To Be Young and in Love in New York City...

....maybe not the young part....but we're still young at heart.  Matt and I took a quick anniversary trip to the Big Apple while the kids went to church camp last week.  Matt had never been.  I was fortunate to take a trip to NYC back in 2015 for my sister's 40th.  We didn't have much time and wanted to make every minute count because there is so much to see.  Our hotel was right on Times Square and in the middle of the Theater District.  The Hilton hotel chain definitely has some of the best rates so always check into that if you're looking for a place to stay.  My hair was looking rather raggedy so I stopped next door and grabbed an NYC hat.

The absolute FIRST priority for me (especially since it was lunchtime) was to head straight for Halal Guys and grab a delicious chicken bowl.  It's been four years too long since I ate there and couldn't wait to return!!!  We stopped at Rodgers Theater to see if we could snag some Hamilton tickets, and I had heard that the box office sometimes has tickets available.  No luck.  Plus, I didn't personally want to spend $500 on tickets even if they were available.  Matt and I are more comedy-type and had already booked reservations at the Comedy Cellar and The Gotham Comedy Club for the next two nights.

The Central Park bike tour is one I would highly recommend.  Pay the money and do it!  There are many of them to choose from so don't accept the first price they throw out.  Central Park is large, and unless you have lots of time to kill, this is the best way to see it all.  Plus, you learn so much from the tour guides on history, wear the stars live, movie scenes/filming, etc.  The guides also stop at the most popular spots in the park for photos.

We weren't able to snag a picture at the famous F.R.I.E.N.D.S. fountain (because it was being repaired/restored) only to learn that it was a replica and not the one in the actual TV show which was filmed in California.

After Central Park we headed back to the hotel to crash for a little bit.  We'd been up since 3 AM and needed rest.  There is no shortage of panhandlers in NYC.  We were headed back to the hotel and turned a street corner, and Matt got caught by a group with CD's putting on the pressure sale.  Before he could pass, one of them had slipped one in his hand, signed it, and was asking for $20.  The minute Matt pulled out his wallet, they swarmed to him and were all asking for hand-outs.  It was a little frightening, but he finally broke free of them.

We crashed and burned at the hotel for a little while before heading to the Comedy Cellar.  I was thinking I'd made reservations to the actual Comedy Cellar.  When we arrived, the door supervisor instructed us that our performance was around the corner.  NOTE:: there are two Comedy Cellars - both under the same management.  The primary reason we wanted to go to CC was because we love the HBO show 'Crashing' with Pete Davidson.  I had no idea and simply had picked the time that seemed appealing.  We were a little bummed, but the entertainment was fantastic.  The headliners were podcast personalities from "Inside the Closet."  They were super funny.

When visiting NYC in 2015, a good friend of mine told me that we needed to try out Serendipity, but we never made it there.  I told Matt I really wanted to try it out. Forbidden Broadway Sundae was the move, and it was tasty.  I will say that we tried out Legendary Milk Shake in Nashville the week before, and it was definitely better than Serendipity.  It's a little overrated but worth trying out.  I also picked up a few packets of the Frozen Hot Chocolate which is what they're known for.

 Tuesday was full.  We started out with a tasty breakfast from Junior's before heading to Liberty Cruises for our Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island tour.  The weather was gorgeous.  I booked our reservations too late to go to the Pedestal portion of the Statue of Liberty.  However, there is a  museum on Liberty Island which was a nice addition.  We caught the ferry over to Ellis Island and browsed through immigration museum.  Both of us were getting hungry by this point, so we didn't stay real long before catching the ferry back to Battery Park.  Since we were close to Chinatown, we decided to try and find a restaurant there.  We were totally depleted, and Wonton Garden hit the spot!  We'd done so much walking and were ready to head back to the hotel and rest our feet.

I'd been perusing different sites trying to find us a decent deal on a Broadway show.  There are SO many shows in NYC, and they aren't cheap.  Since Facebook collects all this data from my searches, all sorts of ads were appearing in my feed.  I stumbled across a F/B ad for Burn/This with Keri Russell and Adam Driver.  WOW, two incredible actors, the Hudson Theater was right around the corner from our hotel, tickets were very inexpensive, and the play was set to close at the end of next week.  It was perfect.  I grabbed two tickets in the balcony for Wednesday night.

Tuesday night, we hit up Gotham Comedy Theatre. I probably wouldn't have known about Gotham had I not gotten an email at SKyPAC through Laughstub with all the information.  Janeane Garofalo and Michael Rapaport were two of the comedians scheduled to perform.  I vaguely remember Janeane and honestly, I wasn't impressed with her bit considering she professes that she's been a stand-up comic for over 30 years .  I didn't find her funny at all.  Rapaport is the dad on one of our favorite Netflix shows 'Atypical,' and he did a fantastic job as well as the other comedians.  Before the show, we ate the best burgers at Lucky's.

Wednesday was our last full day, and we wanted to make the most of it.  We ate breakfast at Toasties, and did a little souvenir shopping before heading to see the the 9/11 Memorial Museum  (which is a must-see).  I'd already been on my last visit and personally didn't want to see it again.  It's very emotional, but I relented and went with Matt.  He wanted to do the Guided Audio Tour.  I imagine if we ever take the kids to NYC, I'll do it again.

After 9/11, we headed over to Joe's Pizza, known for classic New York style pizza, which was amazing and took a walk (halfway) across the Brooklyn Bridge.  

We required some rest at this point and headed back to the hotel to relax before Burn/This.  Matt decided to get on The Comedy Cellar to see if there were any open reservations to the midnight show and managed to snag us two spots.  We figured it would be worth staying out late since we were leaving the next day anyway.

 Burn/This was well-written and kept us entertained from start to finish.  However with the run time, we didn't have a chance to go back to the hotel to change and went straight to The Comedy Cellar.  Call it karma or whatever you wish, but after we returned TCC for the second time, the show prior was running a little over.  AND, because they require everyone upon entry to seal your smarts watches and phones in a mailing bag, you don't have any way of knowing who you'll see when you're there.  Matt and I were hands-down the oldest people there, but we didn't care.  We sat right up front and were the butt of a couple of jokes.  The first two comedians were funny, and then, out of nowhere, Judd Apatow took the stage.  Are you kidding me?!?  If you don't recognize the name, you'd certainly know his movies and that he's worth a cool $90 million.  He loved talking to us because we're in the same boat.  Matt even made him laugh =).  It was a super cool night and experience.  We didn't get back to the hotel until after 3 AM. 

By Thursday morning, we were beat.  We also didn't have much time to kill.  I wanted to run to Starbucks for a coffee and muffin.  I'd been Snapchatting with my buddy Jennie who was also in NYC at the same time.  Turns out she was right across the street from the Starbucks I was at.  Matt and I did a little shopping before returning to the hotel to check out. 

We thought about trying out a Lyft to save some money on our return to the airport.  Not a great experience.  And by not great, I mean, the driver didn't show up but charged us.  Fortunately, he refunded the money, and we still had plenty of time to kill so we opted for the subway/bus transfer and only spent $2.75 each.  It wasn't ideal, but we didn't care because our flight wasn't until late afternoon.  Because it was the 4th of July, check-in was slower than ever and getting through the security points took decades, but we finally made it to our terminal.

It was the perfect getaway, and the right amount of time.  We collected our rug rats from church camp the next day and spent the rest of the weekend relaxing.