Monday, August 15, 2011

New York City: The Good and The Not-As-Good

I'm hoping to finish up my trip to NYC in blog form today, so this post will be a mix of recommendations, tips and of course, my own experience in New York City. I hope you enjoy!


Things I Love About NYC




1. Food.  Obviously I love food, and I also love convenient food. I love being able to walk to get my food. So when I'm staying in a hotel with Starbucks across the street, delicious frozen yogurt just steps from the front door, Whole Foods in the basement (not kidding), I am a very happy girl. Oh, and I should probably mention New York City clearly has some of the best restaurants out there. Some recommendations for special occasions? (If you are going to take these recommendations check prices first, I was celebrating with my family so this was out of the Kelly and Eric budget range).




Morimoto, home of the Iron Chef- Eric was psyched when he learned this was on our itinerary and the food was seriously delicious. I want some more lobster fritters right now...


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or the striped bass special would be great as well...




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But the best part of the restaurant? The bathrooms. I'm serious. I would seriously consider going into this restaurant just for a drink, JUST to try the bathroom. They have heated seats!!!! My mom and Eric thought they lost me in there but I was simply recovering from being freezing my whole meal. Oh, and taking a picture of how gorgeous the stall was...


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Asiante- A very fancy restaurant, and a perfect place to celebrate my Dad's birthday. We had a gorgeous view of New York and perfect food. I got sea bass with potato noodles...


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We got a taste of several desserts to celebrate- they were all good, but I only got a picture of the birthday cake :)


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We also came back to this restaurant for an end of trip brunch on Sunday morning (and a change of pace from Starbucks haha). I got the best apple french toast, yum...




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Trattoria Dell'Arte- amazing Italian food, perfect for a pre-theater meal :) I got my typical plain pasta, but I'm telling you, you can totally judge an Italian restaurant by this meal...


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2. Views. But you already knew that if you read my post yesterday :)


3. Spending quality time with the fam. I love any opportunity to spend time with my awesome parents and siblings. New York gave us that opportunity this summer and so I love it for it :)  




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4. Historical Sights and Museums. No one could ever see there is not enough to do in New York City. I'm pretty sure you could spend an entire summer touring New York every day and you may not have even explored Manhattan fully. I definitely had to give in to the desire to do it all this weekend, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the stuff we did do!




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5. Relaxing in the hotel. We had this awesome seat in our hotel room that I wanted to bring home with me. The view and time to read trashy magazines also added to the greatness. I used to hate celebrity gossip magazines but I've recently decided the ridiculousness of them is a total stress reliever for me. Random, I know.


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6. Broadway Shows. I have mixed feelings about musicals in general. I love Glee, but some musicals are just a bit much for me. Granted I was in 13 years old, but what the heck even HAPPENED in Cats? Anyone? However, I saw Wicked this weekend and it was fantastic. As in, go see it now fantastic. Even Eric liked it and I would say he is much less of a musical person than I am. See it. Now.


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If you need any extra incentive, they have a full bar and they serve the drinks in cool travel mugs that you get to keep.


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Things I Do Not Love About NYC




1. The Crowds. No matter where you walk, you WILL be dodging people. There is no method to the madness and it's every man for himself. I probably have bruises just from walking around the city.


2. The Lines. Okay, so to be fair, this probably goes with the crowds, but it's more specific than that. The Empire State Building was seriously a joke when it came to lines. We must have waited in like 12 different lines and when we finally got on the elevator, it only took us up to the 80th floor. When my mom questioned why we were not at 86, Eric joked that they wanted us to wait in another line. Turned out, he was RIGHT! Luckily we avoided this line by walking up the 6 flights (which turned out to be more than 6 but anyways). The Statue of Liberty was another story. They dealt with the lines better, but they loved this crazy herding technique and all I can say is, it's a wonder there has not yet been a stampede! My tips? #1- I don't think the Empire State Building is a total must, I've heard better things about the Top of the Rock and apparently there are no crazy lines. I'll probably try it next time I am there. #2- I don't think you HAVE to actually go to the Statue of Liberty personally. Take one of the many boats that goes near it and you'll get a great view. I've read good things about the free Staten Island ferry and my parents did a great hop on hop off boat that went right by it too. If you really want to go to the island, just make sure you arrive at Battery Park early. The line was twice as long as we were leaving.


