NYC, It's Standing Room Only (day 4)

As a special treat, Tiffany will be coauthoring this post. 

Alas, our last day of being in New York was upon us. We packed up our suitcases, said goodbye to our hotel, and set off for our last day in the city.
Tiffany: Little did I know that while I was eating breakfast, it would be the only real food I would eat the whole day.

We once again were thwarted in our plans to see the NYC public library, as it is closed Sunday mornings. But we did get to witness a couple being married at the top of the steps. So at least there was that. 

Tiffany: I nearly collapsed into tears. But witnessing the marriage gave me hope that life would go on, even if I didn't get to see the inside of the NYC Public Library. 

We stopped by the empire state building lobby, just to see it, but not to go up to the top #tooexpensive.

Tiffany: We looked for Tom Hanks in the lobby to see if he was on his way to meet Meg Ryan at the top. Do you think he had to pay? How did his son get up there without a ticket? Anyway, we were 24 years too late. 

We had been lugging around our luggage all morning so we made a pit stop by Christian's apartment in the Upper West Side to drop off our suitcases. 

We then made our way to Magnolia Bakery, and there were so many tasty looking treats; I wanted to try them all. 

Tiffany: I'm sure all of the display cases have nose and tongue prints left behind from me admiring and coveting all of the baked goods. 

I went for the chocolate banana pudding. I wish we could have gone more than once-but I mean, you've seen our eating schedule so far, it was already packed tight. 

Tiffany: I got the pumpkin pecan bar. It was delicious. I'm still regretting not getting more treats. Nothing is worse than food regret. Let this be a lesson to you all, buy the dang pastry.

We then spent the rest of our afternoon walking around Central Park before heading to Church. 

We walked in this castle. 

Tiffany: No Prince Charmings were found. Surprise, surprise.

We saw the Alice in Wonderland statue-the hottest kid hang out in all of NYC. 

Then guess who showed up with his nice phone camera. That's right. Christian. Which means ANOTHER photo shoot was upon us. 

Tiffany: I hope you can all appreciate this photo, because it is one of the few where my eyes are not squinty. The same cannot be said for Aubrey.

It was very very bright. 

Tiffany took a nontraditional route. It was time to start switching it up. 

Tiffany: I call this photo, "Elegance".

Or maybe the heat was getting to her. 

Tiffany: It was not. This is just who I am.

Tiffany: I checked this out for a bit of light reading.

Grateful I have such a great friend who will travel and eat with me. 

Tiffany: Ditto. Also, unlike Carlie, I am moved to tears every time I look at this photo. Of the two of us, I am the emotional one. 

Tiff is a crack up, but I'm hard to impress.

Tiffany: I spend a lot of my life just trying to impress Carlie, and make her laugh. It only works 54% of the time.

Don't mess with us. 

Tiffany: When I first looked at this picture, I thought I was flipping the bird. I'm not. Just to clarify.

Before church we made another stop at Levain Bakery because we had just two more flavors to try. We also bought some to bring home to our friends 1.because we are nice people and 2. Because they are nice friends to drive/pick us up from the airport. 

Tiffany: My overall review of Levain is: it's good, maybe even great-depending on what cookie you get (chocolate peanut butter, duh).

We had one last food to try, and it was the chocolate babka bread from Breads Bakery. It was delicious, a definite top contender of the best things we ate.

Tiffany: I had been anticipating this bread the entire trip. It didn't disappoint. I would later be grateful for this loaf because it turns out Virgin America doesn't give complimentary snacks. What the heck is that all about??

Then it was off to the airport. The flight home was slightly miserable because we were (maybe unbelievably so) hungry. As Tiffany mentioned, our flight offered us free drinks and nothing else (unless you wanted to buy snacks/meals). We were kind of banking on eating dinner on our flight, and as you saw, our diet after breakfast consisted of a cookie, pudding, and chocolate bread. I was dying for vegetables/protein, but water it was. 

It was fun to watch a movie set in NYC and to see all of the places I had just been to. In all it was a great trip and it only left me wanting to go back and do everything else I didn't get the chance to. Also, I didn't eat sugar for a few weeks after our trip. Sugar overload. 

Tiffany: I ate sugar the next day. I love New York. I've been dreaming about going there since I was a kid and it lived up to my expectations, hopes, and dreams.  I'm already planning what I want to do on my next trip there. As Alicia Keys says, "Let's hear it for New York,"

Concrete Jungle Where Dreams Are Made Of (Day 3)

For those who have lost track, it is now Saturday October 21st.

On this fateful day we brought ourselves to lower Manhattan to see the 911 memorial/museum.

After purchasing our tickets to the museum, our tickets showed that our tour time was in an hour, so to pass the time we walked to the Wall Street Bull.

There were so many people there that it took away any desire we had to actually get a good picture with the bull, or even walk up to it and touch it for that matter. 

We took a selfie and called it good. 

The 911 museum was great, and made us feel a whole range of feelings. After the museum, Christian met up with us again to spend the rest of the day with us. Then we all went to get lunch. It was a record event because it was the first time we were purchasing food that day and it was already 3pm. 

We went to Eataly- a cafe/grocery store that had different stations for gelato, pizza, meat, cheese, bread, and pretty much anything Italian you could think of. It was fun to walk around and try the samples. 

Tiffany and I got this, and Aubrey and Christian chose to get some street food. 

We then traveled on the Staten Island Ferry to get a good free view of the Statue of Liberty.

