Jealous?

Once we made our way back to Union Square (which is where our hotel was located) we went to the Morgan Library. Not surprisingly, I loved this place. They had some of  J.D. Salinger’s letters on exhibit and since I’m such a nerd about letters, I was pretty stoked.

By this point we were utterly exhausted. We had a little over two hours before we needed to leave for the airport. We were hungry, so we decided to go to the Shake Shack for lunch. We had seen this place in my travel guide, and we walked past is several times, as it was close to our hotel. We wanted to try it, but the thing is, the line is at least one hundred people long. I’m not kidding you — it wraps around half of Madison Square Park. Since we were too tired to do any more exploring, we decided we would spend our last hours in New York waiting in this god-forsaken line to see what all of the fuss was about. The wait to order was about about an hour and a half, and then the wait for the food was about another 30 minutes. Oh yeah, and the whole time we were waiting in line we were worried that we were going to be late for our flight. The line was taking longer than we had expected, but we felt that we had reached the point of no return. We didn’t want to abandon the line after waiting for so long! To save time, I left the line and went back to the hotel to get our suitcase. I came back and Kyle had barely moved! He finally ordered, and we thought the food would be ready right away, when in fact it took a good 20 or 30 minutes. We seriously almost left after we had ordered and paid because we thought we were going to miss our flight! I just kept thinking of how stupid I would feel if we missed our flight (and connecting flight) all for some food! We decided we would wait five more minutes, and if the food wasn’t ready, we’d leave. Luckily the food was ready a few minutes later, so we grabbed it and hailed a cab as fast as we could. I shoved the food in my purse to try to avoid stinking up the cab.

We were still worried about missing our flight because we had only given ourselves an hour to get from Union Square to LaGuardia Airport. (Now that I think of it, this was really really stupid of us!!!) I asked the cab driver how long it would take us to get to the airport, and he said about 30 minutes, which would give us 30 minutes to check our bag, print our tickets, get through security and get to our gate. I can’t believe how stupid we were. Luckily it only took 20 minutes to get to the airport and we checked our bag right away with no problem and the guy who checked our bag printed our tickets. There was not one person in front of us in the security line, so we zipped right through it.

Soooooo we got to our gate and finally got to eat our food. The food that we waited two hours for. The food that was now cold and sitting in my purse. We each got a mushroom burger (which was a deep fried portobello mushroom stuffed with muenster and cheddar cheese with veggies and sauce), french fries, and we shared a “hopscotch concrete,” which is frozen custard blended with toffee and caramel (we drank about half of this in the cab and had to throw the rest out before we hit security). So was all of this insanity worth the wait?

YES! YES! And again YES!

So we scarfed the food and had about five minutes to spare before we boarded the plane. Not too shabby if I do say so myself!

We’re home now, and I am in NY withdrawals. I’ll be back later with some more thoughts on the trip.

Here’s a picture of the line. Try to piece it together in your mind. It’s crazy! I am proud to say that we conquered the line at the Shake Shack!

I’ll update with our last day in NY later, and I’ll finally post some pictures. But now, I’m going to go catch up on The Daily Show!

Another wonderful day in New York! Wretched hangover and all!

We got a bit of a late start, which is to be expected after a night like last night. We headed over to the Union Square outdoor market and browsed the fresh produce, cheeses, baked goods, and artwork. I grabbed a fresh muffin and a pear cider and we ate at a table in the park. We grabbed lunch to go at Pret-a-Manger (we were SO stoked to see that NYC has this restaurant chain – we have only seen them in London) and we took the Subway to the Met. We ate our lunch in Central Park right outside of the museum. First thing we did when got inside was grab the audio tour guides. Those things make the experience so much better! We spent several glorious hours inside. Seriously, I could spend weeks in there and enjoy every second of it. It is just so. much. fun. My favs were the Medieval Arms and Armour and Victorian Photo collage (this was on exhibition. I love this stuff so freaking much. Kyle bought be a really cool “coffee table” book full of this stuff).

We took the Subway back to our room so we could rest for a bit, eat, and get ready to see Chicago. By the way, I felt like hell all day long. I was able to push through it while we were at the Met, but I thought I was going to die on the Subway coming back to the hotel. I decided that I HAD to rest, so Kyle ventured out to get us some take-out before we had to leave. I took some Tylenol, drank tons of water, and put a cold wash rag on my forehead and slept for about a half an hour. I woke up a new woman! Kyle came back with Indian food, which only made things better! We scarfed it down (probably the best Indian food I’ve ever had), as we only had about 15 minutes before we had to leave for the show.

Chicago was great! I had never seen it before (not even the movie) so it was a nice treat. After the show we walked around Times Square for a bit and got some Tastey Delight. Now we’re back in the room watching Seinfeld!

Seriously, I want this to be my life. I wish I started every day at an outdoor market, then spend a few hours at an art museum, eat lunch in the park, and then go see a play. This has been an incredible trip. I will be so sad to leave. This is an amazing place.

Too tired/lazy to post pictures! You’ll probably have to wait until Sunday to see any, as tomorrow Kyle and I plan to do as much as possible before we have to head back to California.

