Gwen’s 12th birthday NYC extravaganza

What a trip we had!! We saw and ate it all. Loved being with all the Cornell women. And really missed Halle. I don’t like being in NYC without her. She was sad to miss too, but I think all the baby elephants she’s been seeing significantly softened the blow.

We flew into JFK, took a taxi to our hotel, Romer Hell’s Kitchen, (This was a great place to stay and I’d choose it again in a heartbeat) and then hit the town. We went to the Bryant Park Winter Market, which seemed to be reduced to a few food stalls–we couldn’t find any shopping, checked out the Whispering Gallery at Grand Central Station, roamed around Times Square and made Gwen her own custom birthday M&M’s. Then we grabbed Smackary’s cookies and ate them in the hotel lobby. (Cookies get 2 stars–they weren’t gross, but they weren’t delicious either. I’d skip them next time)

The next day we had breakfast at Ellen’s Stardust diner. This was fun! The food is fine–but the singing waiters are definitely a novelty. Gwen loved it. And she got some birthday confetti! We then hit up Rockefeller Center area and Carlie decided in her NYC life, she is going to be a hairdresser at the American Girl Doll salon. We got banana pudding at Magnolias, played HBD to Gwen on the big piano at FAO Schwarz, and then hit up Central Park. We rode the carousel and saw Bethesda fountain. It had been a pretty chilly morning, but the sun came out while we were in the park, so that was nice. We saw the Taylor Swift Costume Exhibit at the Museum of Design in Columbus Circle, and went to Empanada Mamas for dinner. We had some killer plantain nachos, but everyone agreed the empanadas were some of our least favorite things we had on the trip. Then…the moment Gwen had been dreaming of….her first broadway show!! Wicked did not disappoint. Elphaba was knock your socks off incredible and we all enjoyed every min. We hit Juniors for cheesecake after the show and Gwen once again, got a Happy Birthday song. Sometimes we just hit up the little bakery for cheesecake on the go, but I think I’m now solidly convinced it’s much better inside the restaurant.

Saturday was our Hamilton Tour! This was SO FUN. Loved every minute of it. Our tour guide, Leo, was so knowledgable. And, he had headsets for everyone, which was genius. Every tour should do this. It made things so much easier to hear and understand, and he could talk to us while we were on the go. We started at Staten Island Ferry and learned a bit about the revolutionary war, and all those british troops entering New York Harbor. We went past Wall Street, and heard a fun story at Bowling Green. There was a large, ornate statue of King George. On July 9th, 1776 after the Declaration of Independence was read at City Hall, the sons of liberty marched down and tore the statue down. It was later melted down and used to make 42,000 patriot bullets.

We ended at Trinity Church. It was beautiful today–all covered in snow. This was seriously one of the most fun tours I’ve ever done. Loved it!

One World Trade Center was next. We walked through the Occulus to try and get warm, and then admired the tallest building in NYC and saw the reflecting pools. We had lunch at Brookfield Place and tried the famous Mah-Ze-Dahr Brioche donut. It did not disappoint. So yummy.

#taraandthebackpack

We sent this pic to Halle and said we were on our own NYC Safari.

Next we went to Mariebelle in Soho to try their hot chocolate. This store is absolutely adorable. They also sell chocolates, and I’m still mad I didn’t try one! The hot chocolate was rich and delicious–just what we needed on this chilly day.

Now time for Summit One Vanderbilt. This was a favorite for sure. We loved taking pics in the mirror room, and playing with the balls! We got there in time to enjoy the daytime, and to watch the sunset. And what a sunset it was!

Next comes possibly my favorite moment of the trip. My mom love Neil Diamond. And there is a new broadway show, Beautiful Noise, about his life. In the weeks leading up to the trip we decided that we’d get her an early birthday present and take her to see the show. When we got to NYC she had mentioned multiple times how much she would love to see that show. We were so excited to tell her. We wanted it to be a complete surprise, so we didn’t even tell Dad we were doing it. We found a spot where we had a great view of the Chrysler Building and broke the news. Best reaction ever.

