New York City

After Philadelphia, Michaela and I had a girls day in NYC!

We drove from Delaware into New Jersey and then took a New Jersey transit train into New York City's Penn Station. Overall travel time one way is 3 hours. Not too shabby really. We got into Penn Station and had to immediately get a bagel - what else would we eat for breakfast?!

Then it was on to our first attraction: NBC Studio Tour.

I got us tickets the day before so we headed to 30 Rockefeller Plaza - missed the Today Show and didn't see any celebrities either, but that was ok. We got to tour Dr. Oz's studio, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon's studio, and Saturday Night Live's studio. They are definitely much smaller in person. Next time I come for a visit I hope to get tickets to Jimmy Fallon's show. We weren't allowed to take any photos inside which is why I don't have any to show you, but in SNL's studio the main stage was already piled high with Dell boxes because they are turning that studio into the main Olympics hub for this summer. I don't know if they will be shooting scenes there or if they are just using the space to record all the video and splice together the broadcasts. Somehow it hadn't occurred to me that they would repurpose studios during hiatus, but why wouldn't they?

Next we went down to Canal St. to have lunch with Greg and Ariana. We went to a great sushi restaurant and then walked up Canal St. and ran into Little Italy. the neighborhood was having a St. Anthony festival so the road was closed and there were lots of tents and patios set up. 

Then we found the MOMA storeand Ariana had fun with some of the items in there. this is actually a rubber/plastic bag, but I think it works as a head cover too :)

Then we got to Washington Square because I had heard there was an art festival there too, but by the time we got there (around 5pm) it had already been packed up. we walked around the park and saw some street performers. Then we parted ways with Greg and Ariana and headed back up to Times Square (Michaela was really excited to see it!)

As usual - there are people everywhere. But it is nicer now because they have closed off a section of the road so it is completely pedestrian - safer and more room to stare at all the signs and take pictures without feeling like you are in the way. We decided to eat dinner before we left the city and used an app on my phone to find a good place to eat near Times Square but not on Times Square.  We were originally going to go to the Stardust Cafe but it was packed, so we found this 'victorian' pub called Lillie's which was delicious and fun to look around.

By the end of the day when we got back on the train we were both spent. I had a couple blisters on my foot from our two days of constant walking, and we had all the aches and pains that come with a lot of fun - definitely had to 'look at the cracks in the sidewalk' once or twice. 

It was a totally fun day and Michaela is  going back in a couple weeks to celebrate her anniversary with Joe. He likes that she knows her way around now and they can go do touristy things together.