February 22, 2012

New York, New York

I can’t believe we’ve been home from New York for over a week!  It feels like we were just up in the beautiful snowy city of lights.

Day 1

Walking with Luggage + Knicks Game

We made it! After taking our chances and hoping on the Bolt Bus from Philly, we rode into New York City (luggage and all) around 3pm.

Have you ever tried wheeling a large suitcase across the streets and avenues of New York?  I have, three times now.  I guess that’s just something you do when using public transportation.  Luckily, I spotted out a great spot for lunch to kill an hour that was big enough to store our stuff.

Houndstooth Pub is quite a large restaurant (for the city) and we loved the food.

Especially their tiramisu.

*Disclaimer: when on vacation I don’t hold back when it comes to food.  I’m sure you’ve figured that out by now, but just wanted to note my normal healthy lifestyle always returns after I get home.

After lunch, Houdstooth graciously held our luggage for a little while so we could walk around, and before long it was time to head to Madison Square Garden. Scott has a friend who works for the New York Knicks, so we met him early to take a tour of the arena, check out the entertainment teams and hung out in Ashanti‘s dressing room (before she got there to sing the Anthem).

I guess you could say we’ve been checking out more than cities lately, and I’ve truly enjoyed seeing NBA teams “behind the scenes.”

Our friend we were staying with, Jessica came to meet us and helped me take our luggage back to her place in Jersey City.  I’d like to take a moment and award us both giant gold stars for lugging our suitcases through the streets of NYC, onto the Subway and up three flights of stairs, all by ourselves.  I would definitely consider that the first workout of the weekend.

It wasn’t long before it was time to change and head back into the city and go to one of my favorite NBA games to date:

New York Knicks (Linsanity) vs. L.A. Lakers.

New York Knicks – LINNING.

After the game a few of us headed over to Justin Timberlake’s very own Southern Hospitality restaurant, also known as Hell’s Kitchen.  Scott and I loved the menu, and it was a fun place to hang out.

We ordered some pretty awesome BBQ – family style.

Pulled pork and chicken, baked beans, greens, and Scott’s personal favorites: homemade mac ‘n cheese and tator tots.  It was pretty dreamy.

Eventually I stumbled upon the secret basement bar.

Nice work, JT…we loved it.

Day 2

Yoga + Soho

Allowing ourselves to sleep in, we made it out with just enough time to grab brunch near where we were staying in Jersey City, at a place called Beechwood Cafe.

After a huge cup of coffee and an egg white, veggie and turkey omelet the size of my head we were ready to walk and ride over to yoga in Soho.

I explained how traveling took over Training Week 7, so it was nice to get into Yoga Works for a power class.  I’ve taken yoga a few times before, but I’m not sure I was ready for the intensity of this one.  It was certainly challenging and I was really impressed with the headstands, balancing and contortions people were doing.

This class made me realize 2 things:

1) I can’t grab the my fingertips around my back, and 2) Yoga makes my entire legs, arms and wrists sore for days… in a still feels good to be sore kind of way.

After class we each grabbed a different tea from a great restaurant in Soho called Sanctuary T.

The food looked great, but we were really interested in the wall of the different mixed tea flavors.

Every cup is made to bag and order, and I was quite happy with my choice of Watermelon fruit tea.

Just the thing to warm me up for our walk back to The Path, which happened to be located right near where they are building the new World Trade Center Twin Towers.

Goosebumps.

We got home with just enough time to shower, get ready and head back into the city, again.

We pulled up a Mexican Fusion place called La Esquina and by the looks of it I would have never guessed the food would be as phenomenal as it was.

The place was packed from wall to wall and as soon as we decided to try somewhere else the host asked us if we wanted to sit at the underground bar and eat there.

Ummm…YES! How cool is this place? We loved the dark, candlelight atmosphere and it was without a doubt the best Mexican food I have EVER had.

I mean…

Fish tacos, something awesome in the middle I can’t remember, black beans and rice, and my favorite – some kind of pumpkin queso, all served with really, really good red sangria.  Delicious is a serious understatement.

We had a great day and night in the city with great company.

Day 3: Sightseeing, NY Cheesecake + Comedy Show

Although it was pretty cold out, Scott and I were up and ready to go see NYC!

We didn’t have a plan and just wanted to walk as long as we could to see everything possible.  We decided to take the subway to 33rd street and walk over to Rockefeller Center.

On the way there we found the famous Grand Central Station, home of the Improv Everywhere Freeze.

I was really hoping a people would randomly start freezing in place, start a flash mob…or something while we were there.

No such luck, although we were freezing.

I’ve been to the Rockefeller Center before, but never appreciated how cool this place is.  While watching the ice skating conga line, it looked it we were in the middle of a movie set.

I’ve never actually ice skated here, but would love to someday… conga line or regular skating alike.

Right across the street, I spotted the gorgeous St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

It still amazes me how much you can see walking 10 minutes in the city.

Eventually, we decided we should eat lunch and found a great pub called The Ginger Man, a Starbucks barista recommended.

Another great place to eat off of 36th Street between Madison and 5th Avenue. (Hey…I’ve finally got the street lingo down!)

The food was good, but I was mostly excited about this giant salted pretzel.

Just the start of the “must have” carbs to try in New York City.

We continued our walk past the World’s Largest Macy’s Store,

and eventually made our way to Central Park, right as the sun was setting.

It’s crazy to me that this HUGE beautiful park is right in the middle of an enormous city!

As soon as we crossed the street and started walking around the park it started snowing.

As we were leaving it really started coming down, and I was pretty excited about it!  You can’t tell in the picture, but was actually catching snowflakes on my tongue.

It was a really cool experience for this Florida girl…

but BURRR!

Eventually we made it walking to our friend Shawn’s house over by 69th Street.  Mind you, we’ve been walking the entire time since 33rd, but it’s easy to walk the entire day when you’re in a big place like NYC.

After a short visit, we headed over to get some New York cheesecake from Magnolia Bakery.

We decided to split the Pumpkin Cheesecake (my absolute favorite) and I didn’t regret it one single bit!

I thought cheesecake for dinner in NY is perfectly acceptable, and it looks like Scott agrees.

When our bellies were stuffed we cabbed for the first time over to The Comic Strip for a comedy show.

We both love live comedy, and to be honest this one was…decent.  We went to one the year before at Comedy Cellar, which proved to have better talent.

Don’t get me wrong, a few guys were great, but I feel like a show needs to end after 2 hours or so, and we left when it wasn’t even finished at the 3 hour mark!

Oh well…time to head home.

These two, cold Floridians came, saw and conquered New York City.

See you next time NYC!