Babymoon in the Big Apple: Day 4

Day 4 was such a beautiful day! We woke up and decided that we were going to see the Statue of Liberty. However, on our way to the subway, we stumbled across a huge flea market in Times Square. Suprisingly, Brandon enjoyed it as much as I did, and we picked up some great Christmas gifts for the family.Then we hopped on the subway (going the right direction this time) headed for Lady Liberty. We decided not to take a boat out for time reasons. I was content seeing her from Battery park.Brandon wanted a picture of Presley with everything we did, so we could tell her she had been there.
After the Staue of Liberty, we walked towards the financial district to get a quick peek of Wall street.Historic South Street Seaport was our intended next stop, but it ended up being Gap. I have been very stubborn about wearing my pre-pregnancy jeans, but that day I just couldn't take it (this may have had something to do with all the food I had consumed thus far). Brandon bought me a dress and it was like Heaven! Anyway, South Street Seaport is a really neat place. It's an old boardwalk with a great view of the Brooklyn Bridge.Brandon, once again, thought Presley should be photographed with the bridge. After seeing the bridge so close, I decided we needed to cross it. Well, it took us so long to find the entrance that our feet just weren't up to walking across anymore. Determined to make it into Brooklyn, we jumped on the subway. Yes, you guessed it, we went the wrong way. We also managed to go the wrong way again, trying to back track. Finally, we figured it out and got off in the cutest little neighborhood called Brooklyn Heights. It was amazing how quiet it was compared to the city. I loved the little brownstones, so I had to get quick picture. Then we walked to the famous Grimaldi's pizza. We were warned about their 3 hour wait, but didn't believe it would actually be that long. Well, when we arrived the line was super long and moving super slow. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time to wait, so we walked around the corner to a place called "The Pizza" and it was amazing!With very full stomachs, we headed back into the city so we could make it to Top of the Rock. It's a building in Rockafeller Center that is 70 stories tall. I'm a little squeamish about heights, but once I saw the view, I got over it. It was so incredible, and our pictures do not do it justice.You can see Central Park behind Brandon in this picture. After Top of the Rock, we hurried back to the hotel because we had dinner reservations at Tavern on the Green. Another total tourist trap, but it was worth the money. The room we dined in was all glass and you could see all the tress lit up outside. After dinner, Brandon arranged for a carriage ride and talked him into dropping us off all the way at 5th avenue. We purposely didn't have dessert at Tavern on the Green because I had to go to Serendipity. We made it there around 10:30pm and only had to wait 15 minutes. Oprah told me I had to order the Frozen Hot Chocolate, and I told Brandon he had to order the Broadway Sundae.Yummmmm! Both were absolutely amazing, and we didn't even come close to finishing either one. I was delerious from chocolate and thought Brandon might have to roll me home. Once again, we ended our last night in New York stuffed and happy.

Babymoon in the Big Apple: Day 3

Day 3 in New York was so Much fun because we were able to meet up with some of our friends, Adam and Jumarie. We used to be neighbors in Los Angeles, but they are now living right outside the big apple. We met up in Times Square and decided to go to China Town. It was so nice being able to rely on someone that knew the city, and we welcomed a day of not having to figure out the subway!

China Town was crazy! People would come up to you everywhere trying to get you to buy purses, perfume, jewelry, food, etc. Jumarie and I decided we wanted to check out the purses, and this turned into quite an adventure. First this little Chinese lady made us follow her for two blocks. Then we had to crawl into her van, where she had every knock off purse under the sun, and locked Jumarie and I in. When we had made our purchase, she had to walkie talkie to her husband to see if it was okay to let us back out. Brandon and Adam thought we were crazy! We also got some great deals on perfume before heading to Little Italy.

Little Italy was filled with tons of the best smelling restaurants. I decided I had to have a canoli, so we all stopped in at a local bakery. Everything looked amazing, which meant there was no way I could pick just one. I narrowed it down to three different types of canoli's (they were tiny) and ate them right in the middle of the street!
After Little Italy, we decided to go to the 9/11 memorial site. The subway just happened to drop us off right at the entrance of the Brooklyn Bridge. I was so tempted to walk across for some Grimaldi's pizza, but decided to save it for another day.
We also saw Wyclef around the corner, promoting for some music event.
While we were looking for the 9/11 sight, I stumbled across the most beautiful church and had to go inside. I am so glad I did because it happened to be St. Paul's Cathedral. This church was built in 1766 and George Washington worshipped there during his inaguration. This tiny church sits almost directly in front of where the towers used to be, and served as a place of refuge for all the recovery workers after the attack. They would post flyers of people that were still missing in the church, in hopes that some of the volunteers might have seen them. The boots and equipment that the firemen used scuffed up the pews pretty badly. However, the church decided not to repair the pews, so we would always remember. After looking around at the inside, we walked out to the cemetary. We found gravestones from the 1700's, but most were so old you could no longer read them. Right behind the cemetary is the 9/11 site. They are rebuilding so there isn't too much to see. However, there is a huge hole in the middle of New York city, and it's pretty eerie. I just kept imagining what it must have been like that day. We decided that it was probably time to head back towards Times Square, but not before seeing what Century 21 was all about. I kept seeing people with bags from this place everywhere I went. It turned out to be a huge discount department store with amazing deals. However, it was completely packed, and I just couldn't take the crowds. Of course, I was starving again, so we headed to a little brewery in Times Square for dinner. New York has some of the most amazing food. Thank goodness we walked a million miles a day or I might have come back looking like I was having twins!After dinner, we got them to take one last picture of us in Times Square at night and then said goodbye. Brandon and I were still not ready to call it a night, so we walked over to Rockafeller Center. Of course, the famous ice skating rink wasn't there, but it was still cool to see.My feet and back were letting me know it was time to quit, so we walked back to the hotel. Well, actually, I made Brandon stop in and pick up the largest M&M cookie I have ever seen from a little deli across the street...for us to share, of course. Then we made it to our hotel.

