Friday:
We took off pretty early and, much to our surprise, found out we were flying first class. The only time I have ever flown first class was when Matt & I upgraded on our way to Maui for our honeymoon. Being almost 30 weeks pregnant, I cannot tell you luxurious and amazing that was! I felt like royalty and so lucky to be so close to the front restroom, seeing as how I had to use it about 5 times during the flight. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast and yummy warm cookies and milk.
Finally we landed in NY and we opted to take a shuttle to the hotel. Our driver was from Jamaica and gave us a great tour of the areas we were driving through and sites we could see through our windows. We were the last of the passengers to be dropped off so we got to see a good part of NY. We made it to the hotel, checked in and rode the elevator up to the 21st floor with two other young gentlemen. For those of you who know Mom, you won't be surprised to find out that she joined into their conversation and tried to BFF them :) I told her I was putting that in my blog and she told me not to! HAHA! Oh well...anyway - we made it to our room which had the cutest view of these rooftop gardens and plopped down on the bed for a quick rest and refresh.
After a short time, we made our way down stairs and met our favorite concierge, Jacob. Boy oh boy...did Jacob have flair!!! We explained we were first timers and needed suggestions for dinner and what to do with our weekend. He suggested heading down to Restaurant Row on 46th and said if Becco had availability that we had to go there. We walked down 8th and found our way to restaurant row. Everything looked amazing but we made our way to Becco, per Jacob's suggestion, and asked if they had a table for two. They did!! We were guided upstairs to a lovely little table right in the midst of the restaurant energy. It ended up being a great little Italian restaurant. Mom and I both had antipasto, a selection of their homemade pastas of the day and we shared a yummy dessert with decaf coffee.
With our bellies very full, we waddled back to the hotel and headed up to our room. Mom and I were at a loss with what to do with the rest of our evening and we were both pretty tired from the trip but neither of us really wanted to just go to bed. So, I found a comedy club just up the street and we bought tickets online. The show was an improv group. It was hysterical and we had a great time. The show ended around 11:30 and at that point, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.
Saturday:
Mom & I both slept in which was AMAZING! When we were clean, dressed and ready, we headed out to a local diner and had a wonderful breakfast. From there we cabbed it to Soho, per Jacob's suggestion, for some shopping. We walked and walked and walked up and down those streets shopping. Our favorite store was this little scent store that had lotions, soaps, fragrances, oils, candles, etc. All of the smells were intoxicating! We both purchased some items from that store and continued on our way.
After exploring Soho, we cabbed it to the famous NY Macys. We found out that it is 11 stories and each story is 1 acre. We went to 1 of the 3 Starbucks locations within the 1 Macys :) and had a quick refreshment. Then we headed to the baby department and bought Stella some outfits from NY!
When we had done enough damage at Macys, we decided to explore Times Square. We walked by Bryant Park and took sooo many pictures of all of the amazingly bright billboards. We were mesmerized by all of the hub bub and lights. There was a giant reader board with news feeds and one was about Google. Mom tried desperately to get a pic of the word Google on the reader board for Jonathan but didn't have any success.
It was almost time to head back to the hotel but Matt had tasked me with getting a NY Mets hat so we trekked our way over to the Mets store and got his blue, flat billed, 7 5/8 hat so he would be happy. Once we could check that off of our to do list, we headed back to the hotel with sore feet (sore round ligaments for me) to get ready to go to dinner and Jersey Boys that evening.
After getting all dolled up, we headed out to dinner at Ruby Foo's. It was a great Asian fusion restaurant. The decor and atmosphere were fantastic. We left completely stuffed and, again, waddled down the street to 52nd and Broadway to the show.
Jersey Boys was AMAZING!!! If you like the music of the Four Seasons or Frankie Valli then you would love this show. It isn't your typical Broadway musical. There weren't dance numbers, jazz hands, etc. but it was entertaining and the audience had electric energy. I learned so much and had so much fun being immersed in the story of the 4 guys from Jersey that became the Four Seasons. As we were walking out, we saw one of the actors walking out of the side door. We ended up getting autographs from the 4 stars and I even got my picture taken with Jarrod Spector, the actor who played Frankie Valli. Mom and I were saying that we can't imagine anyone playing that part better. His falsetto was amazing and he sang just like (if not better than) Frankie Valli. I was pretty exhausted and sore from walking with my heavy belly so we headed back to the hotel after the show and fell fast asleep.
Sunday:
On Sunday we woke up around 8am and headed downstairs for a quick coffee. We met an interesting old man at the coffee shop and he actually BFF'ed mom, believe it or not. We headed back up to our room and finished packing, checked out of the hotel and put our bags in storage. We grabbed a cab and went to visit Ground Zero. There was a little museum next to the site which we went in and viewed. It was a sobering experience. You know how devastating the 9/11 attacks were to NY and our country but viewing the faces and the missing posters really impacted me deeply. There were tissue boxes all over the museum and it is no wonder why...the personal accounts, the mangled I-beams, the charred fireman suits and helmets...they all painted a picture of how 1 day changed the world as we knew it. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to view the pictures and pay my respects up close and personal.
After a bit more shopping, we headed back to the hotel and had brunch at a fabulous little restaurant, Thalia, recommended by my sister-in-law. The service and food were amazing and we left happy and full. Sadly, it was time to grab our bags and head back to JFK to fly home. We hailed a taxi and were on our way. This began the most horrifying taxi experience of my life. You always hear about how crazy the taxi drivers are in NY but so far we had really lucked out and not had any crazy drivers...until now.
First, the driver was on the phone then entire time (using a hands free headset at least). Next, we never once touched a freeway so we were going up and down side streets of Brooklyn and narrowly dodging pedestrians, cyclists and other buses and cars. I had to roll down the window a bit to get fresh air so i didn't hurl because of the speed and swerving. We finally made it safely to JFK and get the heck out of that death mobile.
After a few hours in the airport, we boarded the plane and began our trip back to Seattle. We had 1 flight attendant on this flight that we remembered from our flight to NY. Apparently he was in a great deal of pain on the flight to NY and had an emergency root canal after we landed because his demeanor on this flight was completely different...He was much more pleasant and talkative. He noticed that I was pregnant and from that point on, he made sure I was taken care of every minute of the entire flight. I even got 2 delicious cookies - 1 for me and 1 for the baby! YUM!
The trip was everything I dreamed of and more! I am so thankful and fortunate that I was able to have this experience and share it with my mom and my baby-to-be.
Next weekend Matt and I are off to Las Vegas with Hewlett Packard! I'm a travelling machine the next few weeks and then nothing until baby comes!
Sounds like an amazing time!! How fun. :) Have a blast in Vegas... I heard its in the 70s there!
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