It was time to head to the East Coast for Ry's childhood friend Dave's wedding as well as a little side-trip to the Big Apple. We flew into JFK on a red-eye Friday night and arrived to NYC at 6am, an early start for sure! We rented a car and drove two hours up the East shore until we reached Essex, Connecticut. We found our little bed and breakfast and checked in for some rest... boy did we need some!
We tried to sleep for a bit but that didn't work out according to plan so we decided to get ready and explore Essex.
Essex is a little town on the Connecticut River with lots of old east coast charm... we walked around, took a little boat ride to an island and then had a picnic lunch.
After lunch we went back to town for some coffee... we were in desperate need! We got some energy and charged up for the wedding... we got dressed and drove to Old Lyme, where the wedding party was meeting.
The bride's family owns this compound overlooking the entire Connecticut sound and the reception was going to be held in huge white tents on the property... very beautiful and very traditional East Coast. We took pictures before heading over to the Old Lyme church for the ceremony.
After the church ceremony, we headed back to the Ely Compound for cocktail hour and then the reception.
We had a nice formal dinner and enjoyed seeing the newlyweds enjoy their beautiful wedding... congratulations to Dave and Elizabeth!
After a much need good nights' rest, we woke up Sunday morning ready to get back to NYC, we quickly checked out and made our way back to JFK to drop off our car rental. From there, we took the train from JFK to Penn Station and walked a couple blocks to Times Square... what an AMAZING city, we were SO excited!
All the people, buildings, ads, stores... everything has such energy!
We finally made it to the W Hotel Times Square, where we checked into our room and to our luck, we got upgraded to a corner-side room with amazing views of the city... we couldn't of been happier!
We made a quick lunch in our room, relaxed and planned what we wanted to do for the afternoon.
We decided to head towards Rockefeller Center and on the way there, we came across the NBC Studios and decided to take their Studio tour.
We got to see where Dr. Oz is taped as well as where Saturday Night Live and Jimmy Fallon are taped... it was so neat to see. Then we got to role play a news cast and I got selected as the anchor women! It was quite the experience... I think I missed my calling in life!
After the tour, we made it to Rockefeller Center, where we got to see where the Today Show is taped and The Plaza...
So cool to see where Matt
Lauer and Ann Curry sit... I watch them every morning!
We explored 30 Rock and then went to
Bouchon for their famous
macaron's and I had to get some Taste-D-Lite Frozen Yogurt (memories from when I used to visit NYC in high school and college)... the perfect afternoon snack.
After our snack, we were ready to do some more exploring but it started to rain!! We hung out in our hotel lobby for a bit and the rain died down so we headed towards Central Park and walked around.
We were amazed how once you are in the park, it feels like you are completely removed from the city... so beautiful. Unfortunately we didn't get too far into Central Park before it started to rain again... this time we didn't think it would stop soon so we headed back to our hotel and decided to order pizza to our room and enjoy a cozy night in!
Several people had told us that John's pizza was the best NY pizza pie so John's it was!
We got some drinks at the bar, got into our robes and had a delicious pizza dinner... we decided that we must do this more often, it was so fun.
Monday morning we woke up early because we had tickets to explore Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty so we had a room service breakfast and made our way with the Metro to Battery Park.
The weather had cleared up and the day couldn't be more gorgeous, we really lucked out. We boarded the Ellis Island ship and cruised over to the Statue of Liberty.
The Manhattan skyline is just breathtaking, so sad to see it minus the twin towers :(
We walked around the Statue of Liberty Island and took lots of pictures, we are very proud Americans!
Afterwards, we boarded the ship again and made our way to Ellis Island... I had been here before so it was fun taking Ry there for the first time... one of my favorite museum's... truly makes you value all that our ancestors sacrificed for our freedoms today.
We made our way back to Battery Park, had a quick lunch and began to explore Lower Manhattan...
We got to see Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange... unfortunately given the stock market crash just days before, it was a sad time to be there!
We explored the entire financial district and then headed over to Ground Zero... there was a memorial viewing room that displayed the plans for the memorial... it was so heartbreaking to re-live the entire experience... it was tough going from such a high sense of pride at Ellis Island and then seeing where our world ended up today... there is hope though, and we pray that America will re-gain it's strength... we have so much going for us.
After our emotional day, we made it back to our hotel to get ready for our very special dinner at Daniel. We have been big fans of Daniel and were thrilled to try his most highly rated restaurant in NYC. We got all cleaned up and the hotel concierge dropped us off at the beautiful restaurant.
We got seated at the perfect table and ordered the 4 course meal with wine pairings.
Each coarse was so unique and delicious, the restaurant certainly lives up to it's ratings! We also loved the decor and the ambiance, so special and whimsical. Dessert seemed to be 4 courses within itself! We had a chocolate bomb souffle, a peach and custard pastry, petite fours and freshly baked Madeline's... needless to say we had dined sufficiently!
