We arrived in New York on December 23rd and left on the 26th. Below are the four outfits I wore during the trip:
*I wore my brown coat instead of the white one shown above
since the brown has a hoodie and it was raining a little bit.
I had checked the weather forecast a couple of times prior to planning my outfits. The temperatures were between 6 and 8 degrees Celcius which I thought was hot. However, once in New York, I realized I had overestimated the warmer temperatures (compared to where I live). Fortunately, I had brought two pairs of tights and wore them during the trip.
December 23rd
At 5 o'clock in the morning
(I ended up wearing tights later in the day, before going for supper)
Stopping by Lake George
Somewhere on our way to Manhattan, I believe
We arrived in Manhattan at noon. Arriving this late was a bad idea since the circulation was already dense and there were a lot of pedestrians.
As you can see, everyone is wearing big coats and pants. I was expecting people to dress like in the spring (lmao I was so naive). I was afraid to be the only one in a skirt (i.e. wearing something short), but gladly spotted one lady wearing shorts:
We had trouble driving to our hotel because of the circulation, but also because the 43rd street was blocked by police officers (the hotel was on the corner of the 43rd and 8th street and we had to access it by the 43rd street.)
Long story short, my father and my sister went to check in (they walked to the hotel) while I stayed with my mom in the car. Two hours later, we were still touring the place hoping a police officer would let us pass. Ultimately, my father checked in, came back to our car and found another way to access the 43rd street. That was not a very promising way to start the trip, but it eventually went better.
We went to eat pizza at Don Antonio as suggested by my sister. It was her 5th or 6th time in New York, so she knew a couple of nice restaurants and was our food guide during the trip.
My parents ordered a pizza with prosciutto (1st pic) while my sister and I went for a calzone pizza (2nd pic). The calzone pizza picture is really bad, but the pizza itself was delicious.
We also tried the arancini. They were really good, even better than the ones I had this summer in Quebec.
I love pizza and wished we would have eaten there more than one time so I could have tried other pizzas.
After eating, we went a little bit shopping around Times Square. We spent a short time in Macy's, but there were so many people. Actually, there were people everywhere, whether we were inside or walking in the streets. This made walking more exhausting because you always had to watch out for the people around you to avoid bumping into them. I had forgotten how Times Square was crowded since I had visited the place in 2011 (and it was probably even worse because of the Christmas holidays.)
December 24th
For breakfast, we went to City Kitchen, a food market. It was my first time going to a food market in New York. I ordered a breakfast taco at Gabriela's Taqueria and it was delicious.
The radish was a bit strange, but I did not dislike it
I added some Cholula sauce which made the taco even better (I had never heard about this sauce and bought a bottle once we got back from New York. It tastes spicy but not enough to make your mouth numb and burnt which I like.)
Our great view while eating
After breakfast, we went shopping around Times Square. We went to Nordstrom Rack among other stores but were disappointed with the clothes. We also returned back to Macy's because we had only looked at the shoes briefly the night before.
At Macy's
There were fewer people compared to the previous night, but it was starting to get seriously packed. I bought a winter hat to pair it with my new Liz Lisa pink coat.
Here is a try on pic I took when I got back from New York:
I like it, but it makes my skin so very itchy. I wore it today (Dec. 30th) to do errands with my mom and I was constantly scratching my forehead.
After shopping at Macy's, we went to Versace, Gucci, Chanel (to my sister's demand, I am not wealthy enough to buy there). Outside, the sky had cleared and was sunny.
We also went to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. It looked pretty, but there were so many people that I did not bother to take pictures. There were also Swarovski giant stars, police officers on horses and the skating rink, which all attracted even more people. The rink was jam-packed. The overall atmosphere was not as magical as I imagined.
Later in the afternoon, we returned back to our hotel to relax before getting ready for supper.
My sister had invited us to a restaurant called Ruth's Chris Steak House. We had a wonderful time. I ordered stuffed chicken breast (with cheese) in a lemon butter sauce.
Upon seeing my dish I thought it looked funny. It reminded me of the Chicago Bulls logo. It may seem like a small portion, but my sister and my mother had to help me finish it. The cheese in the chicken definitely makes the meal more filling. The meat was tender and the lemon butter sauce was amazing.
December 25th
While walking towards Central Park, we stopped by potential cafes and small restaurants to find one to eat breakfast. Weirdly, no one seemed to serve tasty food. There were a lot of buffets and I do not particularly like these. At one point we were very hungry, so we bought two giant pretzels from a street vendor. They cost $6 each, were hard as a rock and tasted nothing, so we clearly had gotten ripped off.
