My epic travel adventures start with a trip to New York City. There is a bit of a back story to this trip. Back in March, my friend, George (who lives in Western New York) invited me to go to a concert-Pep Shop Boys and New Order. We were originally going to go to Toronto but at that time Canada was not allowing Americans to enter the country (COVID) and we didn’t know if it would be different by September.
We ultimately settled on New York City with the concert at Madison Square Garden.
Fast forward to July and we get an email that the concert has been postponed to September 2022!!
I already had my plans made, tickets purchased and I didn’t want to make any more changes. I was scheduled to fly to Italy from New York on 9/28 and saw no need to fly back and forth across the country in a day’s time.
So, I flew into NYC on Sunday, 9/19 for a nine day stay. There was some figuring out where to stay but ultimately it all worked out. From Sunday through Wednesday, we stayed at George’s timeshare from Wednesday through Saturday, we used my Mom’s timeshare. George and his wife had to leave to get back to work on Saturday. My friend, Debbie decided to join in and we used her timeshare for Saturday through Tuesday. If you’re wondering why all the location changes, it’s because the time share does not allow you to stay more than 3 nights in NYC. This destination is very popular and it can be almost impossible to get a reservation. Fortunately, Debbie was able to book the same hotel as my Mom’s hotel timeshare so I didn’t need to change locations.
George and Renata’s time share was a large beautiful suite with a living room and kitchen. I had stayed in this location in 2015 with my family and really liked it. This time though, it was not available for the dates I needed. The hotel that we stayed at, I had stayed there in the past and loved it. However, they closed that location and moved it a few blocks away. The location was fine but the rooms were much smaller!! I would not stay here again with more than 1 person but this hotel would also not be my first choice. I find it interesting (and a bit misleading) that they kept the name of the hotel the same even though they changed locations!! The original location was right in Times Square!
Anyway, plans made, tickets bought and accommodations set and I was ready to travel!!
Sunday, 9/19-I arrived around 7pm to the hotel and we immediately left to go to Wegmans (Brooklyn) and find some dinner. Renata wanted to see this flagship store. None of us were familiar with the subway system so while we made it to Brooklyn we ended up walking for about an hour through a not great neighborhood!! But I was on vacation, so it was just an adventure. We were all very hungry by the time we made it to Wegmans so we just got food from the store and ate there. And, we took a Lyft home!!
Monday, 9/20-During the day we did some sightseeing including going to the NY Public Library. We spent some time walking around inside which was beautiful. At night, we attended a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees played the Texas Rangers and won. I didn’t care anything about the game but it was fun to go to a sporting event at a stadium I’ve never been to. The Yankees moved into this stadium in 2009. It is a really nice place and they do fun and entertaining graphics on the Jumbotron.
Tuesday, 9/21-I had to get a bagel at Ess-a-Bagel because 2 friends who do not know one another said that I should. They make their bagels with water so they aren’t as heavy or dense as bagels that we’re used to. Later, we rode on the Staten Island Ferry to see lady Liberty and get a great view of the NY skyline. And after that, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge-from Manhattan to Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn Bridge walk was tons of fun. It wasn’t too crowded and we had really good weather. The walk is about 1.5 miles long.
This is Jane’s Carousel which is right under the bridge. It is beautiful but unfortunately it was not open. We took a walk through the Brooklyn Bridge Park which is right along the water. It is really pretty and a really nice walk.
Wednesday, 9/22-This was the original day of our concert so instead we went to a Broadway show, Come From Away. It was a beautiful production. Broadway had just re-opened that week and everyone was so happy to be in the theater. The audience gave the performers a standing ovation as soon as the curtain went up!!! It was emotional and exhilarating. After the show, we went to a late dinner at Junior’s which is a NY institution.
Before the performance, we did some walking around Central Park. It is huge and beautiful.
Thursday, 9/23-Today we headed to see the filming of the television show, The View. Whoopi Goldberg was not there due to a back issue. The guest was an anchor from the weekend edition of Good Morning America, Eva Pilgrim, who wrote a children’s book. We all received a copy of the book.
