New York, New York!!

I had a few vacation days to use before Christmas, so I decided to take a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday off. Wednesday I took some 'me' time and did some reading, a Robin Sharma webinar on 'Game Changers' and then I began to look at some old photos.... I kept going back to the ones of NYC as it had been a few years since I was there. 

 And then it dawned on me, between Robin's words on optimization & moving towards the future and the photos, I thought to myself ....Why not go back?? So.....off to the bank I went and after almost fainting at having to pay $140 Canadian for $100 American, I booked a flight and a hotel room and at 6:00am Thursday morning, I was off to the Big Apple.

After landing, my first stop after dropping my luggage at the hotel was Rockefeller Centre to watch the skaters and have my first Dean & Deluca of the trip.

From Rockefeller it was then off to the Bryant Park Market where I sat and continued to watch the skaters there till the little boutiques opened and I could wander through and check out their wares. It was then off to stroll the High Line (LOVE it!). Such an amazing concept to turn something that likely would've been demolished and turn it into such a wonder space. By then it was time for lunch...I was in the West Village and decided to try Barbuto. I sat on their patio (it was December 10, the sun was shining and it was 15 degrees Celsius so of course I had to!), enjoyed a glass of wine, some amazing pizza right out of their wood fired oven, capped it all off with a cappuccino and then it was time to start walking again.

I then walked along the Hudson River all the way down to Ground Zero.... It was the absolute most perfect day to be outside and just enjoy the city.

The last time I was in NYC, they were just starting to rebuild One World Trade and the 9/11 Memorial Pools were under way. Every time I'm there it takes my breath away, my eyes well up with tears and I cannot get over the enormity of the space and how that day changed our world forever. After sitting there amongst the trees they've replanted and the hundreds of others there to pay their respects, I then began my walk back up to Mid Town (right past the Chrysler Building) to my hotel to rest a bit before dinner. 

As it turns out, I walked well over 20km that day and my feet were ready for a bit of a break! 

I was meeting a friend for dinner who happened to be in town for business. Every time I'm in NYC, I MUST have an Ugly Burger so I suggested that we head to The National (also because my feet were now throbbing and it was just around the corner!). We sat there, shared a bottle of wine, dove into our burgers and and got caught up.It was nice to see a familiar face after a day spent with strangers.

We were both pretty tired so after  a long day, so back to the hotel I went to relax and get some sleep so I could get an early start on day two. It was so great to be back in that city....and I couldn't have been more happy with my last minute decision to travel there!

Stay tuned for another post on my second day of my 48 hours in NYC!

RR