Travel – Page 8 – Todd and Cindy's Travel Blog

New York City Adventure Post 1

Day 1

We arrived without incident at LaGuardia (well sort of – we were charged for our luggage, so I need to contact Aeroplan because it was supposed to be free, and Todd seems to have misplaced his headphones…). Anyway, after we picked up our luggage, we boarded the Q70 bus to the E subway, getting off at Penn Station, a short distance from our hotel (so pretty straight forward). We are staying at the Homewood Suites just south of Times Square in the Garment District. What a wonderful hotel – great location (except for the noise from the street – lots of road work) with modern decor rooms and a modern lobby – breakfast is included, and free wine and beer with some food options Monday to Thursday.

The hotel has a quiet patio out back and also a rooftop terrace on the 22nd floor to sit out and take in the views of the city.

Day 2

We began the day wandering around Times Square…so much fun; a bright, loud, and energetic area. Neon billboards dominate the area.

Times Square is a great area for people watching…

We saw “The Ball”, the one that drops down on New Year’s Eve.

After leaving Times Square, we walked down 42nd and came upon the impressive New York Public Library.

We wandered around a bit admiring the interior,

then stumbled upon an author talk. Erica Jong was discussing her new novel.

We took refuge from the rain at Radio City

and then continued our walk to the Grand Central Terminal. It is truly grand…

We saw the Empire State Building from a distance, but never got close because we weren’t intending to go up to the observation deck.

After a brief rest back in our room, we made our way to the Rockefeller Center.

This is where NBC is located. We were attending a taping of Late Night with Seth Meyers (got tickets online through 1iota a few weeks ago). We were there for a total of about 4 hours – checking in, going through security, waiting in the Peacock Room, and then filming the show in the studio. We met a couple from San Diego and passed the time chatting. The studio rules are very strict – no recordings or cameras allowed once inside. (One guy did get escorted out because he pulled out his cell phone and took a picture…). Overall, it was a lot of fun and an experience. We lucked out – Robert DeNiro was one of the guests.

Day 3 –

We went to another TV show taping today – The Chew at ABC studios.

The experience was quite different from the night before – not as organized or as comfortable during the waiting time, but the show was lots of fun.

The show is very energetic. Everyone in the audience received a slice of pizza when the Pizza Master guys came on. Other guests included Camila Alves (Matthew McConaughey’s wife) and a taped segment with Amanda Freitag (seen her a lot on Food TV). During breaks, Carla interacted with the audience.

Once taping was done, all the hosts (Clinton Kelly, Michael Symon, Carla Hall, Daphne Oz) except Mario Batali interacted with the audience. As we exited, everyone was handed Amanda Freitag’s new cookbook.

We had planned on leaving the studio taping and walking to nearby Central Park, but the books we received changed that plan. We walked all the way back (from 67th to 37th), then back up again to Central Park.

We were surprised by the amount of bedrock poking up throughout the park.

We walked for a bit along the trails. A skating rink was being prepped for winter, bikers flew by, tourists took pics, and the carriages trotted along. Lots of walking today…

Day 4

It’s raining, but we are here to see the sites. We took the subway to the 9/11 Memorial. Words cannot express what you feel here.

Everyone knows where they were the day the Twin Towers were hit. Everyone knows 2,977 people were killed. Everyone knows how this changed North America. But reading name after name after name…no words…

(…Just have to say it was unbelievable the few people we saw taking selfies here and smiling…really?!). From the Memorial we went to the new One World Trade Center, completed in 2013. It is the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere and the fifth-tallest in the world.

We took the elevator up to the 102nd floor. It was very impressive even if the rain did impede the view.

The observation deck gives a 360° view of area – New Jersey, Manhattan, Brooklyn…

A relaxing bite and some cold beers while looking out from the top of the One World were a welcome break.

After drying out, it was time to brave the weather again. Through wind and rain, we headed to the Financial District. We are lifetime TD customers, and we have seen many TD branches here in NYC, but it was a surprise to see 2 Wall Street.

Since 9/11, the NY Stock Exchange is off limits to the public (still interesting to see…).

All wet again, we headed back to the subway to go back to the hotel and dry off before figuring out where to have dinner. Have to say the rain isn’t near as annoying as dodging all the umbrellas…

Chicago Adventure – Final Blog

Day 7

We bought a package deal while at the Art Institute the other day that included the Skydeck at the Willis Tower (saved about $8 and a long wait in the ticket line).

It was pretty impressive with a 360° view of the city. On a clear day you can see about 50 miles.

The Skydeck, located on the 103rd floor, has a 4 ft. glass floor that hangs over the edge, to give you that “floating on air” feeling.

The Skydeck level is 412 m (1353 ft.) high. The total height of the Willis building (rooftop before antennas) is 443 m (1450 ft.).

Lots of tourists came for the experience.

We even found the perfect gift for our friend Dave at Willis Tower ( he likes the Old Guys Rule stuff )

For lunch, we walked just over 3 km to another restaurant featured on the TV show, You Gotta Eat Here (Chicago Edition), Manny’s Coffee Shop & Deli. The restaurant opened shortly after WWII, and moved to its current location in 1964.

It is cafeteria style – grab a tray and order what you want along the counter. It is simple, fresh, authentic Jewish food. The continuous line of customers entering assured us we had made the right choice. We each ordered the lunch special: Matzo Ball Soup, a potato pancake, a dill pickle, and for Todd, Pastrami on ½ Rye, and for me Brisket on ½ Kaiser. Good thing we were walking – portions were HUGE.