We finally encountered a place that looked nice called Le Pain Quotidien, just across Central Park. I ate a chicken and vegetable soup with bread.
I usually don't order chicken soup at the restaurant (it reminds me of canned chicken noodle soup and I'm not fond of it), but this one was surprisingly good. I really liked the broth, and the chicken and vegetables tasted fresh. Now I want to make my own chicken soup too.
Across the street is Central Park
Central Park
The weather was great, although a bit cold. There were lots of people, but there was more space to walk in comparison with the streets of Times Square. There were people playing music and others making giant bubbles. I would have liked to visit the Conservatory Water, but I think it was too far from where we were (anyway I'm pretty sure the place looks prettier in the summer.)
Skating rink in Central Park
Somewhere in the park, there was a group of young black men doing an acrobatic/dance/humour show. We watched it for about 20 minutes. They made a lot of bold jokes (definitely not "Left-approved") but they were really funny. I did a quick search to find them on the Internet but found nothing. It's strange since there were a lot of people filming with their phone (I thought they would have uploaded it on YouTube.)
After the show, we resumed our walk. My father bought me cream-filled churros from a street vendor. It was my first time trying out churros and I loved it.
We headed back to Times Square. The streets were, per usual, swarmed with people. We went to Forever 21. I was impressed with its size (there are like four or five floors). We also visited other shops such as Rilakkuma. I bought a blue pen. I actually preferred the pink one, but its design was not as cute as the blue.
For supper, we went to Café Un Deux Trois (we actually wanted to go to Olive Garden, but it was closed on Christmas day.) I ordered a pasta dish.
The mozzarella cubes with the sauce were really good, but otherwise, nothing exceptional. The service was rather snobby which spoiled the meal.
For dessert, we wanted to eat cheesecake, but could not find a place that sold it. Then I saw an Auntie Anne's store sign and queued to buy pretzel nuggets (original flavour).
They seemed to have sat for a while in the "stove" (the place that keeps them warm, whatever it's called) so they had lost their freshness by the time I got them. Nonetheless, they tasted better than the toxic pretzel I had earlier this morning.
December 26th
After packing our luggage, we walked to Olive Garden for dinner. The restaurant had been recommended to me by one of my colleagues at work. I had also heard other people rave about it on the Internet.
We arrived at the restaurant at 10.10 and waited for the place to open. At 11.00, we got in and were seated. The view we had was really nice.
I ordered the Ravioli di Portobello (you can see a pic of the dish in the picture below.) The menu was literally food porn to my eyes.
We got served a salad and two breadsticks (I'm still wondering why only two breadsticks and not four since we were four people.)
I took some bites of the breadstick; it's first very salty, then the saltiness is replaced with a strong garlic flavour. I'm not sure why a lot of people go crazy over them because I did not find them that exceptional. As for the salad, my parents really liked it.
Then we received our plates.
My pasta did not look appetizing at first sight, notably because of the orange sauce. But I didn't really mind since the taste is more important. However, the taste was very bland.
As you can see in the above picture, the filling was very liquid compared to what was shown on the menu picture. I mean, I know that the actual dish is usually more deceiving than when shown on the picture, but come on, there was barely any filling in those ravioli.
My mother's dish was a bit better (she had ordered some kind of alfredo tortellini with chicken) but the chicken was gelatinous.
I don't know if I should have ordered something else (that is considered better) or if people simply overrate this place. The meal was okay, but it was not worth the amount on the bill. On top of that, the tip had already been calculated (18 %) and added to the amount. Despite our waitress providing great service throughout the dinner, I should have been given the freedom to calculate the tip myself.
It was a weird way to end our stay in New York, but I was still somewhat happy to have experienced Olive Garden. I had always been curious about it.
All in all, our trip to New York was fun. I enjoyed spending time with my family, but the four days were far from being relaxing. There were too many people, but we were in Times Square so that was to be expected. Also, I found there were not many interesting shops in and around Times Square. There are the usual, way too overpriced, tourist stores, and then the classic retail stores such as H&M, Zara, Forever 21. Living in Montreal, I can access these shops whenever I go downtown, therefore was not that excited to shop there. Moreover, I barely buy from these stores now.
My family would like to go back to New York next year, but to visit other places that are hopefully less crowded. I thought about going to the Brooklyn Bridge but then came across this article and am reconsidering my idea. I think I would prefer to go to a place with fewer people and where there is snow (I thought there would be snow in New York.)
Thanks for reading.
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Pictures for which I could not find a designated space in this post. We often passed by the famous Times Square intersection on our way to places and I snapped two pictures of it. They are not very well-taken, but I still wanted to post them here.
