I’d never taken a trip to New York City before, and the last time Jeffrey was there was something like 12 years ago with his family (when he and his brother took a picture with Steven Tyler… OMG!). Being only 3.5 hours and a $36 bus round-trip away, when Jeffrey and I realized we’d gotten the last week of June off together, NYC was the natural choice for how to spend our much-needed vacay.
As our busy work schedules gave us virtually NO time to plan ahead, we took a very laissez-faire approach and began our trip with a lazy lounge in Central Park with our guidebooks, sharing ideas and planning on how to spend the next few days. And duh, I pulled out my tripod and clicker and staged some sweet shots (Jeffrey’s favorite part about traveling with me…).
photo ops were easy to come by, as you can see. also, we’re pale and our kids are going to look like Casper, the friendly ghost.
On to the fun stuff, here’s a breakdown of how we spent our 5 days savoring The Big Apple…
⓵ Giving in to the must-see touristy stuff:
embarrass your husb… I MEAN, walk the Brooklyn Bridge
ah! lady liberty! everybody go wild!
token pic in front of Manhattan
ground zero… amazing, solemn, massive
⓶ Stopping to smell the flowers:
beautiful graffiti
no words necessary
children playing (make sure their parents don’t see you taking their picture with your creepy zoom lens)
classic NYC
⓷ An unhurried full-day exploration of Central Park:
rented bikes for the entire day
tired and sweaty? drop everything and take a nap on the grass!
mexican paleta (read: fresh fruit popcicle) time
⓸ Visiting friends in the area:
wine, cheese, good conversation, and old childhood friends!
brunch, flea-market browsing, and good friends from med school!
⓹ Checking out the white apple:
The Glass Cube.
glass stairs, glass elevator…
Jeffrey: “NOW we have to go see the one in Grand Central Station!” yeah, it was amazing.
⓺ Embracing the cheese:
splish-splashing in the F*R*I*E*N*D*S fountain, umbrella and everything (after i jumped in, all the people that were too embarrassed/scared to get in followed suit. i let them borrow the umbrella, and everybody went home with great pictures. why are people so scared of getting in trouble? if park security tells you get out, you snap your pic and jump out as you say “HEEHEE!” right?)
dressed liked Audrey Hepburn (or as i think she would in this day and age) and had breakfast at Tiffany’s (…then tried on some expensive stuff and pretended to be Kate, duchess of Cambridge)
⓻ Taking in the art (at the MoMA):
waterlilies
Marcel…
…Duchamp
girls before a mirror
⓼ BROADWAY!
Evita with Ricky Martin… yeah! we also saw Avenue Q, which is unbearably hilarious (tip: get your tickets the day of at the Time Square box office, for 50% off!)
⓽ Owning up to the nerds we are at heart (at the Museum of Natural Science):
T Rex!
with Jeffrey’s favorite dinosaur: Stegosaurus! (note my paleontologist/explorer hat)
“please please please please PLEAAAAASE buy me one!” -me
learning about atoms, carbon molecules, earth, the milky way galaxy, our neighboring galaxies, and other stuff i already forgot about… for fun.
⓾ Giving ourselves reasons to come back: The best thing about visiting a place, is taking notes of what you didn’t get to do, and getting excited about the possibility of coming back for more. Among other things, we need to come back to climb to the Empire State Building observatory, explore SoHo and other unique NYC neighborhoods, visit the Met and Guggenheim museums, shopping the Brooklyn Flea, dressing up for the Metropolitan opera, and the one Jeffrey is most looking forward to… buying me something at Tiffany’s.
(We may not be back for a while.)
Have you taken any good trips lately? Do share! Also, remember that comments and “likes” make a blogger’s heart happy. Subscribe for email post notifications on the right-hand sidebar, and follow me @DoctorOnTheSide and Pinterest!
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