We asked for lots of food recommendations from friends (thanks to everyone!); however, we didn't use any of them! We picked all our own restaurants and did a fabulous job at it I must say. Our first night, we had an amazing Thai dinner at Ritz Asia, outside on the street in Greenwich Village. We ate dinner at Giovanni's in Little Italy, which was also fantastic! You can't really go wrong anywhere you eat in Little Italy. We decided to dress up a bit our last night and go somewhere a little nicer. We chose a quaint Spanish restaurant in Tribeca called Flor de Sol. The ambiance was charming, the food and wine were superb and the service was top notch. It was definitely my favorite of the three.
The rest of our trip was filled with the best NY style pizza, watching street performers, LOTS and LOTS of walking around the city and through Central Park, visiting little cafes from movies for coffee and dessert (Cafe Lalo from You've Got Mail and Serendipity; something a husband won't generally do), window shopping at all the stores we couldn't afford (Prada, Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany's etc.) and then shopping where we could afford - Canal Street! We even saw Celine Dion shoe shopping at Bergdorf Goodman and I saw a 5 carat engagement ring for $487k at Tiffany's - it was BEAUTIFUL, but REALLY, who buys that???
Every time I have been to NYC I go to Canal Street to buy a knock off purse. Normally there are dozens of Asian men and women coming up to you on the street asking if you want to look at Prada, Coach, Chanel etc. purses. They walk you forever until you come to an alley, then a back door and about 5 flights of stairs before you enter a hot and steamy room the size of your closet which is filled with 20 other women. This is so they do not get busted by the cops. Now that I carry a diaper bag 24/7 I don't need a purse but my sister did. So we were walking along Canal Street and sure enough we were approached MANY times; however, there were no dark alleys or back doors or small rooms. They have now moved their underground, "secret" purse selling business to minivans - YES, minivans! There are dozens of minivans lining the streets. The vans are gutted and lined with shelves of purses. You go into the minivan (if you are not claustrophobic, of which I am, so I couldn't squeeze in there), sit on a stool across from the seller, and look through purses. I stood patiently outside many minivans until my sister found her Chanel and Gucci purses she had been looking for. This mini van business is very new b/c I was in NYC with Alex in November '08 and they were still selling from those tiny little back alley rooms.
I had to get a picture of the Abercrombie and Fitch models standing out in front of the store. They were hot, of course, and their bodies were nice to look at! We visited the Columbia campus briefly and what a walk up to the library! We also ran into a guy selling Obama, McCain & Palin condoms on the street. Each one of them has a saying on the front which I found very amusing:
OBAMA - "Hope is NOT a form of protection*" (*Hope flavored)
McCAIN - "Old but not expired*" (*Wrinkled for her pleasure)
PALIN - "When abortion is not an option*" (Hockey mom approved)
The entire time we were in NYC it was around 95 degrees with no breeze. We were walking 7-8 hours a day and our bodies hurt and we were so tired of being disgusting and sweaty. So, we took a rickshaw ride through Central Park our last day there. We walked the park one day and thought it would be fun to have someone else take us around too. Of course we stopped by all the movie spots and my favorite spot, Strawberry Fields! I go here every time I visit the city. I am a huge Beatles fan and Imagine is my absolute all-time favorite song every written. It is the most beautiful song I have ever heard and I still get goosebumps each time I visit John Lennon's memorial.
Dylan's Candy Shop was our last stop before we headed back to the hotel to catch a cab to the airport. I am not a big candy eater but we had heard about this candy store that was supposed to be unreal. Let me tell you, it is crazy full of candy. It is three stories of every type of candy, chocolate, fudge you can think of - a dentist's worse nightmare! They had bin after bin after bin full of candy for the very low price of $10.99/pound - WHAT??? $10.99/pound - that is crazy!!! And kids were filling bag after bag and their parents thought it was great. Yes, I am the boring and mean mom who doesn't allow her 22 month old to eat sweets but come on - this was insane. Anyway, this place even had some VERY old school candy like the dots on paper (gross) and candy cigarettes (really, is this a good thing to sell to kids still?). We found a very funny mint tin which read, "Please enjoy a mint, since your breath smells like butt!" Genius!
So, our trip was a success! I got to sleep in for the first time in a long time and spend some quality time with my sis - FUN TIMES!
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