Babymoon in the Big Apple: Day 2

Day 2 started bright and early because Brandon had signed us up for a tour of Yankee Stadium. This was the only request Brandon had while in NY, so I knew it was really important to him. I was still feeling pretty bad, but decided to tough it out. We bought a subway transit map and hopped on the subway towards Yankee Stadium. Ummm...or so we thought. We rode the train for 40 minutes and not until we crossed over into Brooklyn did we realize we had gotten on the train going in the wrong direction. The subways are so confusing!! Poor Brandon missed his tour, but handled it pretty well. He decided that he would take me back to the hotel, and he was going to attempt to go back and beg to get into another tour. It worked! He told the lady his subway story and after laughing in his face, she let him join the next tour group.

When Brandon got back, I was feeling much better and ready to explore NY. We headed to The Metropolitan, but not before asking the concierege which train to take. This was an incredible museum and it was huge. When we finally decided to leave, we had to ask how to get out.
Our next stop was Central Park. It was a little rainy, but so worth walking through. It's so crazy to see such a beautiful park in the middle of a city. It was also a nice shortcut to 5th avenue shopping. I was dying to go to FAO Schwarz and see the piano from the movie "Big". The toy store was huge and it took forever to find the piano. Brandon had just about had it with crowds and walking, but he posed for me anyway. Can't you see how excited he was?
We were starting to get hungry, so we trekked back to the hotel with all the other New Yorkers during rush hour. We learned our lesson from dinner the night before, so we asked one of our friends to give us dinner suggestions. He said we had to try a family style Italian restaurant called Tony DiNapoli's (I made Brandon take a picture with me before dinner because I actually showered this time). Oh Yummm! This place was so delicious. We ordered the chicken parmigian, and I didn't know that such a big piece of chicken even existed. For dessert, we split a brownie sundae that was equally as huge, and went to bed stuffed and happy!

Babymoon in the Big Apple: Day 1

There is no way I could write everything we did in one post nor would you ever want to read that much. Therefore, I will break it up into days for your reading pleasure (Thanks, Cassie! I got this idea from your blog)!

New York Day 1
Our first day in New York started very early. Our flight left at 5:30am, which meant we needed to leave our house at 3am. However, I fell asleep around 11:30pm and woke up at 1:30am. I got a whooping 2 hours of sleep and have been cursed with never being able to sleep on planes...lets just say I was very tired the entire first day.

Our flight was smooth, and we arrived (thanks to super shuttle) at our hotel a little before 1. We sat our bags down and then just looked at each other. What should we do and how in the world are we going to get there? You see, I had 1,000 things I wanted to do and see, but never organized our days. It was lunch time, so I decided we would make our way over to Gray's Papaya. I have wanted to eat there ever since I saw the movie "Fools Rush In". With a little help from Brandon's phone GPS, we found it pretty easily. Brandon and I each got the Recession special, which was 2 Hot dogs and one of their natural fruit drinks.The fruit drink was kind of gross, so I ended up with Sprite. The hot dogs were REALLY good though.
After Gray's Papaya, we armed ourselves with a map of the city in one hand and GPS in the other (no one would have ever known we were tourists). Brandon marked the next closest landmark, which happened to be Bryant Park, and away we went. However, I spotted the 8 story Macy's on our way over and had to stop. This Macy's carries Louis Vuitton and had some of the cutest clothes I have ever seen. Lucky for Brandon, I can't fit into regular clothes, so I didn't buy anything (I did try and convince him I needed a Louis, but he wasn't having it).

Bryant Park was really pretty. I was so used to seeing it during fashion week that I though we had the wrong place, at first. Maybe one day I will make it back for Fashion week!After resting our feet, we walked to Grand Central Station. The subway station was so beautiful and our pictures don't do it justice. It was huge and buzzing with busy New Yorkers. It made me kind of wish I lived there and was rushing on my way to somewhere important.
After Grand Central Station, we decided to head back to the hotel and rest a little before dinner. I had planned on dressing up a little, but I was way too exhausted and not feeling great. Our hotel was right on Times Square, so we just decided to grab dinner somewhere around there. Ha! Big Mistake! We fell into the Times Square tourist trap and got completely ripped off. We picked a flashy New York diner called Lindy's and payed almost $100 for a pastrami sandwich and a patty melt...this did not even include fries. However, the prices didn't stop me from getting a piece of Cheesecake to go. This is the only picture we took from Lindy's. I'm looking EXTREMELY tired.
We spent the rest of the evening walking around Times square. It was amazing to see everything lit up at night. I also discovered that everything in Times Square stays open really late. Shopping Sephora at midnight...I think I will!
Unfortunately, our night didn't end so well. I was feeling terrible! I had the chills and my body was aching from fever, and Brandon was having some tummy troubles. Don't think I didn't still try some of that cheesecake though!