The World’s Longest Miracle Review, Part 2featured

We woke up around 9:00 for our first venture into NYC. I was super happy to look out the window and see a bright, clear day outside since we were forecasted for rain.

Stephanie and I walked to the Cosi a block away to grab breakfast to bring back to the hotel and it was packed! It was a very fast-paced experience, too. I found that while I thought things were fast-paced in Chicago, they’re even faster in NYC…right down to ordering a breakfast sandwich and coffee. You really need to know what you want the second you hit the counter.

We brought the breakfast back to the hotel, got ourselves organized and headed out to the PATH station next to the hotel to make our way into New York City. This is where we got confused. Apparently, NEXT to the hotel was the light rail station to the Hoboken hub, but the PATH train we wanted was across the street. Once we figured it out, it was pretty easy, but we were very confused for a good while. It was frustrating for me because I take public transportation in Chicago all the time and I thought I was comfortable with it, but it was frustrating.

From the Hoboken station, we got onto the PATH train that we were supposed to get on in the first place that would take us right to the World Trade Center. We tried to buy unlimited ride tickets, but the machines were hard to figure out and we ended up just putting $10 on a MetroCard (they gave us a $1.50 bonus, I believe) and that worked out better for us anyways. The PATH trains were large and relatively clean (very clean considering the state of the CTA trains at home). There were a few lines that ran near our hotel that would take us pretty close to anywhere we wanted to go. It was easy to transfer to MTA trains, and Stephanie and I both had public transportation GPS on our iPhones, so it made for quick and relatively easy directions.

It was a surprisingly quick trip to the WTC from Hoboken (the quick transit made the decision to stay in New Jersey the right one for us) and we got off the train and walked a few blocks to the WTC site. On the way, we found Century 21, a large store like Filene’s or TJ Maxx that sells designer goods at discounted prices. We were kind of excited to find it because all of our friends had told us about it, but it was filled with crap and was a waste of the 15 minutes we spent perusing the store.

We exited and we made our way over to the WTC museum area. It’s $10 or $12 to enter the museum and they offer tours frequently. We decided just to look around the area so we wouldn’t be tied to anything time-wise, since we had a lot to do and not much time to do it in since we were hitting Broadway the following day and getting on the boat the day after. It was kind of surreal being there and seeing everything. Mom’s generation has JFK’s assassination as their big historical moment. My generation has 9/11. I remember where I was, who I was with, what I was wearing…everything about that day. It was a very emotional place to visit, but I highly suggest it to anyone who visits NYC. It was such a defining moment for this country and I was glad I had the opportunity to pay my respects to everyone who died that day.

After our visit to the WTC site, we started to head over to the MTA trains to take us over to Central Park and 5th Avenue so we could go shopping. It was steaming hot out so we stopped at a Burger King near the WTC before getting on the MTA trains for some drinks. This BK lounge was HUGE. Two stories and it even had computers that you could buy internet access from to surf the Web. After cooling off a little, we headed down a few blocks to the subway train to 5th Avenue. We bought 1-day unlimited passes for $7/each and it was well worth it since we used the MTA a lot today.

We got off the train and found ourselves right near 5th Avenue. I looked around me and it was like a scene out of my dreams! Bloomies, Bergdorf’s, Louis Vuitton. Everywhere I looked, there was a high-end shopping experience that would normally be my bank account’s worst nightmare. Thankfully for my bank account, Stephanie wanted none of it and wouldn’t let me shop. She was right, though- we had a lot to do in a limited amount of time. She really wants us to do a weekend in NYC and promised me if we come back, I can go shopping then.

We walked towards our next destination (Central Park) and found ourselves in front of my dream hotel: The Plaza! When we were planning this trip, The Plaza was the first hotel I priced, but it’s insanely expensive. I know I’ll stay there one day, but that one day won’t be on Mom’s dime on a pre-cruise stay LOL.

