NYC: Recap

My friend and I are back safe and sound from a wonderful whirlwind adventure in New York City. 

Our hotel was fabulous. The service was amazing. The extra locally made sweets at turn down, the hailing of cabs, the late night deliveries of creamer and excellent location were all appreciated. Archer Hotel is highly recommended. The weather this past weekend was nice enough to get away with only a couple of layers (thankfully for this Florida gal).

 

Central Park was a highlight. If we had more time, we both would have loved to explore this area further.

Zebrietto's Espresso Bars were a favorite. We hit them up twice. I ordered the Marocchino both times. Delish.

Betony offered up the most incredible dishes one after the other. Culinary heaven.

The view from our bedroom.

We ended up snagging tickets to Phantom of the Opera from the TKTS booth in Times Square for half off. Normally $155 we got two for that price. The seats were center of the orchestra and perfect. A most excellent first musical experience for myself.

YESSSSS!!!

Dinner the second night turned into across the street rather than south in Chinatown. We were pooped and wanted to stay closer to our beds. Anthony the concierge recommended this place and he was spot on. The most amazing General Tsao's Chicken to hit this tongue.

Grilled cheese sandwiches with hot apple cider in Bryant Park.

Tiffany's building decorated in multiple sparkling brooches.

Random models having a photoshoot in the street with fog machines and all. 

The subway had a bit of a learning curve, but we figured it out before we almost ended up leaving the island of Manhatten :-o By the end of the trip we could get anywhere we wanted on that tubular beast.

Lil guy reminded me of home.

Russ & Daughters in the Lower East Side, around for 100 years and it felt like it hadn't changed one iota. 

My first ever bagel and lox (with capers, thinly sliced red onion and tomato) and I do not think I can top it unless I go back to Russ & Daughters one day. I hope I can.

The last thing I ate in NYC. Affogato,  espresso with Spekuloos icecream on top. 

This was in LaGuardia as we were departing. I had a deja vu moment at these people movers and suddenly had the scene in When Harry Met Sally, where they were in the airport on these movers and she was trying to avoid him recognizing her, in my brain. I thought.... "this could be them!!" Even if not, I shall pretend.

My bring homes for myself.  I also pre-order a Chanel polish in Sweet Star that looked mesmerizing swatched on the sale lady at Macy's. It should come in on Black Friday. The girls got spoiled rotten with trinkets. We had a blast and here are my final Darts and Laurels:

Dart:

- Bringing the wrong sized camera lens. I swear I could shoot nothing I wanted. Need a much smaller one next time. Plus it weighed a metric ton.

- Not taking the time to really figure out the subway system before embarking.

- Not getting to the Statue of Liberty earlier in the day. Crazy packed. But this was due to the above.

Laurels:

- Having a plan and reservations for most things but still being flexible when stuff happens.

- Using the TKTS booth.

- Magnolia Bakery cupcakes.

- Free MoMA tickets on Fridays from 4-8pm (get in that line at 3pm!)

- Staying hydrated through various DuaneReade stores.

- The Rome2Rio app was very convenient. I plugged in where I was and where I wanted to go and it gave me the time via walking/sub/taxi/bus and how much each cost and which routes to take. Amazing. And free.

Thank you for the well wishes and advice. It was the trip of my dreams and I hope to go back again one day.