The last stop on our two-week Thanksgiving trip was the one and only, NYC! If you’ve read my other three blog posts, you know our CDG flight departed from NYC, so we decided to extend our trip beyond just Paris. My last entry was about the Normandy region, and you can read it here! Also, I consistently find cheap flights thanks to Scott’s Cheap Flights, and you can too. I’m trying to be better at sharing my partner code. My wallet and future travels will appreciate you signing up with it. Throughout January 2024, they are running a $24 discount, so the annual membership is only $25!
We only had a few days in NYC before having to head back to Arkansas, so I’m well aware that we didn’t hit all the tourist spots. This itinerary definitely suited us and the time we had. We also chose to do other things like the Macy’s Day Parade, which certainly took some time out of our schedule.
When we were planning the NYC leg of our trip, the de facto ban on Airbnbs had just been implemented, and I was a bit hesitant to book a place that might fall through by the time the trip came around. We found Pod 51 as a budget option (although it was definitely the most expensive stay out of Buffalo, Paris, and Normandy), but it was close to everything and had a stunning rooftop!
Our flight out of Paris was delayed a couple of hours, so we ended up arriving in NYC hours after we expected, and exhausted from the plane ride. On the Uber ride to the hotel, we spotted a pizza place on the corner, so after we got our room, Ricky headed to the place and got us two slices and a coke (I have tried to find the name of the place and I have no clue and can’t find it, but it was delicious). After that, honestly, we passed out since we knew we had a couple of big days ahead.
DAY 1
We woke up bright and early the next morning, and the first thing we did was go to the rooftop. The view was immaculate. Honestly, I recommend Pod 51 just because of the view from the rooftop. Right by the hotel is St. Bartholomew’s Church, which was absolutely gorgeous. From there, we headed to Saks on Fifth. They had their Christmas display up, and it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. The precision, attention to detail, and overall creativity were astounding. From there, we were a stone’s throw away from Rockefeller Center. Although they were still preparing the tree, the ice-skating rink was open, and it was a wholesome scene. New York City in late fall/early winter is breathtaking.
After a little stroll on Fifth, we headed to Zucker’s Bagels because is it really a trip to New York City if you don’t have bagels? We ate the bagels at Bryant Park since it was right in fron of Zucker’s, the park was decked out for the holidays and became one of my favorite NYC spots. I don’t think I’d actually spent any time at Bryant Park on my first visit to NYC, so I was glad to do it now.
After breakfast, we went to Central Park. No matter how touristy it is, I am a sucker for Central Park and all its Gossip Girl vibes (especially in the fall). It did not disappoint; the trees were still an array of yellow and orange hues. To me, Central Park is one of the most beautiful places in the world, with the stark contrast of the massive city surrounding it and the absolute oasis that the park represents.
We walked through Central Park all the way to the MET, which was tragically closed that day. However, that didn’t dissuade me from taking Gossip Girl photos on the stairs and pretending that Chuck Bass was going to come find me and take me back to Paris (sorry, Ricky). From the MET, we took the metro to the 9/11 Memorial. There’s few words to describe the feeling you get when standing close to where the twin towers existed. It is definitely one of those places you have to experience yourself to understand. This whole trip was definitely one to marvel at the courage of some and grieve the evilness of others.
We had tickets to watch The Book of Mormon on Broadway, but we had plenty of time for a stroll through Wall Street—or so I thought. I estimated that after leaving Wall Street and taking the metro to Broadway, we would have about ten minutes to spare, but the metro line we were on got delayed. After the conductor mentioned there was going to be a delay, we waited for a few minutes and nothing happened. After a while, he said he didn’t know how long they would be stopped, so Ricky and I hopped out and RAN for so long. We hadn’t seen Times Square yet, but we had to run through it at full speed to make it to the show. When I tell you I arrived at the theater drenched in sweat, it’s an understatement. I made it to the bar, and the lady asked if I wanted wine or a cocktail, I got three bottles of water and downed them in seconds!
Now, onto that Broadway show. Ricky and I were very indecisive about what to see because all the options were so good. He mentioned TBOM and how it was written by the creators of South Park. Personally, I was never a big South Park fan. The reviews were incredible, so I took a risk, and we bought tickets to it. I don’t think I have EVER laughed so much, which was helped by everyone around us laughing so hard too. I genuinely couldn’t hold it in; it was so freaking funny, witty, and clever. It definitely toed that inappropriate line and crossed it a couple of times, but somehow it worked perfectly. I definitely recommend it if you are visiting and want to see a show.
