NYC ~ Part 2

Monday morning we got up and going rather early. We had a laundry list of things we needed to accomplish during our short visit and we needed to utilize every waking moment – literally!

I will make note right here – “looking cute” in NYC is pretty much impossible when you are planning on walking several miles through mazes of concrete and brick. I had packed a couple pairs of cute shoes that I had hoped to wear, but after our first day I quickly realized that tennis shoes were the only mode of appropriate transportation while in the city.

We headed out North (at least I think it was North) towards Central Park. We were planning on having breakfast at a quaint little place called Alice’s Tea Cup. It was on East 64th Street so we had a good haul ahead of us, especially since we were staying on 49th.

Waiting for Debbie & Tammy to get cash from the ATM.

Park Avenue

Some cathedral along the way.

I noticed a huge difference in the “crowd” during our walk to Alice’s Tea Cup. Compared to Sunday, the crowd was so much different. Mainly b/c a lot of the crowd we dealt with on Sunday were tourists, Monday it was more the locals who were heading to work. The pace was a fast one that’s for sure.

We finally made it!

Finally we made it to Alice’s Tea Cup and apparently at the perfect time too. We hit a slow time at the bistro. Walking in, you see all these great tea cups and saucers, fairy wings with streamers and sparkling glitters and a bakery case overflowing with fresh baked scones, muffins and cupcakes. The atmosphere was comforting and inviting. We were seated at a seasoned wooden table. Each place setting was set with a tea cup, saucer, cutlery and napkin. What I liked most about it was that the tea cups and saucers didn’t match any of the other cups & saucers but the overall look was very cohesive. Alice’s was a wonderful place with a fabulous menu that offered over 140 different tea varieties. I’m not a huge tea fan, so I opted for Alice’s Hot Chocolate which had a dash of cayenne pepper. The other girls tried the tea. They all had a different flavor and they all smelled absolutely divine! Especially Tammy’s who had a passion fruit blend. We finished up our meal, and we began to notice that the tea house was starting to pick up on business. I sort of wished that I was little girl coming into the tea house. They get to wear fairy wings and have pixie dust sprinkled in their hair! It looked like too much fun! After a deliciously divine meal of waffles, omelets, and scones we were ready to take on the upper Eastside. As we were leaving, there were people standing at the door waiting to get in.

So quaint!

Alice's Wonderful Waffles....absolutely FANTASTIC!

However, due to the ridiculous number of photos I took on Sunday, I totally forgot to charge my camera battery. Not a good idea. Debbie and Tammy went their own way looking for excitement while Kellye and I ended up walking all.the.way.back to our hotel so that we could switch out camera batteries and get the extra memory card. It was a silly move on my part, but we couldn’t go the whole day w/o photographic documentation. On our way back we spotted the infamous L.O.V.E. sculpture. We had to get a photo, several actually.

I'm in love.....literally...

Kel and I spent a little time walking around Central Park, taking photographs and wandering around. I couldn’t believe how big Central Park was and the mass amount of rock that is throughout the Park. We saw the ice skating rink and entertained the idea of skating. But I decided that after last year’s attempt to skate in TN, it was in my best interest that I not spend the rest of my trip hobbling around with massive bruises on my knees. But we enjoyed watching others skate. We hiked up to the top of a massive cluster of rocks and sat there people watching while waiting on Debbie and Tammy to meet up with us.

Skyline from the park

These are things I noticed while we were waiting:

1) Squirrels are the size of a small goat.

2) Pigeons are the size of a small chicken

3) The NYPD drive funny little car/trucks that I called “Guidos”.

4) Toddlers who can barely walk ice skate better than I do.

5) The sax player probably makes more money that I do in a year from the tips he makes playing jazzy Christmas tunes in the park – there’s just something magical about it.

When we finally met up with Debbie and Tammy, we decided it was time to have a real NYC hotdog from a hotdog stand. (Matt told me before I left that I probably wouldn’t be able to get one b/c it would be cold and they didn't sell them in the winter. I told Matt he was crazy b/c Detectives Stabler and Benson get them all the time, even in winter on Law & Order SVU.) Umm, he couldn’t have been MORE wrong – meaning I WAS RIGHT! I chose to get a hot sausage with spicy mustard. My reaction was simply “SHUT YOUR FACE DOWN” this is the best I’ve ever had! It was absolutely delicious! Wow. 

