New York, New York!

On a whim and thanks to an incredibly low fare my mom and I decided to visit New York for five days. I know, I know we were just there, but we only had one day! This time we were able to relax and take our time to see the city. Rather than taking cabs or hauling Sophia down to the subway every ten minutes (which is not as easy in New York as it is in London) we decided to walk every where we went! We walked 8 to 14 miles each day. What is amazing is that neither of us got tired. Sophia enjoyed it as well, her stroller reclines into a sleeping position, so she was very comfortable the entire time. As you will see below, this was more of an eating adventure than a shopping or sight seeing adventure.
On the first day we enjoyed lunch at Tavern on the Green. The food was amazing, the atmosphere was a little over done, kind of like an over decorated Easter Egg. My mom had the tomato soup as a starter and I had a salad. We both enjoyed an amazing piece of Salmon along with garlic potatoes and asparagus. For dessert we each had a great piece of cheesecake. Sophia ate off both of our plates. She behaved really well throughout the entire lunch. She started getting restless around desert time, but the waiter brought her two balloons that kept her occupied.


We spent the remainder of the day shopping. We had John's pizza for dinner and Magnolia's cupcakes for dessert!
On Saturday we spent the morning in our hotel room watching Senator Kennedy's funeral services. It was raining all morning and we decided it wasn't worth heading out. By the time Obama finished his Eulogy the sun came out and off we went! We walked up to Times Square and over to Fifth Ave. We took Sophia to FAO Schwartz and my mom to Crate and Barrel. We had dinner at Tao, an Asian Infusion sort of restaurant. My mom started with tempura shrimp and I had an amazing crispy tuna sashimi.


Yum Yum!!!





We both had the wasabi crusted filet mignon, which was amazing! For dessert my mom had gingered fruit and I had chocolate spring rolls. This was by far the best meal we had in New York. After dinner I asked my mom if I had anything on my face, because it really felt like I had chocolate everywhere... she said I didn't. Well, during dessert Sophia sat on my lap and I accidentally dropped a gob of chocolate on her head. As it turns out, she bumped me in the chin and when we got to the bathroom at Saks Fifth Ave I noticed a huge blotch of chocolate on my chin and my cheek!



I don't know how my mom missed either!



After Saks we went to Build-A-Bear and built Sophia a little cheerleader bear that will match her Halloween costume. She had a lot of fun making the bear, as did I!!

On Sunday we took a daring walk to China Town. I say daring because we walked down Broadway, which for a few blocks was quite intimidating. We went to SoHo and had great rice pudding at Rice to Riches. My mom and I shared a bowl of Plain Jane (her choice) and Rocky Road rice pudding!



We then walked down to the Manhattan Bridge. We were going to walk across, but the sun was beating down and it was just too hot. We walked through China Town where we stuck out like sore thumbs. We were some of the only people approached by the fake bag guys. lol! No... we didn't buy any. We then walked through Little Italy and really would have loved to eat there, but we were both so full from the rice pudding that we just couldn't bare to stop. By this time we had walked about five miles and were hot and beat. We walked back through So-Ho and stopped periodically in an air conditioned store. On our way back to the hotel I stopped at Lush and loaded up on some great products!





We went to the hotel and relaxed for a bit and then returned to John's Pizzeria for dinner. I know, I know we went there twice, but we really didn't want much to eat and we knew it was good. After dinner we walked through Times Square where Sophia met up with Elmo.



She was so incredibly excited. I also had a charcoal drawing done of her, but it really doesn't look like her. lol!
On Monday, Sophia and I woke up way early and went to the Today Show. Unfortunately, we didn't get there early enough because the crew only came out once! Next time we go I will have there at 7 and not a bit after 8. After that went to the hotel and picked up my mom. We walked down through Chelsea, The West Village, Soho and Tribeca via 8th Ave. The walk was amazing and so much safer than the day before. We stopped at a neighborhood playground in the Village. It was so nice! Unfortunately, Sophia was sound asleep! We ate lunch at Nobu.



It was so good! I had tempura shrimp and my mom had a tuna sashimi salad. We each had a plate of sashimi and sushi as our main course.


It was incredible!

For dessert we had the same thing again, a tofu cheesecake. mmm tasty! Sophia slept through our entire meal, which was good since she really couldn't eat any of the food. After our lunch we walked down to the World Trade Center and continued on to on of our favorite spots, the One World Financial Center's Winter Garden.



After a little shopping we continued on to Battery Park and then back to the patios in front of the Winter garden where we enjoyed very strong Margaritas.







Sophia had a strong milk and quesadilla.






We walked along the Hudson all the way back to the street our hotel was on. The walk was so incredibly beautiful! Neither of us new that there was a walking/jogging/biking path along the river. What a find!
Tuesday was our last day. We must have been a little worn out because we all slept until 9:30. We walked up to Magnolia's for one last cupcake (which put me over the top on cupcakes this year! lol), and then we headed to the airport. None of us were quite ready to leave. There was so much we still wanted to do, i.e. go to the Met, hit the Zoo and shop some more. Maybe next time!!