There cannot be anything more fun in the entire world than going to NYC with your best friends. Our couples trip with the Fuhrmann’s and the Martinez’s was a whirlwind of food, laughter, and fun. In our short 2 1/2 days in the city we managed to see (and eat) it all!
We flew into Newark and caught the train to Penn Station. We stayed at the Marriott Fairfield Inn just a few blocks away. The day was blustery and freezing but we ventured out into the cold to start enjoying the city. First stop? Levain’s Bakery. Mmmm…cookie. Second stop? Gray’s Papaya for some delicious hot dogs. I am normally not really a hot dog fan, and we ate A LOT of good food on this trip, but I have to say, the Gray’s Papaya hot dog makes my top 5 list. YUM.
We were freezing to death, but still had some time to kill before dinner so we headed toward the Lincoln Center and Central Park. We didn’t spend a ton of time in the park, but I wasn’t too sad because I had plans to come run the next morning. Mother nature and her 3 degrees had other plans. So, I didn’t quite get my CP fix. Good excuse to visit again soon.
Next up—Dinner at Robert. Robert is located in Columbus Circle at the top of the Museum of Art and Design. It’s such a fun venue with beautiful sweeping views of Central park.
I give the food a solid one thumb up. It was really yummy, but didn’t blow me away. I had lamb on a bed of mashed sweet potatoes with brussel sprouts and a raspberry reduction sauce. Rusty had pasta.
Then we made our way to the Nederland Theater to see Aladdin. It was cute, and the Cave of Wonders scene and the Magic Carpet scene were pretty spectacular. But all in all, it wasn’t my favorite Disney Broadway by a long shot. (You will notice many pics of just the girls, and many selfies of just the girls. The boys were big picture taking party poopers.)
And just because we hadn’t quite eaten enough food in the the 7 hours we’d been in NYC, a stroll through Times Square and a stop at Juniors for Cheesecake was in order. I’d be so fat and happy if I lived here. :)
But wait, did our night end here? No, it did not. Rusty was craving pizza. We were getting close to our hotel and I asked if he wanted to look on Yelp for a place near by. He said, “”No, I’ll just let the magic of NYC take care of me.” And lo and behold about 3 min later we stumbled upon a pizza joint. Kyle and Dom stopped at White Castle for some little burgers and our night was complete. We sat in the lobby feasting on our late night snack, talking and laughing. Amber and Dom were sharing a slice of cheesecake with only one fork. Amber was telling a story and waving her cheesecake filled fork around. Dom patiently listened for a few minutes, waiting for his turn with the fork. When he was sick of waiting he grabbed the fork from her hand and stuffed the cheesecake bite into his mouth. And her story didn’t miss a beat. 
We all crashed hard that night and woke up ready to hit the town in the morning. We ate a quick little breakfast at the hotel and then made our way to Soho for Cronuts at Dominique Ansel Bakery. The flavor of the month was Cherry Blossom Ganache and Sour Cherry Gelée with citrus sugar. Heaven in a pastry. They were so good that even after Amber dropped hers on the gross NYC street, she still ate it. :)
We walked down to Lower Manhattan to visit the World Trade Center and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I didn’t know quite what to expect at the museum. I’d been to the memorial before, but the museum was a whole different experience. It was somber and sad, and at the same time really beautiful and inspiring to walk through and relive the events of that day. I’d recommend it to anyone.
There was a beautiful quilt that paid tribute to those who lost their lives on the airplane that crashed in Pennsylvania and on it was a quote I really loved. “The light of Liberty will never be extinguished in our great land; it glows not in any one place, but in the hears and soul of all Americans everywhere.”
(Photo used from nyc instagram feed)
After the museum was the moment I’d been planning for, dreaming about and salivating over for weeks. Our self guided foodie tour in Greenwich Village. I think my favorite moment was when I had a chocolate covered waffle on a stick in one hand, a chocolate dipped banana gelato pop in the other, and Rusty stuffing pizza in my mouth. Life doesn’t get better than this :)
So, here is our foodie tour:
1. The Meatball shop. 5 stars. We all loved this and wished it wasn’t the first stop on our tour. We had to eat conservatively so as to not over do it right away. 
