New York City

M and I had a fantastic time over the weekend. :) Sure, the temperature was a little rough on our thin Californian skins (nevermind that M is British; his shivering convinced me he's a true Californian now ;)), but seeing frozen lakes and piles of snow was exciting! It's too bad new snow didn't fall on Saturday... at the same time, I'm glad we didn't get snowed in like nearby states!

We arrived (very) late night on Thursday, so wasn't much to do other than order pizza and snuggle under the covers.

On Friday, we woke up around noon (9am our time! We tried to stay on our normal schedule) and headed over to Battery Park to catch the ferry to Liberty Island. We had tickets to the crown, but we missed the time frame. We still had fun walking around the island.

That night, we went to a cuban restaurant, then saw Phantom of the Opera - we were in the 3rd row, courtesy of M's dad! The cast's voices were amazing - and I've always loved the music! The plot was, uh, a little convoluted. But we still had fun. :)

On Saturday, we went to the Museum of Modern Art and saw the Tim Burton exhibit. At first I thought we wouldn't be able to get in (our window was from 12-12:30 and we got there around 2), but it turned out to not be a problem. And we were both thrilled, because the exhibit was the best part of the museum!

From there, we headed to Central Park. We stopped by the zoo right before it closed. I loooved the rainforest room! All those exotic birds uncaged! (I guess I was lucky they didn't poop on my head :p)

We walked all the way to the Met, and got lost inside for about an hour. Admittedly, part of that time was spent sitting on a bench. We needed time to defrost and give our poor feet a break! Neither of us were too excited by the museum, but I felt like we didn't give it enough of a chance. M kept insisting that the museums in London were much nicer.

We grabbed a cab to Rockefeller Center afterwards. We considered going ice skating, but the blast of frigid air emanating from the rink scared us off. I had tickets to the Empire State Building, but the Top of the Rock was right in front of us, so we opted to go for that.

We walked around for a bit before going up, and I asked M to come into the jewelry store with me. I suppose I had an ulterior motive - I knew M was still hunting for a Valentine's Day present. But I was also pretty sure that jewelry was something he didn't want to get me (see my ring incident :p). After a couple of minutes of browsing, I spotted a reeally pretty ring. I asked to try it on, and as it sparkled on my finger, even M admitted it was lovely. ....And next thing I knew, he was buying it for me. ;) He's a sweetheart!!

That night we went to Ben and Jack's Steakhouse, where M had, and I quote "the best steak of [his] life!" Great steaks, and great service too.

Sunday was our last day. It was beautiful and sunny, so we made the most of it by walking around Times Square for a bit. I had read on Yelp that Amy's Bread was fantastic, so we grabbed a cab and headed over. I got the no nut brownie, the almond brioche bread, the chocolate croissant, a cinnamon knot (can't remember exactly what it was called)... and Yelp did NOT let me down! Everything was soo yummy!

So all in all, we had a really wonderful time. It's a fantastic city. And I can't wait to go back! :)