NYC Day 3

Saturday was our third day in NYC. It was a littler warmer but overall the weather was still great! We got up early and headed straight to Times Square.

GMA weekend crew

There was a race this morning so a lot of the streets were blocked off.

The first thing we did was to buy our bus tour tickets. We had planned to just take the subway to all of our attractions but when you only have a short time and you have nice weather the bus tour is a great way to see the city. Don't be misled though we walked a TON before we really utilized the bus perks. After we purchased our tickets it was time for a quick breakfast New York style.

One thing I wanted to eat while in NYC was a bagel.

It was VERY good! I like how they spread the cream cheese for you and make it a bagel sandwich. The bagel shop didn't have places to sit so we opted to head to our bus stop and eat on the bus.

We were so early hopping on the bus that there weren't a lot of other tourists. Plus the first one we got on was the Battery Park Express so not everyone was interested it. We wanted to get to the Statue of Liberty first thing so that's why we chose it. I remembered the long lines the last time I went so I was glad to have gotten there first thing in the morning. I should let you know that while we were waiting in line there was man singing songs and serenading the tourists. I took a picture of him with my phone but forgot to take a picture with my camera. The crazy thing about this guy is that he is the SAME guy who sang a song to me when I was in NYC last time (like 5 or so years ago). One day I'll get out both pictures and show you. He's aged a bit. :)

After visiting Liberty Island we took the ferry back to Battery Park and headed up Broadway to browse.

There was a Romanian festival which was really neat. They had all kinds of booths to look at. We managed to make our way to SoHo and stopped for lunch.

My friend Holly suggested the Macbar to us. It was really good! The only bad thing is they don't have a restroom and there is hardly any seating.

The food was really good. They only served different varieties of macaroni and cheese.

I had the Cheeseburger Mac. Mmmmm....

After lunch we walked a little while longer then decided it was now time to see the rest of the area by bus. It was so crowded and none of us had anything specific to look at so we were thrilled to be able to get on the bus and go.

The bus was so full that we had to split up for a little while.

The church where the firemen took breaks from Ground Zero.

Ground Zero

The first time I was at Ground Zero construction hadn't really began yet so we were able to walk down to it and stand where the buildings were. Now you have to look from afar so the view from the bus was actually better than when we walked to it.

Here's our tour bus guy. He was GREAT!!!!

When the bus tour was finished we got off and started heading towards Macy's. We stopped for a snack along the way.

On our walk we entered into the Fashion District. Although I don't have a love for all things fashion I do have a love for all things sewing.

I still haven't learned out to sew on a button with my machine. I will be learning this technique in my class on Tuesday.

Ahhhh....kindred spirits.

We eventually made it back to Times Square and took pictures of things we hadn't visited yet.

We eventually went back to the hotel to rest. We were sooooo tired. We didn't have any plans for dinner except we knew we wanted Mexican. The place we wanted to eat was already over booked so we opted for a place close to our hotel and off the tourist radar. It ended up being a good decision. We walked a block to the restaurant and had no clue that we'd later find out we had walked RIGHT by an SUV with a bomb in it. After dinner we headed back towards "the heart of Times Square". We stopped so that Shannon could buy a purse.

We hadn't made it to all the "action" yet but directly behind this picture and to the right is where they had Times Square blocked off. We were unable to make it back to our hotel going that way and more importantly we were unable to make it across the street to get some cheesecake. Remember, at this time we had no idea what was going all. We saw the SUV, the fire trucks, the police cars, and policemen and women everywhere. We had a feeling it was something bigger than a traffic accident but we didn't know what. I did notice a smell in the air as if something had been burning. Looks like my nose was right. Since we couldn't get anywhere in Times Square we headed back towards 6th Avenue and Rockefeller Center. If I couldn't have cheesecake I was going to get another dessert instead.


After getting our dessert we headed back to our hotel because it was obvious we weren't going out any where. People lined the streets and cars were jammed in trying to move. We asked a guy on the street what happened and he said "there was an explosion." We had nothing to dispute that so we took what he said and went back to our room. As we were winding down we heard two other loud explosions (one louder than the other) and I think we knew at that point something serious was going on. We wouldn't know how serious until we saw the news the next morning...

NYC Day 2

I should probably mention that the weather was wonderful the entire time we were there but it was PERFECT our first and second day. We were fortunate because the week before we were told it had been cold and rainy. Thank you, Lord!

Yesterday I forgot to mention the name of our hotel. We stayed at The Muse. We LOVED it! It's a boutique hotel and it isn't very big. It's located on 46th street between 6th and 7th Avenue.