After the yummy hotdog, we decided to take a horse-drawn carriage ride around the Park. We picked out the perfect carriage, horse and driver who we thought would give us the most for our money. Let me start by saying, the carriage drivers are serious; they all want you in their carriage. It doesn't matter who you chose, they all charge the same amount. Garrett was our driver. He gave us a fantastic tour of the Park and the massive building surrounding the park. I don’t remember everything by any means, other than celebrities & well-to-do-people pay a LOT of money to have an apartment in NYC.

Kellye & Me

Debbie, Kellye, me and Tammy

Then after some window shopping, walking around, we decided to walk even further up and see if we could find Serendipity. Oh we found it! It was much smaller than I had envisioned, but whatever. I stuck my head in the door and saw the most incredible cluster of knickknacks and people lining the walls that it was quite overwhelming. I made my way to the host, who told me that our wait would be very short, that he could have us seated by 4:30. (It was about 4:15 at the time.) We looked at all the fantastic souvenirs and even met the owner/author of cookbooks. He was a very eccentric man. He signed our cookbooks and we were ready to be seated. We ordered the Frrrozen Hot Chocolate (Kel & Tam had the peanut butter, I had the original.) They were H.U.G.E. We were sitting beside the table from the movie Serendipity – that John Kusack and Kate Beckensale sat enjoying their Frrrozen Hot Chocolate for two. Yeah it was that awesome. I touched it. The atmosphere was very eclectic and vibrant. Lots of bright colors.

Yeah we are so there!

Stephen Bruce (owner & author) with Kellye

The menu was HUGE!

Frrrozen Hot Chocolate  (that is how it is spelled on the menu, its not a typo)

It was so bright and cheery inside

"The Serendpity Table"  in the background behind us.  (I touched it...)

Then we hit 5th Avenue like it was our calling in life. Bloomingdales, Barneys, The Disney Store, Tiffany & Co., Saks Fifth Avenue, Juicy Couture, Anthropologie, Lord & Taylor, so on and so forth. F.A.O. Schwarz was closed. L but I saw it…that’s all that matters!

Candy Lady at Bloomies

F.A.O. Schwarz

Saks Fifth Avenue - light show synched with the Carol of the Bells

The Roc and Tree

Grand Central Station

By now it was getting to be after 9pm and we were working our way back down town toward Times Square. We then had the genius idea to go to the Empire State Building. Don’t get me wrong, its not a bad idea, but its not great knowing that we have to go approx 20 blocks down from Times Square to get to the ESB. Ugh. Finally, after what seemed like forever, we made it! We get our tickets, wind our way around the turnstiles and enter the elevator to the 80th floor. Then we are ushered out and get into another elevator that takes us to the 86th floor where we get out and are able to go out to the observation deck. It took everything in us to make it around the four corners of the building. It was so windy and frigid at the top. I felt as if the wind could probably pick me up that’s how hard it was blowing. It was also snowing up there as well. And these were not your average cute-little-fluffy-snowflake there were hard-balls-of-ice-the-size-of-a-large-marble-snowflake. Seriously. The view was breathtaking and so many lights! When we made it back to the door we came out of…we raced back inside so that our innards could thaw out.

Welcome to the Empire State Building

Going up!  My ears are popping at this point.

Our Stop.

oh.my.heavens.  it was so very cold at the top!

But the view was SO worth it!  WOW!

(The greenish area in the lower center is Bryant Park - home of Fashion Week.)

Two very LARGE snowflakes, these were falling everywhere at the top, yet nothing down on street level.

A view of the tip top.

One quick photo together before going inside to get warm.

Ah, the site of the Macy's Day Parade.  (we passed by on the way back to the hotel.)

Finally back on the ground, we go head back to the hotel. We were froze to our cores and excited about all we had seen and accomplished that day. We no longer got into the room and we were out like a light.

Good night Monday in NYC.