come take a walk with me....

We were so excited a few weeks ago, when we landed in New York City.  We love

going there and it had been a few years.  The weather was nice and crisp - especially

for weather wimps like us, but I totally enjoyed it.  I don't know that I could live in

it for long periods of time, but it was such a nice change.

We checked in to our hotel and immediately went next door to The Monkey Bar

for some appetizers and a few drinks before we went out for a night time stroll.

I love the New York City bars, that seem like they have been around forever.  There

was a piano player playing everything from Frank Sinatra to the Beatles.  I requested

a few Frank Sinatra tunes and thoroughly enjoyed it and even recorded a few songs.

Off into the cool night we went - walking to Rockefeller Plaza to watch the ice skaters.

We met some nice strangers along our walk that we had a quick chat with.  We

were discussing whether we would look like total wimps, if we had gloves on as

alot of people we saw weren't wearing them...and as always with Alex, the men

were talking sports and the upcoming football game he was attending.. 

We stopped in to a few bars along our walk to warm up.  I enjoy the ambiance

of a pub like bar - just people sitting around chatting with either old friends

or strangers - it's nice getting to talk to people from different parts of the world.

The next morning while my guy was still relaxing at the hotel, I got up pretty early

and went out exploring on my own.  I stopped in to a fave place of mine, the

ever so quaint and beautiful Paley Park - just around the corner from our hotel.

I love the water wall and the gorgeous trees among the tall buildings.

These are 5 pieces of the Berlin Wall that were at Paley Park before the water wall.

Now it's right next door in a outdoor plaza

I then headed over to my favorite place in New York - Central Park.  I wanted

to test out these bikes, but I couldn't take them in the middle of the park, so

I put my feet to good use instead!

I stopped in at the Plaza Hotel first to wander around.  I love the stained glass ceiling

in the Palm Court restaurant - so pretty.....( I didn't get a photo of it though, dang it!)

I headed downstairs to the Todd English Food Hall  that has nine different food stations

and they all looked and smelled delicious, but I had already had a fabulous breakfast

back at the hotel, so I wasn't too hungry....I even popped into the Eloise store!

It was such a joy walking thru Central Park

enjoying all the autumn goodness

especially the beautiful colors

listening to quite a few jazz musicians throughout the park, a fabulous gospel

choir singing amazing grace - I recorded that one too....so sweet the sound!

lots and lots of people watching

and accidentally taking photos of myself.....haha...

watching the little sailboats

and the kids playing and climbing all over the Alice in Wonderland statue.

Such a lovely time just wandering around.....  

I then decided that I wanted to stop in at Serendipity to get a frozen hot chocolate

It was several blocks away - I was going to hop in a cab but decided that walking

would be a much nicer way to see more of the city....so I walked thru some 

pretty gorgeous neighborhoods enjoyed all the lovely holiday decorations that

were popping up...

When I got to Serendipity it was starting to rain and the line was out the door,

so I ran across the street to a small Italian restaurant and had lunch to see if the

line would be shorter by the time I was done.  The line was still long, but when I went

in to put my name on the list, they sat me right away....one of the perks of being a diner

of one.....Alex was at a football game by this time with a friend of his.......later on

when they returned we headed out for a nice dinner at Keen's Steakhouse (which has

been around since the 1800's.....crazy...)  A perfect end to the day!

We also met up with friends the next day and had so much fun catching up with

them and wandering around the Flatiron District and it's surrounding neighborhoods.

Such a fun treat to be in New York City again!

What is your fave part of New York City?

xxoo