After the show and with a little time to kill before dinner, we walked up and down Times Square and took in the enormity of it all for a while. I haven’t touched on the Tourette’s subject yet, but by the time I made it to NYC, my tics were much, much better than when we left. New Yorkers also have no time to ask 300 times a day if someone is doing okay, and I LOOOOOVE IT. No one asked, no one looked (maybe a couple of tourists stared, lol), so New York City gets a 10/10 on being a Tourette’s friendly city. I had expected my tics to be much more active since big cities can be overstimulating, but it somehow didn’t affect them much.
Right when we decided to leave Times Square and head to dinner, I saw my first famous person “in the wild, lol”. I saw Kumail Nanjiani and his wife walking on Times Square in the most stylish clothes and looking mighty fine. I froze completely and just pointed and gaped like a fish while just repeating “you are, you are, you are….” while blanking on his name, which was a super humiliating moment for me. He looked down and smiled and said yeah, hello! And I think I fell in love with him immediately.
One of my favorite parts of this NYC trip was getting to see and catch up with one of my favorite people ever, my host brother/bestie Robert! Robert’s parents were my host parents in college and are such a big part of my life. They even flew down to Costa Rica when Ricky and I got married, and I love them like my own. Although Robert was already living elsewhere when I met John and Julia, we met on one of his trips back home and immediately hit it off. It certainly helps that he is one of the coolest people ever and extremely talented!
We’d decided to meet for dinner and drinks and he gave us a few dinner options, and we went with Italian. We chose Il Melograno in Hell’s Kitchen, and it might have been some of the best Italian I’ve had outside of Italy. After dinner, we headed to Dutch Fred’s for some martinis, because I sometimes like to pretend my life is a movie. And in the NYC movies, they always order martinis, so duh. This night was definitely a highlight of our NYC trip.
DAY 2
Our alarm was set for 4:45 AM so we could secure a good spot for the 97th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. We managed to leave Pod 51 around 5:00 AM and walked to a corner (prime parade-watching spots) on 6th Ave and W 52nd St. By the time we arrived, people were already on all sides of the road, and some dads in front of us had been saving spots for their families since 4:00 AM. We were able to get a corner spot (yay!), and I went to Starbucks to grab us some fuel and pastries.
By the time the parade started at 8:30 AM, we had been sitting for a couple of hours. The number of people that showed up was truly impressive. I felt like a child seeing all the balloons pass in front of me. I cheered, yelled, clapped, and got as excited as all the kids around me. Around 11:00 AM, I was starting to feel exhausted, and the sweet family next to us had a daughter in the parade and couldn’t watch because people were blocking the view. We decided to leave a bit early and give them our spot. We went back to our room, ate more slices from the corner pizza store, and passed out until about 3:30 PM.
Our very last item on the agenda was the highlight of our time in NYC (even more than the parade, tbh) and probably the best meal I have ever had in my life. As I mentioned before, Robert is incredibly talented and plays the piano at a place called The Nines. He managed to snag us a reservation for Thanksgiving dinner there since he was also playing. We dressed to the nines, as the name indicates, since we had been lugging nice clothes around for two weeks just for this.
The menu was prix fixe for Thanksgiving, and everything on the list sounded incredible. As it happens with some upscale places, I was expecting tiny portions of delicious food. But I couldn’t have been more wrong; they were big portions of really delicious food. Our top three favorites of everything we tried were probably: the Kaspian Potato #1 (it’s like a twice-baked potato with 30g of Osetra caviar), Foie Gras #2 (it had morello cherry jam and brioche), and the Tuna Tartare #3. Special mention to the bomb martinis and the fanciest crudités I have ever seen and tasted. Being able to eat all this while Robert was playing “Invisible String” on the piano was a 10/10 core memory that Ricky and I will always cherish. We made a point to clap and holler every time he finished a song, and I have no idea how we didn’t get kicked out.
Our flight the next morning was departing from Newark Liberty Airport, so we downloaded the Revel app to see if it was cheaper than the hotel shuttle or Uber. It was cheaper than both, and they also offer a discount for your first few rides, so we paid less than $50 to get from Pod 51 to EWR. We did have a massive Shake Shack breakfast at the airport because I don’t think we could have left the New York area without having some.
