New York City, NY

Day 12 - May 26

We had a super early flight to NYC. We left from Chicago's Midway airport and landed at LaGuardia around 10:00am. I was soooo tired I wanted to cry. We took a cab to our hotel and checked in. We stayed at the Mayfair on 49th St. It was as big as a closet, and so old. And the decoration... well it speaks for itself:




After all the hotels that we stayed at during our trip, arriving in NYC to this was just sad. The location was fabulous. The service was terrible. We saved $500 by staying there instead of the marriott we we were originally planning on staying at.

We were starving so we went to get some lunch at an Indian restaurant called Utsav, where I discovered that I hate Indian food.


We then went to the NBC studio tour. We saw the SNL studio and a video about NBC.

We walked around times square

went to the M&M store and the hershey's store

We had dinner at Da Marino italian ristorante and then went to the hotel and were going to shower and rest a bit and go to the top of the rock at night to see the city views. However we were so tired that I slept until the next day. Tyler was sweet and allowed me to rest. We had been going and going for so long that I just crashed.

Day 13 - May 27

Cold day in NYC. Foggy. But we got up and had breakfast at a place nearby the hotel that was recommended by the door man.

We rode the subway to battery park.

And then took the ferry to the statue of liberty.

look how foggy it was!

After spending some time at the statue of liberty we took the ferry again to ellis island. We didn't spend too much time on ellis island, but enough to see some interesting things. Being that I'm an immigrant it was interesting to see the immigration museum and the different things that they have there about immigration.



We left ellis island and went back to battery park where we got a dirty water NY hot dog, and then took a cab to the bodies exhibition at south street seaport.

We weren't allowed to take pictures there either. But it was so neat. It was fun to see Tyler discover the human body, and a great reminder of the wonders of it for me.

We took the subway back to our hotel and got ready to go to phantom of the opera. We had dinner at another Italian restaurant in times square.

And off to phantom we went.

We were naughty and took pictures in the theater. We weren't supposed to, but we did anyway.

We had Row B seats, center orchestra. Great views of the stage.

It was amazing! I have loved Phantom of the Opera for 10 years, and I finally got to see it on Broadway.

After the show we were surprised at all the people out in times square. It was super busy! We walked about a bit and saw the lights and the screens.

And had Junior's cheesecake. I wanted dessert so bad and NY cheesecake was the perfect one to end our evening.

Day 14 - May 28

We skipped breakfast and had an early lunch at Flor De Mayo at the Upper West Side. Best food of the whole trip! Real food! Rice, beans, steak. Yum. So good.



We then headed to central park. It was cold and rainy again. I was grumpy, and no fun at all. I feel bad now. My feet hurt, I ate too much, and I was freezing. We walked around most of central park, but since I was so grumpy we have very few pictures.







We went back to our hotel, took a nap, and got ready to go to The Little Mermaid. I was in a much better mood after taking a nap!

We had Row A Front Mezzanine seats for The Little Mermaid. They were great seats especially because we got a great deal and only paid $15 for the second ticket.




It was a great show, but definitely not as good as Phantom. The costumes were amazing and the way they did the transitions from water to land was very cool. I'm glad we got to see it, especially now that it's closing on August 30!

After the show we were starving. We figured we'd eat dirty water hot dogs. We did, but we were still hungry.

So we got pizza!

yum!

Day 15 - May 29

We went to the Empire State building observatory. It was a bit warmer day, but it was very foggy still.

Macy's superstore

Afterwards we decided to go to the MoMA.
Absolutely our least favorite part of the trip. Modern art is not our thing. There were too many things there that were considered art that to us was just plain pornographic garb.

The building itself is beautifully done, and so are the gardens. But the "art" in there... sucks.

We left the MoMA early and walked around times square again, decided to get tickets to Mamma Mia! and went back to the hotel to get ready for the highlight of NYC broadway... WICKED!


I was so excited I couldn't help myself! I was giddy happy! We had Row A seats, center orchestra. I was thrilled. When Wicked started, I teared up a bit because I couldn't believe I was actually there watching it after waiting to watch it for so long.





It was an amazing musical. The best one we have ever seen. I know people rave about it, but there's a reason for it. It's worth all the rave.

We had dinner at an Argentinian restaurant that I cannot remember the name!!

Day 16 - May 30

This was a beautiful day! It was warm, sunny, and clear! We started the morning off by going to the Wicked: Behind the Emerald Curtain tour.




I thought it was good, but there were way too many people per tour and I would have liked more content and less q&a.

Afterwards we took the subway to Brooklyn. We waited in line for almost one hour to eat at the famous Grimaldi's Pizza.

It was worth the wait. Very good pizza.

We then headed over to Brooklyn Ice Cream factory for some yummy ice cream! It was by the pier and had beautiful city views and Brooklyn bridge views!






We then headed to the Brooklyn Bridge to walk over to the Manhattan side. It was so fun. The Brooklyn bridge is amazing and I just loved it.









Once we walked through the bridge we sat down to rest at city hall plaza and they had street performers dancing, and I sat and talked to a sweet british old lady about NYC.



We started walking back through China town. It reminded me of Brazil with all the little tents in the middle of the sidewalk. very neat.

Manhattan bridge

We made our way to Little Italy and I was smitten. I wish we could have spent a day in each place and really explored it. Hopefully we'll be able to go back to do that.



We took the subway back and went to the Manhattan LDS temple. We couldn't do a session because it was closed and we had tickets to Mamma Mia that evening.




We had another little mishap on the way back from the temple because part of the subway was closed!

We hurried to the hotel and took a quick shower because we were sweaty and stinky and went to Mamma Mia!

We didn't dare take a picture of us in the theater because their ushers were crazy about it! They would run down the isles and flash people down with their flashlights and yell at them to put their cameras away. The sound was terrible, the scenery was so simple it wasn't broadway worthy. Stick to the movie... much better.



After Mamma Mia! we went to the Rockefeller center. I told Tyler I want to go to NYC during Christmas time and see the city all lit up and snow, and go ice skating at central park and rockefeller center.

St. Patricks Cathedral

It was so nice to see the night skyline of nyc. We also had a wonderful couple be sweet enough to take a picture of us with their fancy DSLR and then e-mailed it to us. The wife tried to take it with our camera and couldn't because of the lights and then you couldn't see us, so she asked her husband to do it. We're so grateful to them.


The next day we left NYC and came home. We arrived to a hot 95 degree Texas. It was nice to be home. We had a wonderful trip and I'm so glad we did it! We're now both working and I need to accumulate PTO to be able to go anywhere. It was our first vacation with just the two of us in the four years we've been married and it was well worth it!