so tim and i had the best trip to nyc over the weekend. put your feet up and grab a beverage, this is going to be a long one.
last time i was there was 10 years ago and i just thought it was so-so because i was very partial to chicago (cleaner, by the lake, more affordable, friendlier people). however i totally love love love it after this weekend! i love the busyness, the buzz, the streets on a grid, beautiful central park, the insane people watching, the endless restaurants, the death-wish cab drivers, the casual-urban vibe of the locals, the
SHOPPING! here's how it all went down:
fridaymy flight landed early in newark, tim picked me up and it was late so we hit "the mall of short hills" in NJ which is so high-end it is basically not a mall. they do not have normal stores there except for macy's and i think i saw a gap, oh the horror. they have stores like gucci, prada, dolce & gabbana, neiman marcus, tiffany, ralph, max mara, hermes, babystyle, etc. frequenters of this mall would die if they saw our local castleton square mall which we call hassleton scare! nuff said. we ate at legal seafood, delicious food and a nice date - just the two of us! we stayed at this resort in basking ridge where tim is for his conference. i felt bad he has to basically live in the same hotel room for four weeks.
saturdayup early to catch our 9:07 train from basking ridge into penn station, nyc! i must be out of the loop because i always thought new jersey was kind of a gross state and that it all looked like newark. not so! it is so beautiful, they call it the garden state for a reason. the train ride through all the small towns with the big beautiful old homes and trees was really neat – such a contrast from the flat newness of the midwest.
we arrived at our hotel, the marriott on 49th & lexington on the east side at 11:30 after some creative circumnavigating around the papal traffic. i think is weird how many people come out to see the pope in his popemobile. we chatted up the woman at the front desk of the hotel re: the papal visit and she said she was going to give us an "everyday blessing" and upgrade us to an executive suite and let us check in super early at 11:30! something about how it was what was in your heart that mattered. whatever her rationale, we eagerly accepted the marriott blessing. true story, we owe her! here are pics of our very spacious suite. tim and i found it ironic that if this room were an apartment it would be at least $4000/month b/c of its size and location and we couldn't afford to rent it!
we headed out for a day of walking, exploring and eating! we first headed 20 blocks north up to 69th and 1st to tim's old apartment. he lived here for a year after college and loved it. his street was beautiful!
then we headed 5 blocks west to central park, stopping along the way for lunch at patsy's pizza to split a pizza and diet cokes. delicious and a nyc institution from what i understand. it just so happened that one of the places i wanted to hit was kitty-corner from patsy's, serendipity. i don't care how touristy or cliche it is, that frozen hot chocolate is out of this world! they even sell it at williams sonoma now so i can actually make it at home in the blender! they are really known for their desserts at serendipity, the inside is decorated all crowded and antique-y. Tim got a caramel sundae. we laughed taking these pictures at how funny it would be if they were time-stamped. those who know us know we both eat really fast. we probably put these huge desserts away in 5 minutes! but we also did walk about 8 miles too, i felt no guilt whatsoever!
anticipation
5 short minutes later...
we made a quick stop at dylan's candy bar, owned by dylan lauren, ralph's beautiful 30-something daughter. what a fabulous concept - how smart she is! i'm not a candy fanatic, but this place is just so cute i had to check it out. it is 3 brightly-colored floors dedicated to candy, new and vintage. declan will love it some day, this place is any kid's dream. everything in the store was inlaid with candy!
we spent a few hours walking through central park. it was a warm, sunny gorgeous day in the 70s so the park was alive with people of all shapes, sizes and origins. i was very bummed my camera battery died before i could get a picture of the two of us in the park. but i did manage to get these pictures which DO NOT do it justice, it is a marvelous place.
view looking down 5th ave, park on the right/$$$expensive residences on the left
we did more walking and walking and walking (looking north up park avenue)...
and shopping (really just looking)...
and walked to rockefeller center. saw the plaza where the today show is always broadcast outside. there was no time to take the subway down to soho so we'll have to do it another time. we pretty much covered the upper east side and the park in the time we had. we headed back to the hotel to put up our tired, blistered dogs and rest for an hour before getting ready for dinner.
