One of our favorite parts of having Marius join our family this year has been sharing our passion for travel with him. With Boston, Florida, and a Caribbean Cruise out of the way, next on our list was the Big Apple Itself as Marius desperately wanted to see NYC for some weird reason. Why leave Maine when you don’t have to, right?

However despite my hatred for my hometown we actually had  a lovely time by applying my best practices for surviving an urban vacation as an introvert you can read in my weekly newsletter. The 2 days were perfect, and we were able to hit many of the NY hotspots along with eating good food.

Day 1 Arriving in NYC and Broadway

We began with our four-hour drive to New York which turned into a 5-and-a-half-hour drive thanks to some delightful Bronx and Manhattan traffic, I know I know, but the food so it is worth it, I really hate NYC😊.

After risking our lives trying to pull up to the Luxury Collection Hotel which Marius reviewed so well we successfully made it into the lobby to check in and get our lives together. The calming soothing experience of a suite in a 5-star hotel made things better, plus that shower pressure!

First stop, pizza and garlic knots and they did not disappoint.

After that we walked a bit in Central Park, through the Plaza Hotel as we are fans of Home Alone 2 and down 5^th Ave before crossing into Hell (Times Square, can you believe people like this place? What is there to like?)

Marius loved it, and we loved seeing Marius happy (we also loved the pizza and garlic knots). However, we all needed a rest and 5-star hotel time before our evening activities.

Dinner was at Carmines right off Times Square. If you like restaurants that are packed and require you to wait 30 minutes in a crowded side room even though you had a reservation, you will love Carmines!

In all seriousness Carmines offers excellent family style Italian food steps away from the theaters. We wanted Marius to get the experience.

Our final stop for the night was to see the show, Moulin Rouge, on Broadway. Matt and I saw it last year in West End, London and we wanted to share the experience with Marius. It was fabulous and Boy George killed it as Harold, we even got to hear him sing a little of Do You Really Want to Hurt Me and the end which was a treat.

Some people then go out for after-show activities. We went to bed and were so happy to be back at our hotel.

Day 2 Walking the City

Our final full day in the city had less planned. Of course, we could have done something like a hop on-hop off bus, but root canal surgery sounds more appealing than that in New York. Instead, we ubered down to Battery Park and decided to walk all the way up to our hotel and see what we found. More of an Anthony Bourdain style kind of a day without a grand plan. We never thought we would make it all the way to our hotel on 54^th, but we did. It was such a beautiful day.

During our walk we saw the State of Liberty from afar, the Freedom Tower/9/11 Memorial, walked through the Village, stopped for lunch in the village before making our way back to the cesspool known as Midtown, Manhattan. The Village was cute.

We decided to go to Serendipity for dinner and dessert which was cute as it has been a long time. Marius got to taste his first foot-long hot dog, and he ate the entire thing before we shared a large sundae. Instead of going out after we went to sleep in our hotel.

Day 3 Bagels and Home

We woke up early, had bagels and made our way out of Hell and into the Promised Land (Maine).

Overall

Joking aside, we had a fabulous time in NYC with Marius. Another memory of a long list the three of us get to treasure for the rest of our lives. 😊Stay tuned for one more trip with Marus before he returns home.

Bon Voyage,

Andrew