Saturday we had a full day in New York!
We had gorgeous weather this day. We left our hotel early. We were right next to Grand Central station.
I decided between going to the top of the Empire State building or Top of the Rock. I have been on top of the Empire and the wait can be really long and I had read that the Top of the Rock is a better view AND you can see the Empire so I went with that. I wanted to get tickets early in the day before it got too crazy.
This was a really neat experience. I am SO afraid of heights so it stressed me out. We went to the top and then you can go 2 floors higher and then there is even a higher deck. Even just walking around the city looking up at the top of buildings made me dizzy.
BUT WOW - what a view!!! It helped us realize just how big the city was.
You could see all around - from the statue of liberty to central park to the Brooklyn Bridge!
We came down and walked around Rockefeller plaza.
I loved this part of town.
Scott and I jumped on the UBER train on this day. We had never used an uber before but it quickly became our favorite form of getting around (besides walking).
I have had several friends who have gone to NYC recently who did a walking food tour of Greenwich village and have loved it so I thought that would be fun.
We did a tour with Nice Guy Tours. We had a group of 13 and we went to seven places and got to try things at each spot and also see sights in this area. It's a cool area.
We started at a Falafel place. We had never had falafel but I liked it.
We walked through Washington Square. This is Larry the Bird guy.
On our tour was a couple from England (I told them I had been watching "The Crown" and they had never heard of it. ha!) , a large family, and then a couple from NW Arkansas!!! I actually sort of knew of Caroline even though we had never met. It was totally random that we ended up on the same tour but we share a lot of friends who had been on the tour. ha! We had a lot of fun hanging out with them.
I was so excited to see the apartment from "Friends". One of my all time favorite shows!
One of the things I loved most about NYC was just all the history and architecture in the buildings. This is the oldest house in Greenwich village - built in the 1700's. The one on the left is the skinniest house. It's only 9 feet wide!!!
We had artichoke pizza which was good but SUPER buttery.
Every place we visited in Greenwich was literally the size of my closet. TINY restaurants. They each had maybe 2 tables. Or less. So we ended up taking our food outside at each spot. Thankfully it was a beautiful day.
Another shot of Washington Park.
The famous arch in Washington square
We took a picture in the same spot that Bob Dylan had an album cover taken.
These apartments behind us used to be servants quarters. Now they are 1100 sq ft apartments that sell for FOUR MILLION DOLLARS.
Bleeker Street Pizza - it was really good!
We also had Pomme Frites, a cupcake, Rice Balls (which Caroline and I kept thinking our guide Dante was saying Rice Bowls until he brought them to us. Apparently we Arkansans need interpreters). ha!
Dante holding the rice balls. ha!
I highly recommend this tour if you go to NYC. It was about 3 hours long and it was fun and relaxing and a great way to try things and see sights.
After our tour - we had tickets to ride the double decker bus around the city. I did this before and it was so fun. It was such a nice day so we decided to walk to the place where we had to pick up our tickets. I had bought them ahead but it said we had to go to a certain place to get them. It took about an hour to walk. When we got there, we had to wait in line a while to get our tickets. Then when we went out - the two busses parked outside pulled away right before we got to them. So we waited and waited to get on another bus and it never came. So we walked a few blocks to try and meet one and we waited and waited and a bus FINALLY came when there were only 30 minutes left before it shut down and the driver got out and said we had to wait for a new driver and it would be 15-20 minutes. So we gave up and left. We just lit that money on fire. I'm disappointed that it didn't work out but that was the only bad experience we had and it was partially our fault for not trying to find a bus earlier I guess.
We walked back to our hotel and saw Bryant Park.
And the New York public library
We rested and refreshed before going to dinner.
We took a taxi since they were right outside our hotel. Traffic was insane Saturday night and we had a minor wreck on the way. Scott and I were stressed out. Our driver just exchanged words and kept going.
We ate at Carmines and it was delicious. The food is served family style so portions are enormous. We shared lasagna and we needed about 4 other people to share with us. But we enjoyed dinner.
We were near Times Square so we walked over. It was crazy town. These creepy, sketchy characters starting swarming Scott and I.
Before I knew what was happening they were taking pictures with us. I know we should have avoided them but it all happened so fast. Then they started asking for money and Minnie Mouse INSISTED we give them $20.
Times Square at night is always interesting
We walked through Grand central station on our way back to our hotel. It was a busy but crazy day.
We did manage to walk 11 miles on this day. My feet were dead. As much good food as we ate - I still somehow lost 2 pounds on vacation! There were so many places we wanted to go - like Levain Bakery and Serendipity but we were either too full or just ran out of time. You can only eat or walk so much!