3. Ellis Island. Okay, so I don't actually "hate" Ellis Island, but it can't go on the love list either. I was pretty excited about going there but... maybe I was missing something? I just didn't find it that interesting at all... It's probably worth a stop if you are at the Statue of Liberty anyway, but I personally don't think you are missing much if you decide to skip it.


Tell me what you love and don't love about New York, or about your own city if you've never been to New York.





13 comments:

  1. This is going to sound weird, but I totally the the dirt and the crowds in NYC. My uncles lives there and I love to visit. This reminds me that I need to get out there again soon!

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  2. I agree with your list totally. Our trip to the Statue and Ellis was from 10am-5pm and most of that was in line. Jump on a boat and go past them, youll get the same experience in less time.

    I feel the same about the crowds. We happened to find a lot of places where tourists just dont got, but we hit the main stream places too. Just when you started to get somewhere someone would stop dead in their tracks to take a picture.

    As far as food....we didnt have anything bad. It was all amazing!

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  3. That Empire State Building line sounds utterly ridiculous. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad in January or February when it's soooo cold? Hehe. :)

    Sounds like you had such a great time. I love all the pics!

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  4. Great post! Looks like it was a fabulous trip. How close does Caroline live to Manhattan?

    My favorite thing about NY is all the different buroughs. There are just so many different areas to explore. I love NY. I don't know if I would ever want to live there, but I could go once a year (you know, if i had endless vacatino days & a huge budget to go wherever I wanted).

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  5. Oooh love the pics! Send them to me? : )

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  6. Whole Foods in the basement of the hotel? Awesome!! Growing up in CT New York was the closest big city, but I was never a huge fan. Maybe the crowds and lines you mentioned....it's just too big for me. I do love New York at Christmas time though and the Radio City Rockettes in the holiday show at Radio City. I haven't been to NYC in years, so maybe it would be a different experience now. Glad you had fun!

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  7. I love that you have your trusty cheerios box in the pic of you lounging in the hotel!

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  8. I was in NYC a couple years ago and absolutely loved it! I can agree, I don't like the crowds. The 5 of us struggled with just trying to stay together in Times Square, it was stressful. We saw Wicked in NYC as well. Loved it!

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  9. Those eats look GOOOOOD!

    Ugh to lines. Haven't been to NYC in years so I can't remember specifics for like/dislike. I do love Central Park!

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  10. I have never been to NYC but I REALLY want to go! One day!

    I think the crowds would bother me too. I would say my favourite city is probably Vancouver but I would never want to live there because it is too much of a big city for me and I hate how crowded it is and how much traffic there is!

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  11. Hi Kelly! I'm a new reader who found your blog through Lisa's Yarns. I saw your comment on her "When I Was A Child... Summer Edition" post, and I was immediately drawn to your Kenny lyric blog name. :) Sounds like we have a few things in common.

    Ah... NYC... I love almost everything about it, except the Yankees! LOL And I can sympathize with the lines at the Empire State Building. I passed out on the 80th floor from waiting so long in line in the oppressive NYC heat! Awful. I have yet to try the Statue of Liberty due to the lines. I don't mind the crowds, however, I love the variety of people everywhere! And the food and shows and grandness of it all really make up for all the bad points.

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  12. My favorite things about NYC was Broadway - when I was there I saw Throughly Modern Millie and loved it. Wicked is by far my fave, it's coming back here in November and I cannot wait!
    My least favorite thing is the people. I'm Midwestern to my core and don't understand people who are so rude to complete strangers. I'm used to people holding doors and smiling at strangers. ;)

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  13. I would LOVE to go to Morimoto's restaurant! He is my favorite Iron Chef (well, other than Michael Simon, I suppose). And I don't blame you for taking advantage of the heated seats in a cold restaurant, even if they were toilet seats, HA! I would have done the same thing.

    I love your random box of Cheerios sitting beside you in the hotel. You gotta have Cheerios on a vacation!

    I'm glad you had a nice time. I probably woulnd't really fine Ellis Iland very interesting either. I have ADD, you know how that works...it would be really neat for a second, then...nothing.

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