We ate dinner at Turkuaz Hala Turkish Mediterranean. Gwen said this was her favorite dinner. It was really nice–yummy bread and hummus, and huge portions of kebabs and rice and salad. Then off to Neil. The actor was a dead ringer for his voice. I was super impressed. We all embraced our middle age white American selves and sang our heart out to Sweet Caroline at the end. Such a fun, fun night to share with my mom and Nat. We didn’t think Gwen would love Neil as much as the rest of us, so Carlie, Jhena and Gwen stayed back and had a much needed restful movie night.

Ladies and Gentlemen….the moment Gwen’s been waiting for: The Harry Potter Store! She was in heaven wandering around. It really is such a cool place. We spent so much time, we didn’t leave ourselves quite enough time to sit down at Eataly. So, we just grabbed some sandwiches from Rosticceria. Mine was a simple rotisserie chicken sandwiches, but it might have been on the best bread I’ve ever tasted. So fresh–so crispy and chewy–and the olive oil and salt were perfection.

Now Kimberly Akimbo. In hind sight, I wouldn’t have picked this one for Gwen. It was a super cute story, but had just enough raunchy jokes and f bombs to make it a little uncomfortable to sit there with my 12 year old niece. Sorry Gwen. It’s not a blockbuster, but I did enjoy it.

We went to Maestro Pasta for Dinner. The pasta was really good, but the homemade torta fritta, the signature fried bread and the prosciutto and mozarella board were to die for. We took our time walking back to the hotel through Greenwich Village so we could digest enough to eat Gelato at Amorino. Perfect end to the night. We took hardly any pictures today!

Sunday morning we decided to pit two of NYCs most famous pastries against each other. Supermoon Bakery’s Cruffin against Dominique Ansel’s Cronut. It was a hard choice, but the Cruffin came out on top! Interestingly–their flavors of the month were almost exactly the same–that made for a good comparison. They were both raspberry rose. We like the crunchy texture of the cruffin, and that the raspberry jam was a little more sour. It helped offest all the sweetness. Having said that, you can never go wrong with a cronut, so all in all, we had a pretty amazing breakfast. Then off to the color factory. We had fun, but I think for the price tag, we all expected just a bit more. If you’ve got a girl under the age of 12, it’s a pretty fun thing to do. Other than that, I’d skip.

Next we explored Chinatown. We had planned on a 4ish stop foodie tour, but our tummies couldn’t handle all that. We settled on two. Mei-Lai-Wah for pineapple pork buns and Joe’s Shanghai for soup dumplings. The buns were fun to try and there was a line down the block. But the sweet bun and the sweet meat was a bit much for me. We all LOVED the soup dumplings. They make the trip top 5 for sure.

Now over the Brooklyn Bridge we go. We were talking and laughing and Gwen said, “I know! Let’s all share an “ick” about our husbands. But since I don’t have a husband, I’ll share one about my dad.” We could not stop laughing. We walked about 25,000 steps today and Gwen said she was going to go home, add up all the steps we took and embroider it on a pillow because she was so proud. Me too Gwen! That girl never complains and is so much fun to travel with!

#taraandthebackpack

I made everyone stop at my favorite chocolate shop, Stick With Me. My mom got 6 chocolates for my dad, and the total was $30. I had purchased many more than that so she said to the cashier, “I think her total is still on the screen.” He said, “no, that’s your correct total.” “$30 FOR 6 CHOCOLATES!!!” Welcome to New York, Mom. 🙂

Our last day had finally arrived. We were headed to the Met to do a Greek Mythology Quest tour with Fable and Lark. We had so much fun! We got to create our own demigod characters, and their quest was to find out if the humans have forgotten about the greek gods. Turns out, they haven’t. They were everywhere! We hunted down several statues, (Gwen told her mom she would NOT be posing with the Persus state), learned lots of stories, and then got to split into teams and create our own quest at the end. We had a great time. Highly recommend.