NYC Girls' Weekend!


As a gift to my mother for her latest milestone birthday (45 years young, right??!!) my dad sent her, my sisters and I to the Big Apple for the weekend. And it. was. great. We left super early on Friday morning and came back on Sunday afternoon. In those 2.5 days we packed in just about everything you can think of in NYC including: Times Square, Rockafeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, FAO Schwartz, Barney's NY, Central Park, the MET, Chinatown, Little Italy, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the 9/11 Memorial and more. It was intense but LOTS of fun!

We stayed in a hotel a few blocks away from Times Square which is always crowded and bustling with energy and people. We went both during the day and later at night to check it out. My sisters' and mother's reactions were mixed and in fact I think they might have been a bit disappointed with this, one of NYC's most famous sites. I get it. It's really just a place with lots of advertisements, cars and restaurants. It's iconic but there is so much more in New York to see and do.

On our second night after walking around all day we went to Chinatown and then had dinner in Little Italy. My sisters were interested in buying some knock-off bags first and we weren't disappointed. Basically we walked into a seemingly normal purse store, looked around and then were invited into the back room to see the real goods. The dinner that followed was A-mazing! Of course, the company was good as well. Having sisters really makes me feel lucky because we always have a good time together. We have very different personalities but for the most part we get along well.

As we walked around the city we put on the Statue of Liberty hats that we bought at a souvenir shop to take selfies in front of most of the monuments and sights. Above we are standing on the steps of the judicial building that features in the opening credits of Law and Order: SVU. We also visited 1 Police Plaza. Real fans will get it.

Our trip to NYC was an all-girls weekend since we left the men folk at home. We were able to do a lot of girlie stuff like the aforementioned purse-buying expedition and we also all had our make-up done at Saks. We walked down Madison Avenue, peering into shop windows and coveting the fashion. These were all things we wouldn't have been able to do with our husbands around. When we got back from our trip and I asked Jose what they had done, he replied "Man stuff." I took that to mean: fishing, barbecue, shooting and the local dive bar. They decided to send us a selfie as well. I am sure they didn't have as much fun as we did (obviously) but we are all looking forward to our trip to Washington D.C. in a few weeks.

 Here is a brief breakdown of how we divided our sightseeing.

 Day 1:
Arrival and dropping bags at hotel
Walk to Times Square
Beer in Rockafellar Center
Visit to Chrysler Building and Grand Central Station
Walk past Empire State Building (we didn't have time to go up)
Make-up in Saks Fifth Avenue
Visit to FAO Schwartz so sisters could play on big piano

 Day 2:
Walk to and through Central Park
Visit Metropolitan Museum
Subway to 9/11 Memorial 
Visit to Chinatown, shopping
Dinner in Little Italy
Unsuccessful beer in oldest bar in NYC (we made it there but it was crazy full)
Drink in Times Square at night

 Day 3:
Check-out of hotel
Subway to Staten Island Ferry in Lower Manhattan
Ferry ride out to see Statue of Liberty
Lunch in Battery Park
Flight out

 I feel as if I am probably forgetting some of the things we did on this trip since we really did cram in a whole lot of stuff. Since we were limited on time and money we didn't go into a lot of the places we walked by (like the Empire State Building) and we didn't go to a show (something which I am determined to do the next time I am in town). I had been to NYC with Jose before and I feel like I got to do and experience a lot of different things on this trip which is nice. It wasn't like repeating a lot of the same sights or tours. This was a fabulous girls' weekend! I had a great time and created a lot of wonderful memories with my #bearpack

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