New York Part 2

So our 10 day trip to the East Cost has turned into a two month long blog. Sorry if it's been too stretched out but life happens, you know? However, it's been great for us to relive our trip every week!

We're onto our second day in NYC and, I believe, our second to last trip post. On Saturday morning we hit the City at full speed ahead. Our first stop was at the Gershwin Theater on Broadway to enter to (hopefully) win tickets in the ticket lottery for the musical Wicked. Unfortunately we were not the only people to show up and therefore were competing with 200+ others for 25 tickets. The picture below was taken right before they started calling out the names of the lottery winners and everyone was buzzing! Sadly, we didn't win tickets, but I did get my ear drum blown out by the lady next to me who screamed at a blistering pitch when both she and her daughter won tickets.

We had some time between when we put our names in the Wicked lottery and when we had to be back at the theater to find out who the winners were. So we headed over to Times Square to check out what the big fuss was about. This is definitely the touristy part of the city. It's the only place where we saw a Chili's, so that tells you something.



After our heart breaking loss at the Wicked lottery we headed over to the TKTS booth to get discounted tickets to another Broadway show. We were able to get great seats for a show called Spring Awakening which won the Tony for Best Musical in 2007. Being able to see a show on Broadway was definitely a great experience. The next few pictures below are from outside and inside the theater.


After the show we walked up to Central Park and spent a couple hours walking around. I'm pretty sure we didn't even cover a fraction of the park; it's so huge! The weather was beautiful and many of the trees and flowers were blooming and it was absolutely gorgeous.
Later that night we met up with our friend Keren and she took us up to a rooftop bar on a building that looks straight up at the Empire State Building. It was an incredible view and was a great place to hang out and wrap up our last night in New York!

New York, New York!

New York City!
We arrived in the middle of New York on Friday afternoon after taking a Greyhound bus 3 hours from Boston. The bus station is connected to a subway station so we were able to start our 30 minute trek across town to the studio we were renting without any problems. Through the wonderful creation known as Craigslist I came in contact with a great guy that rents out his second bedroom to travelers looking for a cheaper, cleaner, friendlier and more personal alternative to the overpriced NYC hotels. We booked our dates and later found out that we would actually have the opportunity to stay in his friend's studio apartment while he was out of town. We got great service, restaurant recommendations, and luxury accommodations for two nights for the price of 1 night at a NYC Motel 6. Can't beat that! (If you're ever planning a trip to the city and want contact info we'd love to share it!)
After we settled in our room, we headed into the city to get some lunch and do some exploring before meeting our friend Keren for dinner. We ended up in China Town and hopped into a busy restaurant (below) after hearing a guy on the street that was walking in say "This is one of my favorite's" to his friend. The food was quite good and the atmosphere was a great introduction to our time in New York.
After lunch we wandered around China town, bought Mel a real Dolce & Gabana purse for only $20 ;), and headed South to check out Ground Zero, Wall Street and the Statue of Liberty.
Ground Zero
The fascinating thing about Ground Zero is that, at this point, there's not a whole lot to see but there's a lot of people there looking at it. It's surrounded by fence and teaming with construction workers working on the new buildings going up in the place of the Twin Towers. There's a small informational center set up where a memorial museum is slated to go but other than that it's pretty much a huge construction site. It was also the quietest place we encountered in the City.

Battery Park
Next we headed down to Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty. Can't you see Her in all Her glory behind us? Yeah, it was totally fogged in. The good thing is that I hear She looks pretty much the same in person as in movies. We also saw this sculpture which used to sit in the World Trade Center and, though damaged, survived 9/11. It's been temporarily relocated to Battery Park while they are rebuilding the WTC site and will be moved again to the memorial museum when it's finished.

We then headed back up town towards Little Italy anticipating meeting Keren there for dinner. We ended up taking her suggestion and going to a her favorite restaurant instead and, WOW, it was amazing. If you're ever in New York, you MUST go to The Corner Shop Cafe.
It is familiar food done unfamiliarly well. I (Mel) think of it often and am still trying to de-construct the gorgonzola-walnut ravioli so I can recreate it at home.

After dinner we headed to the famous Magnolia Bakery for dessert. Again, this is a must visit place if you're in the City. Neither of us are big fans of cake, or cupcakes for that matter, but nothing has melted in your mouth like a cupcake from Magnolia's.


That pretty much wrapped up our first day/night in New York. We wanted to get a good night's rest because we knew we were hitting the pavement hard the next day.

Boston Part 3

Sorry it's been a while since the last "real" post. Here are some more pictures and comments from Boston. Enjoy!

Top of the Hub
Towards the end of our week in Boston we splurged and went to dinner at a restaurant called Top of the Hub. As you might imagine from the name, the restaurant is located on the top floor of the second tallest building in downtown Boston. We were fortunate to have a relatively clear evening and had great views of the city. Unfortunately, our pictures didn't turn out the greatest because of the lighting. Hopefully you can still get a feel for the great views we had with these shots.



BoSox Game
We were lucky to be in Boston for the Red Sox opening home stand. We were also lucky to get tickets to a night game. Even though it was only the 4th game of the season against the Detroit Tigers affordable tickets (or any ticket for that matter) were not easy to come by. We finally got into Fenway in the 3rd inning and it was so worth it! The ball park is legendary and the fans are crazy! Phoenix is such a fair weather sports town, to be at a game where the fans have been loyal through thick and very, very thin was a lot of fun. We walked around the park for a while to check it out and get a close up look at the Green Monster and later in the game found some seats to steal. It was such a great time and definitely a highlight of our time in Boston!




Well that pretty much wraps up our time in Boston. Next up is NYC where we had a GREAT time, so check back soon for some fun pictures and stories.