NYC Part 1: An empire state of mind

Having booked our holiday in late December (after many drawn out discussions over where we should stay) I have been bursting with excitement ever since. Our walks to the station every morning have been filled with conversations about where we would go and what we would see, so it's safe to say I was pretty ecstatic to finally arrive.

We landed on Saturday afternoon and after a long wait at immigration we headed into the city and wasted no time checking in, freshening up and heading out and about. We took a stroll to the Rockefeller to see the ice rink, then along Broadway to Central Park taking in a proposal on the way (alas, not mine). 

 Central Park

 Our first night in Times Square

There was still some snow on the ground and a chill in the air but we didn't mind, it had been a long time coming but we were finally in NYC.

We went for dinner at The View, a revolving restaurant at the top of the Marriott at Times Square which offers buffet style meals to masses of tourists but, needless to say, the view more than makes up for it. And to be fair the food was actually pretty nice. An early night followed, with even The Boy saying he was ready for bed by 9pm.

 Dinner at The View

Sunday was Mothers Day and, due to the early night, The Boy and I woke at 5am and headed out into a quiet Times Square in search of flowers to surprise Mum. We struck lucky at the local deli and purchased a gorgeous bunch of roses to let Mum know we remembered (to go with the Tesco value card Mark had bought). It was definitely worth getting up early as the streets were pretty much deserted and we got to take some nice pictures as the sun came up.

 Sunrise over Times Square

We packed a lot into our first full day, heading to the Hells Kitchen Flea Market (more on that later), up to Central Park, to the Frick Collection and to Top of the Rock before heading out to dinner at the Brooklyn Diner. 

Exploring Hells Kitchen

A stroll in and around Central Park

 Top of the Rock (where we established I definitely don't like heights)

 
Monday we awoke still tired but not quite as early as Sunday and went downtown to the Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero and Soho and then on to Chinatown for Dim Sum (which Mum, Dad and Mark were really not sure about - they're more Wetherspoons people).

Dim Sum in Chinatown

Graffiti near Ground Zero

As I hadn't seen Mum since Christmas and the boys were very keen to sample the local drinking establishments I arranged for us to spend some time at the amazing Great Jones Spa. After a few hours we were refreshed and revived and ready to see more of the city.

Sadly it was not to be, as the boys had managed to get Father well and truly sozzled so Mum and I were tasked with taking care of him, so we settled in for a night of magazines, American telly and take out pizza.

The next morning we were up bright and early for a windy and wet day at Woodbury Common in search of bargains. The Boy didn't join us (shopping's not really his thing) and instead went for an explore of the city solo. We joined up again for dinner just across the road from the hotel at a place called Virgil's, which turned out to be an excellent choice as this was one of my favourite meals of the trip; chicken and avocado salad with ranch dressing and fries. YUM. Could possibly be one of the reasons I have returned a little rounder.

 Dinner at Virgil's