New York State of Mind

A few weeks ago Jeff and I took a trip to New York City. I can't tell you how long I've been looking forward to our trip, I just love everything about NYC. For the first couple of days of our trip, we stayed with Jeff's brother Brad, his wife Vanessa and their cute kids. Then we headed to NYC and stayed there for a few days. So here's a recap of our trip. This might be more of a travel log for us to remember our trip, so hopefully it's not too long and boring for others to read.

Also, we are missing some of our pictures. Jeff got a new phone right before we left for the trip, he ended up not liking the new phone and took it back to the store. On our trip he took a bunch of pictures with his new phone, he downloaded the pictures before he took back the phone, but we can't find where they downloaded. So once we find the pictures, I'll have to do a NYC part 2 post.

On a Wednesday night, we took a red eye flight to Newark. I forgot how exhausting red eyes can be, especially when we had a layover in Denver half way through. Also, note to self, Continental seems to have no leg room and is not good for overnight flights. Maybe I'm just getting older. We got to Newark early in the morning and Brad picked us up. Unfortunately, we didn't have our luggage with us because it didn't make the transfer in Denver. We didn't get our luggage until the next morning, 24 hours later. My mom did mention to me before we left to take a change of clothes in my carry on, which I did not do. Another note to self, listen to my mother and don't fly Continental. Anyway, we went to breakfast at a place called The Brownstone Diner in Jersey City. It's been on Triple D and it was great. They have a million different kinds of pancakes.

Brad and Vanessa live in Morris Plains, New Jersey and I have to say I loved it there. Their little town is so quaint and I loved their neighborhood. The mayor of Morris Plains came to their house to welcome them to the town, how cool is that? I can see why they call Jersey the Garden State. While we were there they took us to George Washington's Winter Headquarters and we walked around the museum. I thought it was very interesting. Jeff has pictures somewhere of this. That night we had pizza at Nonna's, it was delicious. Actually, just thinking of it is making me craze pizza right now.

We didn't make it to "The Shore" and I didn't run into any of the "Housewives of New Jersey", but there is always next time. I really enjoyed New Jersey, its a great place.

We had so much fun spending time with Brad, Vanessa and their kids. Thanks again for letting us stay and showing us around. We had a wonderful time.

The next morning was Friday and miraculously our luggage showed up at 6:00am. Which was great because we were planning to go to the Statue of Liberty and then head into NYC. It was also nice to have clean clothes. Brad was our tour guide, which we really appreciated. We took the ferry from the New Jersey side to the Statue of Liberty and there were no lines, it was great. Here are some pictures.

Us on the ferry to Ellis Island, Lower Manhattan is in the background.

Lady Liberty

Liberty Island, the weather was absolutely perfect.

This is the 9/11 memorial in Jersey City to remember those who were from New Jersey who lost their lives that day. The two rectangular towers on the sides are the same width as the WTC towers. The walkway in the middle points to where the WTC towers stood in lower Manhattan. The beams in front are from the WTC site.

That is Jeff in the walkway. Notice all the names of those who lost their lives engraved on the towers.

After we saw the Statue of Liberty, Brad drove us into the city to our hotel, which was so nice because I don't think I want to ever drive in NYC. Thanks again Brad! We stayed at the Andaz hotel in the Financial District. We loved our hotel, it just opened up earlier this year and I felt we got so much more for our money than some of the other hotels in other parts of the city. I was kind of concerned that it was too far from everything, but we ended up really enjoying our location. Plus it was pretty close to subway lines, so it made it easy to get anywhere. I knew that I didn't want to stay in Times Square because it's way too touristy for me. I also loved that our hotel was located on Wall Street and I enjoyed being in the middle of the financial district and all the Gordon Gekkos of the world.

Once we got situated at our hotel, we headed out to see some things in lower Manhattan. We were disappointed to learn all the tickets to see the new Ground Zero memorial were gone. I wish we would have known to get tickets months earlier, but that's something to see next time. We did some shopping at Century 21, and Syms. I'm into discount shopping, especially in NYC.

The next store we went to was ABC Carpet and Home.

Picture via ABC Carpet and Home website

This store has been on my list of things to do for years and I was so excited to check it out. Jeff was just along for the ride, I really don't think he knew what he was getting into. ABC Carpet is huge, ten floors huge. We made it to about three of them. Next time I'll have to spend more time there. I did get to see the Madeline Weinrib rugs and pillows, I love her. Jeff also spotted a celebrity. Jeff has a good eye for stuff like that. He saw Zuleikha Robinson, from the TV show Lost. I still have no idea how he recognized her. He's got skills. Here's a picture of her.

