NYC part II

We arrived in NYC at around 6:30 on Saturday night so the first night was just checking into our hotel and enjoying a romantic Italian restaurant that our friend suggested. I’m always a little nervous going to a hotel for the first time because you’re never sure it’s going to be as described. Our hotel, The Roger New York, was amazing. Huge sigh of relief after our bus ride. It was very chic and sophisticated and clean and beautiful. The room was small, I mean this is NYC, but really pretty. I never sleep well when I travel and I slept like a rock on this trip! The bed was super comfy, the room was quiet and very clean. The hotel staff was super helpful and friendly and they had complimentary wine hour every day! It was also in a great location. It was wonderful!

I was so excited to be able to glimpse my first touristy site, The Empire State Building, on our way home from dinner the first night!

Matt and I both remembered this building from countless shows and movies set in NYC.

Sunday, our first full day, we decided to take a Gray Line tour of the city. We were able to see Grant’s Tomb and cathedral, the 911 memorial, have lunch at Grotto Azure, spend time in Little Italy, take a cruise past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and visit Top of the Rock. In between each destination, we got to see the entire city and Matt was able to get a good lay of the land. (Not me…I had no clue where anything was the entire trip.)

The architecture was impressive.

Matt and I were glad we didn’t get struck by lightning while being in an actual church on Sunday!

The 911 memorial was haunting. It’s overwhelming and sad and I just kept thinking how awful the whole thing must have been for those in NYC. Seeing all of the names around the memorial is humbling. Did you know that someone puts a white rose on their name on their birthday? I got weepy but I’m glad we went to pay our respects.

Next up was our cruise to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and all of the bridges. I’m still amazed at how large NYC is!!! It was truly wondrous to see these things in person after learning about them for so many years!

Our last stop was Top of the Rock. You can see EVERYTHING from up there!!!

I’m a huge pop culture junkie, so of course we had to stop at Rockefeller Center and the NBC Studios store!

Me with my former boyfriend…

Me with my current boyfriend…as close as I was going to get after failing to get tickets to his show! I kept thinking “Jimmy Fallon works in this building!” the whole time we were there. Maybe next time!!

Surprising Fact #1 from Matt and Tiffany’s first day in NYC: there is garbage everywhere and very few people speak English!!!

Stay tuned for part III tomorrow!