Last week Lonnie and I took a whirlwind, wonderful trip to New York City—our first time there. My best childhood friend lives in Manhattan just one block from Central Park, and she and her husband graciously let us stay at their beautiful apartment and showed us around the city.
We hit all the lovely tourist sites:
View of the Chrysler Building from the Empire State Building. By the way, we purchased a City Pass so we could get into multiple sites at discounted prices and skip the lines too.
Outside the American Museum of Natural History, where my friend works (she’s so cool).
Central Park
Andrew Carnegie’s mansion (now the home of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum)
A charming plant shop because, well, duh. I guess you all know that olive trees are the next fiddle-leaf fig, right? They are!
My friend’s apartment—talk about curb appeal. And don’t even get me started on the “mongo,” or free treasures, people leave curbside. It was very difficult for me to not drag home (to her home) a spool-legged table and a rug.
Trinity Church (where Alexander Hamilton is buried. By the way, we saw Hamilton the night before our trip, and it just might be my favorite play yet.)
My friend Drew and me at the 9/11 Memorial. The museum is a must for any NYC visit. The amount of artifacts is astounding, and the flow is so well planned that you naturally weave through all the exhibits without backtracking or missing a thing.
Fearless Girl now stands in front of Charging Bull. She was installed last year in honor of International Women’s Day. Glad to see her in the original location because it looks like she’s moving to a permanent location around the corner.
Took the (free) Staten Island ferry to see Lady Liberty and the Manhattan skyline.
Saw the Guggenheim—loved the classics, like this Degas, but hated the visiting artist.
MoMA was a big hit with me. Saw the original Starry Night, plenty of Picassos, and Water Lilies.
And as for food, we vowed not to eat at any chains. But we did eat at Magnolia Bakery and Milk Bar and loved both. Get the banana pudding at the former and the cereal-milk soft serve with cornflake crunch at the latter.
Later this week, I’ll share a couple less-well-known things we did that made our trip special. See you soon! •
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Boulevard West 