After a brief rest, we headed to the Chicago River for our boat tour by the Architecture Foundation of Chicago.

It was very interesting learning about Chicago’s history as it related to architecture. What is known as The Loop in Chicago burnt to the ground in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Since then, architects has designed numerous styles and sizes of buildings in The Loop. The Trump Tower completed in 2009, like Trump himself, is in your face on the riverfront. To combat the wind issues, concrete support pillars that are normally built on bedrock, are drilled 50 ft. deep into the bedrock.

333 West Wacker completed in 1983 has a blue-green glass façade that mimics the colour of the river.

Marina City, known as the corncob towers, completed in 1967 is very unique. It is a development that was ahead of its time incorporating a city within a city (office building, apartments, retail, parking, a theatre and more).

Merchandise Mart completed in 1930 is 2 ½ city blocks (the largest building in the world upon completion). Originally owned by Field & Company, it was sold to the Kennedy family in 1945, who owned it until 1998 (the profited hundreds of millions on the deal).

The Tribune Tower (Chicago Tribune newspaper) was completed in 1925 in Gothic Revival style.

The above pics just touch on the buildings we saw. We also saw some interesting “boats” on the water…( this one maybe a little small for the chopper on it)

After the tour, as sun set, we walked to the John Hancock building (aka 360° Chicago). The picture below shows the building in the daylight.

The Hancock completed in 1968 is 100 floors. We took the elevator to the Signature Lounge on the 96th floor. The view of the city was amazing as night set in.

One of the best views is reserved for women only – it’s in the women’s washroom. A room wide, floor to ceiling glass window allows a great view of the city.

Day 8

This is our final full day in Chicago. We walked to Navy Pier, a 1,010 m (3,300 ft.) pier. It was built in 1916 as primarily a cargo facility for lake freighters.

Today it serves as a multi-purpose public area with exhibition halls, theatres, retail stores, and restaurants.

The currant Ferris wheel will be taken apart at the end of this season and replaced by one double its size (300FT tall).

The views from the pier back to the city are beautiful.

Our final dinner in Chicago was at Berghoff, a German restaurant that has been around since 1898 serving their beer with great German food. Todd had the Sauerbraten and I had the Jager Schnitzel. Food was delicious…

Chicago was a very interesting city – a great walking city with amazing architectural buildings.

Next stop…NYC in a couple of weeks.

Chicago Adventure Post 2

Day 5

We bought a day pass for the Trains. Our first stop was Clybourn (where we inevitably went the wrong direction upon exiting the terminal) to go to Goose Island Brewpub for a tour.

This is the original location of the brewery which was founded in 1988 on Friday 13th.

The tour was restricted to 1 room because this location produces only small quantities of local craft beers and one-offs (large production is done at another facility for distribution globally – owned by Anheuser-Busch).

We tasted 6 of their different beers.

And we had lunch before leaving – we shared an order of beer-battered fish n chips.

Our next stop was Wrigley’s Field (even if we couldn’t get in). We had full intentions of doing a park tour while in Chicago (had a great time touring Fenway in Boston a few years back), but lo and behold, the park is closed to tours until the 18th due to concerts there.

We walked the block, peeking in where we could…

From Wrigley’s, we went to Revolution Brewery, hoping for the 5PM tour (arrived at 4:15), but it was filled and the only openings were for the 6PM tour. We decided to join the masses in the taproom while we waited. We read in a magazine that it has gained at strong following; the crowds here would support that.

Revolution Brewery opened its production brewery and taproom in 2012. The owner and many of the employees are former Goose Island employees.

We started the tour with a glass of their Oktoberfest made with 100% German malts. Revolution brews around 50 different beer styles a year.

The brewery is currently 50,000 sq ft and they are getting ready to expand into another 50,000 sq ft that adjoins their facility.

We decided to have a late dinner at a highly rated German restaurant, called Bohemian or BOHO. The place was fully packed, but we did get a seat at the bar when a couple left for their table. We shared an order of Beef Cheek Pierogis with roasted carrots and pickled onions. Then we shared an order of Pork Schnitzel with dill potatoes, bacon, and onions…Delicious AND filling!

Day 6

This was going to be a low-key day. We left the hotel after breakfast to go and buy tickets for the Architecture Boat Tour tomorrow. Upon leaving the hotel, we looked just up the street and noticed it was closed off. We went to see why, and stumbled on a Ferrari car show and annual fundraiser.

So many different styles, years, and colours (although red was the favourite).

Older Models

Todd’s cousin, Paul (he’s kind of a car-nut…), would have loved this car, especially because of the license plates LOL !

Just after buying the boat tickets, we heard a very loud roar of jet engines overhead and were surprised to see a stealth bomber turning away from town towards the lake. It all happened so fast we didn’t get a pic. Todd found this on Youtube the next morning !

We continued along Michigan Ave (aka The Magnificent Mile), wandering in and out of the shops, and admiring the buildings both old and new).

For lunch and to watch some of the local football game (Packers were in town to play the Bears), we headed to Ditka’s. For those that don’t know, he is a former coach of the Bears. We were surprised how many Packer fans were in the bar.

Dinner was at the oldest continuously operating Italian restaurant in Chicago, Italian Village (1927). This was headquarters for the Ferrari show earlier in the day. We had a nice table in a cubbyhole.

Todd had the Lake Superior Whitefish with veggies, and I had the Chicken Marsala with linguini. The food was delicious, but so filling (I only ate about half – maybe dinner tomorrow…).