New York City

OK, I am playing catch-up with my pictures! These are from November when me and my husband went to New York for our 25th Wedding Anniversary. It was our first time to New York and we were a little intimidated by the city. We arrived on a Thursday and during the transportation from the Airport to the Hilton Newark Penn Station in New Jersey, the driver suggested a pizza place not far from the hotel that served New York Pizza. It was called Queen Pizza and the pizza was sooooo good. It was very thin and the sauce was perfect. I wish we took a picture of the pizza, we were so hungry, we just dug in immediately!

The hotel was hooked to Penn Station so it was a snap to hop on the PATH train and head into the city. It took about 15 minutes and we would be at the World Trade Center station. We could also transfer halfway through the ride to another train and it would take us to Times Square, so it was nice to stay away from the city but have easy access by the train. The hotel was not fancy but very affordable! We could hear the traffic outside but we were so exhausted every night we fell right to sleep, without using the earplugs the hotel supplies.

Once we got into the city, we mostly walked. We wanted to see all of the quaint side streets and little shops. We walked through Soho, TriBeCa, Greenwich, Central Park, down by World Trade Center, and Battery Park. We also loved walking through China Town and Little Italy.

One of our favorite sites was Top of the Rock. I thought it would be an expensive ride to the top of the building to look out at the city in one direction. Well I was wrong! Once you get to the top, you can walk all the way around the building and see every side of the city!....... and then go up another level......walk all the way around again .......and then go up again and then again!!!!! At the top there are no glass panels, like the lower levels, so you can get some pretty nice pictures. I think I have about 40!

Can you tell, we had awesome weather for November! Another favorite was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was beautiful!

We went to Times Square twice, once during the day and once at night. Actually at night we only stayed about a half hour and we saw enough! Police cars lined two blocks and it was super crowded, so we booked out of there. It was cool to be there but maybe not on a Friday night.

We did not go out to the Statue of Liberty but we did walk along the water at Battery Park and got a great view of Lady Liberty. We will see her next time!

My husband saw the Doughnut Plant on TV so we searched it out and had their fabulous doughnuts. We were starving when we got there and had to wait over a half hour in line to get the doughnuts. Due to the lack of food and waiting in the long line, we kept drowling over the list of fresh doughnuts and ended up getting two doughnuts each. Unfortunately we ate all of them lickety split! They were the most fabulous doughnuts ever but we were not hungry for the rest of the day. We walked to China Town and Little Italy right after getting the doughnuts and I was a little disappointed because the food in Little Italy looked amazing. I loved how all of the restaurants had the sidewalk tables open and people were enjoying their lunch outside. The food looked and smelled wonderful......but I was full of doughnuts! Eating in Little Italy is on my list for next time!

We did have some excellent food during our trip. This was a seafood dish from a Portuguese / Spanish restaurant called Iberia Restaurant. It is on Ferry St in Newark New Jersey. The sauce was so buttery and the Lobster, Scallops, and Shrimp were to die for!

Several nights we went to a little bar near the Hotel called MMM Bellos Pub. They have great Portuguese specials, the picture below is their version of Picadinho. My husband loved it.

We are looking forward to our next trip to New York. We are pretty sure we will go back in the spring.