October 2025
Where We Stayed: Hard Rock Hotel
One of my bestie’s and I took her daughter to New York City for a weekend. We crammed A LOT into 48 hours! Here are my thoughts:
- We arrived around 8pm, checked into our hotel which was near Times Square, and then headed out for dinner — a slice of NYC pizza.
- The next day, we did a Hop On Hop Off Tour, which I would not recommend. In the past, I loved these tours because it was a great way to get around the city and to learn a lot along the way. But the pandemic eliminated the live tour guides, so now it’s just a recording with cheesy jokes and minimal real information about the city. Not to mention the track never quite syncs with what you’re looking at. Also, we spent more time stopped in traffic than anything else.
- We went to the Top of the Rock to see the city, which we all loved. And on a whim, we stopped at FAO Schwartz afterward — and our time in the toy store turned out to be an unexpected highlight of the trip. It was so fun and magical and I hadn’t been in a traditional toy store in so long. Ahh, nostalgia.
- The next day brought the Statue of Liberty! We stopped to have bagels for breakfast (they really are better in New York), then took the subway to Battery Park to catch the ferry over to Lady Liberty.
- After Lady Liberty, we walked to Ground Zero and then to Little Italy for lunch.
- We had some chill time at the hotel and went to see SIX on Broadway that evening. It was my third time seeing SIX, which isn’t too shabby for the woman who doesn’t love musicals. ;)
- We flew home the next day. Thursday evening through Sunday morning – a whirlwind weekend in New York. We had a great time!
Tile at LGA
Here we go!
Lobby of the Hard Rock Hotel
Late-ish night pizza!
We also visited the M&M store, which was more fun than I was expecting it to be.
Fantastic floor.
Virgil, the Jellycat frog that I got at FAO Schwartz. Once a kid, always a kid!
