New York July 2009

DAY 1

It's always fun to go to New York with Shauna because she lived and worked in Manhattan for quite a few years when she was first married and more recently lived in Greenwich Connecticut which is a short 45 minute drive from the city. She knows the city inside out and stays in luxurious hotels. When you are along for the ride it is really fun!

I lucked into this trip when I found out my mom and Shauna were going. I needed to see my doctor out there and they let me go with them. I wish Melissa could have come too.

This is the staircase in the main lobby of the New York Palace where we stayed. I was told that this is where Blake Lively's character in Gossip Girl lives. I've never seen one episode of that show so I wouldn't know.

We joined Shauna's friend Krisiti the first night at the Spice Market Restaurant for dinner. The food was great and the restaurant was so cool! The lighting was very dim and I felt too silly to take pictures of the decor. The only one I got was this one of my Mom and I and one of the sign on the outside of the restaurant.

The restaurant is located in the old meat packing district of the city. So the structure of the building the restaurant is in is large with tall ceilings and large open doors to the streets.

DAY 2

The next day Shauna was off to the dentist and Mom and I hit the sidewalk after having a bagel in the nearby delicious deli. We decided to visit the Museum of Modern Art because we have both been to the Met before and each had never been to the Moma museum. It is like 6 floors of art. We wandered along and there on one of the floors in the corner was Starry Night by van Gogh. I had to get really close to it to believe that it was the original. We had no idea it was there. Maybe some of you are art buffs and knew that Moma museum of New York was its residence.

There were two by van Gogh. Here is my mom observing the other of his paintings.

I had my picture taken by this one because it is one of the pictures Bentley learned about in Meet the Masters Art at his school last year. I volunteer to help with this program and worked with his class on making a fish in this style. I thought Bentley would think it was cool to see. When I showed him this picture and told him it was the original he said he had also seen the original when the teacher put it up on the projector. I started to explain that it is the ORIGINAL but then decided it was no use.
I'd seen this one before in a book in art class or something so I told my mom to pose in front of it.
That day we also walked into all the fancy pants shops on 5th ave. Here is a pink poodle named Fifi inside of Bergdorf and Goodman.

The view from our hotel window. In the background is 30 rock. And the church rooftop is St. Patricks Cathedral.
We zoomed out to Stamford and both went to our appointments and afterwards drove straight into town to meet up with Shauna to go to the broadway play South Pacific. I loved this play! It was so romantic and I missed Bryan who was at home being Mr. Mom for the kids.

After the play we walked many many blocks back to the hotel after eating at a little restaurant in its outside seating. It was 11:30pm and the city was buzzing and busy as if it was 7pm. We heard an interesting conversation from a woman banker who was having dinner with a friend. She discussed how she "had to examine her marketability in the dating sphere." We had a good laugh at that.

Walking back to the hotel we briskly walked past the dark central park and poor hobo's sleeping on the steps of churches.

DAY 3

On the last day we were there Shauna had a hair appointment in the morning and Mom and I went off to some more shops after eating at that delicious deli again. We had several discussions on how we saw a very small amount of overweight people in New York. We came to the conclusion that these people walk a lot every single day.

We made our way to Bloomingdales where we saw this dog as his masters waited to take him up the elevator. After he got on and the doors closed behind them a woman said to us "Now we've seen everything."

After that we met up with Shauna and did some more hitting up of the fancy pants shops on 5th Ave where Shauna got some really great gifts for her daughters birthday. Then we went to lunch above Bergdorf and Goodmans where we saw a lady from India that had a female bodyguard. The restaurant has a great view of central park.

After lunch we went to the Frick Museum (click here). It is located in an old mansion house on 5th ave and is filled with art. It was very cool but I'm not sure we were allowed to take pictures in that one so I don't have any.

After that we went to Sacs 5th Ave and then caught the car to the airport. On the way out of the city we caught a glimpse of Rob Pattinson!!! He was filming a scene for the movie Remember Me that they are making now. (click here) He was right there on the sidewalk and we drove right next to that sidewalk. It was surreal to see him there. We knew he was in town but never thought we would actually see him so it was really cool. We were in such a rush to catch our flight though that we didn't stop. I would have loved to have gotten a picture of him.

All in all it was a great trip! Thanks again to Shauna!!!! And to Bryan for keeping down the fort while I was gone. Again I regret I did not take enough pictures!!! And I don't even have one of all 3 of us together!