We didn't go on the island, but just passed by in front of it. 

This is the kind of photo you get with the Statue of Liberty when you take the bargain option. 

Then (after a stop at the candy store) it was to the Brooklyn Bridge!

Us and 1057 other people were walking across the bridge. 

We decided it was another good time to take advantage of Christians phone camera and have a photo shoot. 

We made it about halfway before we decided we had a enough pictures and were ready to turn around and go get dinner.

These are our best "Brooklyn" faces. Just imagine your Italian uncle Tony asking you if you want more pastrami on your sandwich or something. 

After an Italian dinner (which again was cash only...), we decided to just stay with the theme of the day and get some Gelato. The "only two samples" rule made the choice extremely difficult. 

Aubrey once again had the pleasure of trying to find a restaurant/store that had a bathroom she could use. We will be forever thankful for the woman at Whole Foods who let her into the restroom without her having a bathroom code (something you get once you actually purchase something from their store).

Aubrey hadn't seen Washington Square Park yet, so we went again. There were a lot of people hanging out there, and there were a few street performers as well. It was a fun atmosphere.

Then back to the hotel it was, with one more day of NYC ahead of us. 

I Want to Wake up in a City That Never Sleeps (Day 2)

Day 2 started with us waiting in line to get "rush" tickets for a Broadway show. Rush tickets are limited supply discount tickets for people at the theater right when it opens. We were waiting in line for the show Waitress, when I decided that on the chance we didn't get tickets, it would be smart if I was already in line at another theater for a different show. So I quickly ran down to the Aladdin theater, only to discover they do not sell rush tickets. So then I ran all the way back up and past the Waitress theater, to wait in line for School of Rock. As we waited I chatted with the couple in front of me and the college girls behind me. It was crucial that I make friends, because if Tiffany and Aubrey couldn't make it to the theater before I got to the ticket window, then I would have to have someone buy tickets in proxy for them. Right when I got to the window, Tiffany called and said that they had gotten "partial view" tickets for Waitress, so back to the Waitress theater I went. With all that running around, it was time to go get food. We headed to one of our most anticipated food destinations, Levain Bakery. 

It's located on the Upper West Side. 

While in line, I asked a group of ladies what their favorite purchase was, and they said that they had tried everything, and offered me some pumpkin bread they had just bought. I gladly accepted and asked where they were from, because my Mormon radar was tingling. One of them said they were from Utah, and I jumped right in and said, "me too!" to which they found just utterly delightful. We all ended up chatting with them for a bit and then we found out that one of their grandsons was in Aubrey's 3rd grade class. Like I said before, the Mormon world is a small one.  

Our fellow girls trip travelers.

Then it was time to get down to business, trying one of theses cookies we had heard so much about. 

They have 4 kinds of cookies, but we just bought one with plans to come back and try the rest throughout the course of our trip. We first tried the chocolate chip walnut cookie. It was good, but probably not worth all of the hype. Especially at $4 a pop. This may sound boastful, but Tiffany and I have made better cookies. 

We then walked to the the Museum of Natural History

Teddy Roosevelt, what a guy.

Afterwards we rented Citibikes and rode around Central Park. Using Citibikes meant that we could use them for 24 hours, but we had to dock them every 30 minutes. Thirty minutes creeps up on your much faster than you are expecting, so it wasn't always a relaxing experience. 

The Boat House. 

Bethesda Fountain

At one point we had to carry our bikes up some stairs, because we didn't exactly always stay on the roads. 

We ended up not docking our bikes in time the second go around, and were fined. The price we paid for taking pictures. 

The Upper West Side is a picturesque place. 

We then biked to lunch (which would have been a lot easier had the roads had actual bike lanes) and after  a day and a half of carbs, it was time for a salad. It was dang good. But I mean, you can always make room for more carbs,  and what happened to be just around the corner, but Levain Bakery! So it was time to try another cookie. 

This time we went for the chocolate peanut butter chip cookie, which I thought was superior to the first. 

We added another public transportation to our list, and took the bus to see the Met. 

Living our Gossip Girl dreams. Move over Serena and Blair, there are new girls in town. 

We used our bikes one more time, and biked down to 5th avenue and walked along it till we got to Rockefeller Center.

Tiffany got pizza for dinner, and the guys there threw in 3 garlic knots for free for us to try. Our natural charm once again helping us get free food. 

I went to see what all the hype was about and tried the Shake Shack burger.

It was then time for our play. 

They pumped the theater with a smell of pie, and sold it during intermission. I've never wanted pie so much in my life.

Christian came to join us. We had a private box all to ourselves, and were essentially 6 rows from the stage. However, it was partial view so a couple of times we couldn't exactly tell what was going on and had to lean over our balcony to get a better view. 

Of course, we couldn't let the night end without getting some dessert. Schmakerys Cookies it was, and honestly I prefer them to Levain Cookies. They had a lot of delicious flavors. 

Then like the tourists that we were, we went to Times Square for no reason at all. 

We decided to take advantage of Christians phone camera and had a midnight photoshoot. 

I'm starting to think that the iPhone + is worth it just for the "portrait mode" camera setting. 

Tiffany probably looking at the abundant Ernst and Young advertisements.  

Aubrey laughing so she won't cry because there were no bathrooms in Times Square for her to use. 

After taking pictures and running all around looking for a bathroom, we called it a night and headed back to our hotel with plans to sleep in the next morning. Sleeping in meaning 8:30am that is.