NYC Day 1

Hello from Job #1 where I look and feel like hell. Spring + Barbara = Allergies. Barbara + Allergy Medication + whirlwind trip to NYC = death. Hopefully this post will make sense, but I do feel like I'm half asleep and half drunk so it could be a little jumbled.

We left on Tuesday morning at 9am. Andy and I woke up extra early so that we could do T25 before getting on the bus. :-) Anna and I were bus buddies - it was a lot of fun sitting next to her. She came very prepared!

Getting prepared to leave!

Ready to hit the road :-)

The bus ride was long but fun. We were even able to stop for lunch at a Wegmans in Pennsylvania. That's right... we had to go to Pennsylvania and New Jersey only to get back in New York State - so weird.

Pennsylvania never makes me want to smile...

After a long bus trip and an hour or so in bad bad traffic, we finally made it!

NYC!

The plan was to drop our stuff off in our hotel room and then head out to go shopping. We had a slight delay when Andy and I opened the door to our room and there were boxer shorts on the floor and a toothbrush on the counter... obviously someone was using that room! It took much longer to resolve than it should, but soon enough we were moved to a different/clean room. Our hotel was located in Times Square. Thankfully Anna was the perfect "tour guide" and swiftly guided us out of the Times Square tourist trap and into some good shopping.

We eventually made it to SOHO (I think), about 3 and a half miles away. We did a lot of walking! Our dinner reservations weren't until 9pm, so we stopped at Eataly for a snack. Eataly is a Mario Batali creation... sort of a restaurant/market fusion. While the products were nice, the service SUCKED. I am too lazy to do an official review on a website someone might actually read, but let it be known here... EATALY SUCKS. I tried to buy an apple but they couldn't ring me out because it didn't have a barcode. ....? What?! Then don't sell them! Bah. Anyway, after that Anna took us to Uniqlo where the three of us did a little shopping. Then we checked out Topshop - Kate Middleton shops there sometimes, so that was especially exciting for me!

Anna had made a reservation for us at Otto, another Mario Batali restaurant. I was so surprised that a restaurant would be so packed at a 9pm on a TUESDAY, but I guess that's just NYC! Everything we had, from the drinks to the food was amazing. Amazing! Our dinner at Otto was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. Will was able to meet us there too, making it even that much more fun. Here are pictures from dinner:

Andy and Babs

Anna - both of our wines were really good!

Andy got a girly drink...

...and really liked it, haha

Andy and Will

TONS OF VEGGIES!

Anna and Babs

So when it comes to Mario Batali places, here is the conclusion: Eataly - Bad. Otto - Good.

After dinner we took the subway back.... we were all pretty tired. Again, I was so thankful Anna knew where to go. :-)

Riding the subway - consulting the map

And now we've made it to the end of day one! Andy and I fell in bed. It was an exhausting day, but really really fun. :-)