David had to go to New York City for a healthcare conference with Blackstone. And I got to go with him!!! Woohoo. His coworker, Keith Grames, went as well and so did his wife, Catherine, who is really fun. She and I spent the day seeing the sites while David and Keith went to meetings. We spent Friday with them and then they flew home early Saturday morning. David and I didn't fly out until Saturday night so we got to do some more sightseeing and shopping.
We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria (Blackstone is the owner and so they had the conference there and we had discount rooms through them). The hotel was old but very, very nice. Our room was great. That first night we ate at the restaurant in the hotel. I had a Waldorf salad which was delicious. I also had the Grilled Salmon. After dinner we walked down to Times Square and wandered around for a while. Then we walked back by Rockefeller Center and saw the ice skating rink. It was a bit small and smushed in between the buildings more than i thought it would be. We got back to the hotel and then I didn't feel good suddenly. Before I knew it I was very sick. I had diarrhea and I was throwing up at the same time. The poor housekeeper that had to come get the gross waste basket and take it away. I felt so embarrassed but I felt so much better after I got rid of it all. It must have been something I ate because then I felt fine and slept all night. The next day I walked all around NYC with Catherine.
Times Square
Catherine and I walked down to Central Park and over to the Frick Museum. It was fabulous and it had lots of art pieces by artists that I actually knew about. I really enjoyed it. Then we walked through Central Park and found a little French cafe to have some lunch. I had some very mild yet delicious Minstrone soup. Then we walked over towards the Met and stumbled upon the Manhattan Temple. Right in the thick of it all, there was the white building with Moroni on the top. The most important building in the whole city and yet nobody seemed to take much notice of it at all.
We went inside the Met to the gift shop. Too bad they weren't going to be having any Opera performances that Catherine could go to. She loves the opera.
Then we headed back to the hotel for a short nap. After that we went to dinner on Restaurant Row in the theater district. It was very good Italian food. After dinner we went to see the musical called Spiderman. It was quite spectacular with Spiderman and the evil villain flying all over the theater. Just coming out of the theater we came across the Hard Rock Cafe where I got to enjoy a superb chocolate milkshake and I bought a Hard Rock New York T-Shirt.
Friday we slept in!!! Then we headed down to the Pier to go on a 3-hour tour of the Island of Manhattan. The cruise went all the way around. We got to get pretty close to the Statue of Liberty but the island is closed from Hurricane Sandy. We went under the Brooklyn Bridge, saw Yankee stadium and all the other sites around the island. I loved hearing the tour guide tell about everything. He knew so many little details.
We ate lunch in a little tiny mexican restaurant which was really pretty good and followed that up with Cold Stone Ice Cream. Then we headed over to the MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art). Keith and Catherine really wanted to go but when we got there, the line was a mile long because it turned out to be Free Friday after 5:00. We got there at 4:30 but they weren't letting anybody buy tickets to go in. Catherine had a student ID and they let her buy a year pass for $50 and keith could go in free on that. So they went ahead and did that and hurried into the museum before the whole brunt of the crowd was let in at 5:00. David and I headed down to the temple to do a session. It was wonderful and beautiful.
On our way back to the hotel, David hired a pedicab to take us. It was pretty fun and my feet appreciated it. We rented a movie in our room, Rock of Ages. The worst movie I think I've ever seen, and I love Tom Cruise movies. 2 thumbs down.
Saturday we slept in again. Then we headed down to Times Square to buy souvenirs for the kids and us. I still hadn't been to Ground Zero so we hopped on the Subway and went down there. It was very crowded and there was a long line to get into the Memorial so we just walked around the outside. I didn't realize how big it all was.
Finally it was time to head home. We flew out of JFK at 7 and were home by 11:00. We had a great trip but it was good to be home and see the kids and sleep in our own bed. Loved NYC though and I hope to go back again.
