New York... Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do... Now you're in New York, these streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you... Hear it for New York, New York, New York!!

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, Jas and I decided to take a "babymoon" before Lil G gets here. Many couples that take a "babymoon" go somewhere beautiful and warm- St. Lucia, The Bahamas, Jamaica, Hawaii... Not The Garee's... oh no, we chose to go to the city that never sleeps... Which means aching feet, a sore back and a moderate amount of complaining from this now 21+ Weeks pregnant gal. But, I will say, we had an absolutely FABULOUS time, and I cannot wait to go back. It was the perfect "babymoon" for us.

Day 1

This was a trip of firsts for us... We took the Amtrak for the first time ever, and it's a decision I am so glad we made! It was so convenient, and definitely more affordable than flying. It was a relaxing 3 hour and 15 minute train ride, that dropped us in the heart of Manhattan at Penn Station (just below Madison Square Garden). {Fun Fact: I'm actually writing this blog post on our train ride back to DC.} 

We stayed at the Hilton in Times Square, it was on 42nd Street. We had booked through Travelocity on a promotion, and the stay was pretty cheap affordable for Times Square NYC standards. I threw the pregnancy card at our hotel desk clerk, and they upgraded our room! We had a beautiful view, and the location was ideal for seeing Broadway shows. 

We went to dinner at Bubba Gumps in Times Square the first night. I really enjoy am WHOLLY addicted to their Dippin' Shrimp Broth (and my entire family is too... we went to Hawaii about 10 years back, and may or may not have eaten there 5 times on a 2 week vacay- OMG). Anyway, so Jas and I go there the first night, I'm so excited I'm not even going to look at the menu because I already know exactly what I'm going to get. But, my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to peek into the menu (I was curious about the calories, as all calorie information is posted in NYC restaurants- which actually really sucks, but I digress...), anyway, so I'm looking through the menu and I start to panic when I am not finding the Dippin' Shrimp Broth. Our waiter comes up, and I ask him about it and he looks at me like I have 3 heads, and says he has no idea what I'm talking about. I even tried to throw the pregnancy card (knowing how successful it was the first time), and alas, no, it's not happening. I had to settle for "Mama's Fried Chicken." My heart sank. Unreal. Could not believe it. I texted my dad (probably a bigger fan of the broth than I am) and his reply "This is unacceptable." Could not agree more with you, pops. 

All smiles before finding out the broth has been removed from the menu. <gasp>

View from the 43rd Floor... Upgrade. Holla.

Day 2

After willing myself to get out of bed after the shocking revelation of the night prior, I posed for a bump pic with our city view. I thought this was pretty cool. 

I was exactly 21 weeks here. 

The good doctor and I decided to venture out, no real plans in mind. Just a joyful day, just the 2 of us in the city. We went to a bagel shop and got some authentic New York bagels... I mean if you don't like New York bagels then we cannot talk. They are so good. Love the satisfying crunch, with the softness in the middle. Mmm! I'm hungry again... 

Anyway, after a most lovely meal, we headed over to 30 Rockefeller Center. In the picture below the iconic ice skating rink is right behind/below us. No ice skating for this crew... sadly. I mean, I have mad skills. 

After purchasing tickets for the NBC Studio Tour (we were taking it the next day), we continued our stroll... through Central Park!

I look like I came from the Old Country... Don't care! It was cold! 

We also ventured over to FAO Schwartz to see if there was anything we couldn't live without. I almost brought the guy on the left home with me, but I settled for the guy on the right instead.

Throughout our walking journey, we ventured some 30+ blocks north, and ended up on the Upper East Side. We found the cutest, most quaint coffee shop/eatery ever! It's called "Via Quaddrano" on 73rd St. Their coffee was amazing and we had the most fabulous bruschetta we've ever tasted. It was clear that this was not a place for tourists, and we almost blended in- however I left my fur coat, Prada shoes, Chanel handbag, Hermes scarf and Harry Winston jewels at home. This crowd was ridiculously affluent, but I think we did ok, all things considered, for a couple of DC bums.

