My first trip to NYC was simply amazing.
We were driven to the McCarran Airport by our roommate Archie, and it was exciting to know that in just a short few hours, we were going to be arriving at the one place I have been dying to visit since I was 12 years old. We checked our luggage and headed to the bar at the airport to grab a drink or two, hoping it would help us to sleep on the plane since we took the red eye, and were going to be landing at 7:30am, and had refused to waste any time sleeping on our first day there! My best friend and roommate Chris has been to NYC a few times before, so he was excited to show me around, and I was relieved to have someone go with me who knew their way around! We flew Delta. Let me just tell you, it was SO tight a fit and so uncomfortable, mixed along with my excitement, that we did not sleep a wink. We laughed about it, maybe sleeping 30 min or so, but when we arrived, I was so excited that it woke me right up again, and I didn’t feel like I needed to sleep at all! Between the trams & Airtrans, then the Subway (My first time ever on one), we finally came out of th
e subway tunnel stairway at around 9:30am, and as I took my first steps onto the streets of NYC, I was in shock. I had seen pics time and time again, but seeing it, these huge buildings hovering over the sky, with the clouds moving so fast it felt like the buildings were swaying, I just had to stop and capture the moment with a photo, I am thankful I did.
We walked to our Hotel carrying our luggage quickly, and when
we arrived I was so happy to see it was so close to the subway and also there were so many shops and Radio City, and the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building all so close in view. Our hotel lobby was beautiful; we were too early to get our room, so we checked our bags and started our day, even though we hadn’t slept a wink!
We went and got tickets for the NBC tour, and then strolled over to Radio City and began that tour. I must say the building itself and theatre were amazingly beautiful; the tour itself was amazingly boring! Gag!! But worth it. We had to leave the tour just a few minutes early, to make our NBC tour on time. They came to escort us out, so we were taken down the elevator used only for presidents and celebrities! It was pretty awesome, though the picture we stole inside was NOT!
LOL…We headed to NBC and it was a blast! The tour was fun, seeing the stages for popular shows and such was awesome, but the highlight was seeing the Saturday Night Live stage, and rehearsal! I got to see all the stars from the show, including Kristin Wig who is my FAVE!! It was really awesome.
We had hot dogs then headed to Times Square to get our tix for Rock of Ages for that evening from the ½ off tix place. After waiting an hour, which was fun, since we people watched, we were told they had no tix for that night together, so we decided on In The Heights instead, which featured Jordan Sparks from American Idol. We continued looking around Times Square, then went to check in our Hotel, rested for a few, then got ready to have dinner at Sardi’s! We walked which is what you do in NYC apparently. Walk, and walk and walk and wait for subway trains, and walk, and wait, etc.
Sardi’s was really awesome. The service was great! We ordered like we were rich, a bottle of wine, then an amazing steak dinner, with appetizer and dessert, you’d think we struck gold or something! We even ordered Port Wine when it was all over then it was off to theatre for my FIRST Broadway show ever, In The Heights! The show was awesome! So much fun, we had been up for over 24 hours now, but who could sleep in such a town like this?! We headed right back out to Times Square after having some more wine, a few homemade Capt’ Morgan cocktails, and walked around and people watched! It was so much fun! I even got to try my first NYC hotdog ;)
We finally went to sleep around 3:30am or 4am. Next morning we decided to have the continental breakfast at the hotel before heading out for our Museum and Central Park day! It was actually really fancy and delicious! We headed to The Guggenheim first. I named it the GAGenheim, as it was super boring. There were some awesome pieces, and some not so much. I was glad I went, but once is enough! We then headed down to the MET, now this one was really cool, we made our way through quickly, but we saw everything we wanted to. After this we went into Central Park, where I saw all the major places I wanted to, Alice Statue, Strawberry Fields, Bethesda Fountain, the Dakota where John Lennon was shot, and finally making our way to the American National History Museum, now this was exciting! We spent a good amount of time there, then made our way back to the Hotel to get ready to leave on our Harbor Lights Cruise! We decided to have dinner at this boutique Italian Restaurant near the pier, it was nice! We sat outside and had a delicious too fancy pizza! Then made our way to the pier, and got awesome seats on the top deck! The tour was amazing, but super cold! We had an itch to go to China Town for Chinese when we got done with the two hour cruise, so we did just that! We ended up getting lost and let me tell you, China Town at night in unfamiliar places is scary as hell!! But we found our destination, we ate at The Peking Duck, which was top rated by customers, and I can see why, the food was great! I tried Duck for the first time, it was really awesome, I also tried Lamb Shanks for the first time, and all I can say is EWWW. Never again! LOL…
When we got back to the safer side of town, we went back to Times Square people watched a bit more, had some drinks, then hung out at our room for a bit. Watched some TV and went to bed.
