There Goes Connie

A Christian Travel Blog: Trip info on Monday and devotionals on Friday.

  • Home
  • Testimonials
  • Media Kit
  • Devotionals
  • Published Articles
  • About Me
You are here: Home / Archives for Times Square

Foodie Finds in NYC

01/21/2019 By: CCPearsoncomment

Sometimes you visit a city specifically for the restaurants. Other times you go for the experiences and let the dining options unfold in a “whatever you can find when you get hungry” kind of way. That’s pretty much what Steve and I did when we were in New York recently. If you’re planning a trip in the coming months, here are a few choices to consider.

Europa Cafe

We were cold and hungry, walking between Rockefeller Center and Times Square, when we happened into this deli/cafe/coffee shop kind of place. It was warm. The smells were enticing, and we were glad to be there. We had hot chocolate, shared a large sandwich and a pastry and were ready to face the world again. Lots of fresh soup choices, too.

Crossroads American Kitchen 

This is a breakfast and dinner restaurant inside the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. It’s an enormous space and can serve a large number of people rather quickly. The breakfast buffet is packed with items, including an omelet station, but the price is a little high. We ordered from the menu and enjoyed our dishes very much.

New Apollo Diner in Brooklyn

The best things to say about New Apollo Diner? It’s a half block away from the Brooklyn Tabernacle. It has a large menu. And, you will get a taste of the local culture and atmosphere. Portions are huge. If we lived in the area, that would have been an advantage, and we’d have requested carry-out boxes. We wished we had shared an entree. Service is good. No doubt, you will spot people you just worshipped beside at the church service.

The Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station

Grand Central Station itself is historic, and the architecture is amazing — definitely worth a visit. There is an entire Dining Concourse in the bowels of the station. (I use that word because it is underground and a little dark with a lot of concrete and passageways). You’ll find everything from the Chirping Chicken and Eata Pita to the newly-opened Shake Shack. We chose the Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant because we just wanted to sit and relax awhile. The Manhattan Clam Chowder and fried oysters we shared were very good.

Food Hall at The Plaza

There is a more upscale food hall on the premises – the Todd English Food Hall — but we opted to just browse the kiosks, nooks and crannies of the larger food hall. There are at least 20 possibilities to consider, and they are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you’re at Central Park, this might be a good option, especially if you’re looking for something economical.

Palm Court for breakfast

It is most famous as the site of Afternoon Tea, but breakfast there is outstanding, too. It’s definitely an extravagance, but very nice.

Thoughts

One day we grabbed a few pizza slices from the prepared items at Whole Foods in Columbus Circle, and we found several McDonald’s and Applebee’s locations. We didn’t go in. That’s just an F.Y.I. You can spend a lot or you can spend less-than-a-lot on meals in the Big Apple. Notice I didn’t use the word cheap. Nothing is really cheap, but you won’t go hungry.

In May of 2000, we had dinner at Windows on the World at the top of the World Trade Center. It was one of the most amazing meals of our lives. We also had lunch one day at Loeb Boathouse in Central Park across from the Museum of Modern Art and later ate hot dogs at Yankee Stadium before their game with the Red Sox. And, in 2008, we enjoyed Thanksgiving Dinner at Tavern on the Green in Central Park after watching Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I suggest that when you plan your trip to NYC just decide what your must-do’s are and fit them into your budget and your itinerary. My goodness, what a great city!!

Now, enough about New York. Stay tuned for my next adventure.

Christmas Experiences in New York City

12/10/2018 By: CCPearson4 Comments

It has been on my Bucket List for several years to “do New York City at Christmastime.” This was not a foodie trip, although we found some great food. This was not a shopping trip — but time for browsing holiday markets and window shopping did happen. This trip was a collection of experiences. 

We flew in on a Friday and flew back home the following Tuesday. We lucked out on great weather. It was cold but not freezing, and it rained only on one day. During our 3 1/2 days in the Big Apple, we managed to fit in these activities:

