New York, New York, big city of dreams

Today I am linking up with the fabulous Ms. Kathe for You're gonna LOVE it! Tuesday.

I picked this post because I Love NY! (the city not the sport's teams )

My husband sent me a text on Monday a few weeks ago while I was at work. He said he had to go to the New York office for a few days and did I want to go with him? He told me I would be on my own during the day while he worked. I am not going to lie, I wanted to say yes and no at the same time. I was afraid to be in the big city by myself all day. Maybe I am just too sheltered, I don't know. I don't even know where the fear comes from. When i was younger I was so much more adventurous than I am now. I am embarrassed to admit, with how close that I am to New York, the only time I had ever seen it was driving through. I have always wanted to go to New York. Skating at Rockefeller Center is something I have always wanted to do. I talk about it all of the time! Seeing New York in countless movies and of course, watching Sex and the City made me want to go there. My husband kept prodding me to go. I relented. I mean really what else did I have to do? I want to spend my days travelling and here is my perfect opportunity and I am going to say no?
I really did hesitate when i sent the text "yes, I will go". I am SO glad that I did. The few days I had weren't enough! I need to go back!

We flew into New York. The flight is about an hour. The ride from JFK to Manhattan took about an hour. I just wanted to be in the city already. The driving in New York...I don't even know what to say about it, I thought Boston was bad. We got dropped off at my husbands office.

The view from the office

We couldn't check into the hotel until later. I went up to the office with him to store our luggage. I know most of the people on his team in the NY office. They usually come to my house for dinner at some point when they have to be in the Boston office. I had to go in and at least say hi. I really couldn't get out of there fast enough though. I wanted to go exploring. One of the gentlemen from his office had to go to Madison Avenue so he said he would walk me to it. I don't even know what came over me but I didn't even care if I got lost. I told my husband that if I did in fact get lost, I would call him and he could come find me. My first stop was going to be Saks to find the dress I had been looking for, but I got sidetracked by Saint Patrick's Cathedral. What an amazing place that is. The architecture is incredible.

I had a little bit of ADD while I was there. I would go into an amazing store then not be able to concentrate because I was thinking of all of the landmarks that I wanted to see. I mean I can shop anywhere right? Not really, the stores in my area don't even compare to the stores in NY so that was my dilemma. My time was limited and I had so much I wanted to do. I went from being petrified before going to being so excited to be there. The energy in New York is amazing.
Saks did not have my dress sadly (don't worry, I ordered it online when I got home). We have a Saks here so I did not want to waste time in a store that I have in my area.

This does not even skim the surface of the fabulous stores in NY. These are just some of my favorites.

After countless stores, I found Rockefeller Center. It was beautiful. It was still decorated for Easter. The next day they were ripping out all of the Easter decorations and getting it ready for spring. I am glad I saw the Easter decorations because they were so cute.

To my surprise, there were skaters at Rockefeller Center. The ice was a little slushy because it was so warm. I had peep toe booties on and needed to go buy a pair of socks to skate later ( sadly that never happened because my feet were bloody stumps by the end of the day).

I sat in front of the NY Public Library for about two hours getting sun and just people watching. I needed to rest my feet. After I had rested, I did a little more shopping.

The library

I had to meet my husband and a few of his team members for dinner but I wanted to freshen up first. I went back to his office and got the luggage and checked into our hotel. We stayed at 70 Park Avenue, it was right up the street from his office. It was a very cute boutique hotel. I will say the room was not that big.

The room pictures I took did not come out that great but these were the bathrobes.

We went to dinner at a little Italian place called Padre Figlio. It was delicious! I was starving from all of the exercise i had gotten that day. The cosmo's were also delicious, but not as good as the cosmo's my husband makes.

Padre Figlio's

We had a nice leisurely dinner then went back to the hotel bar for another cosmo. I was exhausted when we left the restaurant but once I got out on the street and felt that New York energy, I could have gone a few more hours. After we had our drink it was straight up to bed. I needed to rest up for the next day. I think i fell asleep in under a minute.

The next day, my husband took the day off to explore with me. We actually were going to leave earlier but we ended up staying. We had breakfast at the Rockefeller Center Cafe. No I did not skate, my feet were screaming and I am very thankful I did in fact pack a pair of flat sandals.

We went to Central Park. My husband asked me if I wanted to take a horse and carriage ride. I didn't. I felt so bad for those horses, they all looked so sad to me. I did not want to contribute to their misery.

We went to Trump tower. It was beautiful.

For those of you who watch American Chopper, this was the bike made for "The Donald" by Paul Senior, who was also on The Celebrity Apprentice.

We went to Times Square. A little too much of a carnival atmosphere for me but full of energy. We walked all day

We spent some time in Bryant park.

We went back to the hotel to get our bags and catch our train. We could not get a flight so we took the train. We still had to go back to the airport to get our car. We took the Amtrak Acela train home. It was packed. We ended up at a table that seated four. My husband kept calling it the collaboration table and he hated the whole concept of it. We got stuck sitting with "Mr. Hand" (remember him from Fast Times at Ridgemont High) and a Harvard professor who ate two huge packages of sushi with chopsticks (I also think he had an extra set of chopsticks wedged up his A$$, that's how uptight this guy seemed and who eats sushi on a train anyway?) Know it all Chatty Kathy was across from us. Had my luggage been accessible, I would have gotten a sock and put it in his mouth. I wanted to sleep but couldn't because of the constant drone of his annoying voice. I will think twice before taking a train again. Uncomfortable seats and a long ride, but we made it back safely.

Now I just want to be back in New York and I cant wait for my next trip there! There was so much that I didn't get to see. I still need to get my skate on at Rockefeller Center!