A Manhattan Love Story | Day 11

Day 11 started with us packing up all our items and heading to a hotel in midtown.  The couple we were housesitting for were headed home that day so they could be at work the next day, and we needed to vacate the premises for them.  So we packed up, cleaned up and headed out to catch a bus. 

It was our first time taking the bus since the Subway was so handy, but we decided to take a bus this time so we could see Manhattan as we drove south rather than just the inside of the subway train.  We quickly realized that there was a very good reason to continue taking the subway.  The bus was, well, slow.

But the city was covered in a thick layer of fog and it was beautiful to see it roll (and I do mean roll) by.

Somewhere up there is the top of the Empire State Building.  Even standing as close as possible to the base of the building, you couldn't see the top.  It was pretty cool!

After checking into the hotel and grabbing a bite to eat we headed out to a close-by laundromat.

I know, we live the high life.  Try not to be jealous.

The condo we had been staying at had a broken washer so we hadn't had the opportunity to do any laundry and after 11 days, it was time to freshen things up.

After the exciting laundry we took our things back to the hotel and got ready for our last (sniff) night in NYC.  We were staying in the heart of midtown and decided to stick close to the hotel.  Right outside I looked up to find that the fog had lifted and the Empire was now showing off with all her pretty lights.

We stumbled upon a fun little pub that spoke to us and enjoyed a great dinner with a few drinks while we reminisced on our time in New York.

It was a low key day full of bittersweet feelings.  We were both ready to sleep in our beds again, and Hannah (who had been away from home longer than me with her pre-New York stay in Portland) was ready to be home and back to her routine.  But I was NOT ready to leave.  I had completely fallen head-over-heels with NYC and the energy of the city by this time and the thought of leaving nearly had me in tears just thinking about it.

Oh, and did I mention that our hotel in midtown (which only cost $99 that night) had this view:

Yup, New York was pulling out all the stops and trying to convince me to stay.

A Manhattan Love Story | Day 10

Day 10 I woke up to my first New York snow!  It was exciting to bundle up and head out to the city with the large flakes falling.

We decided to get on the Subway and stop somewhere we hadn't explored yet.  We ended up choosing to get off near Columbus Circle and Central Park, found a great Parisian cafe and got tea and quiche to enjoy near the window and watch the city go by.  It was a wonderfully relaxing way to spend some time.  One of the best things about spending so much time in New York for this first trip was the ability to really enjoy our time in the city and not feel rushed.  Sitting in a coffee shop for a couple of hours didn't feel like we were wasting time, it just felt relaxing and right.

By the time we left the cafe the snow had turned to rain, but being from the PacNW I wasn't too concerned.  I did learn quickly though that a puffy yarn scarf and rain do not mix.  It quickly felt like having a wet cat wrapped around my next.

While I knew about the LOVE statue that we found on Day 7, I wasn't aware that there was a HOPE one too!  It was really cool to stumble upon HOPE in the middle of the city.

While wandering the lower east side later that day we found a great bookstore called "Shakespeare and Co."  With that name there was no way we couldn't go in!  I had been hearing a lot about Neil Patrick Harris' autobiography, and since we were staying so close to him in the city, I figured it was the perfect time to purchase!  We found another coffee shop nearby and enjoyed reading our new books.

Side note: I finished NPH's book before I got back to Portland and it was easily the best, most cleverly written book I've read in quite awhile.  Two thumbs up!