  1. We strolled through Times Square and Rockefeller Center, including the new F.A.O. Schwartz Toy Store, the big tree, and the astounding music/light display at Sak’s 5th Avenue.
  2. We took in a Broadway play. For this visit, we saw “My Fair Lady,” one of my all-time favorites. I know every song and most of the dialogue. For this one, we took the subway to Lincoln Center and saw it in the Vivian Beaumont Theater. It was done superbly — every note, every set change, all the costumes fabulous.
  3. We visited the new World Trade Center and the 9-11 Memorial. Sobering. Such a testament to the resilience of the citizens of NY to rise from those ashes.
  4. We attended a service at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. (More about that in next Friday’s post).
  5. We browsed the holiday markets at Grand Central Station and at Columbus Circle.
  6. We gazed at the elaborate window displays along 5th Avenue.
  7. We had Afternoon Tea at The Plaza — so delicious and elegant. This was my Christmas gift from Steve. I LOVED it!
  8. We saw the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall featuring the Rockettes. We had seen the Rockettes in Nashville in years past, but I’m so glad we saw them in their home setting. The lighting, staging and special effects were SO MUCH BETTER in NYC. 
  9. We survived several taxi rides with Middle Eastern taxi drivers. 🙂 Actually, they were very friendly and did a good job of navigating the traffic.
  10. We figured out which way was Downtown and which was Uptown — very important when using the subway system.
  11. We tried real Manhattan Clam Chowder — and liked it a lot.
  12. We averaged over 10,000 steps a day.
  13. We were there for the first two nights of Hanukkah and saw the World’s Largest Menorah.
  14. We stayed at the Marriott Marquis in the heart of Times Square for 2 nights and then enjoyed our biggest splurge by staying at The Plaza for the last 2 nights. Trust me. The Plaza deserves a blog post all its own. It was everything I had hoped and more. 

Now, for a few photos that might tempt you to start planning your Christmas visit to NYC. 

Saks 5th Avenue
Radio City Music Hall, home of the Rockettes
Iconic keyboard in FAO Schwartz looking out onto the Rockefeller Center tree
9-11 Memorial site
One view of Times Square
Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle
Window display on 5th Avenue.
Window display on 5th Avenue
Palm Court inside The Plaza, site of Afternoon Tea
Christmas tree in the lobby of The Plaza

The Christmas Trees of NYC (Guest Post from Weston and Tina Shelton)

12/30/2015 By: CCPearsoncomment

(One of the joys of my life has been teaching music to hundreds of young people in Hartselle and Morgan County.  Through the wonder of Facebook, I am able to keep up with many of them even years later and watch as they blossom and become all God made them to be.  Today’s post very likely could be given the MOST BEAUTIFUL award so far on my blog.  Weston and Tina Shelton, both former students from Hartselle, recently made a Christmas trip to New York City.  They graciously agreed to share both their writing and photography talents with all of you.  I’m sure you will agree, after reading this and clicking on all of the photos, many more places are now added to our Bucket Lists.  Thank you so much, Weston and Tina).

Photos by Weston Shelton.  Be sure to click on each one.  

ThereGoesConnie.com has been such a positive and uplifting social media presence, and we are honored to have been asked to write a guest post about our recent Christmas vacation to The Big Apple.
As a child, I always dreamed of Christmastime in the city. Since we are in the process of building a home and without the usual hustle and bustle of decorating and entertaining, this seemed like the perfect year to sneak away during the holidays! Now that we know New York City is such an easy trip from north Alabama, I foresee many future visits.
We arrived at the centrally located Hotel Edison on Friday evening to this lovely lobby Christmas tree.

Edison Hotel lobby

Hotel Edison lobby

Hotel Edison is an art deco style, 1930’s boutique hotel in the heart of Times Square. If you are looking for a clean, safe and reasonably priced hotel in mid-town Manhattan, this is the place for you. If you are looking to spend significant time in the confines of the hotel and need a spacious, luxurious room, look elsewhere. After checking-in and dropping off our bags, we immediately walked the half block to Times Square where we found this high tech Christmas tree, just above which you will see the New Year’s Eve crystal ball.

NYC trees 2

The following morning we went directly to the TKTS booth in Times Square, where we purchased tickets for the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular at a great price! Beware, the TKTS line looks intimidating, but moves very quickly. From there we made our way to Radio City Music Hall where we saw our next legendary tree.

Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall

However, the Swarovski Christmas Tree completely caught me off guard. Said to be worth over $1 Million dollars, this tree took my breath away.

NYC trees 4 NYC trees 5

The Christmas Spectacular is truly spectacular and so much more than the Rockettes’ signature kickline. From uniforms and numbers originally choreographed in 1933, to specifically engineered snow drones that float through the room, and finally the most beautiful live nativity we have ever witnessed, the show has something for everyone and exceeds the spectacular expectation.
We then made our way through Rockefeller Center to the Top of the Rock, which was my favorite view of the city (Weston preferred the Empire State Building).

Weston and Tina at the Top of the Rock.

Weston and Tina at the Top of the Rock.

Upon returning to the ground, we found St. Patrick’s Cathedral and this beautiful Christmas tree and yet another beautiful nativity.

