Central Park & the WEST SIDE!

Let's get back to NYC, shall we?

Day 6

Jeremy and I are big Seinfeld fans....well, I'm a fan. Jeremy's more of a fanatic. *haha* He's seen every single episode of the show, most of them probably a dozen times. We watch the show almost nightly on TV and we also own the entire series on DVD so occasionally we'll pop in a season and have a little marathon. SO, knowing that much of Seinfeld was filmed in New York City, we had to stop by at least one of the show's landmarks. Tada! 

This view of Tom's Restaurant (which they called "Monk's" in the show) is shown in just about every episode. It's really iconic. We went there first thing Sunday morning for breakfast. They never actually filmed inside the restaurant since the show was filmed on a soundstage, but it was still so cool to see!

Then our afternoon was spent at the American Museum of Natural History. You know, where "Night At The Museum" is supposed to take place. I'm not sure they actually filmed any of that in the real museum, but I did manage to offer some "Gum Gum" to the "Dum Dum." :)

I wanted to walk around the Upper West Side neighborhood near the museum, so that's where we headed next. It's the ritzy side of town where "Nanny Diaries" and "You've Got Mail" were filmed, and incidentally where I would want to live if I were a New Yorker. The row houses are SO charming. We also found Cafe Lalo, which was in "You've Got Mail." Remember the place where Meg Ryan sits with the book and rose waiting to meet her pen pal? This is the place! 

Another reason I'd want to live on the Upper West Side is that it's home to a little restaurant called P'inch & S'mac. They sell pizza by the inch and AMAZING varieties of the best food known to man: macaroni & cheese.  You can choose what type of cheese and if you want you can add different meat and veggies. It was divine. Had I been myself with full appetite, I could have easily eaten much more. I chose the all-american cheese mix with hot dogs mixed in. Doesn't get more comfort-food than that, does it? :) We made our way back on our last day when I was feeling better so I could really enjoy myself. *haha*

With full tummies we headed to Central Park, though by now the temperature was dropping rapidly and it was getting quite windy. If I may be more specific about my preferred New York accommodations, I would like an Upper West Side row house within comfortable walking distance to Central Park. What an amazing place! And considering that it was so beautiful with bare trees, I can only imagine how stunning it must be during the rest of the year. My favorite parts were the Castle (which we got to climb to the top of) and Bethesda Fountain (that can be seen in many, many New York movies, including "Enchanted.")

Have you heard of Magnolia Bakery? It's positively famous! I think they went there on Sex & The City and that's one of the reasons it's become so popular now. We stumbled upon it after we left Central Park and we popped inside to warm up...and indulge in a cupcake of course. Well I think Jeremy had a brownie or something, but I saw this snowman cupcake and COULD NOT resist. 

This was the evening we'd planned on taking a carriage ride and we followed through with that plan despite the frigid temperature and wind. Luckily they provided a thick, cozy blanket and we snuggled together with our hot chocolate, so the cold wasn't that bad.