we purposely picked a restaurant we could walk to. we dressed up and walked up 12 blocks to davidburke & donatella. blocks going north/south are really short in new york so it's not as bad as it sounds, trust me, i was in heels.
the restaurant was very special. decorated in white lacquer, kind of mod, with hot pink upholstered chairs, lots of artwork and waiters in suits. we met some new friends, a cool young couple from florida, as our table was basically connected to their for all intents and purposes. space is at a premium, we were packed in there with people close on both sides. our new friends, the mancusos, are expecting their first baby, a boy due in 7 weeks so we talked babies, our weddings, honeymoons, and other things we had in common. the girl works for jnj, just like tim. they invited us to visit them in st augustine, hopefully it will work out someday if we are in the area.
tim had let the restaurant know it was my b-day so the dessert had a candle and special happy birthday sign made out of chocolate. i thought i ordered a toffee opera cake, but this chocolate park bench creation came out! it was so artistic and cute.
i also had to admire the woman's dessert next to me. she ordered the petit fours (i'm sure i spelled that wrong). there were all these tiny tarts and pies spilling out of a pretend little oven. i was very amused and she didn't mind that i took a picture!
we left the restaurant at 11 and it was still pleasantly crowded with some people just starting to order dinner. i am a night owl so i love when restaurants stay busy late and we're not ones closing them down
we passed on getting drinks with the mancusos because they were going way over to the west side of town. we walked toward our hotel and stopped in randy gerber's whiskey bar (aka, mr. cindy crawford). this is probably the first of all his clubs. it was just like the old days when we'd stay out late! here i am drinking my first cocktail in over a year, a blueberry stoli and soda.
since my pregnancy i've only had an occasional wine or beer... it just never felt right to drink vodka and breastfeed. :)
you might be wondering about the rest of our family. little declan-man stayed home with grandma nancy. she so kindly came down to care for him so i could enjoy a birthday trip and tim could have company during his long conference. he was really good for her and they created good memories. i couldn't have asked for a better birthday gift, thanks mom from both of us! we didn't worry for 5 seconds about declan which was like the icing on top of our weekend.
note his
A-dorable preppy madras shoes from aunt jaime, the M hat from g & g
sundayslept in until the glorious hour of 10AM. lazily got ready and grabbed breakfast at a local ripoff diner. only bad point of the whole weekend, but when the mgr asked us how our breakfast was, we said “pretty bad” the guy pulled $40 cash out of the register, handed it to us and we walked away. the only thing i’m going to say to paint the picture of this place is that tim ordered a ham and cheese omelette and it was velveeta cheese in overcooked eggs with curly fries (for breakfast?) and they forgot the toast - it was $15!!! just strange. i understand big city prices, but you better get a decent product delivered in return.
we had more time to walk around so we ran into the famous buttercup bakery. We watched from outside the window as they frosted tantalizing cupcakes until we couldn’t resist and popped in for an after-breakfast dessert. their bakery cases were filled with fresh, homemade cupcakes of all varieties and colors, huge layered cakes under domes and other sweets. i loved that they had my all-time favorite throwback, banana pudding with nilla wafers - YUM!
tim got a slice of yellow cake w/ vanilla frosting and i had a german chocolate cupcake. mm mm mm.
we headed to penn station to catch our train back to jersey. then tim brought me to the airport and i caught my late flight home to indy to see my little babe.
this list was compiled with my friend tina in mind, but i'm sure others might find it mildly amusing. i did a lot of observing while in nyc and took mental notes on trends. things always hit here big time before they become commonplace in the rest of the world.
what's in in nycbugaboos
bugaboos
bugaboos
havaiana flip flops (mostly girls)
rainbow flip flops (guys or girls)
converse sneakers on girls, white or navy
foreign nannies
babies
long messy hair pulled back loosely and pinned with barrettes
leggings
gay men with children
bugaboos
what's not outcupcake bakeries
big sunglasses
big purses
the pope
pashminas ---my friend wrongly predicted in 03 that pashminas were out, not so!
effen black cherry ---apparently it is not in bars here, i will not accept that this was the vodka of 02, i will live in the past b/c it is and will continue to be my signature drink :)