2. Milk and Cookies. 3 stars. After Levain, this just didn’t cut it for me.
3. Murray Cheese Shop. 4 stars. I LOVED my plain old grilled cheese sandwich. And wish I would have been more adventurous and tried the mac and cheese sandwich with pork, onion and BBQ sauce. I’ll save my 5th star until after I try that. 
4. Grom. I didn’t have anything here (my tummy can only handle so much) but I think Rusty would give it 4 stars. Gelato heaven. Here’s Kyle and Kari enjoying the treat.
5. Joe’s Pizza. 4 stars. I love NYC style pizza, but have yet to really differentiate a good slice from a bad slice. They all taste good to me! I will say the one exception is Lombardis. That is true 5 star pizza. 
6. The Popbar. 5 stars. This little chocolate covered banana dipped gelato pop was surprisingly my favorite thing I ate on the trip. It was just delicious. Smooth and creamy with just the right amount of chocolate. 
7. City Bakery. 4 stars. The hot chocolate gets 3 stars and the homemade marshmallow adds a star all its own. It’s fantastic! I think if this was the only treat we would have had today, we would have enjoyed it a little more. As it was, this probably put us over the top. The hot chocolate is so rich it’s like drinking pure melted chocolate. Our overstuffed stomachs couldn’t handle too much of it. 
We were all in need of a nap at this point. It was Superbowl Sunday and so we headed back to the hotel to catch a little bit of the game. The Empire State Building was lit up with the colors of whatever team was winning. And when teams would score a touchdown, the lights would get all sparkly and flashy. It was pretty awesome. Here we are near the beginning of the game when the Patriots were winning.
After our nap we made our way up to Midtown to do Top of the Rock. The weather was deteriorating pretty quickly, and we were all quite tired so we didn’t last too long at the top. It started snowing pretty heavily so the views weren’t very clear.
We woke up on our final day to freezing rain and snow on the ground. What a mess! We all slept in and had a quick breakfast at the hotel. Rusty had to head to a business meeting and the rest of us headed to the Statue of Liberty to climb to the crown. I’d never done that before and was really excited about it. If we thought the first two days of our trip were cold were were wrong. That morning was FREEZING. Half snow, half rain, slush everywhere. YUCK. After maneuvering a million puddles, we finally made our way through Battery Park and onto the Ferry. We waited in line, shoved all our stuff into one tiny locker and were on our way. There is a fun little museum in the base of the statue and we learned how Lady Liberty was assembled. And Kari picked her nose.
The 354 stairs were crazy steep and really narrow. Dom doesn’t like heights or small spaces and he wasn’t sure he was going to make it. We were all so happy when we got to the top! The crown is a tiny little room. The 6 of us fit, but there wasn’t any room left over. The windows are also pretty small, but it was beautiful to look out and see NYC in all her glory. I loved climbing the stairs so much more than I thought I would. It was a really fun, exhilarating experience and I’d love to bring the kids back to do it someday.
We then spent an hour at the museum on Ellis Island. Kari bought me an adorable hat as a little thank you gift and got one for herself as well. So Amber ran to get one too before we jumped back on the ferry. This is probably my favorite pic of the trip.
Last stop? Burgers at Shake Shack for most, and a quick trip to Hudson Eats for Rusty and I. Can’t wait to go back to that place and try more. It was a beautiful venue with fantastic food. Hudson Eats is self described as “a curated dining collection of 14 fast-casual concepts from chef-driven eateries…”
(Image here)
It was time to hit the airport. Because of the snow, we were afraid that our flight may be cancelled or delayed. Everything went smoothly until we got on the plane. We then proceeded to sit at the gate for 2 hours before taking off. That was NOT a fun way to end the trip. Although we arrived home exhausted, I have a feeling we’ll be talking and laughing about this trip for years to come.
One last pic. Dom and Amber bought Rusty this shirt to say thanks for being our tour guide during the trip. He loves it!
