NY Post ONE: Sunrise over Manhattan and Magic in Central Park

After a few weeks of being back home, I am finally getting around to the FIRST post of our trip to New York. With over 2,000 photos to go through, it's quite a struggle to pick and choose which ones to share. Since it is impossible to cram everything into one post, I will split up the photos into days and experiences. 

With so many moments, feelings and historical attractions to capture in writing and photos, I will try my best to share and re-live this trip as best I can.

Here it goes... 

On the morning of April 26th 2014 at 8:00am PST, my mother and I were leaving LAX and on our way to New York! It's been a dream of mine for quite some time to visit NY and around 3:50pm EST, we had arrived to our much anticipated destination! It was such a blessing to finally plant my feet on the grounds of the Big Apple and to share this experience with my momma. In just 5 days, we had done so much! I'm happy that we had this time to bond and turn some of our plans into reality. 

Goodbye Los Angeles.

After we had landed and managed to figure out how to get a taxi to our hotel in the Upper West Side, we were able to soak up the experience of our first taxi ride a.k.a. wish you took a Xanax, stinky back seat and sleepy cab driver ride....needless to say, that was our first and last cab ride on our trip but more on that later. 

It was a gloomy day as we drove through Brooklyn and into Manhattan eyeing over our new surroundings. Immediately, you could feel the difference in culture than what we are used too. Life is vertical and fast paced in NYC. The buildings reaked of history all around us, the sidewalks were bustling with people and the streets were filled with transportation, noise and haste. We were certainly not in California anymore!

As we pulled up to our hotel and checked-in, I realized that I had left my favorite burgundy peacoat in the taxi which had just driven off. Side Note: since we didn't check bags, I had to hold onto my coat as it didn't fit in my suitcase which ultimately lead to my loss...Next time, I'm checking a bag! The concierge had made several phone calls in attempt to get it back but another note to self (& all who live or plan to visit NY), if you leave ANYTHING in a taxi cab, kiss it good-bye, sayonara, adios because you won't get it back.

Finally arrived to our hotel

The loss of my coat started us on a hunt for new jackets to keep warm since it was quite chilly in the evening. After some success in Urban Outfitters, we had our first dinner in NY at Serafina's-YUMMY!! I had the gnocchi with tomatoes and savored each bite. As we ate, the atmosphere of this restaurant was also quite different than what we were used to. To start, the workers were like little busy bees nearly running all over the place yet their attitudes seemed friendly rather than stressed like I expected. The place was also very lively-filled with chatter and communication over delectables and wine. The most noticable difference of having dinner here was the seating. Everyone was seated rather close to one another...pretty much right next to another guest. It felt like family style seating which added to the social hum and festive ambiance. 

After dinner, I had my first chai tea in New York as we walked down Broadway and enjoyed the night life.

The next morning, my mother woke up around 4am which in turn, lead me to getting up at the butt-crack of dawn as well. We ended up leaving our hotel room around 5:20am which was even too early for the local coffee shops! I didn't get my caffiene until a couple hours later but we were able to explore the Upper West Side at sunrise with quiet streets and empty sidewalks as we made our way towards Central Park. So serene. 

These are just some of the moments captured on the first early morning in Manhattan. Enjoy.

At the Belvedere Castle in Central Park. I set the camera up for self timer which captured us totally out of focus but I didn't get any better ones! :(

The prettiest restroom I've ever seen! I could live here!

Marionette Theatre in Central Park

On our way back into town, we spontaneously stopped to ride our first Subway and headed to Times Square where we had breakfast got scammed...twice and visited the top of the Empire State Building....
View Post Two of New York here