Picture via Google Images

After we wandered around ABC Carpet, we headed over to Fishs Eddy. Another store I've been wanting to check out. I really liked this store too.

For dinner we went to the Momofuku Ssam bar. We both really liked it, I loved the pork buns. I'm usually not a huge fan of pork buns, but these were delicious. The crab was good too.

Jeff enjoying dinner, sorry the picture is so blurry.

For dessert we went across the street to the Momofuku Milk Bar to get some cookies. We had heard so much about pastry chef Christina Tosi, so it was fun to taste the cookies. We got the Compost Cookie, the Corn Cookie and the Blueberry and Cream Cookie. All were delicious, we were most surprised by how good the corn cookie was.

After dinner we did some more shopping around Union Square and the Flatiron district, you can tell that I planned the trip with all the shopping. While we were in the Flatiron district, we went to Mario Batali's Eataly. It's a Market/Food Court with an amazing atmosphere. It's a great place to hang out if you are a foodie.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at The Energy Kitchen. We thought we would start out with a healthy breakfast so we can splurge on calories later. We then headed up to Times Square.

Times Square

More Times Square

The Late Show

The Hello Deli from the Late Show

After Times Square we headed up to Central Park to meet Brad, Vanessa and their kids for lunch at the Shake Shack. We had heard so much about it and I was very excited to eat there. I loved the burger, it was delicious. I really think they need to expand their franchise to the West Coast. Central Park was one of the highlights of the trip. The weather was perfect and it was so much fun to see Brad and Vanessa and their kids again.

Hopefully I'll be able to post more pictures later. Jeff took some great pictures of Central Park and of everyone, hopefully we'll be able to find them.

While we were shopping at a store in Soho, Jeff spotted another celebrity, Bridget Moynahan. I didn't even see her. I was too busy trying to check out the sweaters that she was standing in front of. When I stepped away to ask Jeff which colors he liked best, he said, you know who that is right? Of course I have no idea and when he said Bridget Moynahan, I said oh my gosh, that's totally her. I love her! At this point I think she heard our conversation, looked at us and then walked to the front of the store. I'm so oblivious when it comes to celebrities, I never see them. Which now makes me realize how many celebrities I missed while living in Los Angeles. Anyway, here is a picture of Bridget, like I said I really do love her. She is absolutely beautiful, and I thought it was so much fun to see her. I'm glad Jeff pointed her out. Now I think I need to start watching Blue Bloods on TV.

Picture via Google Images

Saturday night we went to dinner at Aldea. Jeff had heard about the chef on Top Chef Masters and wanted to try his restaurant. The chef George Mendes has a Portuguese background and since Jeff served his mission in Brazil, he wanted to have some Portuguese food. We both got the tasting menu and were very happy with the food.

Sunday morning we decided to go to Rockefeller Center and go to the Top of the Rock. The view was amazing and again the weather was perfect.

View of Central Park

Empire State Building

For lunch Jeff wanted to go to the Peter Luger Steakhouse in Brooklyn.

Picture via Peter Luger website

This place has been on his list for awhile now, so it was fun to finally get to go. We made reservations a month in advance and good thing, because a bus full of French tourists showed up the same time we did. We got the steak for two with a tomato onion salad, german potatoes and the bacon. The steak was the best I've ever eaten, it was absolutely delicious. I don't think I can eat another steak again without comparing it to Peter Luger's. Jeff has pictures of the food, so hopefully I can post those later. I really enjoyed taking the subway to Brooklyn and walking around the Williamsburg neighborhood before lunch.

After lunch we headed back to Manhattan and walked around Soho and Greenwich Village and spent some time in Washington Square Park. Soho is one of my favorite parts of the city. We also saw Mark Consuelos and his son crossing the street. He is a short man, which only made me realize how petite Kelly Ripa is.

For dinner, we decided to stay close to our hotel in the Financial district. We were exhasted and didn't feel like going too far. Jeff remembered that Anthony Bourdain got his start at a restaurant called Les Halles in the Financial District, so we went there.

Monday was our last day in NYC before we had to come back to reality. I've always wanted to go to breakfast at Balthazar in Soho.


The Breakfast was delicious. Jeff also spotted another celebrity, Tom Wilkinson, eating a few tables away from us.

After breakfast we walked around Soho more and then headed to Filene's Basement for more discount shopping. What can I say, I do love discount shopping. It was a great way to end our trip.

We had such a wonderful time and I can't wait to go back.