NYC

Bryan and I had the best trip to New York.  It was his first time there and my first time as an adult and it was freeeeeezing cold but we had an amazing time!  And my wonderful parents kept the girls for the weekend; we're so lucky that they were willing and that the girls think going to Gigi's house is the ultimate vacation.

Day One- We woke up early to catch the early bus up to New York and arrived in the city around noon then caught our first ever uber ride to our hotel.  Bryan was fantastic and planned pretty much the whole trip; he found a great deal on a hotel in a great location in midtown.  We dropped off our luggage and headed out into the city.  We wandered through Rockefeller Center stopping for a sandwich from Pret and banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery (just as delicious as we'd heard.)  Then we walked down 5th Avenue, stopping in the New York Public Library on our way to the Empire State Building.  We really debated going to the top of the Empire State Building because we'd heard of long lines and it not being worth it but the romantic in me felt like we must go up with it being Valentine's Day weekend.  So we did and it was fantastic.  One of the benefits to visiting NY in February is that it's not terribly crowded at all.  We made it up in no time, and really enjoyed the views and the fascinating audio tour- we especially loved seeing the pictures and videos of the workers in 1931 climbing and shimmying down poles without any safety gear at all!  We walked through Bryant Park on our way to Times Square (I've never regretted more not having a fitbit, we walked miles and miles and miles this weekend.)  We arrived in Times Square just as it was getting dark and it was just so exciting to be there.  This was the warmest of all our days there (a balmy 25 degrees... haha) so we didn't mind wandering around the stores and stopping for some dinner while we waited for our show to start.  We saw Phantom of the Opera and it was really fantastic- definitely a highlight for me and an excellent first Broadway show for Bryan.  Now next time we just have to find a way to get our hands on some Hamilton tickets!

^ NYC Public Library

Day Two- This morning we walked north on 5th Avenue.  We stopped to see St. Patrick's Cathedral (so beautiful!), the Trump Tower, and I chose next year's Valentine's present at Tiffany's.  We eventually made it to Central Park, which was a huge relief because it wasn't as windy as it had been walking between the buildings.  I loved walking through the park, even in its wintery state and couldn't get "That's How You Know" out of my head.  We saw the Manhattan Temple then got lunch at a deli and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was incredible.  I loved the painting of Washington crossing the Delaware; I hadn't realized how enormous and powerful it was.  After the museum we were exhausted from all the walking and took the subway down to Eataly for the most delicious dinner.  By this time it was really quite cold and windy so we headed back to the hotel (it was like 7:30!) to watch a movie and crash in bed.

^ I love that you can see my breath in this picture

^ view of the Empire State Building.  I was hoping they'd light it up for Valentines, but they didn't this night (the 13th.)  They maybe did on actual Valentine's Day but we never had a good view.

Day Three- This was the coldest day.  We took our time getting ready and eating breakfast and didn't leave til after 10am, but it was still one 1 degree.  We rode the subway down to Battery Park and wisely decided it was too cold to take the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty.  We walked all through Wall Street stopping at the Stock Exchange and beautiful Trinity Church.  Then we made our way up to the 9/11 Memorial and One World Trade Center.  By this point I was the coldest I've ever been, and we were so grateful to get inside the warm 9/11 Museum.  It was so well-done and so heart wrenching.  They had recordings of a few of the messages passengers on the hijacked planes had left for their family members that were incredibly sad.  When we left the museum I was shocked that it was 2:40, we'd been inside for over 2 hours and hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast!  After a cold walk to Chinatown we ate the most delicious dumplings at a restaurant recommended by my friend.  Chinatown was so fun because it was Chinese New Year and confetti filled the streets.  We bought some poppers of our own and t-shirts for the girls.  Next we walked on the Brooklyn Bridge, which probably wasn't the best idea given the weather, but still it was amazing.  Bryan wanted to eat at Katz's Deli so we made our way up to the East Village.  Bryan is a great person to travel with because he has an excellent sense of direction and got us all over the city with no problem (okay, some problems, but much fewer than we would have had if I was in charge.)  We shared a sandwich and plate of fries and it really was delicious and worth the long walk in the cold.  We stopped at Magnolia Bakery for some more banana pudding and a cupcake to take back to our hotel.  Later we saw on the news that this was the coldest day in NYC in 100 years.  

^ the Survivor Stairs - thousands of people escaped the burning towers by running down this staircase.

Day Four- This was our last morning and we had done pretty much everything on our list so we just kind of wandered (for about 4 miles, ha!)  It was President's Day so it was fun to see all American flags at Rockefeller Center, and we stopped to watch filming for the Today Show for a bit (I'm a huge fan so I loved that.)  We walked down to Levain Bakery for the most delicious cookies then back to our hotel to check out.  We had planned to have lunch at Grand Central Station before taking the subway to our bus stop but the power was out so instead we were interviewed by a local radio station on the power outage.  We found lunch somewhere else then caught the bus home.  We were sad to go but also grateful to finally be out of the cold and off our feet.  We're excited to go back another time when the weather is a little more temperate, but we couldn't have asked for a better first trip together.

^At this point my face was frozen and it was hard to smile