NYC July 2015

New York City!!!

Darin and I took a long weekend trip to NYC this July with our friends Jessica and Ryan.  It had been awhile since we had seen them without kids and it was so fun to catch up and have adult time.

Darin and I were able to get to New York a day early.  With Bob and Gayla and Gwyn and Kevin watching the kids, we flew out Thursday night and had most of Friday on our own before Jessica and Ryan arrived.  We decided to ride bikes through Central Park and go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is on the East side.   

Breakfast at Fika to fuel up for our day.  The coffee was excellent but the cafe had like 3 tables.  We were lucky to get this space at a counter on the side of the cafe.

Gorgeous views pedaling through Central Park! I had to stop and take this picture.

 The Met!  We ended up riding our bikes all the way around the museum looking for bike parking and that gave us an opportunity to see it from the front.

Inside the sculpture section.

A bas relief sarcophagus.

Picasso.

 Faberge Egg.

A beautiful curved painting.

Unusual instruments.  Upside down violin!

I had this poster in my college dorm--so cool to see the real deal!

Wasn't this the picture in Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

Van Gogh.

Monet. Bridge over a pond of water lilies.

Stopped at "Strawberry Fields" in the park on the way out.  It was just a metal plaque in the walkway but people were lined up to take their picture sitting on the ground on it.

Radio City!  This was right by our hotel.

Times Square--lots of construction.

I was excited when I saw this billboard--we had tickets to Les Mis the following night!

Times Square again with less construction.

We met up with Jessica and Ryan on Friday afternoon.  We got cleaned up a bit and then were off to explore!

We decided to spend Friday afternoon wandering in Soho and Greenwich Village getting the feel for the city.

Such quaint brownstones and stoops.   So cool to see these types of apartment homes and cute shops.

A neighborhood park.  Jessica and I noticed that all the neighborhood "parks" were treed cobblestone parks, not grassy parks.

Stopping for a drink in Soho.

Eating some yummy dinner!

After dinner, we heard about this ping pong club nearby so we decided to check it out!  We had to wait 45 minutes for a table but we got one!  You pay by the half-hour ($50/30 min) so I think we played 30 minutes and called it good.

Snells vs. Schmankes!

Winner take all!

There was also a tournament going on and it was pretty intense!  One of the guys kept stripping off clothes with each round.  Very entertaining.

The next morning we made our way to Rockefeller plaza which was also near our hotel.  The Today Show was already done with their taping on the plaza and were back inside, but we still enjoyed the view! In this picture you can see down where the tents are--that is the ice skating rink in the winter.

Across the street was St. Patrick's Cathedral.  It was so beautiful!

Atlas statue by Rockefeller Center.

 Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Morning selfie.

Also nearby was a Lego Shop where we stopped in to get the kids a gift from our trip.  This giant dragon coming out of the walls and ceiling was incredible.  It was made out of Lego's of course.

And this picture from The Lego Movie--very impressive.

And what is New York City without a couple of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles randomly walking down the street?

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon!

 We also grabbed some cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery.

That afternoon for lunch we tried out this Pure Thai Cooking place.  It was yummy!

A Brownstone.

 A New York city street.

Grand Central Station!  Inside--beautiful green ceiling with constellations in gold.

Again, we had to walk around to find the main entrance and see the front.

It was like Grand Central Station around there!

Empire State Building!

Then we went back to the hotel to get ready for our date night out on Broadway!  First we had dinner at this awesome Mexican restaurant called Toloache.  Delicious guacamole, delicious drink, and absolutely amazing lobster tacos!

Then it was off to see the show!  We decided on seeing Les Mis at the Imperial Theater.

My handsome date and me.

 Girl picture!!

Jessica and Ryan decided to see Wicked at another theater on Broadway and they loved it too, of course!

Broadway!

 Ready for the show! Jessica told me later that she took the same picture of their programs in the theater on her phone as well.  Haha.

After our shows, we met up again and walked to Serendipity for some dessert.  Even at 12:30am there was still a 30 minute wait!

 Deliciousness!

Apple Pie a la mode.

Their famous frozen hot chocolate!  After we were thoroughly stuffed, we decided to use Uber for the first time.  It worked out pretty darn well.

The next day we explored the southern part of Manhattan.  We passed Carnegie Hall on the way.

Taking the subway down to the tip of the island!

Statue of Liberty waaaaaay in the distance.  We decided not to spend our day on a ferry and waiting in lines to see it up close.  But we got a picture!

After that we headed to Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange.

And we went to see the breathtaking Freedom Tower.  I thought it was interesting that in every picture I took of it, there was a cross in the picture on the tower.

and also the 9-11 Memorial.  Heartbreaking and extraordinarily memorable.  It really put into perspective how close the towers were, how large they were, and what a huge impact they made when they fell.  Frightening.  But it was touching to see all the names along the memorial and see the beautiful water flowing down inside.    It was a very quiet place.

After that, we wandered to China Town and found this yummy place for lunch.

Dumplings and pork pancake.  

Then we came upon the NYU campus.  

We met these guys playing this hand version of hacky sack with a toy they invented.  They were trying to get them into schools as a way to help kids get moving.  Darin was much better at it than I was.  

We also went to Little Italy.  It was happenin'!  Lots of people on the street.

 The boys grabbed some cigars.

 And we found this cute little restaurant and grabbed a seat on the street.  It was fun to eat and people watch.

 As we wound back towards Central Park again we saw Piper's doppleganger!

 We decided to spend our last evening walking through Central Park with Ryan and Jessica.

It was a beautiful night.

On Monday morning, The Bouchon bakery near Rockefeller Center was one of our last stops.  I had wanted to see the Today Show but they weren't taping outside that day.  Oh well.

 It was just so beautiful so I had to take some pictures.

Pre-breakfast coffee.

Our last stop before our flights --- Sarabeth's!  A delicious way to say goodbye to NYC.

Favorites:  walking through Soho and Greenwich Village seeing the homes, neighborhood parks, and businesses, the street vendor gyro bowl, Les Miserable, ping pong night, the lobster tacos, the Met, Central Park, spending quality time with our friends!