NYC Trip

I’m wrapping up a couple great weeks of holidays – hence the quiet time around the blog lately. We had some great family time the first week up at my parents’ cottage. The weather didn’t really cooperate but we made the best of it. The second week was awesome – Sonya & I got away to New York City on our own for four days. Incredible city and a great time away. Here’s the quick recap of our trip –

Sonya & I were able to get away this week on our own for the first time since before we had kids. We’ve done nights away here and there but this was really the first time that we’ve gone away for a chunk of days and not had to worry about kid things. Thanks to Sonya’s sister and our nephew we spent four days in NYC and had a blast.

Here’s the day-by-day hilights –

Monday

• We flew out of Toronto early, landed at La Guardia, got our bearings and hit our first of several bus/subway trips to get to Yankee Stadium
• Found a pretty sketchy spot to store our bags while we were at the game – we casually slipped anything worth anything out of our bags and in to Sonya’s purse :)
• Yankee Stadium & the game were incredible. Sonya is a trooper for playing along!
• We could not have possibly had better seats for the game. Unbelievable.
• Made our way from the Bronx down to the Upper West Side and got to our hotel. You have to see the photo of our amazing view – I’ll post it soon.
• Dinner at a very cool dim sum place and then back to the hotel

Tuesday

• Up early to get down for our ferry to the Statue of Liberty – thankfully we got an early ticket because by the time we came off the island the line was ridiculously long.
• Statue of Liberty was very cool – the story of the statue and of liberty is told throughout the landmark itself
• Walked through downtown, grabbed something quick to eat before walking by Ground Zero – no real memorial setup yet but lots of construction going on for the new buildings
• Very moving displays setup at St. Paul’s Chapel telling the story of the 9/11 rescue workers and of the volunteers who helped them in the months following
• Lots of artifacts still in the chapel from that time – letters from kids, patches from fire departments, lots of flags
• Visiting St. Paul’s was pretty emotional and brought back lots of memories
• Another subway trip up to Times Square – just in time to be in the middle of it all during Michael Jackson’s memorial service. Not sure how many photos I got but it was AMAZING to be there for that moment.
• Tuesday night down to Little Italy for dinner at the legendary La Mela – wow!

Wednesday

• It was kind of hard to contain my excitement but we got up early to head to the Regis & Kelly studio – only about 10 blocks south of our hotel
• Surprised at how small the studio is – only seats about 150 and the room is actually really small
• Hayden Panettierre was the big guest – if you think she only looks good on TV, you’re wrong.
• Seeing the production side of the show was pretty cool – very slick operation. Regis & Kelly seem to genuinely enjoy their jobs and their fans – very gracious and good at what they do.
• Regis & Kelly should do a separate contest for Canadians. Not fair.
• We also got to be there for the taping of Regis’ birthday show on August 25th – lucky us!
• Some more time on the west side before heading to Studio 54 to catch Nathan Lane and others in Waiting For Godot. Thanks for the tickets, mum! Incredible play with some very moving moments.
• At some point on Wednesday we ended up in the Apple Store on 5th Avenue – loved it.
• Legit NY pizza on the 16th floor terrace of our hotel is a pretty awesome way to spend an evening.
• Nightcap at a VERY cool underground place called Gus & Gabriel’s. If you are in NY and can get there – go!! It is on 79th between Broadway & Amsterdam. If the waiter recommends the Belhaven Twisted Thistle, take his advice!

Thursday

• For the first time in as long as I can remember I woke up this morning on my own – no alarms or children. Beautiful.
• We spent most of Thursday in Central Park – carriage ride, nice walks, incredible musicians, beautiful fountains. Very cool place.
• Made our way to the Imagine Mosaic and heard the whole story from Gary, the mayor of Strawberry Fields
• American Natural History Museum is an amazing place – Sonya just kept talking about the scene from Friends where Ross & whatshername share some intimate moments in one of the displays. She was disappointed when we couldn’t find it.
• One last stop at the Broadway & 75th Starbucks and then another subway ride back out to La Guardia. Nice to get home and nice to have had a great trip. We’ll definitely go back.

Friday

• I’m not sure how much walking we did over the four days but it was a lot. And today my feet are freaking sore. Really sore!