As much as I would have loved for us to stay in the city, Josh was working a short 30 minute train-ride away and we decided to keep the rental car and hotel room and commute each day. Although we didn’t have the luxury of dropping off shopping bags or catching an afternoon nap, it was significantly less expensive and we didn’t have to deal with the hassle of packing up our room or returning the car mid-week.
We started off our mornings, bright and early, in the heated waiting booths of the train station. It was just across the street from Josh’s office (where we could park the car) in the cute little town of Tuckahoe. It cost us around $18 round trip (per person) each day to travel and the train was a fun experience. There were 8 to 10 stops between us and Grand Central, depending on the day of the week and what time we were traveling.
Because Thursday was so exhausting (a story for later in the week!), we slept late and made our way to the city just before lunch. We started out on the Upper West Side at “Monk’s” Restaurant, made famous in the greatest show of all time… Seinfeld. This was pretty high up on our list of sights to see, even though it isn’t the quintessential NYC tourist hot spot. We opted not to eat lunch there, since the restaurant is really small and looks nothing like the sound-stage used to film.
Instead, we found Mel’s Burger Bar right on Broadway and were able to dig right in. I hate that I don’t have more pictures, but it was clearly NOT a touristy kind of place and SD made fun of me every time I reached for the camera! The walls were painted in chalkboard paint with pretty hamburger illustrations and the menus drawn on the wall. I loved the electric sign in the back and tried to covertly snap a pic when he wasn’t watching. Although we would find a much better burger later in the week, as far as atmosphere goes, this was definitely my favorite!
We were only a few blocks above Central Park, so we decided to brave it and walk all the way back to midtown. Central Park is big — really big –but we had such a good time. We sat down a few times to look at the map, rest and enjoy some snacks, but mostly we just explored the west side of the park and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.
One of my favorite spots (besides Strawberry Fields) was the Shakespeare Garden and Belvedere Tower. They were so unexpected and beautiful, despite the winter landscape.
Later in the day, we made our way to the Empire State Building (I’m not sure why I have ZERO pictures from outside the building) with plans of catching the view at sunset. We were proud of ourselves for timing it right and were hoping not to wait in line for hours. We didn’t have tickets yet, and unfortunately, bought a silly package deal that was overpriced and included a ridiculous “ride” on the way up. I wanted to vomit. Not only from the $65 that we could have saved, but from the simulated roller coaster narrated by Kevin Bacon.
Unfortunately, we made it to the top just after sunset, but were rewarded with beautiful sparkling lights from 86 floors up. It was hard to capture in photographs, especially when we wanted to be in them, but I’ve never seen something so pretty!
To finish off the night, we took a walk down Broadway, through Times Square to John’s Pizzeria. We had to wait, but this meal was well worth it. We had root beer, garlic bread and pizza until we could barely waddle back to the train station.
