Ordering a happy hour bloody mary in Time Square is the worst idea ever.

At least she took that drink off our check.  Ew.

Our last day in NYC was really fun.  We did sleep in a bit more, and took our time.  We started the day at this restaurant near our apartment for brunch.  D and I got omelets before hopping on the subway.  I really wanted to see Lady Liberty, but we didn't necessarily want to pay to take the ferry over.  So we headed down to south Manhattan first.

[The new Tower]

We were able to walk by the 9/11 site.  They're making lots of progress on the new Tower.  We weren't quite sure why they were only making one.  It was cool to see that.  I was more impacted walking by the surrounding areas.  I can't imagine how scared people must have been if they lived near that area or were staying in a hotel (I believe there was a W Hotel across the street to the left of the towers) not to mention even just street walkers seeing it happen.

After this we walked over to Battery City Park.  Battery City is such a cute little area.  I could definitely see myself living there.  

 [Good ole New Jersey]

 [There she is!  And she doesn't look bad from the side!]

 [Obviously sunny and quite windy]

  [Community garden in Battery City]

After we sort of saw the Statue of Liberty, we hopped on the subway.  This was something that I fell in love with in NYC, the access to so many places and sights and things just by subway.  We would have loved to check out Brooklyn but just didn't have the time.

We went to check out a cool craft beer bar, The Blind Tiger.  It is a must-see for beer in NYC.  I actually wish we would have eaten dinner there because they have a cool menu.  We just weren't really hungry at the time.  We headed back up to check out one last beer place towards Time Square.  

   [Empire state of mind]

Being that we are huge NBC fans, we could not pass up the opportunity to see 30 Rockefeller Plaza!  Luckily for us, there was a Magnolia Bakery right around the corner.  It was late, so the line wasn't very long.  There were sold out of a lot of cupcakes though. 

  [We didn't see Kenneth Parcel or Tracy Jordan outside]

[Rocking his new hat scored for $7 from H&M in NYC]

 [Above the ice skating rink at 30 Rock]

 [We settled down right across the way to chow down on our cupcakes]

After this was when we made the terrible decision to stop for "happy hour" drinks in a large Time Square restaurant.  Bad choice.  Then we visited the M&M's & Hershey's stores.  To complete and top off the NYC experience, on our way back to the subway we noticed a crowd of people waiting outside a door.  We knew there would have to be a celeb coming out.  We waited...and after only about 5 minutes...

Say what?!  NYC wouldn't be complete without a celebrity sighting, right?!  He was coming out of his own Broadway show.  Overall, NYC was a great experience.  I can't wait to go back (maybe sooner than later with KD and CAPM in September?!).  Offer me & D good jobs and a dog walker, and we'd move there in a second (well, at least I would). 

In New York, the concrete jungle where dreams are made...

...there's nothing you can't do.  Name that song.

So to really prolong the wonderful memories of NYC, I've delayed the posting a bit.  Mainly I've been busy keeping up with working out and trying to relax a bit after a stressful week.  Now back to the recap.

After some fun Philly times, it was time for us to trek to New York City!  We didn't get stuck in traffic, but I will mention that we had to pay a TON of tolls along the way between leaving Raleigh and finally making it to NY City.  Before we left, we did stop to get a famous Philly cheesesteak!  Let me tell you that thing was surprisingly good!

[Pat's Steaks, right across the street from their rival, Gino's]

 [I like mine with no onions and just cheese]

Then we hit the city!  We stayed in an apartment in upper Manhattan which was only like a couple blocks from the Subway.  It was rainy and chilly the first day.  We met up with one of my college friends in Soho and ate at a delicious tapas restaurant, Stanton Social.  Why in the world didn't I take a picture with my friend?!  It was fun exploring that area, which is where we entered the wonderful Anthropologie.

Fast forward to our first full day in NYC.  We woke up early so we could catch the subway all the way to lower Manhattan to stand in line for discount Broadway tickets.  The line was crazy long (actually not that bad, but at 11am with a cloudy sky, wind, skirt, and no tights, it was long), but we only ended up having to wait about an hour.  The two shows that were on the top of our list were out of our price range.  I think it worked out though because we ended up getting front and center seats.  After the long wait and on empty stomachs, we found a pizza joint to try.

[Yep...that face sums it up]

Harry's Italian Pizza Bar was right around the block, and it was wonderful!  It's right near Wall Street, so there were a lot of business type people in there.  That didn't hold us back though!  At after noon and going on no breakfast, we devoured the pepperoni and mushroom square pizza.

After getting our NY pizza fix, we hit the streets!  We decided to head up towards the Museum of Natural history, which is right across the street from Central Park.  

[Central Park]

 [Manhattan backdrop]

After we made a brief walk through the park, we hit up the Museum.  It took so long and there was so much to see.  After that we definitely couldn't fit in another museum.  I think when we go back, we'll just have to hit a different museum every time.  

After the museum we hit up The Ginger Man, which ended up being one of my favorite bars in NYC.  They had one of my favorite German beers and I tried an absolutely delicious Milk Stout from NY.  We had some food and headed over to see our Broadway show.

 [I'm not a Robin Williams fan, but the show was AMAZING!  I definitely have the itch for more Broadway!]

[Had to sneak this with the iPhone, but that's literally how close we were.  Second row, center]

[Outside waiting for the show]

After the show, we got to see Time Square at night which was something we really wanted to do.  We were definitely able to hit some key points and sights in NYC just in one day.  I also got to cross some items off my 101 in 1001 list (which I'll be updating again soon).

It was a perfect day in NYC.