Early V-Day in NYC: Part I

Brian and I spent this past weekend in New York City because I got Wicked tickets for my birthday, and we thought it would make a romantic early Valentine's Day trip! I left Maryland just in time to avoid the (first) blizzard, and we got into Manhattan and checked into our hotel in the early afternoon. It was right in the city with easy access to the Subway, so we got to do a lot in the couple of days we were there.

On Friday night, we shopped on Canal Street and ate dinner at an amazing restaurant in Little Italy before heading over to Rockefeller Center to go to all the way up to the top!

 

The views of New York from the Top of the Rock were absolutely breathtaking. The lights really do sparkle at night, and Times Square gives off so much light, it's ridiculous!

Because I have made it my personal goal to visit all of the notable cupcake bakeries in my vicinity (okay, and maybe the hole-in-the-wall ones, too), after Top of the Rock we headed over to Magnolia Bakery. I had heard a lot of good things about their cupcakes, and got a red velvet one. Brian got something weird with bananas and nuts (obviously, I was not a fan). They were okay, but Crumbs is definitely still the clear winner in my book! (I won't mention that we also ended up going to Crumbs later on in the weekend...twice. And I even maybe brought a couple or six cupcakes home. I wouldn't want to admit that, even if it is all in the name of research.)

On Saturday morning, we headed to Central Park, even though it was FREEZING outside! In my winter Earth Science class, I learned about the glacial striations you can see there. Basically, when glaciers moved down through New York during the last Ice Age, they left marks in the rocks in Central Park! I am fascinated by natural phenomena (I could watch Planet Earth for hours, and have on occasion!), so I just thought this was the coolest thing and had to see it for myself.

I was also feeling really nostalgic because almost exactly two years ago, Brian and I walked through Central Park during our first trip to NY together during Yearling Winter Weekend.

After Central Park, we were frozen to our bones and needed to find somewhere to warm up. We ended up stumbling on Dylan's Candy Bar (while looking for something totally different), which is a candy store owned by Ralph Lauren's daughter. I had seen the store on an episode of Cake Boss and knew we had to go inside!

Besides being probably the biggest candy store I have ever seen in my life and playing some amazing candy-related music (including selections from one of my favorite movies, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), Dylan's also had a small restaurant upstairs where Brian and I got delicious hot chocolates! I call them hot chocolates, but they were really decked out and a lot more like sundaes. And soooo yummy. :)

It may not have been the most balanced breakfast, but it definitely warmed us up! I'm also not going to mention that this might have been Brian's favorite meal we had in NY. After doing some more walking around the city, we ended up at S'MAC for a lunch of personalized macaroni and cheese, which was delicious. We spent the afternoon shopping and exploring Times' Square (notice the Wicked poster?)...

 ...including the M&M store!  (I promise that Brian and I did more on this trip than eat cupcakes and visit candy stores...kind of.)

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for the show! When we were walking back to the hotel from the Subway, we saw the most beautiful sunset against the backdrop of the New York skyline. It looked like it was out of a movie! The sky eventually turned a beautiful shade of purple. :)

I can't wait to tell you all about Wicked, so stay tuned for Part II!