As we were about to make our way across the street into Central Park, we saw a HUGE mob of people parading down the street. Stephanie got excited because she thought it was a flash mob (she always has me watch YouTube videos of flash mobs), but it was a memorial parade for Frankie Manning, a dancer and choreographer who had died in late April. He had planned a celebration for his birthday weekend called “Frankie 95” but he didn’t live to see it, so his fans carried it out for him. They tried to create a world record for most people doing a dance at the same time in Central Park the next day, so I guess that would have been like a flash mob, but we weren’t there for that.

We made our way into Central Park after the parade cleared out of the street. Turns out, we entered near the Central Park zoo and not the part of Central Park I wanted to see. I was pretty disappointed because it was too hot and we didn’t have time to see the other part, and we also didn’t have time to make our way over to the Dakota to see the John Lennon memorial. Oh well. Another thing to do on our next trip to NYC.

Stephanie and Mom were both very thirsty from the heat, so they stopped at a street vendor cart for a drink. I was always under the impression that the carts were relatively cheap, but Snapples were $4/each! We stopped again at another cart for a pretzel on our way out (which was cheap, so I guess it’s the food that’s cheap and the drinks that are inflated in price) and it was VERY good. Street food seems to be such a big thing in NYC and we certainly don’t have anything like it in Chicago and so I really wanted to try it, but that fell through and by the end of the trip, the only street food I had was the aforementioned pretzel and some italian ice.

We left Central Park after 45 minutes of exploring to make our way over to Tiffany’s, which was one of our priorities of the day. If you read TWSLCMR, you might remember that I have a slight obsession with Tiffany jewelry. After much disappointment with finding the St. Maarten Tiffany & Co. closed in January, Mom promised to take me to the one in New York, and since that is their flagship store, it was like a dream come true for me.

The NYC flagship store (made famous in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”) is six floors out of my dreams. It was everything I thought it would be: vast, classic and beautiful. And perhaps most importantly, it was heavily air conditioned.

I must have spent an hour perusing the floor with all the silver jewelry. I wanted everything! I walked around saying “I have this,” or “I want this,” showing Mom everything I owned, and everything I could possibly ever want for birthdays and holidays. I drove her crazy, I’m sure. After taking her around the silver floor at least three times, she told me to settle down and pick out what I wanted. The Tiffany keys are the newest and hottest jewelry trend, so I got a key on a 16-inch chain. Stephanie got a different key on a 20-inch chain, and Mom bought the necklace that she bought me in St. Maarten last year to match her ring (we all have the same Paloma Picasso Loving Hearts ring). I was positively giddy. Mom really does spoil us. She was afraid to take the train with a Tiffany’s bag because she thought we’d get mugged, so we took the boxes in our purses and put the bag in Mom’s purse while we were at tea.

Next to Tiffany’s, we unexpectedly found Trump Tower. It looks exactly the same as it does on TV! We had Mom take a picture there because she always watches the Apprentice with me and this is the same spot the contestants exit from when they get fired.

We had planned on going back to the hotel before tea time to take grandma out to lunch, but we realized we weren’t far from the tea place so we flip flopped our plans and went to tea first.

One of the must-do’s on my NYC list was have afternoon tea. I wanted to do it at the Plaza, but no one wanted to get dressed up, so Stephanie and I did a lot of research and found Alice’s Tea Cup. It seemed like a fun, kitschy place with mid-priced tea service, so we decided we’d have afternoon tea there.

We took a quick train ride to Alice’s Tea Cup II (they have three locations) and even though we didn’t have a reservation on a Friday afternoon, we were quickly seated.

Not soon after we were seated, Stephanie kept asking to take a picture of me. This was kind of odd, so she decided to text me from across the table to tell me that there was a celeb sitting behind me. It turns out, Michael Nouri (from “The OC” and “Flashdance,” amongst a million other things) was sitting behind me having tea with his wife. Stephanie told me not to mention it to Mom until we left because Mom is a HUGE Flashdance fan and we didn’t want to disturb his tea and she likely would have stared and smiled at him throughout his meal and tea time is really meant for quiet chatter.

We decided that we’d all get the Mad Hatter, which was a pot of tea, a choice of two scones with cream and preserves, choice of two sandwiches, a choice of desserts and a selection of cookies for $30 for one or $37 for two (the serving for two comes with an extra pot of tea and an extra scone). I got the Mad Hatter and Stephanie and Mom got the Mad Hatter for two since they eat fish and I don’t, but we shared nearly everything.

I ordered a chocolate chip scone and their signature pumpkin scone, a BLT sandwich and a cucumber and watercress sandwich, and Jeans Not Yet But Soon To Be Famous Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake and Organic Snowbuds white tea. Stephanie and Mom got a chocolate chip scone, a pumpkin scone, and a blueberry scone, a tuna sandwich and a salmon sandwich, and a lemon tart. One of them got a peach tea, but I don’t remember what the other one ordered.

Stephanie and Mom’s Mad Hatter

Blueberry, Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Scones with cream and preserves

Smoked Salmon and Albacore Tuna Sandwiches

Lemon Tart and Assorted Cookies

Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Scones with cream and preserves

Alice’s BLT with Stilton Spread and Cucumber and Watercress with Lemon-Chive Butter sandwiches

Jean’s Not-Yet-But-Soon-To-Be-Famous Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake and Assorted Cookies

The food was absolutely amazing. Stephanie and Mom thought the tuna and salmon sandwiches were fantastic (I won’t touch seafood with a ten-foot pole for a million dollars, so I’ll take their word for it). I don’t even like cucumber or watercress (I didn’t like the other sandwich options…for those who haven’t read TWSLCMR, I’m the world’s pickiest eater), but I loved the cucumber/watercress sandwich. The BLT sandwich was fantastic, with a stilton blue cheese spread instead of mayo (which I also won’t touch with a ten-foot pole for a million dollars) and the bacon was crisp and flavorful, but not too salty. The scones were massively big and homemade. I’ve never had such a delicious scone. They were soft and crumbly, not too sweet, and matched perfectly with the sweet cream and berry preserves. The cookies and mocha chip cake got taken back to the hotel, but the cookies were homemade and fantastic, as well and I’ve never tasted a cake like the mocha chip cake. It was sweet and almost tangy, and the sweetness of the firm cake and chocolate chips matched well with the bite of the espresso in the mocha frosting.

I loved everything about Alice’s Tea Cup. I loved the decor. I loved the kitschy feel. I loved the informal atmosphere with the experience of a formal tea. I loved the food. I loved all of it. We didn’t come close to finishing any of the food, so we took most of the sweets and scones back to the hotel, and we grabbed an extra scone to take back for grandma.

We hopped on a train back to the nearest PATH station, and then took the PATH back to the Newport/Pavonia station right across the street from the hotel.

Mom took grandma out for lunch to a nearby sandwich place, and Stephanie and I rested and watched some TV. I didn’t realize how many stairs we’d be climbing to get into and out of the train stations and how much walking we’d be doing. We ached…a lot. We snacked on some of the food we brought back from Alice’s and we showed grandma what Mom bought us at Tiffany’s (she thinks nice things we buy on vacation bring good luck).

After a few hours of rest, we decided that we didn’t know if we’d have time to hit one of the places we really wanted to hit the next day, so after finding out Dylan’s Candy Bar was open until 11:00pm, we headed out for it around 8:30pm, hoping to hit Junior’s Deli for dinner and cheesecake afterwards and hopefully a walk around Times Square (we REALLY wanted to hit Times Square and all day we kept putting it off for one reason or another).

There was a Yankee’s/Phillie’s game, so the trains were PACKED, but it didn’t take long for us to get to Dylan’s (which was close to 5th Avenue and Alice’s Tea Cup…we really should have hit it earlier in the day).

Dylan’s Candy Bar is owned by Dylan Lauren, daughter of Ralph Lauren (who is Stephanie’s namesake…Mom gave me my middle name after her favorite soap opera character in 1985 and gave Stephanie her middle name after Ralph Lauren…I still don’t know why). It’s a candy lover’s paradise, catering to adults and children alike. It gives new meaning to the phrase “…like a kid in a candy store.” It’s three floors of candy heaven. We spent over an hour exploring the different candies and floors, the celebrity candy section (where celeb’s fill a container with their favorite sweets and autograph it) and selecting our purchases.

We were so tired after we left…too tired to make it to Times Square to find Junior’s. And the station we needed to catch our train from was closed. So we walked a few blocks to another station and decided to get dinner at a restaurant that seemed really busy the previous night right next to our hotel.

While we were waiting for our train, we saw our first rat. We’ve never seen a rat before…not even at some of the grimy CTA stops in Chicago.

While we were on the PATH train, we had the only “scary” encounter we had in NYC. We were alone on the train with a man who kept staring at me and my SLR camera. Now, I’ve had my fair share of encounters with sketchy people on CTA trains when I’m alone on the trains at home, but I didn’t expect to feel threatened while I was traveling with others. Mom and Stephanie didn’t realize what was going on for a bit, but I was getting a really bad vibe from this guy. When we got off the train, I held Mom and Stephanie back and pretended to look at the map until this guy went ahead of us. While he was walking away, he kept looking behind at me. He crossed over to the other side of the tracks, still staring me down, and we took the opportunity to exit the PATH station. I was absolutely terrified he’d follow me, and I don’t scare easily. I was cornered by a man on the CTA Red Line once telling me how pretty I was and that my boyfriend should be careful letting me go out by myself and blocked me into my seat, and the vibe I got off of the man on the PATH train was nearly similar. The way he looked at me really scared me, and I was really glad to get away from the train station and even more glad Mom and Stephanie were with me.

We checked in with grandma to see if she wanted to join us for a late-night dinner (it was nearly midnight by now), but she was fast asleep. So we went next door to Azucar, a cuban restaurant steps away from the hotel. Azucar had a live band and a lot of people were dancing, and we were glad to find somewhere to eat so late. When we were in Buckhead, Atlanta in January, we came in late and on Superbowl Sunday, at 10pm, we couldn’t find anywhere open. I was worried we’d be regalated to Domino’s pizza again, but lucky for us, Azucar was open late.

Azucar was a cool place. I’ve never been to Havana, Cuba, but the dark, cool interior of Azucar, with lots of reds and blacks, felt like I thought a cool club in Havana would be like. It was packed inside and out with people grabbing drinks (they had great drink specials), going dancing or grabbing a late-night dinner.

Stephanie ordered Pechugas de Pollo al Ajillo (chopped chicken cooked in garlic, saffron and white wine) with rice and beans and thought it was interesting tasting, but good. Mom had the Gambas al Ajillo (jumbo shrimp, wine and spices) with a salad and thought the shrimp were excellent and the salad was very fresh. I can’t find the dish I had on the menu, but it was a shredded skirt steak pan fried with onions and garlic and a side of rice and beans. The steak was interesting texture-wise because the pan frying made some of it crispy while some of the steak was very soft. The rice and beans were absolutely delicious and I would have been happy with two servings of those. Service was relatively good. It took a long time to get refills and Mom got the last of the iced tea, so I was left with water. We didn’t know how expensive the restaurant would be, but it ended up being pretty reasonable, with entrees in the $15-$25 range. I’d definitely come back here again.

Pechugas de Pollo al Ajillo

Gambas al Ajillo

Pan Fried Steak with Onions and Garlic

We finally got back to the hotel around 1:15am and crashed. Larry King Live had all of the AI contestants on, so I took a quick shower and we watched LKL before going to sleep. We were able to sleep in a bit so the late night wouldn’t be hurting us too much.

Up Next: Give My Regards to Broadway! Hair, Times Square, and Cheesecake!