Monday was a really exciting day. We finally made it to the Empire State Building, Happy Hour & Lunch at Planet Hollywood, went to Times Square for tickets for Rock of Ages, then made our way around town to shopping on 5th Avenue, going to Grand Central Station, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Madam Tussaud’s, then jumped on a NY CITY TOUR bus for a 2 hour tour around the city. This was really interesting and so much fun! We had just enough time to get ready and have some dinner at a killer bar we found, The Mean Fiddler, then head to one of my favorite shows ever Rock of Ages w/ Dee Snyder! It was AWESOME!! So much fun and we had the best seats, second row center! After the show, we headed back to the bar for some more drinks and then headed home to crash since we knew we had to be up at 4am for our train to Washington D.C. at 5:30am!
We didn’t end up sleeping until closer to 1:30am, so needleless to say, that wakeup call was a nightmare! We grabbed a cab to Penn Station at 4:30am and headed that way. We slept a bit on the train, me less than Chris, as I was too excited passing all these cities & states I never seen before. The train ride was just under 3 hours. We finally arrived and I was thrilled to see the Library of Congress and Supreme Court Buildings, just beautiful! Then we did the Capital tour which was amazing! I love the pictures we took. We had a quick lunch there too. Then headed for the Ford’s Theatre, where Lincoln was shot, then saw the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution at the National Archive, then headed to the Smithsonian, which was awesome! Saw the Star Spangled Banner, and Dorothy’s red slippers, even Kermit! We had a great time. We then headed over for our Washington Monument tour, relaxed for while before hand, then after that, headed to the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam memorial, over to the White House then the Treasury. By this time we were starving! So we went to Old Ebbit’s Grill for Filet Mignon and Lobster with Bloody Maryland’s! Even tried my first Crabcake! Yum! We needed to walk after that so we went back to the Whitehouse to see it at night, it was beautiful! Then headed down to a local bar for a couple beers then got back on the train. Which broke down almost back to NYC, I slept quite a bit, we were still delayed about an hour so when we got back, we were so exhausted, we crashed back the hotel almost immediately.
Our last and final day was our Wicked day! I was so excited. It was very bittersweet, leaving NYC. It was 90% humidify and it made me miss Vegas badly, lol. We got up, grabbed McDonald’s for breakfast then headed down to Delancey Street for some shopping, didn’t see anything worth stopping into so strolled Lil’ Italy and Chinatown, then grabbed a subway back to our side of town, found a bar for beers & lunch before the show, as it was HOT and we were miserable! The show, Wicked, now my third Broadway show ever, was AMAZING! I cried so much!! We then headed over to Maxi’s in Times Square, to try their world famous cheesecake, and it was SO GOOD! Then it was time to say goodbye! Headed back to the Hotel, grabbed our things and headed home.
I did just about everything I wanted to do, with the exception of buying a cheap knock-off purse and actually seeing the Statue of Liberty from the platform and in day-light. We ate lots of good food, drank lots of really expensive beer and walked more in 5 days then I have all year! My poor feet. But mostly I just feel blessed to have spent an amazing 5 days in the city I have wanted to see for over 15 years, and getting to spend it with my best friend. I am beyond satisfied and thankful, and I can’t wait to see where we end up next!
