Last week my husband and I traveled to New York City as an award trip he earned by being number one in his region last year. I’m so proud of him and his hard work. He put in so many hours over last year, that it’s nice he’s recognized for his efforts.
The trip was incredible and the organization of the entire event was flawless. Can you imagine coordinating flights and transportation for 3500 people? That alone was impressive, but when I tell you what they actually planned for us and the week’s events, you’re gonna have to sit down.
We actually left a few days before the conference started to spend some time with my husband’s brother and his family who live in Manhattan. It was great to see them and enjoy their company and see all the work they’ve done on their new apartment. We were able to celebrate our nephew’s 10th birthday while we were there as well as tour around the East Village, SoHo and discovered the best yogurt/ice cream concoction ever invented, Pink Berry. (They were all over the city and quickly became familiar with their locations as we made many visits for their green tea with blackberries flavor!)
The next Monday, we checked into our hotel, The New York Palace, and the whirlwind began. We saw it all, walked it all, did it all and ate it all to top it off. We were a bit spoiled to say the least.
Over the course of the week, we had a private tour of Yankee Stadium, where the NYPD Scottish pipers entertained us, and Cracker Jacks were tossed to us as if there was an actual game going on. We were entertained by an amazing band in Rockefeller Center and were given the “Top of the Rock” tour of the skyline atop the Rockefeller Center building. We had the most incredible dinner at the Waldorf Astoria; where we listened to Boomer Esiason speak. Another night we ate at the famous restaurant, Sardi’s, then crossed the street to see the Broadway hit, Memphis. And to top things off, they closed down Liberty Island and Ellis Island for the evening as we strolled the paths to chamber music (in the scorching heat I might add) and sipped on champagne (ok, so we didn’t have champagne, but had water instead) then had dinner on Ellis Island and ended the evening under the stars with a private concert by Keith Urban. (I know. How cool is that?) I was impressed and I’m not normally impressed by fancy shmancy type of stuff, but was more impressed by the fact that they kept it a secret for the entire week and impressed by the amount of planning that went into the entire weeks events. Incredible.
The schedule of events was quite the whirlwind, but they did include three days of free time to take in the sights and sounds which allowed us to visit MOMA (another blog for another day) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (where I stood in front of Picasso after Picasso). We walked the shops of SoHo again and sat in the main public library in awe at the massiveness of the rooms and took a stroll through Central Park where we saw people jogging, a Jewish pre-school group dancing to fiddle music, nanny after nanny, dog walkers and so much more. My senses were on overload the entire week.
The conference came to a close with a wonderful send-off brunch, then a final bus ride to the airport. It was a week we’ll never forget and gave us a chance to enjoy each other and relax as a couple. We can’t thank Grandma and Grandpa enough for stepping in and taking care of the boys. It allowed us to completely enjoy ourselves knowing they were taken care of. Such a wonderful week.
