New York, New York

Ah, it was SO nice to be back in the city...even if it was raining and snowing like crazy!

We made it in exactly 4 hours from Manchester to the Guggenheim Museum at 90th & 5th.  Not bad!  We did not see raindrops until we hit the city.  Our bus driver was nice enough to drop some passengers off at the museum, then he offered to take the rest of us to Midtown, Radio City Music Hall to be exact. We got off the bus and made our way into Rockefeller Plaza.  The crowds were unbelievable...it was disorienting!  We got a quick bite to eat in Rockefeller Center and made our way outside to admire the tree and the ice rink...it was raining quite hard by this point so all of the skaters were gone.  Our pictures for the day are limited because of the rain...

We made our way across the street and went into St. Patrick's Cathedral.  A Mass was going on, so we were only allowed to pass through the foyer, but the place is breathtaking.  The smell of incense fills you when you walk in, and the architecture is beautiful.

We continued up 5th Avenue and made a couple of stops at shops along the way and admired all of the beautiful Christmas displays and wreaths in storefronts and hanging over intersections.  We took a break at Trump Tower and took some pictures of the beautiful foyer and Christmas Tree...but most of all took in the heat and warmth to dry ourselves off!  It was pouring outside!

Christmas Tree in Trump Tower...

We tried to have afternoon tea at The Plaza, but unfortunately they were booked.  Next year, if we go at the same time, we'll make reservations for that 2 months in advance!!  We made our way to FAO Schwartz for the kiddos...waited in a moving line (thankfully) a whole block long to get into the place.  FAO has a candy store bigger than my house!  We bought all of our Super Mario fans collectible candy tins and gum.  This is definitely a place we have to take the families some day. They would go crazy...or, on second thought, maybe that's not such a good idea!

Now it was time for a much needed break and something sweet (of course!!).   I might add here that Christie, who is 9 weeks pregnant and in the middle of "all-day" sickness, did amazingly well.  Much better than I ever would have done!  We asked concierge at FAO to recommend a coffee place or dessert place, and he pointed us to the next street over.  A very inconspicuous place...not listed in my Frommer's book.  Once we entered, we knew it was going to be special.  Bottega del Vino (Website) was the name of this New York City Italian Cafe.  It was not a touristy place at all (my kind of place)...mostly locals all dressed to the nines and many spoke Italian.  We relaxed for about 1 1/2 hours here...indulging in Tiramisu, Chocolate Mousse, hot tea for Christie, and Moscato di Asti for me (sweet, white dessert wine...delicious!)  

Julie's Tiramisu... (I brought the Santa home for the boys.  It was devoured in 3 bites.)

Christie's Chocolate Mousse...

It was time to change location a bit...but the weather really created a challenge on how we could spend the rest of our day in the City.  We had to catch a cab back to the Guggenheim by 6pm, so we only had about 2 1/2 hours left of our day.  We decided on more shopping and a quick dinner before getting back to the bus, so Macy's and the Times Square area was our final destination.

Macy's was an absolute mob-scene!  I have never seen anything like it in my life.  Here's a glimpse of the crowds from the elevator going from the second floor down to the first...

It was pretty much like this on all 7 floors we covered.  The deals were great, and I have to say I got an amazing deal on a Lucky Brand bag (my ultimate favorite brand of jeans).  My parents had given me some money to spend for my birthday.  Christie found this beautiful Lucky bag, and I had just enough cash for it.  As the clerk was ringing me up I was checking my cash situation for the cab fare back to the Guggenheim...it was going to be close.  When she told me the amount for the bag, I was shocked!  It was 1/2 off what I thought I was going to pay!  Oh, such little things make this girl happy!  I can't wait to show off my new bag...so cute.  :-)

We shopped a bit more, finally stumbled upon a local pizza joint for a quick bite to eat in Times Square.  Both Christie and I told the kids that we would try to bring back t-shirts for them.  We had passed a T-shirt and souvenir shop on the way to the pizza place, but it was now too late to find it again.  We said that they would have to "make due" with the candy we were bringing back from FAO!  We bundled up, loaded our arms with our bags and umbrellas, and made it to the street to hail our cab.  We glanced to our right, and literally NEXT door to the pizza place, was an official "I Love NY" store!!  We praised the Lord for this and went in and bought our t-shirts, taxi cab die-casts, and even an NYPD shirt for Al.  The guys that owned the store were so nice and helpful.  This was actually a comment we made throughout our trip...normally you think of New Yorkers as rude and snooty, but it was not the case anywhere we visited.  We really had great service everywhere we went.

We hailed our cab and got one right away and off to the Guggenheim we went.  Our driver was an exceptionally aggressive driver...lots of lane changes and braking (which I love, by the way!  Call me crazy, but the more aggressive they are the more I like riding in the cab!)  This was not good for Christie, though, and by the time we reached the Guggenheim she was feeling terrible.  We had about 15 minutes to spare before the bus arrived.  The Guggenheim Museum is beautiful and maybe the next time we'll have time to see the exhibits.

Overall, it was a wonderful trip with a wonderful "sister"!  I hope this becomes a yearly tradition for the two of us.  I truly treasure our time together with the Moore's...and I especially treasure the precious time I get to spend with just Christie!

We both were totally (and I mean totally) exhausted on Sunday.  Poor Christie is just feeling better today.  I pray that she continues to get rest this week from our long Saturday away in the big city!