Since we’ve been stuck inside for forever now, I’ve been reminiscing about all the places I’ve been to and where I really want to visit when it’s safe. I also realized I’d never posted about one of my favorite trips we’ve ever taken – our Christmas trip to New York City in December 2015!
I’ve always been obsessed with the Holiday season. Specifically the Holiday movies based in New York like “Elf” and “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York”, so I’ve always dreamed of visiting New York City during the Holidays. Well, in 2015 we made that happen! It was honestly as magical as I ever could have imagined, and it was freakishly warm that year so I didn’t even have to wear my parka! Seriously ideal weather for walking around the city. It was perfect.
We stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Metropolitan on Lexington Ave, which was great because we were in Manhattan and could walk everywhere and see all the touristy sights. Also, our view also totally reminded me of a scene from Spiderman which was rad in itself.
On our first day we woke up to some gloom, but we were still super pumped because we were headed to MOMA! They had tons of cool stuff there, especially this massive video game hallway that you could actually play!
One of the coolest things that I got to see was Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night! So insane seeing all the paint strokes and the texture up close. I loved it.
This giant sculpture called “Inner Eye” by Lynn Chadwick was pretty rad too, it reminded me of something Tim Burton-esque.
There was also a huge Picasso exhibit which was pretty awesome.
After checking out everything at MOMA we went to grab dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in New York City, Red Bamboo!
We both had the “Soul Chicken Sandwich” which consists of Panko-breaded friend soy chicken nuggets with vegan mayo and vidalia dressing, lettuce and tomato. Served on a ciabatta roll with fries or salad. AKA – SO. GOOD.
Red Bamboo is right near Washington Square Park so we walked around there after our meal and shopped a bit.
I think we actually walked home after walking around Washington Square Park and shopping. We walked A LOT during this trip.
The next day we visited the famous Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, which you should recognize since it’s in pretty much every single movie and TV show based in New York City.
We ended up walking around Central Park for hours, mainly on purpose but also kind of because we got lost for a lil’ bit. LOL. In case you didn’t know, Central Park is freaking HUGE.
After that we had dinner at my absolute FAVORITE vegan restaurant ever – Candle 79 which WAS on the Upper East Side. Heartbreakingly, it’s now permanently closed.
I had the “Wild Mushroom and Butternut Squash Ravioli” which consisted of sautéed spinach, roasted tomato sauce, cashew parmesan, and truffle oil. He had the “Spaghetti and Wheatballs” which consisted of truffle tomato sauce, roasted garlic, spinach, and cashew parmesan.
I was happy to find out the owners of Candle 79 are still running Candle Cafe East and Candle Cafe West. They seem to have a very similar menu so all is not lost! At least I can always go there the next time I’m in town! Also, I bought the Candle 79 cookbook years ago and they have some of my favorite recipes in there. 10/10 highly recommend.
After our dinner at Candle 79 we checked out the Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center. It was absolutely beautiful!
There were tons of Christmas window displays all over too which are always super rad to see!
After checking out the Christmas tree and all the decorations at the Rockefeller Center we decided to check out the view from the “Top of the Rock“!
It was extremely windy and cold up there but it was totally worth it cause the views were amazing! Look at all those lights! I think next time we’ll have to go to the Empire State Building just to get the full New York City touristy experience.
Before all this crazy stuff happened, I kept mentioning how I really wanted to go back to New York. It’s a bummer we’ll have to wait even longer to go, but I guess that just gives me more time to plan out another epic adventure! New York will always be there, and I seriously can’t wait until we can go back!
Until Next time,
