New York! - Part 1/2

Casey and I went to New York Thursday through Sunday morning to celebrate our 7 year anniversary. My mom-in-law, Cindy, came up and stayed at our house and watched Indiana. It was good to know that he was in loving hands. We got there Thursday afternoon and quickly got to our hotel in midtown with a decent view. Very comfy and classy.

  

We went for a quick stroll through Bryant Park and enjoyed the beautiful architecture at the New York Public Library.

We were somewhat disappointed with our dinner Thursday night. I read three guide books and spent a bunch of time on Yelp trying to find the best places to go...but even the best laid plans sometimes go awry. I bought tickets to the Book of Mormon since we were in the theatre district...but I bought them for the wrong week. We got a refund and went to the movies instead.

 

Casey saw Zero Dark Thirty, which isn't out in Dallas yet, so he was super-happy. And I got to see Les Miserables, so I was very happy with the theater mishap after all.

On Friday, the plan was to walk up 5th Ave, window-shop in the fancy stores, see Central Park and then go to the Modern Art Museum. It was really fun exploring that part of the city.

They were doing some filming outside the NBC building, but as neither one of us watch NBC, we didn't stick around. If it had been the food network, it would have been a different story!

Casey, making a sad face because it was cold, at Rockefeller Plaza. It was pretty cold, but we ducked inside to get warm often.

Like in the shoe department at SAKS 5th Avenue. It was a dreamland of shoes.

Trump Tower was a nice place to warm up too. They even have a Starbucks inside, so you can drink tea and watch the 5 story indoor waterfall.

Where did all of the big rocks in Central Park come from?  Seriously...does anyone know?

It was funny seeing the sight of so many tv shows...I kept expecting to see a CSI NY crew out there.

For the sake of Eloise, we had to go into the Plaza. I loved the chandeliers.

In case you need a gift idea for Casey, this lovely specimen is only $2,000 at Bergdorf's.

Next, we went to the Museum of Modern Art.

The Scream and Starry Night were the big draw, and they were nice. Casey asked and The Scream last sold for $119 million. Yikes.

But my favorites were some of Monet's waterlilies and a few Kandinsky's. They had a series of five amazing Kandinsky canvases commissioned by Chevy's founder for his Manhattan apartment. Man, what an apartment that must have been.

We had dinner Friday night at a very elegant Italian restaurant, Ai Fiori: canapés of steak tartare and house made cheese, velouté soup, panna cotta with sea urchin, slow poached egg with the most amazing chicken broth I've ever tasted, ravioli with duck confit, bouillabaisse, a venison chop with gnocchi, granita over panna cotta, and lovely bit of chocolate cake with poached pears and pear sorbet. All was delicious, and some outstanding. Even the coffee was wonderful.

After dinner, we walked back through Times Square, which was a zoo. I cannot imagine why someone would want to crowd in there on New Years Eve.  We ended up finishing up the evening at the hotel's piano bar, serenaded by the very nice piano playing of Jacques and the slightly horrible singing of Marie.

Saturday's NYC adventures...to be continued!