NYC! Part One

Our trip to New York was beyond incredible.  I loved every thing we did and every food we ate.  Each time we'd do something new I'd decide it was my new most favorite thing ever.  I'm super thankful for my awesome husband for taking me to the city I've wanted to go to for so long.   I promise I won't share every one of the 500 pictures we ended up with but I do want to record every second of our trip so I never forget any of it.  Here goes...

We eased into our trip to the city by stopping into Philly for a quick catch up with the twins.  We only had one afternoon there but enjoyed walking around town, visiting city hall, eating the number one gelato in the world (according to national geographic) and watching the gators blow their chances for a final four. 

city hall in philly

hubs & his gelato

girls gelato... and bagels?

capogiro gelato- see the number 1 sign?

irish car bombs

Sunday morning we woke up early and caught a bus to NYC.  J&A joined us on our adventures Sunday and Monday and we were thrilled to have the company (and the guidance).  Our trip started with a visit to Chinatown.  Block after block were lined with street vendors selling everything from handbags to weird fruits and veggies, whole hanging creatures and plenty of unidentifiable objects.

streets of chinatown

stuff for sale

animals for sale

not sure what these items are

We explored a few streets before buying numerous items from Fay Da- a Chinese bakery (everything is huge and like $1 or less!).  We tried some normal- sponge cake- and some weird- sesame roll with red bean filling.

delicious chinese bakery

sesame ball

sweet potato stuffed pastry

These sweets served as prep for our dim sum experience at Jing Fong.  You enter the restaurant and take an escalator up to a giant room of tables for eight.  You're sat with random people and immediately are bombarded by people pushing carts of strange looking things asking you if you want it.

Jing Fong dim sum- a must go!

dining hall

We were super lucky to be sat with a dim sum expert who pretty much ordered everything for us (and steered us away from the scarier stuff like chicken feet).  It was fun trying so many different dumplings, buns, and other things I can't recall.

a few of our selections

tripe = stomach lining {I refused to try this one}

After we had our fill of Chinatown, we walked a mile up to Washington Square Park and Greenwich Village.

took photos of every fun building along the way

crazy shaped building

I'd outlined a mini walking tour of the West Village to show us the ridiculous homes and pretty streets that it's known for.

gorgeous churches are everywhere

greenwich village neighborhood street ($75k/month anyone?)

We made a mandatory stop at Magnolia Bakery (yuuum) and took a quick detour to see Carrie Bradshaw's "stoop."

cupcakes!

so, so good

Carrie Bradshaw/SATC <3

I experienced my first New York park in Washington Square Park and fell in love.  Every park was so pretty and offered such a nice escape from the city craziness. 

Washington Square Arch

tulips were everywhere!

Another one mile walk brought us to Mario Batali's Eataly- an indoor Italian food and wine marketplace filled with restaurants and every type of grocery item you could ever need.  While the concept was awesome, the place was a total zoo.  We managed to snag a table and shared a plate of meats and cheeses to hold us over till dinner.  Read our whole recap from the real foodies here. 

entering Eataly

the craziness inside

our fancy snack

At this point we decided to head back to check-in to our hotels and relax for a bit before dinner.

our room at the Ameritania

best showerhead ever.

Unfortunately (or not?) I was still waaay too excited to be in nyc and couldn't sit still so I dragged Mike the few blocks to Central Park.  I quickly decided this was my most favorite place ever.

We hopped back on the Subway to go to a tapas-style dinner at Stanton Social. 

The food was so delicious and the place was lots of fun.  This meal also taught me that beers in the city are like 8 bucks... way above my threshold of acceptable beer price and therefore my last beer in new york. 

red snapper tacos

zucchini tempura

chicken arepas = favorite

meatballs and manicotti

fried chicken n' waffles

donuts with chocolate, caramel, raspberry

After dinner we decided to call it a night BUT once again I was way too excited for sleep and the bright lights of Times Square drew me in.  Seeing it at night was so crazy.  I couldn't believe how many people were standing around taking it all in and trying to capture it in photos.  We took our place on the red steps and stared at all the lights and people- including a flash dance mob and a group of cross dressers. 

random? but super cool

We finally made it to bed after this ready to tackle another jam packed day of fun!