Americano and a Latte, delish! 

After walking nearly 70 blocks (up to the Upper East Side and back), this girl needed a break. So, I took a bath (a common theme throughout our trip), soaked my aching feet and rested before our night's exciting activity- The Lion King musical on Broadway.

What an amazing show! I had heard that it was really great, but I didn't know how great! I was so impressed with the costumes and choreography. Loved it! A must-see for those who haven't seen it. Interestingly, Lil G seemed to enjoy it as well. Shortly before the show began, G developed hiccups that were just about scaring me out of my chair. And then during the musical numbers, G was doing a choreography all it's own, punching, kicking and throwing things. It was eventful. 

Day 3

This day started off with an alarm set early, so that we could make it to the NBC Studio Tour on time. However, the fire alarm decided to go off at 330am. It was the loudest siren I've ever heard and completely scared the crap out of me. After 6 of NY's finest fire trucks showed up, we were allowed to go back to sleep without evacuating. I think I slept with one eye open though, afraid that siren would go off again.

We woke up for the second time around 8am and we got a quick breakfast (a bagel, again- I know, unoriginal- but cheap {we have a kid on the way, people!!}), and headed back to 30 Rock. We got there a little early and caught the end of the Today show. It was cold and rainy, so there weren't many folks out watching the show that day. 

Lester Holt! He was so nice, shaking hands with everyone who braved the inclement weather to come watch a taping.

Today!

Us outside of Today

After checking out the end of the Today show we headed over to do our NBC Studio Tour. Not cheap ($24 a ticket!), but definitely very cool. We saw the studio where Dr. Oz films his show, and Jimmy Fallon... and the absolute highlight for me, and worth every cent of that $24 was seeing the Saturday Night Live studio! Amazing. I am beyond "in love" with that show... my dream is to get tickets, but they are close to impossible to come by. This weekend happened to be a "dark" one for SNL, probably because of the Academy Awards... but anyway, it was really really neat to see the studio. It's amazing what they can do with such a small amount of space. TV magic, I tell you! 

After the NBC Studio Tour we were hungry. I am a huge fan of NY pizza... thin crust, wood-fired, tangy sauce and the perfect taste/texture mozzarella and I found one of the best pizza places I've ever been to (thanks for the recommendation, Rhonda!)- it's called John's Pizzeria- NO Slices! It's located just off of Times Square- somewhat scary, as places close to Times Square tend to be tourist traps and are overpriced, sub-par food... but this place was great! The ambience was awesome- the restaurant actually is in an old church. Beautiful stained glass windows and ceiling (see pic below). We got the house salad, yum! And polished off this entire pizza. Holy pregnancy appetite, batman! Once I started I couldn't stop... remember all that weight loss I'd had in this pregnancy?! Yea, I'm sure those days are over... 

The Traditional

Guys handmake each pizza to order and throw it in a wood-fire oven

Gorgeous stained glass

Since it was still rainy and cold we needed an afternoon activity. We thought it would be nice to see another Broadway production, so we checked out Mary Poppins, adjacent to our hotel. No tickets available for the matinee, but tickets available for the night show. So, we purchased those, and then decided to go see a movie. We had heard great things about "Silver Linings Playbook" so we checked that out. So good!! I love Bradley Cooper and he did a phenomenal job [can't believe he didn't win an Oscar, boo.]

Movie theater pic

After our movie we went back to the hotel and relaxed a bit. It was just so gross outside, so we laid around and watched some TV. Dinner time came, and we didn't feel much like venturing far from the hotel, so we made the GIGANTIC mistake of eating at the Applebee's connected to our hotel (seemed like a win-win, we didn't even have to walk outside), OMG I wish I could take it back. The food was awful and cold, ridiculously over-priced, our server was MIA for almost an entire half hour after we were done eating...and to add insult to injury, they automatically add in a 17% gratuity. Unreal. I haven't been to an Applebee's in 10 years... I now remember why. Never again. I will find a pair of freaking gulashes and go trudging through a flash flood to get the hell away from Applebee's in NYC. 

