Once again, it's been awhile since I have blogged, but I hope everybody had a Happy Holiday(s). I am at home right now in Cincinnati to spend time with my family. We just got home from a family vacation to New York City. My mom did all the planning and once again she hit it right on the nose. For everybody that doesn't know, my mom is the best vacation planner there is. She planned our family vacation last year around this time to California down the coast from San Francisco to San Diego and she planned this years as well.
It was my first time to the big apple so I had no idea what to expect, with the exception that there would be HUGE crowds at all times. We stayed in the Trump at Soho which was an extremely nice hotel. If you know my family, it is essential that we have access to a gym and not just a regular hotel gym, but a gym where we can get things done and get a good workout in every morning. Soho is an area of New York City. I guess it's known as the area where all the models are, but I wouldn't be able to spot a model if I tried so I didn't see any. My mom and dad planned out our days once we arrived in the city and they made sure we saw all the typical tourist places along with some places that would be considered off the map for tourists.
Day 1 - The first day we spent around the hotel. We walked around the Soho area and shopped a little bit. It was a very cool area and it was probably my favorite area because there weren't as many people and as many crowds in Soho as there were in the main parts of the city. After we shopped in Soho for a little while, we made our way down to ground zero. I'll never forget ground zero with all the construction still to this day. We also saw Wall Street before heading back to the hotel to relax a little bit. That night we ate at a little Italian restaurant right down the road from our hotel. I won't even try to spell the name because I would do it an injustice. The food was amazing and it was a very cool atmosphere.
Day 2 - After everybody got up and worked out, we all got ready to go out for the day again. We spent the day along 5th avenue shopping and walking around. For dinner we went to a very nice restaurant called BLT Fish. The BLT chain has a couple different restaurants in the New York City area, but my Dad had been to BLT Fish before and loved it. He wanted to take us back to show us. We met one of my parents friend's daughters there as well because she goes to college in NYC. She is also pretty good friends with my little brother, Max. The meal was unbelievable. The best part of the meal and the most unreal part of the meal was dessert. We had ordered several different ones because there are 6 people with 6 different tastes in my family (the menu only had 7 different dessert choices). I think the restaurant was shocked at how much dessert we ordered they just threw in the other dessert dishes that we had not ordered as a thank you. They also give everybody green apple flavored cotton candy at the end of the meal. It was an awesome place!
Day 3 - After the workouts, we spent the day around Times Square walking around and shopping once again. Times Square was one of the cooler visuals I have ever seen. I have always seen it in movies and on TV, but this was the first time I had seen it in person and it was unreal. There were so many people walking around that it was honestly hard to maneuver between everybody. My poor little 9 year old brother almost got ran over multiple times. That night my mom had gotten tickets for the family to go see the Rockettes. I am in no way a museum person or musical show person, but this show was pretty good. It was cool to see the famous Rockettes and it was worth going to see. After the show, we ate at a nice Italian place that looked like it could be the headquarters for the Italian mafia. We had reservations, but we could've gone in without any and have been sat in the same amount of time. Once we did sit down, the food was worth the wait. They are known for their veal and I shied away from it, but my mom got it. I ended up trying it and it was really really good. I ended up eating the rest of her dish that she didn't eat.