As we were ending our dinner, I asked our waiter if Chef Daniel was there by any chance and to our luck, he was just about to leave but was there!! The waiter said he would be happy to send him out to say hello and within a couple mintes, Chef Daniel came out to greet us... we were so amazed!
He is a very nice French man, we complimented him on his food and restaurant and it just made our experience that much better... what a perfect night! Since we had started our dinner early, we decided to walk back to our hotel since it wasn't too far... we strolled along the streets and even came upon the Time Warner Center... an amazing mall with a brand-new Whole Foods in the basement... we just loved everything about NYC... such a special city.
After a good nights' rest, Tuesday morning we woke up early to a room-service breakfast and quickly got ready to head down to the Plaza to watch the Today Show Live. We were told that in order to get directly on the Plaza you would have to be there at 6am standing in line... that was a no-go for us so we went just after 8am and dedided we'd be content just watching all the action from afar... well we got there and to our luck, there were not very many people there and we got ushered right onto The Plaza!
We saw all the action front and center... I was besides myself!! I got to meet my favorite, Natalie Morales and she took a picture with me, so sweet!
Ry and I then scored a spot right behind Natalie, Al, Ann and Savannah and got our 5 minutes of fame on TV, we waved the entire time and even kissed for my parents (who were at home watching!)
During a commercial break, Ann came to talk to us for quite a bit! She even asked Ry what he does for a living and told us there was large need all over the world for dentists and that his work is very appreciated... she was so sweet and genuine and then she took a picture with me as well! What a morning, it's the most fun I've had in a long time!
After our morning of live television and hob-nobbing with anchor stars haha, we went back to our hotel to pack up and have coffee... we were so sad it was our last day but we still had more to explore. We checked out and left our bags with concierge since our flight was not until late afternoon and we headed to Chelsea Market.
Can we say the Ferry Building on steroids??! Almost a mile-long warehouse full of the most amazing food purveyors... we were in foodie heaven.
We walked through every store and made note of where we wanted to eat lunch.. problem was that by the time we were done, we wanted to eat at every single one of them! The most amazing bread shops, markets, cheese shops, chocolate shops, coffeehouses, pastries...
Specialty markets with the most beautiful produce.. mushrooms (my favorite)...
Big melons (apparently Ry's favorite)!
We also walked through Buddakahn, the famous restaurnt where Carrie had her rehearsal dinner in the Sex and the City Movie... so fun to see it!
After much speculation, we finally decided to go with the creperie... the crepes being made in front of our eyes were just irrasistable.
Ry had a Ham and Swiss Cheese with an Organic Egg Crepe and I had the Portabella and Goat Cheese with Truffle Oil Crepe... the most amazing crepes EVER... we definitely chose well.
In fact for dessert we went back and got a chocolate chip and banana crepe and split a Jaques Torres Dark Chocolate Chunk cookie... the most rich and heavenly cookie we've ever had... all washed down with milk... perfection, really.
Unfortunately our time was coming to an end... we walked back through High Line... a beautiful one-mile park built on top of the buildings with breath-taking views, all built with eco-friendly materials... it was so relaxing and it made us not want to go home!
We made our way back to pick up our luggage and headed to JFK for our flight home... what an amazing adventure, one of the best trips we've had! We absolutely fell in love with the Big Apple and we hope to come back many, many more times. As they all say... I heart NY!
A little weekend trip to the Terranea Resort was a long time coming- ever since we visited last year for spa treatments, we decided that one day we must come back for a weekend visit and we finally planned a trip!
We drove an hour and half north and arrived at Terranea, it was a little overcast at first but then it cleared up... the views are amazing here! We checked into our beautiful ocean-view room and then went down to the lobby for our welcome Champagne drinks.
We explored the resort and picked out where we would have dinner and then went back to our room to get ready for pool time. We lounged by the pool and used the spa, it was so nice.
For dinner we decided on the Terranea Grill... we were in the mood for burgers! We had burgers with all the works, hit the spot. As part of our "Romantic Package" we had chocolate covered strawberries delivered to our room so it was the perfect dessert... that and a Pay-Per-View movie!
Sunday morning we had a leisurely breakfast outside overlooking the ocean and then went for a long walk around the resort and all the way down to the beach. We learned that the land that Terranea is now on used to be Marineland- almost like a Sea World but it was closed down in 1987. Come to find out later, when my grandparents from Czech were visiting for the first time when I was little, my parents had taken us all to Marineland! I had discovered the pictures in albums several weeks later.. crazy! After our long walk it was pool and spa time.
After lots of swimming we had worked up quite an appetite and headed over to Nelson's for a casual lunch... a fun restaurant to hang out at.
I had a delicious Cobb Salad with grilled Mahi Mahi and Ry had an Ahi Tuna sandwich. After Nelson's it was time to pack up and check out, we made one more stop at their cute coffee shop for tea and cookies with gelato... the perfect sweet ending to our great trip. What a little gem this resort was, Terranea will definitely be one of our regulars!
