 Toni Takes Manhattan ~ May 2007 |
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The Top Ten Things I enjoyed in New York City
#10 ~ Louisa May Alcott’s House
This is the home where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women, tucked quietly away on a quiet street in Grenwich Village. And if you have any knowledge of how confusing Grenwich Village is to a visitor, then you also know it’s downright AMAZING that we found it. That’s my friend and travel companion, Robin, standing in front of it.
#9 ~ The shopping!
Now, if you know me at all, you may find it odd that shopping would come in so low on the list, but hey, there’s a lot going on in NYC. Robin and I made it our quest to seek out some of the shops we’d seen on What Not To Wear, and as luck would have it, we even shared a cab with a nice lady named Rochelle who owns one of the shops, so we found quite a few of them with her guidance! (She owns Precision, in case you’re curious.)
#8 ~ Going to the top of the Empire State Building
The truth is, it was cold and windy up there, but it was still pretty amazing as you can tell by these pictures.
#7 ~ Ellen’s Stardust Diner
Ellen’s Stardust Diner is a cute 50’s themed restaurant where aspiring and out-of-work Broadway performers sing to you while you eat. If you think that sounds fun, it is! And if you think that sounds touristy – well, I am a tourist and I love touristy things. As it happens, a couple of the singing waiters chatted with us for a while – that’s Mike Backes on the left and Eric Robinson on the right – and if you go to Ellen’s, they’ll sing to you, too! Mike does a lovely Luck Be a Lady Tonight – which you can see him singing to Robin here.
#6 ~ Broadway
The lights. The history. The glamour. Seeing a Broadway show was another thing I’ve long wanted to do, and it was super fun. We saw Mamma Mia and loved it. And how lucky were we that by sheer coincidence, the theater was only half a block from our hotel?
#5 ~ The Manhattan skyline
Check out my twilight and nighttime shots. Aren’t they gorgeous? Even more impressive, perhaps, when you find out they were taken from atop a double-decker bus.
#4 ~ Central Park
I enjoyed Central Park immensely. It’s huge! Did you know it covers 843 acres? And if you’ve always envisioned it being sort of a “flat” park, not so – there are lots of hills and dips and humongous rock formations. A truly lovely place and filled with tons to do – concerts, rowboats, a carousel, carriage rides, and more. Here are shots of the start of our carriage ride and a couple of other nice spots.
#3 ~ The publishing world
Of course, I couldn’t visit the Big Apple without touching base with some of my publishing “peeps” : ) I had a lovely breakfast with my web designer, lunch with editor Anne Bohner of NAL, and a nice visit with editor Lucia Macro at the Avon offices.
#2 ~ Finding my Cosmo Excerpt!
Oh what fun to be in the Penn Plaza Borders and have Robin spot the June Cosmo – which contains my Tempt Me Tonight excerpt – for the first time! And yes, the people who worked in the store wondered why we were taking pictures with magazines. We explained, and I took the opportunity to sign the in-stock copies they had of my books.
And the Number 1 highlight of my trip to New York …
Meeting Criss Angel
If you’ve read my newsletters, then you’ve gathered that I’m a big Criss Angel fan. Well, color me lucky – Lucia, my editor, let me know he was doing a booksigning (he’s written a book with Harper Collins, of which Avon is part) while I was in town! So this made for a super fun ending to our super fun jaunt to the city that never sleeps!
