Of course, it wouldn't have been a "real" vacation without a little drama first. On the Friday before we left (last Friday), I had dropped my car off at a garage near my office for an oil change. About 5:40, while getting ready to leave the office, I thought to myself, "Where did I park the car?"
You know that exact second when you realize you may have made a HUGE mistake? Um, yeah.
I broke into a run and hoped and prayed the entire time that either a) the garage was still open or b) they had left the car outside in the lot. When the garage came into my view and I didn't see any lights on, I prayed for scenario b. Luckily, they had left it in the lot. I just figured I'd call John and have him swing by on his way home with my extra car key. No biggie. Come to find out, when you work in a podunk town, they don't even bother locking the damn thing! Car was open with the key on the front seat. Dodged a bullet there!
We started out on the road Saturday a.m. around 8:30 and made it to the Bronx before we took a slight "detour."
Let's take a step back here, shall we? (This is when the camera would back up and the narrator would show up.) If someone asked me what I've inherited from my Mom, I'd probably say lack of direction. (Sorry Mom, but we all know the score!) I loved to read maps and atlases when I was little, but put me in a moving vehicle and ask me if we're going the right way and I break out in hives. So, when John said to me, "You're going to need to turn on the iPad and start reading me the directions" I could feel my face getting hot. I can read, but when the little blue dot starts going off the beaten path, I sort of freak.
That happened in the Bronx. Not really my fault...the map's fault, but still. There were a few dicey moments (when you're driving in NYC, there aren't many opportunities to pull over and assess the situation), but we finally righted the ship and made our way to Midtown West in Manhattan and to our hotel.
I chose our hotel by looking at TripAdvisor and basically starting with the #1 rated hotel and working my way down the list until I got to one that we could afford and that had availability (Very scientific, eh?) We ended up at The Iroquois.
It's on West 44th Street and a few blocks from Rockefeller Center and Times Square -- GREAT location!
We arrived a few hours before check-in and they were great about storing our luggage and valeting the car early. They told us they'd call us when our room was ready, so we decided to take advantage of the "mild" weather (40 degrees!) and walk over to Times Square. No sooner did we arrive in Times Square (like I said, only a few blocks) then they called to say the room was ready. We decided to walk back and get settled in.
It's been a LONG time since I've stayed in NYC (at least 10 years), so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised! The hotel itself is very cute and our room was, also.
Here's a peek at our bed (with all of our junk on it):
And the bathroom:
And the hotel robes with a peek at the walk-in closet:
After getting settled, we decided that there was no time like the present and that we may as well mark one of the items off our list that were there to do -- ice skating at Rockefeller Center. We walked over and scoped out the situation. Here's what it looks like from above (MUCH smaller than it looks like on TV!)
We then rented our skates and took to the ice.
(If I'd known that I would have to carry my pocketbook the entire time, I would've left it in the room!) We didn't do too badly. No one took a spill (we held hands the ENTIRE time...although I think it was more of a "death grip). It was pretty comical because there were three skaters out there that I'd consider professionals/show-offs. There were two women and one guy. Doing all kinds of tricks/spins, etc..and watching their reflections. I'm guessing they were laughing their heads off to themselves at all of us amateurs. We skated for about a 1/2 hour and decided we'd had enough.
The Lego store was right at Rockefeller Center so we went in there to browse. I wish I'd taken some photos -- the displays they had were AMAZING! We meandered over to the NBC Store and past Radio City Music Hall.
We then headed on over to Times Square and made our way in and out of shops. Believe it or not, the Toys R Us was pretty unbelievable. You walk in and there's a Ferris wheel INSIDE of the store! Each car is cartoon or kids' toy-themed. John was able to get a short video.
The store itself was three (?) levels and they had some amazing Lego displays in there. I was able to get a picture of the Statue of Liberty one (you can see the Empire State Building in the corner):
Sunday was a packed day! We started out at the International Center of Photography. (It was basically right around the corner from our hotel, so we decided to give it a whirl.) The exhibits there were beautiful -- reflecting the early 1900's in Europe. David Seymour or "Chim" as he is known had some striking photos. I ended up buying a print of his. It's of a woman carrying a bushel on her head and the shadowing is amazing. (I'm sure "shadowing" isn't the right word and I can't find a picture online to share!)
After that, we started our long trek through NoHo, SoHo (with a small pit stop at the Kate Spade store, just to say I was there) with the end goal of reaching Chinatown. Here are the sites we saw along the way.
I'm not sure what was up with that last photo. Those carolers were just perched on some random building. It was almost like someone took down all of the Christmas decorations but forgot them.
Our Fodor's had recommended the 456 Shanghai restaurant on Mott St. in Chinatown. (They had us at "dumplings.")
It was a pretty small place and the line was out the door when we arrived but we made it to a table (which we ended up sharing with another couple) pretty quickly. We had steamed vegetable dumplings and steamed pork dumplings with pork fried rice. It was awesome! Plenty of food for two! After deciding that we were pretty full, we thought it best to forego a trip to our originally planned destination -- The Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art. (There's always next time!)
We made the long trek back and stocked up at the Duane Reade (i.e., CVS) around the corner from our hotel on goodies for the Pats game. We also went to Crumbs and treated ourselves to cupcakes. We then hunkered down in the hotel room and watched the debacle that was the Pats game.
OK..moving right along. We had originally thought we'd go to the Carnegie Deli after the game, but being as bummed out as we were (or as bummed out as John was would be more accurate) we decided to just meander over to Times Square. We tried to eat at Guy Fieri's restaurant, but the kitchen was closed. (Yes, you read that right...CLOSED.) It was only about 10PM ish on a Sunday night...in the city that never sleeps. Go figure. We ended up at one of the few places still serving food...Red Lobster.
Monday was our last day and we had saved it for the 9/11 Memorial. The site is somewhat in transition/in the midst of being memorialized. The reflecting pools where the North and South towers were are in place with the victims' names around the edges. There are a number of buildings being built and also an underground museum.
I felt like I had to go. I can't really explain why, but it was just something that I needed to do. As I walked around each reflecting pool, I tried to take in as many names as I could and tried to imagine what it was like for them and their families. Many people were posing for photos in front of the pools which I found pretty disrespectful and tasteless. It actually shocked me. Here are the images that I captured:
This last one is a picture of the "Survivor Tree" that made it through 9/11 and several storms that ravaged the area.
Although we ended the trip on a somber note, it was an amazing weekend getaway!