Day 4 - My Dad is originally from Framingham, Massachusetts so his entire family live in that region. He has some cousins that live in the Brooklyn area and we spent a day to go visit with them. We met his cousin at a little mexican burrito place in Brooklyn called Calexico. We then walked around the Brooklyn area and he showed us a great view of the city skyline. He also showed us where he plays stickball on occasions. He even gave Cooper a stick ball bat (its basically just a small dowel stick). Cooper has been pumped about it and has been wanting to play ever since he has gotten it. I told him we will play after i get a bat grip to put on the stick, but what he doesn't know is that he won't win (yes, I know I'm too competitive to let my 9 year old brother win). The only down part of the day was that it was a little gloomy and rainy out, but it didn't stop us from walking around. Later that night, we went back into the city to eat dinner with my dad's cousins. There were three of them, Seth, Marne, and Suzanne and Suzanne's boyfriend. We went to a place called Sammy's Romanian Steakhouse. Let me tell you, words can't even begin to describe how cool and how much fun this place was. It was one of the funnest times I have ever had. It is this heavy Jewish steakhouse with very traditional styles. They sat us upstairs where the ceiling was so low that I had to bend over so I wouldn't hit my head (I am only 6 feet tall if that gives you any help with how low the ceiling was). Nobody had ever been there, but Seth had friends that recommended it. When we first arrived the waiter came up to us and said what do you want to drink? Vodka? (Does that help to describe the place a little bit?) Of course we said sure to the Vodka. The steakhouse served everything family style in very large proportions. We had chopped liver, chicken, stuffed cabbage, steak, salad, sausage, and salmon. There was way too much food for all of us to finish, but my favorite was the stuffed cabbage and chopped liver. All the food was unbelievable. The funniest part of the night was the DJ. They had a very Jewish DJ (my brothers and I said he is dead on Weird Al Yankovich if Weird Al had never gotten famous) that had a very heavy Jewish New York accent that made Jewish jokes and made fun of everybody there. It was hysterical. He played all the traditional Jewish songs earlier in the night and then once it started getting late, it seemed like the place turned into a club! By the end of the night, we were all dancing and having a great time (maybe due to the Vodka? but I would like to think it was because of the great company!). As we were walking out to leave, we saw a site that I thought I would NEVER see. We saw a guy being carried out by two of the guys that work there (yes I have seen somebody so drunk get carried out before). The funny thing was that he was an orthodox Jew! He had the long long beard with the curly cue side burns. We all thought he was going to blow chunks all over us so we made a dash to get out of the way! It was the absolute best way to celebrate Hanukkah with the ones I love. I still can't get over how much fun it was!
Day 5 - Once again, after we all worked out and got ready, we spent the day walking through the Flat Iron District. After I worked out, I had an interview with the kid reporter! She has interviews Curtis Granderson among other big league players. Her name was Haley and we met in the lobby of my hotel for the interview. She asked some great questions and as soon as the article is published, hopefully I will have a link to it so everybody can see! She really did a great job! It is called that because of a famous building. The building looked crazy! it was fit into this tiny corner, but it had a great view of the Empire State Building. After we walked around the Flat Iron District, we went up to the top of the Empire State Building. It was so windy up there, but the view from the top was unreal. You could see forever it seemed like!
Day 6 - This was our last full day in New York City and we spent the day walking around and shopping by the Rockefeller Center (if you haven't caught on, my family loves to shop). We had a tour of the NBC studios as well. After the tour, we went and ate at the famous Carnegie Deli. The portions there were unreal! The corned beef and roast beef sandwiches were stacked high. I don't know how one person is expected to eat a whole sandwich. That night we had tickets to the Rangers vs. Flyers hockey game. It was the first hockey game I have ever been to and I'll admit it was awesome! It was so much fun! I think hockey is the only sport where you can't get through the entire National Anthem quietly. People were cheering and going crazy throughout the entire song! The game was awesome, even though the only rule I know is that fighting isn't discouraged! I am a new fan of hockey as I think my brothers are too.
Day 7 - We had a flight out of New York City later that night so we still had half a day to do things. We went and saw Grand Central Station. It too looked like it was out of a movie! Apple had a store there that was really really cool because it was right in the middle of the station, but if you weren't looking for it, you wouldn't have noticed it. After that, we made our way to the airport a little early, hoping to miss the Holiday traffic. It was our lucky day, a TSA worker let us slip by the lines! I think it was due to the fact that he saw our family was so big and we had a little 9 year old. We had a safe flight home and it was really good to be home. There is nothing like home!
It was a very successful trip and a very fun trip. Everybody enjoyed it and it was great to be with all the family together! My mom did an exceptional job planning the trip and my dad planned out the days. I feel like we saw everything we needed to see and then some! I hope everybody has a great New Year!
