I ran away from home....

(I guess that is a bit of an exaggeration because Paul knew I was going, I have been planning it for a year now and I have saved every penny of my mad money to go. But running away makes the title catchy and makes the trip seem even more adventurous than it already was.)
So, back to my story....
I ran away from home last Friday. My co-conspirator was my friend Jenny who doubled as a tour guide. We had planned this trip last summer and we were so proud of ourselves for pulling it all together. It involves more planning than it used to... babysitters were called, husbands left work, metros and buses.
But we did it! We snuck off in the night to New York City. Jenny has lived there before and she is an old pro. We got off the Chinatown bus at about 11:00 p.m. and the first thing she told me was, "don't look in the trash, you might see a rat". So, keeping my eyes up we caught our first look at NYC. We walked to Times Square found our hotel and ordered a pizza. Who knew riding the bus could work up such an appetite?
The next morning we headed out early-ish and went straight for Jenny's favorite bagel shop on the Upper West Side. And coincidentally her favorite cream puff place was right around the corner. So, with breakfast and dessert taken care of we headed off to Central Park. Loved the park. We wandered around and made our way down to Fifth Avenue. Tiffany sparkles, the Plaze is lovely, Empire State building is tall. We took a rest in Washington park listened to some jazz and then headed off for lunch. My theory is as long as it is Magnolia Bakery and you have more than one cupcake it technically can be called lunch. One cupcake is only a snack kind of like a power bar. But two cakes that gets you going! Shopping commenced in Greenwich Village and Soho. Then dinner (this meal actually had some protein) in Grand Central Station. Later that night we went to Wicked on Broadway.
Are you getting tired yet? Do you need a cupcake?
The next morning we wandered back up to the bagel store (this time we grabbed a dozen for Jenny's husband) and had a mid-morning snack at Greys Papaya. We then went down to the Statton Island Ferry, saw the Statue of Libery, Ellis Island and Battery Park. We walked through the Financial District, saw Ground Zero and several churches along the way.
Back to Chinatown and the trip was complete.

I dedicate this post to Jenny who is now added to my BFF list and was a joy to spend the weekend with.