January 2nd and 3rd
We left out of John Wayne Airport at 9:30pm. We arrived two hours early to the airport just in case we got caught in security. Well, we were seated at the terminal by 7:45. Haha. We flew 1st class which was crazy awesome. We got free snacks (and unlimited mind you) and our drinks came in glasses. Not plastic or paper cups! We had an oversized bag but it flew free! I watched the movie One Day with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess and it was ok. Rob watched Drive which turned out to be really artsy and not as action packed as he thought. It starred Ryan Gosling who was in Crazy Stupid Love which we just watched the night before and it was hilarious! 
We flew into Atlanta about 4:30 am EST, 1:30 home time. We had a 3 hour layover and got on the plane to JFK at 7:30. Because of a malfunction on a seat, Robert and I were separated and had to sit on opposite sides of the 1st row. The man sitting next to me wouldn’t switch because he didn’t want to sit by the window. I started crying… mostly because I was tired. They gave me a voucher for $150 to use on a future flight. We got breakfast in first class. I had an egg salad croissant and a salmon and onion croissant with tea, fruit, and yogurt. 
We got picked up by a car service. It was so cold outside the airport. I shivered!! Our hotel is RIGHT in time square. We had to get some rest though so after the hotel let us check in early we napped for a few hours. Afterwards, we ventured out to see a little of Manhattan.
We made out way uptown to Central Park and took one of those horse drawn carriage rides. It was SO COLD! 18 degrees! We took the long ride that took us all the way around the park, even though it was the most expensive, we really wanted to get the most of the park. It was cold but magical seeing the park.
Walking back we were numb, we went to 30 Rock… Rockafeller center was super cool. We went to the top of the rock, an elevator that went up 67 floor in 43 seconds. The top of the elevator is plexi so you can see as you go up. It was insanely cold up at the top!
You have a 360º view of the city, it was amazing.
Afterwards we had dinner at the Olive Garden right in the middle of Time Square.
January 4th
Slept in (according to NY time, keeping in line with back home we were up by 6:30!) We printed out our 9/11 memorial passes in the business center and were finally able to print out our cruise express passes too. We warmed up and headed out in search of breakfast. We found Stardust Diner where the servers sing fabulous songs while taking your orders. It was a great experience!
After breakfast we caught the subway down to the canal district. We saw the charging bull statue in the financial district and walked around Battery Park. We got some tea at starbucks because it was SO cold! During our walking around I’d lost our visitor passes to the 9/11 memorial which we were expected to be at by 2:00pm. We were able to pop in to a FedEx office and log into my email and print out new passes. We visited the 9/11 World Trade Center Memorial. The fountains incur a lot of overspray and it’s been so cold that the spray has frozen in to ice.
Seeing all the names engraved was incredibly sobering. There was one name, a woman Jennifer and her unborn child… That one really got me. The memorial is beautiful and thought provoking and inspiring. I can’t wait to see it in the spring when the 400 white sycamore trees are full of leaves. It’s definitely something I want to bring the kids to.
After the memorial we tried heading back to Battery Park so that we could catch the ferry taking us over to Ellis Island. Unfortunately we missed the last ticket sales. We bought pretzels from a cart and they weren’t very good at all. We made our way through Chinatown to Little Italy and ate a late lunch/dinner at a place called Cafe Napoli. Chicken Piccata and Manicotti. So delicious.
We stooped at Cafe Palermo and picked up some tiramisu and cannolis. We walked by Dean and Delucca and I had to go in. I bought some cookies and we were so full from dinner we didn’t even eat them! Went back to the hotel and skyped with the kids. Miss them SO much.
January 5th
This morning we slept in and had room service for breakfast. We used the same car service that picked us up at the airport, this time they picked us up in a town car. It was in the 30’s today, significantly warmer. I mailed post cards from the hotel before we left. We drove through Chelsea and took the Holland Tunnel to the New Jersey Turnpike. Just terms that I’ve heard before, it was cool seeing them in real life. Cape Liberty is in Bayonne, New Jersey. There is definitely much more space in New Jersey.
We got through the line super quick and we were on the boat before we knew it. Got a chance to talk to the kids which was really nice. I do miss them very much! They were just finishing up Gymnastics and Hea was a little fussy. I do think that they’ll miss us a lot by the time we come home though. We set out to explore the boat, excuse me, ship (lol, freddy). We found the Celebrity iLounge and seeing as how we are complete mac geeks we had to check it out. The decor throughout the ship is stunningly beautiful. Seriously, it’s amazing. The ship is only 6 months old. There are more than 1200 staff members, more than 4 specialty restaurants, the captain is from Greece, there’s an Acapella group from Michigan, they were amazing! The gym is huge. We’re going to run tomorrow morning on the jogging. We made appointments for a facial and a massage! We made our dinner reservations for 6:45 so after i unpacked ALL of our stuff, we headed to the main dining room. I had goat cheese tart, endive and arugula salad with candied pecans and red apples. Lamb shank wrapped in phyllo dough over tomato rice with root vegetables and mint jelly. Robert had tropical fruit, angus beef consumme (which is a broth made from angus beef and root vegetables but it was very clear like miso soup) and prime rib with mashed potatoes. Super Yummy! For dessert we had Creme Brulee and some apple pie that wasn’t that great. There are dishes that are served every night regardless and others that chef specialties. We saw the show, tomorrow night is a formal night so we get to dress up even though after 6pm there is a dress code on the ship. No ball caps or slippers. Now we’re watching a movie in the room. Looking forward to a fun full day tomorrow!
You have a 360º view of the city, it was amazing.
Afterwards we had dinner at the Olive Garden right in the middle of Time Square.
Slept in (according to NY time, keeping in line with back home we were up by 6:30!) We printed out our 9/11 memorial passes in the business center and were finally able to print out our cruise express passes too. We warmed up and headed out in search of breakfast. We found Stardust Diner where the servers sing fabulous songs while taking your orders. It was a great experience!
Seeing all the names engraved was incredibly sobering. There was one name, a woman Jennifer and her unborn child… That one really got me. The memorial is beautiful and thought provoking and inspiring. I can’t wait to see it in the spring when the 400 white sycamore trees are full of leaves. It’s definitely something I want to bring the kids to.
After the memorial we tried heading back to Battery Park so that we could catch the ferry taking us over to Ellis Island. Unfortunately we missed the last ticket sales. We bought pretzels from a cart and they weren’t very good at all. We made our way through Chinatown to Little Italy and ate a late lunch/dinner at a place called Cafe Napoli. Chicken Piccata and Manicotti. So delicious.
We stooped at Cafe Palermo and picked up some tiramisu and cannolis. We walked by Dean and Delucca and I had to go in. I bought some cookies and we were so full from dinner we didn’t even eat them! Went back to the hotel and skyped with the kids. Miss them SO much.
January 5th
This morning we slept in and had room service for breakfast. We used the same car service that picked us up at the airport, this time they picked us up in a town car. It was in the 30’s today, significantly warmer. I mailed post cards from the hotel before we left. We drove through Chelsea and took the Holland Tunnel to the New Jersey Turnpike. Just terms that I’ve heard before, it was cool seeing them in real life. Cape Liberty is in Bayonne, New Jersey. There is definitely much more space in New Jersey.
We got through the line super quick and we were on the boat before we knew it. Got a chance to talk to the kids which was really nice. I do miss them very much! They were just finishing up Gymnastics and Hea was a little fussy. I do think that they’ll miss us a lot by the time we come home though. We set out to explore the boat, excuse me, ship (lol, freddy). We found the Celebrity iLounge and seeing as how we are complete mac geeks we had to check it out. The decor throughout the ship is stunningly beautiful. Seriously, it’s amazing. The ship is only 6 months old. There are more than 1200 staff members, more than 4 specialty restaurants, the captain is from Greece, there’s an Acapella group from Michigan, they were amazing! The gym is huge. We’re going to run tomorrow morning on the jogging. We made appointments for a facial and a massage! We made our dinner reservations for 6:45 so after i unpacked ALL of our stuff, we headed to the main dining room. I had goat cheese tart, endive and arugula salad with candied pecans and red apples. Lamb shank wrapped in phyllo dough over tomato rice with root vegetables and mint jelly. Robert had tropical fruit, angus beef consumme (which is a broth made from angus beef and root vegetables but it was very clear like miso soup) and prime rib with mashed potatoes. Super Yummy! For dessert we had Creme Brulee and some apple pie that wasn’t that great. There are dishes that are served every night regardless and others that chef specialties. We saw the show, tomorrow night is a formal night so we get to dress up even though after 6pm there is a dress code on the ship. No ball caps or slippers. Now we’re watching a movie in the room. Looking forward to a fun full day tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment