What I like about you- NYC

Will you be mad at me if I admit that I am not in LOVE with NYC?  Now relax... I didn't say I didn't like New York, cuz I do.  I just don't LOVE it like the rest of the world does.  Some people actually kinda get mad when I tell them this.  I swear they do.
This got me to thinking. (uh-oh)

Here are a few random reasons people are generally mad at me:
Take a deep breath.  Based on previous reactions, these are kind of a big deal. 

1.  I have  never seen the movie "The Godfather". 

 Any of them. 

 I don't even know how many there are.  Are there four? 

I have no clue. 

 As a matter of fact, I have never seen "The Lion King" or "Shrek" either.  Are you gasping yet?  Some people actually gasp when I tell them this.

2. I don't really care about fancy jewelry.  I'm totally uninterested in it.  I don't want it and don't understand why others are obsessed with it.  When I tell people this they are shocked and kinda angry.  Then they try to defend their stupid jewelry to me.  I don't care. Its a total waste of money. I find great pleasure in wearing a $10 necklace.  When I lose my cheapo necklace, I just buy a new one.  No big deal.  If I lost a $300 necklace, I'd be upset.  If I lost a $4000 ring, I'd probably need anxiety pills. 

3. I don't like carrot cake. 

At all. 

What is it?  I don't get it.  Why are there veggies in my dessert?  I might even HATE it.   I think I lost a friend a few years ago because we disagreed about carrot cake. She liked it and I didn't.  There was no way we could be friends.

Okay back to NYC  

The Empire State Building- view from a rooftop bar

Here is what I like about it:
So its a big diverse city with lots of tall buildings and 10 million people living in like 2 square blocks. ha ha.  It has lots of cool restaurants and a huge park in the middle.  There are taxis and trains that will take you anywhere remotely near Manhattan fairly easy. There are street vendors on every corner and everything is open almost 24 hours a day.  The theaters are the best in the country.  The talent that I have seen at the shows in NYC beat any other city in the world! 

Beach bar at the Pier- overlooking brooklyn bridge

On that note.... Here is why I don't LOVE NYC like others do:

I don't need anything open 24 hours a day.  I personally get up early and sleep at night.  Seems unnecessary. Go to just about any other city at 4 am on a Saturday night.  Everything is closed.  This is how it should be.  Go to bed people!

I don't really know where everyone is going in NYC.  There are taxis everywhere, but it is hard to get one.  Everyone always seems to be on the move.  Where are they going?   Honestly.

Lets move on a bit.

The sports bars in NYC suck.  Yeah I said it.  There are no good sports bars in the city. Find me one that compares to the awesome ones in Chicago, Philadelphia, or Boston and I will retract this statement.   Until then... I am stickin to my story.

No booze on Sunday til noon.   What a dumb rule.  I get it.  New Yorkers are cool.  They go out to dinner at like 10 pm on a Saturday night.  They stay out til 4am.  They sleep in on Sundays until noon. Then they hit brunch somewhere cool in the west village and do unlimited champagne for the afternoon.  It works for them.  Not for me.  I am on vacation and would love a bloody mary with my 11 am breakfast/ lunch.  Ill repeat:  Dumb Rule.


Two other gripes:  Trash everywhere and everything is under construction.  If you don't get it, go visit.

typical times square at night

Okay are you mad at me yet?  

With all that said... here are a few wonderful pics I have from our last two trips to NYC.  Yeah, we have been there twice it the past few months and of course we had an awesome time!  

brooklyn bridge

The biggest puffed rice machine.  Sitting in the middle of union square

The naked cowboy. 

View of Central Park and the upper west/east side

Ryan eating his corn

Vino for lunch





Recap time:  I like NYC; You remind me of fancy jewelry.  

ps: if you are my long lost carrot cake friend, I want to say I am sorry.  Maybe we can make amends someday...over cheesecake.



Next stop is Halloween in VEGAS!!!



 

The Charleston Glitch

The famous Charleston Bridge!

We totally hit the the "lucky" jackpot while we were in Charleston this weekend.  Now I don't mean the slot machine jackpot, I mean the stars were all aligned and everything kept falling perfectly into place.  We literally just had plain "luck" on our side (and a computer glitch).  

Now the luck actually started a few weeks ago at home when we purchased our hotel.  As we were searching for a good deal for a room in Charleston, we found a hotel on Hotwire that was practically too good to be true.  It said we had purchased a 4 star hotel in the city for $32 per night!! The retail price for these types of hotels in this area are between $200-$300. It appeared to be a mistake... so we booked it anyways and held our breath. 

Okay lets fast forward to last Saturday when we checked into the lovely "French Quarter Inn".  The lady at the front desk sort of chuckled and said "oh, you guys are one of the Glitches."  We said yes and she handed us our keys with a joyful smirk. 

Just like that.  $32 for a 4 star hotel.  Thank you Hotwire.

Since it was super early in the morning, our room wasn't ready, so we had to leave our bags with the bell desk.  They said they would deliver them to the room once it was ready (I know it sounds like a dumb detail to share with you, but it is important to my story).

Moving on... the weekend gets even better.

So the front desk then pointed us to the free breakfast .  Now this wasn't just any free breakfast. It was a complete spread filled with detox water, French pastries, and of course: unlimited champagne all morning.  Oh Lord, at this point we knew we had really scored on this hotel!

The Breakfast Buffet

The lovely patio

Alright, after several rounds of the bubbly, we decided to see a few sites.  Our first stop was a carriage ride through the city.  We walked up to the barn and literally a carriage was ready to leave with no waiting!  Guess what else? The clerk gave us a discount just because I told her I thought I had a coupon! As u can tell, I sort of get excited about the little things.

Our Carriage Ride

another carriage

After a fun filled afternoon in the city, we eventually we made our way back to the hotel where we noticed our luggage had not yet arrived in the room.  No big deal-but I called the front desk and they said they would bring it promptly.  They also casually mentioned there was a free wine reception in the lobby. 

What ?  More free stuff?  Okay.

We practically raced down to the lobby for the wine reception which was basically another gourmet European style buffet.  I mean, how much more could this hotel give us?  It was getting ridiculous.   We chuckled to each other as we toasted our wine on the patio and simply feeling overly privileged. 

afternoon wine reception

lots of options

Eventually the wine reception was over.  I checked back to the room.... NO LUGGAGE YET.  Geeze, what did they do, sell them?  Hmmm.  Now it has been 10 hours since our original check-in.  We arrived at 9 am and it is now 7 pm.  I kinda wanted my suitcase.  So I called again.  I even offered to pick it up myself. 

They apologized for the delay and informed us they were sending a complimentary bottle of champagne to the room and removing all valet parking charges.  

freebies

Ridiculous just got more ridiculous.  Lets break this down:

*We only paid $32 for one of the nicest hotels in the city
*Unlimited champagne and gourmet breakfast from 7-11 am
*Wine and cheese reception daily from 5-7 pm
*Free Valet parking
*Complimentary champagne sent to the room

WTF.

Deal of a lifetime.  'Nuff said.

the fountain view

Here is my moral of the story:

Whomever said "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" was a Jackass. 

I'll take advantage of a good Glitch any day!!

Now don't be jealous... I have plenty of horror stories about our problems while traveling.  Did I ever tell you about the time we sat in the Baltimore airport for 7 hours?  How about the time our rental car got towed in Vegas?  Well stay tuned cuz there are plenty of those stories as well!!

 

 

Here are few other pics of our weekend in Charleston:

SNOBS: one of our fav restaurants

shrimp and grits

The patio at The Blind Tiger Pub

Duck at McCradys... this restuarant used to be a brothel, now its run by famous Chef Sean Brock!

The Charleston Market

View of the water...Fort sumpter far in the distance.  Birthplace of the Civil War

Rooftop at the Market Pavillion