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One of my favorite places we visited while in New York was Battery Park. Everyone thinks of Central Park when they think of NYC, but Battery Park is also pretty amazing, too.
It's a lot smaller than Central Park but it's a really nice park to just walk around, take in the sea breeze, and see some history. It's at the very tip of lower Manhattan, which allows you to see the Statue of Liberty from afar! It was obviously a little rainy and hazy the day we went, so I feel like the pictures don't really do it justice, but it was such a beautiful place. They have a bunch of gardens and with it being right on the water you get a nice sea breeze that feels so refreshing!
The park is also full of memorials. The eagle from the East Coast Memorial is directly in line with the Statue of Liberty, which I thought was a really cool random fact about the park. It's full of history and is so peaceful. Oh and to get even more random on you...there are wild turkeys roaming around the park?
A little rain never killed anyone ;) It was a nice stroll through a beautiful place. I'm not sure if it was because of the light rain, time of day, or that's just the way the park is but it was not crowded at all. There are tons of benches to sit on and overlook the greenery and the water. The perfect place to get away from it all!
Where is your favorite place in New York City?
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One of the random fun places we stopped off while in NYC was Pier 17. We were recommended this pier by a stranger that told us it was one of the best views of the Brooklyn Bridge...boy we're they right!
They aren't the most amazing pictures ever taken of the bridge due to the construction they were doing on the bridge, but oh well! It was so amazing to be able to see the whole thing from afar. It turned in to a beautiful day that afternoon, and we had so much fun strolling in and out of the little shops that they have inside the pier.
A tradition Caleb and I have when we go on trips is to get a Christmas ornament. At the current time they just go on our one and only tree we have room for in our apartment, but when we get a house, we plan on buying a 2nd tree that we're going to dub as our "travel tree." We want it to be filled with ornaments from all over the world one day. Lucky for us, Pier 17 has a Christmas shop (yes a Christmas shop in May) that we could get an awesome little ornament at for this very special tradition.
We wanted to stroll around the south seaport area but unfortunately that wasn't doable. This was another area that was very damaged from Hurricane Sandy. It looked like such a cute little area with lots of shops and cobblestone roads. Back when we went everything was still boarded up and the cobblestone was faded and turning an odd color. I hope the city was able to fix this little area up and it's back to its quaint self!
Do you have any fun travel traditions? If so, what are they? I'd love to read about them!
Like the Yellow Monday's Facebook page to be in the know about what's going on around this little corner of the internet! An old favorite of ours here in sweet home Chicago is Elephant & Castle. It's your classic English pub and we have two locations here in Chitown. Elephant & Castle has been on the Chicago City Guide from the beginning and since Caleb and I had a fun little date night there this past weekend, we figured we should share this favorite spot more in depth with all of you! Food + Drink So as I said before this is one of our favorite spots in Chicago, and we always go back for more. We don't usually deviate from our drink order of Strongbow cider for me and a Black and Tan for Caleb, so that's exactly what we got on Friday and they were just as good as they always are. We had a bit of a cold spring weekend here in Chicago, so Caleb and I decided we could go for some soup to start out with and lucky for us the soup of the day was clam chowder! Now if you've been reading here for awhile you know I'm pretty new to clam chowder (I tried it for the first time last summer at PIER 39 in San Fransisco), so I guess I haven't really had my fair share of bad clam chowders, but I like to think I started out with the best of the best. Well the clam chowder at Elephant & Castle was right up there with the bowl I had at PIER 39. It was the perfect starter to warm us up. Next we couldn't pass up the chance for one of their yummy appetizers, and this time around we went with the pub pretzels (I'm a huge sucker for pretzels...I almost always get them as an appetizer), and they didn't disappoint! They were huge soft pretzel sticks that came with a spiced ale mustard. So delicious! For our entree, we split the fish and chips and it was so much food it was a good thing we shared. Their fish and chips make me not mind that it is lent and I am limited to only fish and no meat options on Fridays! Ambience + Atmosphere So this past week we actually went to a different Elephant & Castle location than we normally do. We usually go to the one on Adams St. in the Loop but instead we went to their second location on Wabash in Streeterville. The reason behind the switch was the distance between the bar we checked out after dinner that was located in River North. The Wabash location was pretty crowded and loud when we got there and compared to a more mellow atmosphere at the Adams location. But about half way through dinner it died down and it was perfectly fine. I think the Wabash location is a pretty popular post-work drink spot for people. However, both locations are seriously great. Like I said above, it is a classic English pub so it's dimly lit and pretty casual. It's a great spot to meet friends for a delicious casual dinner or have a laid back date night like Caleb and I did. Location + Transportation Since I already went over location...Wabash vs. Adams...we'll just jump in to transportation. I do not suggest driving. There are some parking garages near by but they are very expensive. There is also limited meter parking in this area and good luck finding one on a weekend night. The best way to get to both locations is by train. The CTA or Metra both work for the Adams location and the CTA works for the Wabash location. The Wabash location is very close to the Clark/Lake stop or the State/Lake stop for the CTA and the Adams location is a couple blocks away from Union Station for the Metra and the Jackson CTA stop. They are both in great locations to also have a meal and then do something else in the city. The Adams location is near Michigan Ave (museums, parks, and shopping) and the Wabash location is near River North and the Magnificent Mile (bars and shopping). Extras + Details Elephant & Castle does not accept reservations. When we went on Friday night around 7 PM, we were told it would be about a 45 minute wait. Not too bad for a Friday night, so we went with it. We fought our way through the crowd at the bar and got our drinks and sipped for a few minutes off to the side. They texted Caleb that our table was ready after only 20 minutes. It was a nice surprise that we only had to wait half the time! They seem to be pretty good with getting the food out nice and quick to get people in and out, which really helps with the wait times. However, they don't rush you out either. If you want to sit and chat for awhile when you're done eating that's always fine by them. We've done this plenty of times with friends in the past. They accept all major credit cards and are good about splitting the bill if you need to pay separately. Overall Impression I really love both locations of Elephant & Castle. The service is great at both of them and the food is exactly the same. I would say it just depends on what you want to do before or after that will decide the location choice. This restaurant is one of my all time favorites in Chicago, and I will always highly recommend it. I already can't wait to go back myself! We also checked out a new bar in River North after our amazing dinner and loved it so much that it's been added to the Chicago City Guide! Make sure you check the guide out and have a drink at Henry's Swing Club next time you're in the area.
Hey all! Yes, I'm still stuck on New York. I just can't help it! I still have so much I want to share with you all! So lets throw it back again to mine and Caleb's Graduation Exploration trip to NYC yet again and talk about this awesome little cruise we went on!
As a part of our amazing City Pass that we got on this trip, we had the "choice" to either go on a cruise around the lower half of Manhattan or go to Ellis Island. Well when we went back in May '13 there was still some damage on Ellis Island from Hurricane Sandy, so we didn't really have a choice...we had to do that cruise. But that's okay because it was awesome! The cruise had the most wonderful views of EVERYTHING.
I think this cruise was one of the best ways to see most of Manhattan. It takes you from west 42nd St. to east 42nd St. and then back. There were great views of the bridges, New Jersey, the Statue of Liberty, the Freedom Tower, the United Nations, and just so much more that I could go on listing for hours.
The boats have a top deck that will keep you outside with the river breeze in your hair or you can go to the lower decks and sit inside and enjoy through a window. We did both on our cruise. If you want to get a good seat on the upper deck outside, then I suggest getting there really early. We made it just in time for our cruise and had to stand up there, which made it a little difficult to get really great shots of everything. However, we found a way to manage just fine! The thing to remember with these kinds of tourist attractions is mostly every one is a tourist and everyone wants great pictures, so you need to stay patient. If you're nice to others, then they will be nice back (most the time).
If I remember correctly it took about 90 minutes to go around the bottom half of Manhattan and back. It was the perfect afternoon and a really fun time! I can't say we would want to do it again, but I definitely suggest giving it a try at least once when you're in New York.
How would you prefer to see NYC?
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I've got some more New York musings for you all today! We woke up bright and early on our last day in NYC to jam pack as much as humanly possible in to our day before we had to head home. Our first stop that morning was the Museum of Modern Art aka MoMA! Now don't hate me for this, but I'm not the biggest fan of "modern" art but I do like to give everything in life a fair chance. Plus the museum was a part of our City Pass we purchased while we were there. PLUS MoMA is the home of Starry Night by Vincent van Gough!
I absolutely loved the "What is Painting" by John Baldessari and I completely agree with what it has to "say." We can analyze art all we want but in the end it all comes down to what each individual sees and how it effects them personally.
There she is...Starry Night! This is Caleb's favorite painting and I must agree with him that it is a beauty. It is well worth a trip to this museum just to see this magnificent piece of art.
MoMA also had a big architecture exhibit, which was incredibly fascinating. Caleb is really in to architecture, so we of course walked through the whole thing and got to see the ins and outs of how some of the most intricate buildings were made. A lot of the models were of buildings in France and were so beautiful!
We spent a short amount of time in MoMA but it was time well spent. I would definitely enjoy going back and exploring more of the wings we didn't get to see and taking in some more modern art. You know what they say, "all art starts out modern!"
I am a big fan of Andy Warhol. I think the Rorschach painting is awesome. That's the psychology nerd in me though.
Check out our Flickr account for more photos from our New York City trip we took back in the spring of 2013!
During our trip to New York City, Caleb and I spent multiple days exploring Central Park. It was one of the first places we went when we got to NYC! We got some hot dogs from one of the million vendors scattered throughout the park and wandered around.
It was just so fascinating to see such a beautiful natural place like this right smack in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world! There is the other fact that so many movies are filmed here that you recognize everything and get all excited about it. This is also where I got my adorable Kate Spade x The Strand tote. The Strand has a little book stand located right in Central Park!
We also took a little break from Central Park and went to Laudrée to get some macarons! It was a super short walk since the little French pastry shop is located on the Upper East Side. We sat on a big tree stump and enjoyed our little heavenly cookies.
We went back to Central Park to have a picnic for lunch on our 3rd day. We got some food from the Grand Central Market and ate in front of the little sailboat pond. It was such an enjoyable afternoon and one of my favorite memories from our trip!
On day four of our trip we got some ice cream from a vendor and walked around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. Not only was it a beautiful day, but it's such a beautiful area of the park! We walked around the lower part to get from the east side to the west side. It was the perfect way to get across Manhattan.
Our last visit to Central Park was on our fifth and final day and we went to see Strawberry Fields. This is a quite zone of the park and it's to pay tribute to the late John Lennon. There was a musician there playing some Beatles music on a guitar. It was seriously magical. I waited my turn to get my chance to be up close with the famous Imagine circle. We sat and ate a gyro and overlooked The Lake with the soft Beatles music in the background. It was a great afternoon before having to head on home.
Central Park is without a doubt my favorite place in New York. Next time I go back I want to go running in there and find a good bench and read for hours. That must be so nice to be able to do those things on a regular basis. Oh the dream...
What is your favorite part of New York City?
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Last weekend I tried out another awesome restaurant in Chicago! It was for the unfortunate occasion of saying goodbye to a dear friend as she moves away from Chicago, but I don't think she could have picked a better spot for her farewell dinner! We had a late dinner at Quartino, and it was absolute perfection!
Food + Drink
The food at Quartino was phenomenal! Being very Italian, I'm a hard critic when it comes to Italian food, but Quartino does it right. Everything is served family style, which I love because then you get to try a little bit of everything! They of course start you out with bread and water and they have olive oil and balsamic vinegar available for the bread. Great start for me...I need my bread. We each ordered one pasta in the spirit of Lent (shhh we cheated with a little bit of prosciutto!) We ordered the tortellini, cavatelli, and the orecchiette. All three were incredible but I think we all decided that the cavatelli was our favorite. We drank the night away with a litre of Chianti from Poggio al Sale. I couldn't pass up dessert because well that's me...stuff my face till my stomach hurts, so I ordered the zeppole. They are little light doughnuts that come with a chocolate and honey dipping sauce. My actual heaven! Ambience + Atmosphere It was very crowded on a Friday night. Rather loud, too, but we could still have a nice conversation and still hear each other. As you can see from my pictures it was a pretty dim room which gave a nice dinner atmosphere. I think it's the perfect place for a cozy date with your significant other or for a small group of friends. I'm not sure it'd be the best for a large group though. It's a pretty narrow restaurant and from what I could tell there isn't much space for a big group to be seated comfortably.
Location + Transportation
The restaurant is located in Chicago's River North neighborhood, which is just blowing up with great places to eat and drink. Prior to our dinner we met for cocktails at a bar across the street and walked over at the time of our reservation. It's so easy to do this all throughout the neighbor. I love not being stuck in once place all night. As for transportation, we took the CTA blue line and transferred to the red line. We got off at Grand/State and Quartino was only a block north of the stop. Incredibly easy! There is also street parking and parking garages available near the restaurant for those that would like to drive. Street parking is very hit or miss though. You have to get really lucky on a weekend to get a good spot and the meters are only for two hours. As for parking garages, plan to pay as much as an entree for a spot in a lot. Extras + Details The good news is Quartino accepts reservations! The bad news is it's a great restaurant, so you have to make your reservations way in advance! I hopped on Open Table two days before we wanted to go and the earliest time I could get in for dinner was 9:30 PM! 9:30! Jeeze that's late for an old timer like me ;) but it worked out with being able to go out for drinks before dinner. However, if you want reservations at a more American dinner time I suggest making them a week+ in advance. Good luck with just walking in...I'm not sure I suggest putting yourself through that. You'll torture yourself with the heavenly smell and waiting two hours for a table. Like I said above for the food section, the restaurant serves it's food family style so plan on having to pitch in on one check when your awesome dinner comes to an end.
