New York, New York!
After spending my entire Thursday doing laundry so I’d have something to wear, and not getting enough sleep that night, and having to wake up way too early for my liking, I hopped a train to O’Hare. I got to my gate about an hour and 15 minutes before takeoff…and believe me, that is probably my record for cutting it close.
And then my flight was delayed. Of course. But we still managed to make our way to New York on time. During the flight though, I got this horribly sharp pain right above my eye. It was awful. I googled it as soon as I landed and found some internet postings that suggested it was a sinus problem. Odd as I’ve never had sinus problems before, but I did just get my wisdom teeth removed and I know that can also be linked to sinus problems…
I landed in New York City and took a cab to the hotel. I checked my bag and texted Jamie, Sadie, and Carrie, AKA the HungrySisters, (who had graciously offered to let me stay with them for the weekend to save us all money). Turns out they weren’t too far away so they headed back to the hotel and checked in a little early. Of course, this led to me giving my baggage check ticket to the guy, who then took it and walked away. After some confusion, the lady at the front desk called him and he came back and found my bag.
We settled into our room and cranked the air conditioning and debated where to go. We decided it would be a good time to hop a Path train to Hoboken with the mission of going to the Bakery featured in the TV show “Cake Boss.” So we headed off to New Jersey!
Unfortunately once we got there the line to get in went down the block, and we just didn’t want to wait. Fail. Number. One.
So we walked by and peeked into the window then hit the streets to see what else Hoboken had to offer. We ended up walking down to the waterfront to get a nice view of the Manhattan skyline…and that was about it.
Once back in the city we decided on where we wanted to go to dinner and came to the conclusion that we really wanted to go to BAMN! automat. An automat is a “restaurant” that has all the food in little cubicles on the wall and you put your money in and get your food. They are all over places like Amsterdam (hello FEBO!).
We took a Subway over to the East Village and went on a hunt for the place…only to find an empty building. Bamn had closed. Fail. Number. Two.
At least we were in a nice area with lots going on so, after a stroll, we decided on Mark, which had a cow on its roof and cheap sliders (and, well, only sliders). And they were delicious (and had a really yummy bbq sauce to go on top).
And then we headed across the street to Pinkberry: a gem of a frozen yogurt stop I’d been wanting to try for a while. I got a refreshing watermelon yogurt with strawberries and mangos on top… and everyone else got chocolate 🙂
We walked to Washington Square Park, saw some performers, and saw an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm being filmed…
And then we headed back towards Times Square. Which is crowded and crazy but pretty quintessential to any trip to New York.
Walking back to the hotel we stumbled upon an outdoor exhibit called Sidewalk Catwalk featuring mannequins dressed by famous designers.
And then, as we’d all got up early and were all a bit jet lagged and were all a bit tired we called it a semi-early night…
More photos from my first day in New York:
