Where have I been?

New York. Yes I think it is official. I have a slight obsession with that city. I love it. Everything about it. I don't know if I ever want to live there, but visiting is fantastic...maybe yearly...or at least every two years?  He he he.

This time around I went with Anita. Anita was not the type of traveller I thought she would be. At least when it came to New York. She wasn't interested in seeing every sight you could. Instead she wanted to shop and see plays. A girl after my own heart. 

So that is what we did. Shop. We, visited my favourite toy store, FAO Schwartz, where Anita made her sister a muppet....so exciting. And I enjoyed all the big candy. Too bad my suitcase wasn't big enough. We then trekked to Dylan's candy store to ogle at all the other wonderful sweet treats. And I may have dragged Anita to the M&M store to bulk up on coconut, raspberry and mint M&M's. 

 After the sugar coma we treated ourselves to some fantastic plays. Book of Mormon, controversial yet amusing. Avenue Q the anti-Sesame Street with puppets and hilarious songs. And my personal fav. Newsies. My favourite musical as a preteen come to life on the stage with fantastic dancing, songs and sets. Loved it. I may have danced all night....and the morning....and the afternoon....AND on the plane.

It wasn't all plays and shopping. We did check out Central Park on a beautiful 24 degree day. Performers, comedians, boat rides and baseball games all around. I love that place. So quiet in the middle of a big city. Along the walk (as that is the only way we got around, minus one water taxi ride) was grand central station, Madison square park, the flat iron building, the Statue of Liberty, the freedom tower, ellis island, St Patricks cathedral, the intrepid, Brooklyn bridge, Rockefeller square, Times Square, Macy's, Empire State Building and my fav the top of the rock at night. 

We did eat too. Sushi at Tao, Maine lobster at db bistro, pasta galore along restaurant row, Thai, pizza, pretzels, hot dogs, and Indian. Plus red velvet cupcakes, coconut cake...Yum.

And a visit to Hoboken, New Jersey to visit Carlos Bakery from Cake Boss. Sidenote for fans of the show. You will probably enjoy this. And props to giving front of the line service to locals as they are your loyal customers. Personally it will only be a one time visit for me. The wait was excruciating and I think with the amount of money probably made by them (we were seeing orders of approx. 50-100 $ a customer), they could organize a bit better and employ a few more. But the cannolis were amazing! But I digress....

All and all a fantastic holiday. With a bit of apartment madness from our renter as the neighbour complained about him and we may have received a subpoena on his behalf. But the place was what it was suppose to be minus those little hitches. Ha ha. 

And Anita was a great traveller. For a girl that has her camera always ready it was refreshing to watch Anita just take things in. She would pull out the camera every once in awhile but really liked to just look around and watch. Take in the memories. It was nice. And she was sympathetic to my struggles as I was having a bit of GI and cold issues the day before and a couple of days in (Sidenote I seem to always get sick a couple of days prior to leaving New York. All three times. Weird). Good times with a good girlfriend.

Overall I am grateful.