked to before the trip said that we had to get their cupcakes, so we did. I however, was not keen on dumping a cupcake into my stomach with nothing else in it so early in the morning; thus the trip to the Waverly. Once I had something other than sugar in my stomach, we decided to stop in Washington Square Park and eat our cupcakes. David fell in love.

After our massive sugar rush, we had lots of energy to burn off, so we decided to head to Ground Zero and Wall Street. There isn't much to see right now at Ground Zero; it's just a big construction site. But it is amazing to look at it from a distance and see the hole in the skyline. The buildings were so huge; the hole still looks so strange. I'm really excited to see the building they erect in place of the World Trade Towers. We were able to see some design proposals at MOMA, but I haven't seen the proposal that was chosen.

Several people told me that I had to stop by Century 21. It's like a huge one building outlet mall for designer clothes located near Ground Zero. After experiencing the madness that is Century 21, I have one word of advice: if you do not want to lose your sanity, go on a weekday or a rainy day when you have nothing else to do and are willing to spend hours looking around. Otherwise, it is really crowded and overwhelming. I did find a great BCBG dress, though - it was all by itself, inside-out, in the coat section!

One of our last stops of the trip was the Brooklyn Bridge. Sunday was such a nice, overcast, windy day. I was really excited about our walk to the middle of the bridge. As we were walking along, I realized that I was suddenly walking on PLANKS OF WOOD! Nobody told me that the bridge is partially made of wood and that you can look down below where you're walking and see WATER! As mentioned previously, I am not a fan of heights, so I tried not to pass out as I thought about the thin wooden boards separating me from certain death. I decided I would not look down again, and luckily, that did the trick and I was fine for the rest of our walk on the bridge. I'm glad that I didn't let the height scare me, because the view is amazing!


After the Brooklyn Bridge, we walked around Soho, and I found my new favorite clothing store, Madewell. After shopping, we took the subway back to our hostel, gathered our bags, and took a cab to the airport. Once we were sitting in the terminal, waiting for our flight, the exhaustion finally caught up with us. Our goal for the trip was to relax and not rush around the city trying to see everything. We thought we had taken it easy, but we were both ready to pass out once we reached our seats on the plane. As the plane took off, I looked out of my window and saw fireworks going off over the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a perfect final glimpse of the city!
New York City is every bit as wonderful as I thought it would be. The trip was perfect. Who know, perhaps I'll have a reason to return soon enough?
The end.


Thanks for reading this amazingly long post.