NYC - the Greatest City in the World!

It's just a week past our annual NYC trip and I'm missing the city already. It warms my heart and makes me so proud that Emer loves this city almost as much as I do. This blog post will be filled w/ pix from our trip along with a few highlights that show just how much we have grown to love the melting pot of America :)
In recent years we have found hotels in offbeat, less tourist areas of Manhattan b/c we, well at least I, prefer pretending we live in NYC when we are there. This time Steve went w/ us again and he wanted to stay in the heart of things - Times Square and the theatre district! So we stayed at the Novotel which is a French-owned hotel. I don't know if it was our location or the fact that this is a European hotel, but I only heard one other family w/ an American accent in our hotel. And I have to admit, it was quite refreshing to be surrounded by so many different types of people. Saturday night the balcony bar was turned into a Latin nightclub that pumped music clear into the night. We could hear it from our room, but I was the only one awake wishing I was downstairs dancing! Sunday night some African American group had rented the balcony bar and we were regaled w/ everything from hip hop to traditional African music. It was truly a melting pot of a hotel!

The hotel bar  > 

And views from the balcony bar  > 

When we arrived in the city I had one agenda and that was to get to the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. The artist Dale Chihuly had a large exhibit of blown-glass sculptures throughout the gardens and I love his work so I wanted to see it. So, Fri., we hopped on the Metro North train and headed to the gardens. Here are a few of our favorite scenes:

 

 

Saturday was truly a "we live here" kind of day. We hopped on the Subway and took it to Washington Square Park.

This is a new park for us and one where Emer made a new friend (of course!) Our main mission was to eat John's of Bleecker St. pizza and the park was pretty close to the pizza place so we stayed to let Emer play until it was time to head to lunch. Let me just say this - Never doubt Steve's pizza-picking ability! This was by far the best, most delicious pizza we've ever had!!! John's may become a regular spot for us. On another note, it was fun eating there b/c when we walked in there was a little league team celebrating their end-of season awards. A bunch of 4-and 5-year-olds were eating pizza and being given awards for MVP, Best Attitude, etc. Too cute!

Saturday afternoon I decided to walk next door to the theatre where Cats was playing and see how much tickets might be. I scored affordable tickets! Emer and I enjoyed the show and she's still singing the songs :) I love, love, love that I have a Broadway fan for a daughter!

Emer's favorite day came on Sunday when we took the D train an hour south to Coney Island. Oh yes, we spend over 3 hours playing at the beach! Imagine this - 93 degrees F, a slight breeze, the smell of sand, salt and sunscreen, people packing the beach as far as the eye can see, but plenty of open sand to create sand castles, families, young adults, teenagers, and chilly ocean water! Life was perfect. And I've decided I'll be moving Brooklyn some day, heehee!

 After the beach we had Nathan's for lunch (I definitely recommend the clam po' boy!), Emer rode a couple of big rides, and we headed back on the F train. What a perfect day!

Our trip sadly came to an end on Monday. We slept in, hung out a bit, and enjoyed Katz's deli for lunch. You didn't think Steve would go to NYC without getting his pastrami fix, did you??
Our flight wasn't until 8:05pm so Emer and I just wandered the city a bit more, ending up in Rockefeller and checking out some fun Lego creations at the Lego store. There is really no way to be bored in New York City...