I am doing a Travel Tuesday post to recap my trip to New York City this past weekend. Bryan has been working in NYC during the week, so we wanted to do all the Christmas things. His mom and her boyfriend came down from Upstate NY, so we also got to spend time with them. I flew up Friday afternoon, since the price for my flight turned out to be over $150 cheaper than Amtrak tickets. At certain times of the year, especially during the Holidays, it is worthwhile to compare prices between flights and train tickets. This weekend was particularly crazy. So. many. people.
We dropped my bags off at the Intercontinental Barclay, which is on 48th and Lexington, so we were 2 blocks from Grand Central Station and about 3 blocks from Rockefeller Center. While the hotel was super convenient to everything, it was still far enough away that we could retreat from the craziness. After a short pit stop, we met up with one of my best friends for dinner at Sala One Nine, a tapas restaurant that felt very authentic and was delicious! Order anything with the jamon – so good!
After a night’s rest, we woke up Saturday morning and headed to brunch at Parker & Quinn. The restaurant is in the back of the Refinery Hotel and it’s decorated in dark wood and leather, so it felt super cool. The place was packed at 10:30 am. I got lox and bagels, and Bryan got the French toast. I really liked the food and ambience, and highly recommend it.
To work off some calories, we walked to Lord & Taylor and Saks to see the window displays. We saw Kinky Boots (starring Todrick Hall!), which was better than I could have imagined, and then had a fancy schmancy dinner at One if by Land, Two if by Sea. For drinks, we stopped by a cool speakeasy, Bathtub Gin. The storefront is a coffee shop and yes, there is a gold bathtub in the middle of the bar.
Of course, the Rockefeller Christmas Tree was on our to-do list. We were lucky to get pretty close to the tree, but there were so many people there, I could only snap a few pictures before it was all too much!
Sunday was a more relaxing day. We had brunch at Blue Water Grill, right by Union Square Park, which was nice, but service was a little spotty. Bryan’s mom really wanted to go there and get the seafood tower, so no one had to twist my arm! We went to the iconic Macy’s on 34th St and then strolled 5th Avenue, while I swooned over all the beauties at Louis Vuitton, Bergdorf Goodman, and David Yurman. Bonus – we got to fulfill one of my Instagram/Blog dreams – coffee at Ralph’s Coffee Shop, which is on the second floor of the flagship Ralph Lauren Store!
For one last meal, we stopped at Totto Ramen, for some soup to warm us up. As we were grabbing our bags to head to the airport, we saw our first snow of the season. While it was freezing cold, it was still beautiful!
Whew – just writing down everything is making me tired. It was such a fun weekend and it really got me into the Christmas spirit! Till next time NYC!