Christmas tree at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Christmas tree at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

St. Patrick's Cathedral nativity scene

St. Patrick’s Cathedral nativity scene

You will notice that the baby Jesus is absent. We understand that He makes His arrival in a moving service on Christmas Eve.

Leaving the cathedral, we found The Palace hotel located on the following block along with these two Christmas trees and a sweet gingerbread palace.

NYC trees 9 NYC trees 10 building

 

 

 

NYC trees 16

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was The Plaza Hotel, where we found this well-known tree in the lobby.  Here, your child can fulfill all of her Eloise dreams or have a picture taken with a Santa who is fortunate enough to get to spend his time on a white and gold gilded chaise lounge. The lower level of the Plaza features a food court that is out of this world. Crepes, chocolates, baked goods and even lobster rolls!

 

Plaza Hotel Christmas tree

Plaza Hotel Christmas tree

After dark, we started making our way up 5th Avenue, taking in all of the elaborately decorated store windows and toward the larger than life light show display on the Saks Fifth Avenue building. I believe the light show has in excess of 200k lights!

NYC trees 12 NYC trees 13

 

We ended our evening , near where we started, at the iconic Rockefeller Christmas Tree and ice skating rink. As the tree started to twinkle, I declared this as the most fun day of my life. Weston questioned me on the huge statement, but over a week later, I still stand by my declaration.

Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center

During the next two days, we visited the Brooklyn Bridge, 9/11 memorial pools, St. Paul’s chapel (founded in 1766 and the location of George Washington’s post inauguration prayer in 1789), floated by the Statue of Liberty, went to the top of the Empire State Building and shopped and snacked our way through Chelsea, Greenwich Village and Soho! The Christmas season has come to a close, but as you start planning your 2016 vacations definitely consider moving New York City up on your list. We’d love to help you plan your trip or hear about your past trips to the Big Apple!

Lobby of the Empire State Building

Lobby of the Empire State Building

A flower shop in Chelsea

A flower shop in Chelsea

 

 

Connie Collier Pearson, travel and food writer and blogger

Connie Collier Pearson, travel and food writer and blogger

Travel tips on Mondays and devotionals on Fridays.

Top 10 Christian Blogs, Websites and Newsletters to Follow in 2018

Subscribe to “There Goes Connie”

Trip101

Check out travel guides and hotel reviews by travel experts at Trip101

Recent Posts

  • Christmas in NYC, Revisited 12/09/2019
  • Revisiting Godward Thoughts from New York City, 2018 12/06/2019
  • PASSION AND LOYALTY — Secrets to a fulfilling life? 11/08/2019
  • Artists and Artisans in South Carolina’s Thoroughbred Country 11/04/2019
  • A Place Called “God’s Acre” 11/01/2019
  • South Carolina’s Thoroughbred Country – Spotlight on Aiken, SC. 10/28/2019
  • When Your Cheerleaders Don’t Show Up 10/25/2019
  • PUBLIC ART Reveals Civic Pride in Cartersville, GA and Clarksville, TN 10/21/2019

Archives

Tags

9-11 Memorial Asheville Bed and Breakfast Association Asheville NC Bay St. Louis Birmingham AL Brooklyn Tabernacle cajun Canton OH Cartersville GA Charleston SC Charlotte NC Cleveland Indians Cleveland OH Columbia TN creole Denver Florence AL Franklin TN French Quarter fried green tomatoes GA Georgia restaurants Gervasi Vineyard grandchildren Gulf Shores AL Gumbo Love by Lucy Buffett Hartselle AL Helen GA Huntsville AL Matthew 7:12 N.C. New York City Niffer's Old 96 District Orange Beach AL Radio City Music Hall Rockefeller Center seafood Smoky Mountains The Church at West Franklin The Plaza Times Square TN Toomer's Corner World Food Championships

Tags

9-11 Memorial Asheville Bed and Breakfast Association Asheville NC Bay St. Louis Birmingham AL Brooklyn Tabernacle cajun Canton OH Cartersville GA Charleston SC Charlotte NC Cleveland Indians Cleveland OH Columbia TN creole Denver Florence AL Franklin TN French Quarter fried green tomatoes GA Georgia restaurants Gervasi Vineyard grandchildren Gulf Shores AL Gumbo Love by Lucy Buffett Hartselle AL Helen GA Huntsville AL Matthew 7:12 N.C. New York City Niffer's Old 96 District Orange Beach AL Radio City Music Hall Rockefeller Center seafood Smoky Mountains The Church at West Franklin The Plaza Times Square TN Toomer's Corner World Food Championships

Copyright © 2025 · Modern Blogger Pro Theme By, Pretty Darn Cute Design