Earlier on this year I was lucky enough to spend a week shopping,
sightseeing and walking (sooooo much walking!) in the Big Apple! I’ve always
had a long- distance love affair with New York and dreamt of visiting, so when
my wonderful Mummykins turned 50 last year, I couldn’t think of anywhere better
to take her for her birthday celebrations. When we first came out of the
airport, I was so excited and thrown in to full-5-year-old mode, taking photos
of the taxis and throwing my arms out trying to hale one of the many already
lined-up traditional yellow cabs (I never pretend to be normal!). We’d booked a
room on the 24th floor of the Row NYC hotel overlooking the huge crowds and
fascinating lights of Times Square . The hotels
newly renovated décor definitely satisfied that urge to find the perfect ‘I’m
in New York !’
feeling.
On our first day in the big city, we went on a traditional NYC shopping trip
(sorry Mr Bank Balance!) to Woodbury Common, where the outlets are to die for
and outlet prices mixed with post-holiday sales (aka January Sales) meant
having to try – and fail on many occasions – to limit ourselves. I’m not going
to talk about my purchases too much, as I’ll be giving them their own private
haul post (inc. Macy’s, Bloomingdales & Tiffany’s) in the next few days!
Before leaving
home I had had just one request from my best friend ‘You have to go to Carlos
Bakery!!’. We’re both massive fans of the programme at home (Cake Boss for any
of you that haven’t yet been introduced to his genius!) and I just had to try
one of his world famous cannolis. We’d left it quite late to pop in, but at
10pm I kid you not the queue was around the corner! However, the final product
was most definitely worth it. Although I have a bit of a love/hate relationship
with skittles (I love them, my hips hate them!), I'm not really a cake fanatic,
but, albeit a little rich, the cannolis we had were delicious!
We spent the
remainder of our trip going to the traditional touristy sights like Statue of
Liberty, Grand Central Station and Empire State Building (however,
this was after a few cosmopolitans on my part so the photos are a little
fuzzy!). However, the most
beautiful part of New York – which was really more
one of my mummykins’ bucket-list-items than mine – was Central
Park . Without sounding rude I was expecting a basic
park with a few trees and could never really understand the hype, however,
walking along 5th avenue,
through the full hustle and bustle of the shoppers and commuters, to then be
presented with 843
acres (according
to our tour guide!) of serenity literally stopped me in my tracks. I think it may be one of those things
that you don’t really understand the hype of fully until you’re inside it, but
I’d say it’s most definitely worth a visit for anyone heading to NYC.
I’m not much of a
foodie blogger, but I do have to give a mention to ‘Sarabeth’s’
restaurant. I think there
are a few different branches, but the one I visited was just on the outside of Central
Park . During
our visit to the park I’d asked someone for any tips on places to go for lunch
and was immediately aimed in the direction of Sarabeths. They are well known in Manhattan for their brunch menu and
on a Sunday the line is known to reach right out the door, so quite obviously I
had to – at least attempt! – to be a ‘lady who brunches’ and try out their
famous Eggs Benedict. Without sounding too much like a brochure, the quality of
the food and size of the portions for the price was a little shocking due to
the reputation it has. All
of the staff were very polite and attentive and we barely had to wait at all,
although this may be due to there only being me and mum.
I am sorry as I
know I’ve gabbed on quite a lot on this post, but I wanted to make sure that I
shared as many details as possible about this trip. I’ll also be posting a haul
of all the goodies I treated myself to in a couple of days, so please keep an
eye out!
Love Sara
I'm soo jealous! I'd love to go to NYC - it's on my list of places I need to go before I die. Looks amazing, hope you're having a great time x
ReplyDeleteSophie Elizabeth
www.popcornandglitter.co.uk
Ah it was amazing you'd love it :) I'll be putting up my haul today from the shopping trips :) xx
DeleteAs a local, I have to say Carlo's Bakery is less than stellar and there are so many other bakeries you could have gone to in order to have really good pastries! I'm glad you shopped since I'm a shopaholic and glad you enjoyed the city. :)
ReplyDeleteS .x http://ramblingsofayoungprgirl.blogspot.com
We didn't really know where to go but as I'm obsessed with the programme I had to try it! Ah you're so lucky to live there it's an amazing city and I have to go back!!xx
DeleteThis looks like you'd had an amazing time! I love the pic of you and your mum in times square. I went last year but I didn't like it, I think because it was so cold. Definitely need to give it another chance when it's warmer as it sounds lovely in your post. xx
ReplyDeleteCharlotte | Just Charlotte
We were so lucky as all the locals said they couldn't believe how warm it was for that time of year (then it snowed when we left lol) but I loved it :) xx
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