Overall Impression
This is definitely a popular spot in River North, and I'm so glad I got to experience it. I definitely want to go back for a date night with Caleb and I'm thinking I might need to bring some friends here when they drop in for visits. I give Quartino a big thumbs up on everything! Quartino has been added to the Chicago City Guide along with a couple other spots we discovered this past weekend. So make sure you give it a little glance over to see what's new!
I once again want to apologize for the picture quality...tiny digital camera on top of a really tall building at night is rough. Anyways! As you all can tell from the last couple posts, I'm highlighting some of the awesome places Caleb and I went to on our trip to NYC a couple years ago. Naturally one of those awesome places would have to be the Empire State Building!
Going up to the observatory deck was a part of our City Pass we bought for the trip, and we opted to go at night so that we could see all the lights! I feel like day time pictures would have turned out better but the experience at night was unforgettable. I've never seen so many lights in my life!
You're obviously really high up, 102 stories to be exact. However, it's super fenced in so for all you people who are scared of heights have less to worry about. It's so magical up there you won't even notice, anyways!
Now I'm not sure how it is in the day time, but at least the night when we went it was extremely windy up there. Like so windy we couldn't get a picture together. If you are wanting lots of good aerial view pictures of Manhattan this is definitely the place for you but during the day. If you want to have an amazing experience this is still your place and it could be during the day or at night! The point is, anyone visiting or even living in NYC should go to the top of the Empire State Building, it's just that exhilarating!
Have you ever been to the Empire State Building? When did you go? Day or Night?
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I've still got some throwback (wink wink #tbt) NYC places to show you all! On our 2nd day in New York City one of the major places we wanted to see was the Brooklyn Bridge. So we hopped on the subway and went to Brooklyn, so we could walk back to Manhattan...on the Brooklyn Bridge!
The bridge is about a mile long and we figured everything would look the same going both ways so that was our logic behind subwaying there and walking back. It was a lot of fun walking along though! Especially walking towards the Manhattan skyline. If you only want to walk the bridge one way, I suggest doing what we did and taking the subway there and waking back.
It was actually raining a little bit while we were walking across the bridge but it was a nice walk in the rain none the less. The views were spectacular. You can even seen the Statue of Liberty way off in the distance from the bridge.
I love the old feel to the bridge and it's a real beauty to see up close and from a distance in the city. They were doing some maintenance to it while we were there so some parts of the bridge were covered, but it still was quite amazing. It's an experience I recommend doing at least once in your life while in NYC!
"Ain't no faking, your money I'm taking
Going coast to coast, watching all the girlies shaking!" -The Beastie Boys ^^sorry I had to :)
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Times Square is classic. It's one of those places that New York City and even the United States is associated with. Everything is bigger and better in Times Square and it's just marvelous! When Caleb and I went on our little Graduation Exploration in NYC of course we had to go see it. In fact, we went twice! We briefly stopped by on our 2nd morning and again on our last night. It's funny how different the same place is at different times of the day. During the morning/daytime, everyone is just rushing through and hurrying to where they need to be. But at night... It's a very fun and vibrant place at night. There are shows, restaurants, entertainers, and just so many people going every which way. Like I said, we stopped by on our last night in NYC after one of the best dinners I've ever had in my entire life (which was at Tout va Bien), and it was the perfect way to say goodbye. Seeing a Broadway show in New York is definitely on my must do list for the next time we go back. We unfortunately didn't have time during our last trip, but it is something that needs to be done at some point in life! We walked around for quite awhile that night and it was so enjoyable. We were so happy and full, and I'm not even going to lie to you guys, a little drunk. At Tout va Bien, they brought us a giant bowl of sangria with our check and it was all you can drink! So we drank up and walked over to Times Square and had a ball ;) I had to be a super cheesy tourist and do a peace sign...just couldn't help myself. As you can see, we had a swell time in Times Square and we can't wait to go back some day! Walking around that night is definitely one of my favorite memories from our Graduation Exploration. Make sure you're following me on Instagram to see any #tbt photos that might appear from this exciting trip we had a couple years ago!
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All photos are taken by Caleb and Diana Cabrera unless otherwise stated. These photos are property of Yellow Mondays. Thank you.
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