Yesterday was a perfect day in New York. We covered a lot of ground, saw a lot of sites, and ate a  lot of delicious food. Unfortunately I also drank a lot of drinks and I’m feeling it right now. We had been walking from about 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and all we wanted to do was sit a table outside and have a few drinks. Well, I had about one too many, and let’s just say that I’m lucky I made it home last night :\

We started our day by stopping at a Duncan Donuts. I had already eaten a packet of oatmeal in the room (were you expecting anything else?), so I just got an iced latte. It was huge and it was barely $2! After we got coffee we decided to walk to Central Park. On the way we stopped at Macy’s (which is apparently the largest store in the world) and rode the wooden escalator. Next we made our way through Times Square. It was a little too Disney-fied for my liking, but it was still amazing to walk through. We finally made it to Central Park and rested for a bit on a rock as we people watched. After we rested for a bit we walked through about half the park. The park was great as it was, but I bet in a few weeks when the trees begin to bloom it will be spectacular. We left the park and walked through the fashion district.” It was kind of cool to see all of the stores that I will never be able to shop in… We soon found a little restaurant that served pizza and we decided it was time to see what all the fuss was about. Seriously you guys, it was the best pizza of my life. Seriously. After lunch we decided to go Serendipity 3, which is famous for its frozen hot chocolate. The wait was about an hour and half long, so we put our name on the list and decided to go to Rockefeller Center to kill some time. We returned just in time for our name to be called. The frozen hot chocolate was divine and totally worth the wait.

After we had our treat we took the Subway to Brooklyn so we could walk over the bridge to Manhattan. The view was incredible. I am still amazed at how many skyscrapers there are in NYC. They go on and on forever. However, there are two buildings that are missing from that view, and Kyle and I decided to visit ground zero once we got back into Manhattan. It was so crazy to see a big empty space when there are buildings all around you. Kyle and I actually got pretty upset as we spent time reflecting on how awful it must have been for everyone.

Next we walked through Chinatown and Little Italy where I finally got the cannoli I had been waiting so long to try. No words can express how delicious it was. The night culminated at Pete’s Tavern, which is apparently the oldest continuously operating bar in the city. It even stayed open during prohibition! Like I said, I’m stilling feeling the effects of last night, so I think I did it right! I am truly amazed that I woke up in bed this morning and not a gutter.

With that, I’m going to drink some water and rest for a bit longer. We’re going to the Morgan Library and the Met today, and we’re seeing Chicago tonight! I can tell you now that booze will not be involved whatsoever.

I’ll try to post some pics tonight!

Kyle and I are celebrating his birthday this weekend in New York City. We left the house at 4:20 this morning and one bus ride, two layovers, and one crazy cab ride later, we were in NYC! The view of the city as we landed was breathtaking. The first thing we noticed was the Statue of Liberty. And then, as if out of nowhere, we saw the beautiful city unfold itself in front of us. Simply amazing.

I had this crazy feeling while we were in the cab that NYC is like the mother of all cities (well, at least U.S. cities). It feels as though New York is the original city, and all the rest are her children. Crazy I know, but I think Capote was on to something…

Once we checked into the hotel we walked over to Craftbar for our first taste of New York. Let me tell you, New York tastes delicious! After dinner we did a little exploring and purchased some obligatory black and white cookies.

I’m too tired to re-cap the rest. It’s time for me to climb in bed and watch Seinfeld (I know, how perfect is that!?) and go to bed. We have lots to explore tomorrow!

I will leave you with a picture (more to come) and a great quote by Jerry Seinfeld: “The thing about eating the Black and White cookie, Elaine, is you want to get some black and some white in each bite. Nothing mixes better than vanilla and chocolate. And yet somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only look to the cookie all our problems would be solved.”

My Mom made the most delicious yams for Christmas, and she sent me home with some leftovers. Since the glaze she makes for them consists of brown sugar, butter, and a little bit of corn syrup, I thought they would make a fine addition to my morning oats. 

So. Good. And very filling! Oh, do you like the new bowl I got on sale from Anthropologie while we were in San Francisco? It’s my new oatmeal bowl. Love it!

Top 5 Lines by Aldo:

1.) “And once we’re in enemy territory, as a bushwackin’, guerrilla army, we’re gonna be doin’ one thing, and one thing only—Killin’ Nazis…  But I sure as hell didn’t come down from the goddamn Smoky Mountains, cross five thousand miles of water, fight my way through half Sicily, and then jump out of a fuckin’ air-o-plane to teach the Nazis  lessons in humanity. Nazi ain’t got no humanity. They’re the foot soldiers of a Jew-hatin’, mass-murderin’ maniac, and they need to be destroyed.  That’s why any and every son-of-a-bitch we find wearin’ a Nazi uniform, they’re gonna die.”

2.) “Wicki there, an Austrian Jew, got the fuck outta Salzberg while the gettin’ was good. Became American, got drafted, and came back to give y’all what for.” 

3.) “We just wanna say, we’re a big fan of your work. When it comes to killin’ Nazis, I think you show great talent, and I pride myself on havin’ an eye for that kind of talent. But your status as a Nazi killer is still amateur. We all came here to see if you wanna go pro?”

4.) LT. ALDO: “Well, I speak the most Italian, so I’ll be your escort. Donowitz speaks  the second most, so he’ll be your Italian cameraman. And Hirschberg  third most, so he’ll be Donny’s assistant.”

HIRSCHBERG: “I don’t speak Italian.”

LT. ALDO: “Like I said, third best. Just keep your fuckin’ mouth shut. In fact, why don’t you start practicing right now.”

5.) “Buongiorno.”

Honorable Mentions:

• “Naw, I don’t think so, more like I’ll  be chewed out. I’ve been chewed out before.”
• COL. LANDA: “Oooh, that’s a bingo. Is that the way you say it, that’s a bingo?” LT. ALDO: “You just say, bingo.”
• “You know somethin’, Utivich? I think this just might be my masterpiece.”

We still have Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction to watch. I’d better get busy!

It’s a Tarantino Christmas!