New York City, Baby! (How NOT to Look Like a Tourist)

First published November 22, 2013

My children have loved that show as well but to this day, I will stop and watch Sesame Street alone, if it’s on. It is mesmerizing.

See all those little circles and numbers?
I have no idea what they mean.
Subway math is like Algebra.

So my friend said we had to eat at Ray’s Pizza while here.
I had never heard of it but I am not one to ever turn down pizza.

This whole section is very touristy and as cool as it was to run through, it was too much for me.
I get overstimulated very easily. That sounds dirtier than it really is.

We stumbled on to this amazing little shopping area called Winter Village in Bryant Park where I got the coolest sign at a booth called Brooklyn Made.

I am standing.
In New York City.
It almost didn’t feel real while I was experiencing it.

I loved this little shop at Winter Village.

Wherever I go, I find Grace.

Sir, it would serve you well in life to learn what the sign says.
DON’T BLOCK THE BOX.
Wait!
Is that Bruce Willis?!

30 Rock.
Of course, if you call it that, you will sound like the tourist I am you are.

In my heart, I wanted to strap on skates and scoot around.
By the way, this looks so much smaller in person than it does on the big screen.

I don’t really watch the Today show (I am more of a Good Morning America girl) so I don’t know what kind of shenanigans go on outside here.

This one is for my mom. I felt like she was with me the entire time. I “bring” people with me if they’ve never been.

I get excited about fancy stores that I’ve never been inside of, so I take late-night pictures instead.

One of my favorite movies is Serendipity with Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack so one of the places I wanted to visit if we had time, was the restaurant namesake of the movie. NOT just because of the movie though. It was because of what they serve IN the movie.

The frozen hot chocolate.

This.

THIS.

Heaven.

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS? The amount I would pay to eat John Cusack’s leftovers.

The next day, I got to ride the subway for the first time and I was so excited!

I even texted a picture of the inside of a subway car to my mom and my husband, like the subway virgin I was. We were on the subway mid-afternoon and there wasn’t anyone on it, so it was nice.

My friend and I decided to be spontaneous and went to a restaurant in the Financial District to eat dinner.
At 3:30.
On a Thursday afternoon.

It was so much fun, it felt like we were doing something wild and crazy.

Steve Martin and Dan Ackroyd would’ve been proud.

We split a jumbo crab cake, a bowl of sour cream mashed potatoes and we each got a cocktail.
Which must have been made with ALL OF THE ALCOHOL in the state of New York, because I was drunk before I even left the table.
MAJORLY drunk.

So I rode the subway.
DRUNK
I walked the streets of New York City during daylight.
DRUNK

I strolled through stores in the middle of the damn day in a foreign (to me) city.
DRUNK

Then came back to the hotel, stumbled past the lobby, smiled at the people in the elevator like a goon, stumbled down the hallway, giggling the entire time, tripped into our room, went pee in the bathroom, took my bra off, flung it onto the bed, and planted myself face down for a 45-minute power nap.

“I am out there Jerry and I am lovin’ every minute of it!”

2020 note- yes, we did all of this on the same day we did the Bethenny show. It was a jam-packed trip BUT it was so much fun. I slept for 10 hours the night we got home though. 🙂 

These corner deli/bakeries were on quite a few of the corners we saw.

I took this on our last morning before we left for the airport while sitting in one of those little corner bakeries.
I see why so many people love living here; it felt like home even though I’d never been here before.

Maybe it was because I had been here, many times. Through the television screen, through the movie screen, this city has been a part of me for almost 45 years.

If I could recommend going to one place in your life that is out of your comfort zone, I would suggest New York City. I definitely want to come back but next time, I want to bring Mike and the kids and I want to explore smaller neighborhoods and the different cultures that make New York City so unique as well.

Thank you so much to my friend Jennifer for graciously taking my anxious self along for the ride and being my tour guide. What an amazing trip of a lifetime, friend.