New York New York New York...

Wow. What a cool place. The city, the people, the artwork, the food… it all felt really fun to be a part of. It was like being in the cool kid’s clique for a little while. Very cool.

Let me backtrack a bit… For Amber’s birthday I bought her a trip to NYC. She had always wanted to go and I hadn’t been there since I was a kid so that was my plan. I am notoriously bad at gift giving so I wanted to finally get one right. I tried to book it for the weekend after her actual birthday but getting all other parties lined up took some planning, something that can be foreign to me. Anyway, once I had a tentative plan with all involved, I wrapped up a NYC guidebook and gave it to her as her gift. She figured it out pretty quickly as she opened it and as I watched the realization, her face didn’t fall (used to seeing that). Hey, what do you know…I think I got this one right.

We both took off the Thursday before the trip so that we could run around for the day and not feel rushed about things. She wanted to go downtown to Bliss Spa and get a manicure so I went with her to check out some of the buildings. Neat place Dallas. Of course I took my camera… nothing special here... just me being bored.

We flew out on Friday morning with a short layover in Washington DC. I had no idea that the approach pattern was right next to the Washington Monument and Lincoln’s Memorial. It was really cool to look out my airplane window (no Amber didn’t want the window…seriously…) and see our nation’s capital all in such close proximity. Lots going on in that neck of the woods these days. Don’t worry, this blog wont go political anytime soon. Suffice it to say I read the WSJ opinion page so I lean capitalist, err, I mean conservative. ;]


Upon landing we were introduced to the first of many crazy cab rides. I felt like we were in that PS2 game of the same name… Crazy Taxi. Let me just say that those guys know the width of their cars to the inch and at times I found myself caught halfway between impressed and terrified….and I like to drive fast so its not easy to impress me. Over the course of 3 and a half days we rode a little of everything. Planes, trains (subway) and automobiles. We even rode the bus for a couple of blocks so that we could encompass the full NY experience. I have to say the subway was pretty cool but man can you get turned around. We didn’t get lost but for someone who prides themselves in their directional sense, I had my moments. It’s the spiraling stairs going underground and then back up that got me I think. It was fun nevertheless. We were floored with how many things we happened upon just walking around. So many famous places in such a confined little space.

OK, so not such a flattering setting… but isn’t she lovely? Wow. Amber looked stunning for our first night out (really she always does) and we decided to try Marseille. It was a really nice restaurant that had good reviews and the Frommer’s guide seemed to talk highly of it so we gave it a shot. So a little tip… all decent places in NYC need a reservation. I actually remembered this and called early afternoon…good thing too. It was supposed to be a French and Meditteranean mix and we were looking forward to it. Really good food and I was thanking myself for such a good choice in guidebooks right off the bat. Beautiful restaurant and we had really good service with no less than 5 people helping us through dinner. Amber had some chicken broccoli dish (her usual is chicken) and I had the lamb sirloin. Her appetizer was far better than mine (ricotta gnocchi) while I remembered that I really don’t like tuna. The dessert’s were incredible. She had the crème broulee and I had some banana tort pie like thing. All in all, much better fare than I am used to eating. I guess everything is better when you aren’t being served by someone in a paper hat (Amber’s line… funny no?)

The next morning found us at Norma’s for breakfast and while I have to say that it was easily the most expensive breakfast I have ever had… it was also one of the most memorable. Beautiful Manhattan location, really elegant dining experience and might I just say… quite possibly the best orange juice both Amber and I have ever had. And it should be for 9 dollars a glass. Hey, it was a tall glass…and bottomless. ;]

We proceeded to walk off all of it over the course of the next couple of days because no matter where you pop out, be it cab or subway… it seems you still have to walk a little bit to get to your next destination. All told I am guessing that we walked 5-8 miles each day when you consider all the museum’s we walked within as well as getting to and from places. We seemed to happen upon things around every corner. It was all pretty fun to see things you had only seen in films or TV. Landmarks were everywhere. We stayed at the Crown Plaza Manhattan and it was a whole two blocks up Broadway from Times Square. We could see Broadway theatre’s from our window. The amount of signage was pretty amazing. When we ventured out walking, we were only a couple of blocks from Rockefeller Center and all the shopping on 5th Avenue. We saw all the incredible designer’s home store’s and some were just beyond impressive. Louis Vuitton’s bright green building was cool to walk around in. I think there was a security guard or employee every 15 feet or so watching everyone and everything. I guess my Gap attire didn’t look Gucci enough. I am fine with that.

We even did some shopping… imagine that (Amber’s friends can chuckle here). ;] We didn’t shop at Louis Vuitton but we did check out lots of other stores. Pretty cool place and the diversity was impressive. My friend Stefan put it nicely…”Nothing like a trip to the big city to let you know just how much you are missing! Kind of makes you feel alive. Every time I go on a trip I realize that I'm only going to live once.” Very true. I think both Amber and I felt really alive, excited and lucky to be here. It is quite a place to experience.

Ok... I am going to break it up here. Lots of stuff and I can only manage a blog that is so big before I goof something up. I am splitting this post up into a few parts… Check back in a day or so for part two if you are so inclined.

Catch up with you soon. bb