NYC adventures:: Day One

This past week I went to NYC twice. You may be asking yourself, why twice? Well, I'd love to tell you. :-) I went in on Wednesday with the G's - to see our friend Caleb. Then I went back in the next day to see friends from photography school. It actually made more sense to go in on two separate days than to figure out the logistics of carrying around luggage all day to spend the night.

Here's the adventures on Day One:

As we're getting ready to leave PA, I catch this little gem...nothing like sharing your love for reading:

Leave PA at 8:30am. Go through the Lincoln Tunnel. Arrive NYC and park in some non-descript parking garage, where the attendants get a thrill revving engines as they whip around the garage fetching cars. Walk many city blocks and avenues to be tourists for a bit. We show the kids St. Patrick's Cathedral, point out Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building, and some other historic places.

But what's on Meg's mind? Going to the American Girl Place. So we head to our next destination. And she is enthralled. Molly is her favorite.

Then we walked to meet up with Caleb, and he took us to eat at Blockheads, a wonderful New York chain of Mexican food.

After eating, we walked back toward Caleb's building and enjoyed some chocolate chip cookies in this beautiful 'oasis' - an open space between two buildings, complete with little tables, pots of blooming daffodils, vines climbing the walls, and a walled fountain. The kids enjoyed running around and chasing some birds.

After we say our goodbyes to Caleb, we head toward FAO Schwarz, and watch the kids enjoy sensory overload for a bit. As we walk toward the store, we hear dance music coming from this guy's bike....and we deem him the coolest guy in town, amidst all the yellow.

All in all, we had a fabulous day. As soon as we got in the car, the kids fell asleep and we began our journey back to PA. Check back for adventures from Day Two!

Flashback to Christmas:: NYC

A few days before New Years Eve, two friends from photography school and I met up in NYC. We traveled via car, train, and subway, then on foot. Our meeting point: Penn Station.

It was one of the more cold days of December, so we bundled up for our day-long walking around the city.

We saw people skating at Bryant Park, meandered around the little shops surrounding it, then headed toward Rockefeller Center to see the ice skaters there. We continued on and had lunch at Potbelly... yum!

We walked up toward the Plaza Hotel, and saw this building along the way. I love the decorations that are up during the Christmas season.

We went into FAO Schwarz and then on our way back, stopped at Tiffany & Co. to admire the expensive jewelry we'd never be able to afford. Funny story....while we were in there, we wanted to go up a few floors to see all the engagement rings. When we got to the elevators, a store worker was 'promoting' the stairs as another means to get upstairs. She said something like, "Take our fabulous stairwells, complete with marble and beautiful bannisters." She used so many descriptive words that I can't remember, but you would have thought these stairs would be made of gold. Well, we walked into the stairwell, more because we didn't feel like waiting for the elevators, and much to our disappointment, the stairs were nothing short of 'normal'.  :-)

Chris and I snuck pictures of Rikki reading in the book section at FAO.

As we got closer to nightfall, we passed by St. Patrick's Cathedral. A service was just about to begin, but it's always something wonderful to walk in and see the history of the building as you look up and around at all the richness to a building like that.

No trip to NYC (for me) would be complete without some cashews from the street vendors. I guess you have to shop around. Some were selling for $2.50; others must have been ambitious in selling for $4 a bag. But I got my cashews and was a happy girl....

We ended our evening with some dessert at a really great little cafe/deli we stumbled upon. I got a fabulous cannoli. Then we went to Starbucks to warm up with some drinks before we headed back to Penn Station for my train's departure.

We had a wonderful day spending time with one another....I can't wait till next time. Here are some pics from my camera (all the others were from Instagram); Chris and Rikki took some of the pics below too.

Photo by Chris

Photo by Chris

Photo by Chris

Photo by Chris

Photo by Rikki

Photo by Rikki

Photo by Rikki