Over Fall Break, my parents surprised Haley and I with a trip to New York. They'd been wanting to take us for awhile now because we had never been. So, this year, we spent Thanksgiving in NYC!
We drove to Dover, NJ, to take a train into the city so we wouldn't have to worry about driving. The train ride was an hour and a half but seemed much shorter (I slept).
Also, my first time ever on a train! That I can remember
Arriving in NYC was stressful. We were on the train for an hour and a half, then we all of the sudden got off and had to lug our bags through a PACKED train station, get a taxi, and head to our hotel. Walking through the train station with my bags stressed me OUT.
We were pretty hungry by the time we got checked in, so we decided to get some pizza! We found this little place called Pizza cer té close to our hotel. The pizza was SO good. Me and my dad got pepperoni, Haley got some sort of buffalo artichoke pizza, and my mom got some bolognese pizza.
After lunch, we kind of explored aimlessly for a little bit. We came across Bloomingdale's, but more importantly Sprinkles. I love cupcakes so I was more excited that then rest of the family about that.
We each got a cupcake to save for later after dinner. Haley got the Cuban Coffee flavor which was my fav.
This man had lots of animals out on the streets...not sure what his intentions were but there were cute so I took a pic.
Lisa always trying to get in the picture...
This picture was taken by accident but I felt like it really captured the trip...everything was go go go and soo many people
Times square for the first time! I was surprised how bright it actually is from all of the screens! So much happening all at once
We ate at Carmine's our first night per recommendation of my mom's work friend. It was really good and tasted even better after our hour and 45 minute wait (It's basically like the Maggiano's of NYC)
On Thanksgiving morning, we left our hotel at 5:30am to go find a spot for the parade...which didn't start until 9am. It was so weird how empty the streets were early in the morning compared to the day/evening.
Rockefeller Center...literally no one
The unlit tree :(
The Today Show!!
Hard to tell, but they're in there doing the weather report!
We chose to stand right across from Radio City for the parade. My parents made friends with the people standing on both sides of us while me and Haley ate breakfast and drank coffee..
This car let the parade and ended it. Police holding assault rifles..kind of intimidating but also nice to know they were there
Start of the parade!
(Sorry for the hoard of parade pictures to follow)
I took this picture for my little SpongeBob lover, Christian
What you see here is Shawn Mendes waving at a group of 10 year old girls a few people down from us. After he passed, one of the girls starting crying because she was so happy.
Daughtry, but more importantly, the new avocado float this year!!!!
Love me some avos
Wouldn't you love for this little thing to be your primary source of transportation.
Soo many marching bands... ...... ............
SANTA!
After the parade, we went to lunch at the Stardust Diner. The waitresses have to audition when they apply. Everyone that works here aspires to be on Broadway, or was on Broadway at one point. Our waiter was super good at singing and he could carry/deliver a tray of food while holding the mic and singing..talk about multitasking
I'm not responsible for this out of focus picture, but it's cute nonetheless
Rockefeller Center when it's not 5:30am
We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, a super fancy hotel!
This picture helps you to understand what the elevator at the hotel was like. We stayed on the 5th floor and could make it to the lobby in about 2 seconds. Pretty positive my legs gave out every time the elevator went down
My mom is always ready for the camera, this is her waiting for me and Haley to deliver her Starbucks to her outside
First time on the Subway! We only took it once to the 9/11 memorial, we walked everywhere else. Obviously I didn't choose that.
Two sassy divs
&
Like I said, always ready for the camera
Where the foundation of the World Trade Center North Tower once was. This memorial has names of individuals that died on 9/11 engraved all the way around it.
Piece of steel taken from the point of impact when the North Tower was hit
Section of one of/if not the only stairwells that was unobstructed and allowed those inside to escape the building.
Steel from South Tower hit on the point of impact
Pieces of American Flags made into one that were hung around NYC after the attack on 9/11
This firetruck was parked outside one of the buildings. The whole front end of the truck is nearly unrecognizable as a firetruck.
And again
Haley wasn't so much into having her picture taken
Dad was never quite ready to humor the camera
Me and Haley figured out that the easiest way to keep track of little Lis was to grab onto her by the strap on the back of her coat. She's feisty
For all my fellow Eloise fans, THE PLAZA!
Central Park
Cuties
So many horse drawn carriages all over Central Park. Every time I saw them I couldn't help but think of Eloise and Christmastime
Our trip to NYC was quite the memorable experience. We also did lots of other exciting things that aren't picture (Rockettes, lots of good food, Black Friday shopping, I could go on!) Thankful for a great break with my fam
