New York, New York

Because my sister Lauren had just returned from living abroad in South Korea for a year and because Johnnie and I will soon be moving to Malaysia, the Wininger ladies felt that a girls trip was most necessary!  We debated for a while where to go...wine tasting in Napa, sailing on a cruise, soaking up the sun on a beach somewhere...

We finally decided on the city that never sleeps...NYC baby!!  Flights were quickly booked to New York for Wednesday, August 25th!

 

Lauren was asked by the stewardess to help out with the safety demonstration by holding the seat belt and oxygen mask until she asked for them.  This is what happened when no one was looking...

By the way, the stewardess announced to the entire plane moments later that she had seen a flash go off and cameras were NOT permitted at that time. :)

We arrived at the Hudson Hotel a little later than expected due to 1 flight cancellation and multiple flight delays.  We were also 2 bags short, as Mom and Lauren's bags somehow were lost in transit (they were delivered to the hotel early the next morning, so no biggie).

Our hotel was really cool...LOVED the chandelier in the lobby...

On our first night, we took a stroll around our hotel and realized right away that we were in an awesome location...Times Square was just a few blocks away!

And there was a Naked Cowboy sighting!  For those of you who don't know about the Naked Cowboy, check out his bio on Wikipedia...I love that he was born in Cincinnati.  Haha

And no...that's not me he's holding.  :)

On Thursday morning, we purchased 48 hour double-decker tour bus tickets...definitely worth every penny!  Over the next 2 days, we were able to see SO much of the city.

The empire state building...

The Trump World Tower...

The original Soup Man restaurant from Seinfeld...NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!

Ground Zero...

The Met...

Where John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived (and where she still lives today)...I love learning stuff like this on tours!

NBC studios...

And for my fellow Real Housewives of NYC fans, Zarin Fabrics right outside of China Town... :)

The famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem...so cool to think about all of the great musicians who walked through these doors...

Ton and Katie are two of our good friends from Cincinnati (well, technically Johnnie and Ton have known each other longer, since they are both from Canton, OH).  Anywho, Katie and Ton now live in the Battery Park area of Manhattan and we met them out for dinner on Thursday night at a great tapas place called Pipa.

Friday morning, Mom, Lauren, and I got up and took a boat cruise tour down the Hudson river.

Got to see the Statue of Liberty...

And Ellis Island...

Friday night, we met up with one of Lauren's best friends from growing up, Claudia, who lives in New York.  We had dinner at the original Iron Chef Morimoto's restaurant, appropriately named...Morimoto. 

Here's a pic of Lauren and Claudia with what was probably the best appetizer I have ever tasted...Toro Tartare.  Chef Morimoto won an Iron Chef competition with this dish (the secret ingredient was Tuna).

After dinner, the Wininger girls caught a Broadway show..."Promises, Promises" starring Kristin Chenoweth (April Rhodes on "Glee" and also starred as Glenda in the premier production of "Wicked" on Broadway) and Sean Hayes (best known as Jack from "Will and Grace"). 

Saturday morning, Claudia led us around Central Park...

Before heading to dinner that night, we enjoyed blueberry mojitos at the Hudson Hotel's bar and patio.

Then we met up with Ton (Katie was out of town for the weekend) at a restaurant in Little Italy...

And we had this crazy man as our waiter...

"YOU knowwwww!" was the crazy waiter's catchphrase, as in...

Mom: "What is the price of the shrimp special?"

Crazy waiter guy: "YOU knowwwww!" (immediately walking away without answering). 

or...

Crazy waiter guy (to Ton): "Would you like another bottle of wine?"

Ton: (thinking about it, does not answer right away)

Crazy waiter guy: "YOU knowwwwww!  I knowwwwww!" (leaves and gets another bottle without ever getting a real answer).

Typically, this type of service would be considered unacceptable...but crazy waiter guy was always smiling like this...how could you be mad at this face?!?  :)

What a fabulous girls trip (plus Ton and crazy waiter guy) it was!  I would love to return to NYC soon with Johnnie, but there are just so many places on our travel list in the near future.  Where will we be next?  You'll have to wait and see!