Here's a shout-out to some of the blogs I used while planning:
The plan was a progressive style of eating. We ate in courses, finding hidden gems that restaurants were known for. Our first tasty meal to go was the gigantic Greek gyro we discovered on our walk to the Empire State Building. Loaded with lamb, fresh lettuce, tomato and tzatziki sauce on a soft and chewy pita, it was perfection for only $8 from a very posh Greek diner. And I got a free side of kalamata olives because I played the pregnant craving card. We were stuffed after that and had to do some walking to relieve our busting guts.
We took a ride on the ferry around the Statue of Liberty for $18. We could have disembarked on the island to walk around but there was a security issue that left us bobbing in the bay for nearly an hour so we opted to head back to the mainland as soon as possible. The sights were beautiful from afar.
Later we grabbed a popsicle ($2) while walking around the 911 memorial. It was a really moving experience to stand where our nation was rocked 14 years ago. You can spend $35+ to go in the museum and then the memorial tower, which now stands taller than the Empire, but enjoying the main memorial park is free and I found it more breathtaking to be standing on the ground that shook anyway.
There are 2 infinity pools with 30-foot waterfalls leading into the pool, which empties into another deep drop into the earth. The pools are surrounded by slate stones carved with the names of the lost. A beautiful shady, grassy park surrounds the pools where people can relax and take it all in. I was glad to see that people respect the memorial enough to obey signs prohibiting coins and other objects from being thrown into the water.
The next morning, we walked 30 blocks to find the Donut Plant, which I had seen on one of the blogs featured above. The ONE I knew I was getting for sure, was the tres leches. When we finally got there and up to the counter, the barista said they were out of tres leches. I died a little inside. I told him we came from Florida, and walked 30 blocks for that donut. He gave an enthusiastic "wow" and asked if I wanted anything else. At that very moment, the food gods smiled on us as their morning delivery truck pulled up with fresh trays of tres leches. They offered all flavors in a cake style and a yeast style. A few were a puff style with filling inside like the creme brulee. We ended up ordering 5 (no judgement please) different donuts to share and sample, and iced coffee which was ground fresh that morning and brewed just for us. We tried fresh lavender, blueberry cream, coconut lime, tres leches and the creme brulee puff. We spent about $12 each on this amazing breakfast that held us over until mid-afternoon empanadas.
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| There was pieces of lavender IN the icing! |
The empanadas at Empanada Mama, located in Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, were amazing. There were about 20 kinds to choose from for only $3.50 each. They varied in types of meat and other stuffing from the Brazil to the Cuban - my choices. They even had one called "the Viagra". Two empanadas was plenty to fill you up for $7.We spent that afternoon riding bikes and window shopping...and real shopping :) I have a devout love for the NBC TODAY Show and had planned to go to the live show outside the studio (which is free and you can get on the RSVP list here) earlier that morning, but the jerks in the room next to us kept us awake and calling security all night so we got NO sleep. We opted to sleep in and skip the live show but visited the studio at Rockefeller Plaza in the afternoon. Here I am with Matt Lauer in the studio store!
We only ate one complete meal on the trip, which was at Carmine's after the theater. It was highly recommended by our black car service as "the place" to eat in NYC and the reservation line was out the door at 11 p.m. so we knew the food had to be good. Luckily, we were only a party of 2 and they had space for us right away on the 2nd floor. Win! The family-style HUGE plate of chicken piccata, was enough for our dinner and then I took the other half home with me on the plane and ate on it for 2 more days.
It was a quick 2 days in NYC but we did most of the highlights - site seeing, shopping, Broadway and eating - for a minimal amount of money. The food and entertainment costs (not including the optional retail shopping items that you can of course forego), was around $150 per person. When you add that to our travel and lodging expenses, you can do a 2-3 day trip to NYC for $550 per person and not miss any of the "must do's".
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