It is in the perfect location. We were 1/2 a block from the heart of Times Square, and only a couple of blocks from Rockefeller Center. Not to mention we were able to walk to Central Park and other tourist attractions.

I would definitely stay at this hotel again.

Day 2, which was Friday, began with us walking to Times Square to buy our ferry tickets and to get information about the bus tours. After that we headed to Rockefeller Center to get a small breakfast and look around. We stopped in H & M just to get our feel of it before we came back later in the day to shop. We eventually arrived at our main destination for the day which was Serendipity.

It was my sister's birthday so this is where she wanted to eat. I was completely on board with that!

While waiting for it to open we met some more Southern ladies with wonderful southern accents. They were from Alabama so we took turns taking pictures for each other. I'm serious, the majority of people we ran into either had Southern accents or spoke a completely different language.

Once we got our table I immediately went to look around in the gift area. Since I collect cookbooks I was thrilled to find out they had some there. And the best part is that one of the owners/cookbook author was there! I bought a cookbook and he offered to sign it.

One of the ladies working there asked where we were from and of course I told her Arkansas. She smiled and asked if I knew that two of the owners were from Little Rock. Uh, NO! I did not! Well actually one was from Little Rock and the other Hazen. It mentions that in the cookbook. I was even more excited that I bought it after learning that fact.

Menu

We had the waiter take our picture at our table which was in front of the cool clock only there happens to be a half-naked man right next to him so I didn't think it would be blog appropriate. This blog is family-friendly!

The food was good but interesting. I'm not even sure what I ordered but I liked it.

The main event had less to do with the meal and more to do with the dessert!

Frozen Hot Chocolate....wow! It was so good! And yes, the recipe is in my new cookbook!

After our wonderful experience at Serendipity's we strolled back towards Rockefeller Center and our hotel while stopping along the way. One of the places we stopped was an adorable candy store. I think it was called Dylan's Candy something. It was so cute.

I loved this! So cute!

We also stopped at Bloomingdale's, Gap, another H & M, and my personal favorite, the Lindor Truffle Shop. I might have bought one, two, or 36.

I didn't eat many while I was there so I made sure they arrived safely home to Little Rock.

We also stopped at FAO Schwartz. It is the cutest store. I've been in them before and still love going in them. My favorite part was the "dress up" area they have. Walls filled with the best dress up clothes. Every little girl's dream!

I took this picture for Emily. She would have loved them all and I wish I could have bought her one of everything!

Eventually we made it back to our hotel in order to change and freshen up for dinner and Wicked!

Here we are in our hotel lobby. It's a terrible picture but you get more of an idea of our swanky hotel. The lobby was full of people at the time enjoying the evening reception. We just dropped in to take a picture and headed out.

Our dinner reservations were at Carmine's. I had been there before and loved it so I knew it would be a good pre-theater dinner. It did not disappoint.

The food itself was so delicious. I loved every bite. It's all served family style so we ordered two entrees to share. They were huge.

We got Lasagna and one of the specials. It was breaded chicken with spinach, cheese, and potatoes. Oh. My. Word.

Our reservation was early enough that we had time to walk through Times Square before we needed to be at the theater. We stopped at a few of the street vendors and then dropped our things off at our hotel. That was another great thing about staying somewhere centrally located. It was always easy to stop by our room for a little while if we needed to.

We arrived at the theater to see Wicked early so we had to wait a while. I was so excited to see it that I wasn't very patient! We took pictures to help the time pass.

The doors opened soon enough and we were ushered to our seats. We had wonderful seats! We could see the actors sweat we were so close. :) I love getting seated and having time to look through my Playbill. I enjoy reading about where all the actors have performed in the past.

The stage and curtain.

More of the stage. These stairs were right and front of us and when the actors would do lines from them it felt like we were on stage with them. They were so close!

Let me just say that Wicked is WONDERFUL!!! I'm so glad I was able to see it in NYC! I loved every second of it and would love to see it again and again! After the show we walked through Times Square some more and just enjoyed being out. It was such a nice night we hated to go back to the hotel even though we were exhausted.

We made a stop in the M & M store. We actually stopped in this place several times during our stay in NYC. It was air conditioned and it had bathrooms.

We also went to the Hershey store. It was so crowded (and they didn't have restrooms) so we didn't linger long.

We were there long enough for me to get a drink.

I wanted to be sure we took pictures at night in Times Square. Little did we know less than 24 hours later we wouldn't be allowed to stand in Times Square and take pictures.

After taking pictures we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. We had a big day planned for Saturday and it started early!

Day 3 to come...