But last week a business meeting came up for my other business (Niki & Lola) and it was an opportunity I wasn't going to miss out on, my husband and I decided to take our only other vacation since having kids since our trip to Los Angeles.
Every minute of our day was scheduled, but in a way to spend some much needed time together and keep our trip affordable, we packed my baby "Holly", the lovely moniker for my very beautiful Buick Enclave that till last month was still under 10,000KMs. We set our sails for midtown Manhattan and left rise and shine early on Thursday morning. We took a nice route that took us through Upstate Western New York, through Pennsylvania, followed by New Jersey and then to NYC. Toll change in hand, Google map printed for visuals, GPS set. It was an exciting adventure.
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| Chicken Melt - Europa Cafe |
We arrived later than planned, our mammoth Holly didn't fit in the Valet at the Hotel... so we went on a hunt through NYC to find parking. My last trip to the city that never sleeps I remember being able to find parking on the west side of Central Park. And we did, a nice underground run by the some really awesome parking attendants at 71st and Broadway. We parked and Subway'd from 72nd to 42nd. We loved being in Midtown NYC, Time Square was under heavy construction and so the traffic wasn't as bad as it could have been. But we got hungry but the first evening in, we stopped and ate at Europa Café and had some pretty great sandwiches and some lemonade, ohhh and a pretty awesome red velvet cupcake that could make you blush.
By Friday morning we were in the full swing of meetings, scrounging around town looking for a Starbucks inside of the Trump tower and beyond. Ohhh the joys of Starbucks and the comfort that a Peppermint Mocha Latte presents when you are doing something that is completely out of your comfort zone. We chatted with the people over at Henri Bendel, followed by meetings with a PR firm, W magazine and Vanity Fair and all in between the many meetings we had seen Rockefeller Center (who knew the ice rink was open as of October), most of 5th Avenue, the Condé Nast offices, the Fairchild Building and we were getting hungry fast. What's a good Toronto foodie to do when in NYC, but of course a Food truck with the word LOBSTER written across it. At $16 a Lobster roll, the most priciest Lobster roll I've ever had was worth every penny in taste and flavour.
We got back to our hotel room to do some catch up, check in on the kids, make sure they weren't driving my mother crazy and off to Indochine a restaurant that was recommend to me by a very great Twitter friend. We had early reservations (not terribly early Toronto) at 7pm and we sat down with a fairly older crowd. But the food was fantastic and I was happy we went. The wait staff equally as good. I recommend the ribs, really really good.
After walking around Cooper's Union and seeing Greenwich Village, we grabbed a cab to take us back up town to get our car out of parking. Remember to know having your car parked in NYC will cost you anywhere from $40-$70 a day. Took the car down West Side Highway and headed down to Pier 17. I had to take my husband here, this little nook of perfection at the tip of Manhattan is my personal favorite, the cobblestone roads, the buildings of great wealth. We headed back to the hotel for what seemed like a very much needed sleep. Woke in the morning in search for a gas station, which we are now currently informed is much cheaper across the George Washington and to always be pumped in New Jersey, who also has a law about all stations are full service as consumers aren't permitted to pump their own gas. After getting gas in midtown we headed through the most stunning drive of the Upper West Side (I have never been before this trip). Headed for New Jersey to visit a girl friend. It was so very worth it ... all of it.
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