After the show, we went to lunch and then headed to the Met for the afternoon. I had never been to the Met so I was excited to go. That place is magical and the next time I am in NYC I will spend way more time there. I was happy to get to spend some time with the Rembrandts, Van Gogh’s and Monets among others. I find it thrilling to see works of art “live” especially those that I’ve seen in books and movies.
Friday, 9/24-It is the final full day for George and Renata in NYC and we are all worn out! We did the hop on/hop off bus tour so that we could see the entire island of Manhattan. We cruised through museum mile, Harlem, the upper west side, the meat packing district and many others. We actually didn’t hop off at all until the very end. We got off because we wanted to have dinner at the Carnegie Deli. George wanted the famous pastrami sandwich but they had sold out!! They did have some wonderful decadent desserts that we shared.
Saturday, 9/25-George and Renate leave and Debbie arrives. I had breakfast with George and Renata at a cute little cafe near the Port Authority where they would catch their train. I was able to leave my luggage with the hotel which was great since Debbie’s reservation was at the same place.
I went to Bryant Park and people watched while I waited for Debbie to arrive. She actually arrived about 45 minutes after George and Renata left. A quick 15 minute walk back to the hotel, I met Debbie, got my luggage, and checked in the room.
Not long after, we went to our first stop which was the Drama Bookshop. This store is owned by Lin Manual Miranda (and others) and is frequented by lots of creatives. It is a cute bookshop which was only about a 5 minute walk from our hotel. According to my niece, Choice, who is a creative, people often come here for the creative resources and work on their creative projects.
Debbie wanted to go to a quilt store that she was familiar so we walked the long NY streets and made our way there. I wanted to see if there were any craft stores nearby and lo and behold there was Michael’s not too far from where we were. So we headed down to check it out.
Tonight, we are seeing a Broadway show, Waitress, starring Sara Bareillis, who wrote the music for the show. There were other shows I was interested in seeing but many weren’t open yet or were already sold out. Waitress was really good and again the audience was very appreciative of being able to watch a Broadway performance in person.
Sunday, 9/26-Today, we were tourists and made our way around the city to see the sights. We went to the Freedom Tower, Rockefeller Center and the Lego Store. I have to confess that while I’m not into Legos, the displays were out of the world fantastic. They were so good-really impressive!!
Also, I also tried to get a COVID test for my flight on Tuesday but the clinic ran out of tests so I made an appointment to return on the following day in the morning.
Tonight, we met my niece, Choice for dinner at the famous Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn. The pizza was delicious and it great spending time with my niece.
Monday,9/27-This is our last full day in NY. Debbie returns home and I head to Italy. We made the most of this day. The first thing I had to do was to get my COVID test so that I could fly to Italy. I had my appointment but I needed to private pay for the test, $120. Their computer system had recently been updated and no one had the right password to figure it out. I almost panicked and lashed out but I am proud of myself for staying calm and just letting the staff work it out. The manager of the clinic called someone in charge who told them to give me the test and said they’d call me later to collect payment by phone. I was perfectly fine with that!!! Test done, negative result received!! I’m still waiting for the phone call to make the payment.
Today, we walked the Highline, did a little shopping at Hudson Yard Mall and also checked out Little Island which my niece recommended. Our lunch stop was a place that I wanted to go to, RH New York in the Meat Packing District. I went to the Yountville location and enjoyed it. The RH stands for Restoration Hardware and they decorate the spots beautifully. They all have the same type of asthetic with the chandeliers, bringing the outside in and beautiful decor in general. The food is really good as well.
Tuesday, 9/28-Debbie has a very early flight and had to leave around 6:30. My flight wasn’t until 5 PM, checkout was at 11 so I waited until then and headed to the airport after checkout. It was raining so it took more than an hour to get to the airport. I arrived early but was happy to have time to drop off luggage and just roam around the airport. All went smoothly and now I’m off to Italy…………TO BE CONTINUED
