We ran over to NYC for a quick weekend getaway for my birthday - ahem OUR birthday - present.
It's tough sharing a birthday week with your spouse when it's always been only YOUR birthday up until then. You would think after 12 years of knowing Brian that I'd get used to this!
One of the big reasons we went is because my super good friend Kim was going to meet us there!
We rented an apartment and spent 3 days exploring NYC with Kim and Jamie. It was so fun and went by way too quickly.
Thursday night - Nov 10
Brian's last meeting at work gets cancelled, which means he got home at 5:00pm! We threw our belongings in the car and high tailed it to Princeton Junction, grabbed the 7:14 train, and were at 34th - Penn Station by 8:36! WHOOP! I thought it was going to be 11:00pm before we made it to town!
Unfortunately, we then had to deal with the subway and that took us an additional 40 minutes before we made it to our super cute apartment in the Upper West Side (one block from Central Park), which reminded us of our apt in Paris. White walls, squeaky old parquet floors, and piping emanating heat everywhere.
After a quick reunion with the Kropka clan, we settled down for an evening of rest.
Friday - Nov 11
We started the day being lazy. Well, we did. Jamie and Kim both ran in Central Park in the AM! Around 10:00, we headed to the Amsterdam diner and had a great breakfast. Michael smeared 3 packets of jelly over his huge belgian waffle and proceeded to eat every last bite. Who is this kid?
Off to the American Museum of Natural History and planetarium. We saw lots of dinosaur bones and artifacts.
I thought Michael would have really enjoyed it, but he was being a putz most of this trip. Where is my enthusiastic and inquisitive traveler? It was replaced by a whiny, moody 5 year old who just wanted to play on my iphone.
** One day, I will rant and rave about how much i hate Wii's, iphones, ipads, gadgetry of modern society because it is an EVERYDAY battle with my boy to encourage him to play outside and do other things instead of sit glued to a screen all day. **
I digress.
We wandered around the crowded museum and ended up at the Planetarium for a show on stars where most of us fell asleep at one point or another. I think we gathered about 5 facts from the show all together. Michael told me it was boring.
After this, we headed to Central Park and walked around a third of it before we were frozen to the bone. It was a high of 51 and windy that day!
Michael demanded to be carried a majority of the time. I love the fall foliage in this picture:
With my photography/traveling buddy, Kim:
Obligatory Family Picture:
Jamie/Kim enjoying their weekend without kids:
Ahhh...nyc. I'm really starting to like this city. I really do love central park.
Back to the apt around 3:00pm for some down time. Early dinner at Haru Japanese place around the corner at 5:00pm. Michael loved his seafood udon noodles and slurped up a ton of his dinner.
Kropkas took off for a freezing bus ride over the brooklyn bridge to see NYC at night. We headed to Cafe Lalo for dessert after the resto!
I get to the front door - I look at the grating in front of the cafe - the warm, red interior - and I said, "This was in You've Got Mail."
AND I WAS RIGHT! I was so excited to go to this cafe for no reason and find out it was in a movie that I have watched enough times to recognize the place without a sign in front!
We had a really fun time in there. Michael ordered ($3) steamed milk which came in a milk shake glass, but he really loved his (free) water that came in a melamine snoopy cup. He ate up every last bit of his raspberry cheese cake while I moaned and groaned over my delightful amaretto tiramisu. Brian's cafe au lait was nothing to scoff at either! We played memory while waiting for our desserts!
After it all, we walked home with Michael, swinging him between us and remembering how we used to do this in the streets of Paris. That was fun.
And I loved having an eatery within walking distance and it being open and it being good and being able to go without driving 45 minutes to eat somewhere just decent. I am a city girl at heart while my boys are perfectly content in the country.
The Kropkas came home after we put Michael to bed and we hooked another friend onto the Bean Game. It's addictive.
Sat - Nov 12
MY BIRTHDAY!
We started out the day headed to chinatown to eat at a highly rated place called DOUGHNUT PLANT.
Let me just say, that PLANT should have been my first indication that this place was going to be terrible.
It.was.most.easily.the.worst.donut.I.have.ever.had.in.my.life.
And the saddest part was that it was HIGHLY rated in Yelp! 4.5 out of 5 stars by 800+ reviewers!!!!!
Off we went to meet the Kropkas at Battery Park where we waited nearly an hour and a half in line to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I think they were hoping to give us a real experience of what it must have felt like to be one of the huddled masses.
Lady Liberty with the NYC skyline - sorry for the extreme vignette in the image:
Michael being strong in the wind at the base of Lady Liberty:
Brian and I with the NYC skyline in the back!
We let Michael run around quite a bit since he was pretty amenable in the 1.5 hour line. Got some pictures of him being him:
We spent too much time in lines and at the Statue of Liberty and got only 45 minutes at Ellis Island. Wish I could have spent more time there. It was really neat and the exhibits and audio tour were really well done!
I just love that my ticket had the design of the "125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty" and my actual birthday on it!
After dark, we got on the subway and got off at Little Italy, which was ALIVE with activity! All the little shops were open so we peeked into some boutiques. We had an AMAZING dinner at Rubirosa, this Italian place recommended to us by a woman on the street. It was by far the best Italian food I have ever had. And I've been to Italy. But I am no Italian food aficionado so take that statement with a grain of salt.
Kim introduced us to Rice Balls, which involves rice, mixed with lots of cheeses, rolled in bread crumbs, and DEEP FRIED. She had me at Rice.
We then headed home with our stomachs full of delicious food. This is where we somehow got on the train which skipped all the stops near our apartment. Luckily, a new yorker overheard us laughing about it and told us how to get home.
The subway system was an ABSOLUTE nightmare! We don't consider ourselves to be old and out of date. We know how to use a subway system. We've done it in dozens of countries, some of which we don't even know the language. Some of which are not even in standard alphabetic letters! So for us to not be able to figure it out - all 4 of us - is ridiculous.
Home - Brian falls sleep on the couch at 9pm.
Sunday - Nov 13th
Kim's up and out early so she can get Italian pastries before her flight. Jamie looks up his travel itinerary on the computer 3 more times to make sure he understands how to get to the airport. And rightfully so.
We told him that it is nice that he formulated his hypothesis on how it was going to go down in the subway - and that testing it out will prove whether or not his hypothesis was correct. :)
Brian and I ran off to Chinatown for dimsum!!!! It was in a GIGANTIC banquet hall and so fun. Michael loved the dumplings and banh bao, and we had a great time. By the time we left, there was a line of about 100 people outside, waiting to get in. And the banquet hall seated 700-800 people, easily. So glad we got there early!
On the way out, Michael had to stop at the fish monger in Chinatown because they brought out 3 shallow styrofoam buckets with fish that were still flopping around. Yup, pretty fresh.
And a bucket of fresh eel slithering about. That was probably the highlight of Michael's trip. He told me he liked Chinatown, but the rest of NYC was no fun.
After this, trains back to Jersey. A visit to West Elm in Princeton. ANd back home by 5:30pm.
SUCCESS!
I asked Michael a series of questions about which he liked better: "Do you like school better or NYC?" "SCHOOL!"
Michael really hated NYC. Brian was grumpy about it most of the time as well. I thanked them for coming with me, but next time, I think I'll leave them both at home in the country.
I was glad to see a friend and wished I had more time to talk to her. We spent a lot of time taking care of Michael, especially since he whined about everything. Should have had parents come to take care of him THIS trip instead of the OBX! Michael loved the beach.
Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to get that down before I forgot. I think I forgot to blog/journal about my OBX trip. Usually, I hand write every night while on vacation because it is easy to forget. I am a bit out of practice.