After the worst dinner of my life our meal, we headed next door to the Amsterdam Theater for Mary Poppins. Such a good show! It's only playing for 2 more weeks, but I really did enjoy it and I'm glad we decided to see it. Fun and magical, just like the movie. 

Not the best pic, but hey, you can't win 'em all

Day 4

We slept in. This was nice. We didn't have any definite plans on the books, so we had a lazy morning. We decided since it wasn't quite beautiful and sunny this would be a nice opportunity for us to go down and see the World Trade Center memorial. I was there with my Mom, Aunt and Gammy in 2003 and it's amazing how much has changed since then- believe it or not they were still trying to dig through debris in '03. 

The memorial site is a really beautiful tribute to the nearly 3,000 lives lost on that day. Chilling and highly emotional, but I'm thankful to have gotten to see it in person. 

Tower 2 Memorial

This building will be the tallest in North America, and 1,776 feet tall (I love that it's 1776, so symbolic and empowering- proud to be an American!)

"The Survivor Tree" the only tree left standing amidst all the rubble and debris from the towers collapse. The bark towards the bottom of the tree is different than the bark on the upper parts- I am certain this is from the growth of the last 10 years.  I loved this tree and all that it stands for. 

After a somber and sobering visit to the WTC Memorial, we decided to get some brunch in the Financial District. We settled on a quaint little cafe, and enjoyed some conversation and good food.

After filling up on our delicious brunch we trudged north. We walked through Chinatown, and Little Italy.... made our way through TriBeCa and SoHo and found ourselves in this charming little coffee shop. It has the lamest name for a coffee shop EVER a most unusual name for a classy coffee shop- "Gimme Coffee", but the coffee was touted as "the best in New York"... well, I will tell you, after drinking it, I can truly and honestly say it was THE worst coffee I have ever tasted. I read reviews on Yelp! that said it was fantastic and I'm not quite sure what those people were smoking, because to me it tasted like the dog poop I stepped in right outside the door. Jas and I both said to each other several times, how much we just wanted to take a $25 cab ride up to the shop on the Upper East Side... we didn't, sadly.

I didn't even get a 1/4 of my latte down before pitching it... it sure did look pretty though.

For our last night in NYC we wanted to do something special! There is a restaurant called "Tao" that many a celeb will frequent. We decided to make reservations there. We got all gussied up and made the trip uptown to Tao.

I just love this picture. This was before we left the hotel for dinner.

Tao was pretty darn cool, I must say! I ordered the wasabi crusted filet mignon (delish!), and Jas had the coconut shrimp and a few cocktails. The ambience was cool, the music was hip... the couple making out behind us was... distracting. Well, for Jas anyway, I couldn't see them.

Being that I am 21+ weeks pregnant I have to pee...A LOT. And shortly into our meal I had to venture to the bathroom. They are downstairs and labeled "Yin" and "Yang"... Ummm... Yea, well I opened the door to "Yang" thinking that might be the women's bathroom... nope, no, not the women's bathroom at all. Whoops. When I got back to the table I asked Jas which he would've gone in, and of course he said "Yang"... and I said "how did you know that?!?" and he said "The Yang is male, didn't you know that, Steph?!"- Um, clearly not. Oh well. No harm, no foul.

A giant buddha in the middle of the restaurant

I will say the absolute highlight of dinner was the dessert. I didn't want to look like a complete tool, so I took this picture without the flash, and it's hard to see, but that my friends, is a little slice of heaven. It is their "Giant Fortune Cookie" and it truly is a giant fortune cookie- stuffed with Chocolate and Vanilla Mousse. It was delectable and amazing. I would return to Tao just to eat this again. No celeb sightings this trip (everyone was clearly in LA for the Oscars), so we will definitely be returning.  

Overall, I would say that we had an absolutely perfect babymoon. It was a great escape from the day-to-day. We had a lot of really wonderful discoveries together and enjoyed each other's company thoroughly. I love New York! So sad to go! 

Until next time...