It was sixteen years between my first and second visit to New York City, but only one year between my second and third. Last summer I again found myself in the Big Apple – this time with my friend, Teresa, who was celebrating a very special birthday by visiting this crazy city for the first time. I was super excited to be able to see, do and eat more here after visiting the previous summer. And, amazingly enough, I didn’t see, do or eat one thing that I did the year before! Just goes to show you how much entertainment (and food!) this city enjoys!

Our week started on a Friday and after arriving, taking a train into the city, and checking into our Airbnb accommodations, we headed out to grab some grub. We decided to get our obligatory visit to the Hard Rock Cafe out of the way first thing. This one is located in Times Square and is huge!

Next on the agenda was a trip to the TKTS booth to purchase discounted tickets to a show that evening, which is the perfect way to start a visit to NYC. 🙂 We ended up seeing Something Rotten and it was fantastic!! So, so funny – definitely the funniest musical either of us have ever seen. Highly recommend!

The following day I surprised Teresa with a guided Chocolate Tour of New York. Teresa has a bit of a chocolate obsession and I thought this would be the perfect way to get her chocolate fix in the city. 😀

What a terrific tour! This is the second “foodie” tour I’ve taken – the first being in Vancouver – and I really think I’m going to have to make these a priority in all new cities I visit! Not only are you able to try some delicious food, but you also get to explore neighborhoods you might not visit otherwise and learn a lot about the history of the neighborhoods as well as the city.

This tour, led by Best Tours, started at the Chelsea Market and took us through the West Village, Greenwich Village and SoHo. Such great neighborhoods and deliciously yummy food! We sampled chocolates from Li-Lac Chocolates, mini chocolate cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, huge, warm chocolate chip cookies from Milk & Cookies Bakery, unique chocolates from Royce’ Chocolate (popcorn chocolate or potato chip chocolate caramel, anyone?), chocolate macaron from Bisous Ciao (feeding my insatiable macaron obsession), and more unique chocolates from Vosges Haut-Chocolat. Whew! We were fast on our way to a chocolate overdose and swore we wouldn’t be eating any more sweets during our remaining time in New York (that vow lasted less than 24 hours…).

The next day was Sunday and we decided to head to Brooklyn to attend a service at The Brooklyn Tabernacle. Upon arrival, we were shocked to see a line of people wrapped around the block waiting to enter for the next service! I’ve never waited in line for church before! But it was worth it and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there and hearing the famous Brooklyn Tabernacle choir.

Since we were here, we decided to spend some more time in Brooklyn. First things first and that was lunch! Teresa remembered reading about a famous pizzeria nearby so we headed toward the Brooklyn Bridge and Juliana’s Pizza. There was a short line outside but we didn’t wait too long and were soon seated inside, devouring one of the most delicious pizzas either of us have ever had.

We ordered a small pizza. A small. 😳 But we had no trouble (not much trouble) finishing every last cheesy bite

And what better way to return to Manhattan than via the Brooklyn Bridge! We waited until the sun was starting to make its descent then set off for the mile plus trek across this huge, architecturally beautiful link between the two boroughs.

The walkway was much more crowded than we were expecting but we still enjoyed the stroll and even more so, the views.

Time for more theater! The next morning, after picking up bagels from Best Bagels & Coffee (because what visit to NYC is complete without a good bagel?), we waited in line at the Westside Theatre for rush tickets to see White Rabbit Red Rabbit. And by “line” I mean the two of us were numbers two and three out of a total of four waiting. 😀 But we snagged front row seats!

Between waiting for tickets in the morning and actually going to the show that evening, we embarked on our own little tour of the Upper West Side and more specifically, filming locations used in the movie You’ve Got Mail. That movie has been a favorite of ours for years and we quote lines from it all. the. time.

Creating our own scenes from “You’ve Got Mail” 🙂

That evening we returned to the Westside Theatre where we sat in seats so close to the small stage, our knees were nearly touching it. This is the most unique play I’ve ever seen. I don’t want to give too much away but it’s a one-man (or woman) show and performed by someone who has never seen the script until it’s handed to them onstage in front of the audience. A different actor plays the role each performance and the evening we attended, we had the delight of seeing Josh Radnor. He did a fantastic job and it was a really, really enjoyable play that included some audience participation (shhh…don’t tell anyone I told you 😉 ). It’s no longer playing in NY but if it ever returns – I highly recommend seeing it!

More highlights from New York coming soon! 🙂