"The Only Living Girl In New York": Willkommen Mutti!

Only three weeks to go in the big apple. Honestly, I am really torn about this. I am excited to go home to silence, smores, and sunshine, but I'm sad to leave behind everything I've come to love about this city.

Last Tuesday, Laura, Christian and I went to see the Philharmonic in Central Park. It was absolutely packed. The best view of the concert was up in the Belvedere Castle. I became obsessed with the castle once I realized that it was indeed the castle shown in the movie "Stepmom" with Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon. Here are a few photos of the crowd and the castle:

Thursday finally arrived! The day my mom was to come in town. That morning, I decided to go ahead and take the bus rather than the L train. It seemed logical since I had a lot of luggage, and there was no way I could squish my body into any mans armpit and find room to fit my luggage into the subway, as well. The bus was the best solution.....It was horrible. Stopped at every avenue. Then finally some girl got on the bus and she smelled like meatballs. Who wants to smell meatballs at 8 in the morning? Or a better question would be who eats meatballs at 8 in the morning?

I finally got off at the ave. I needed to transfer subway's because I knew the other subway line would be less crowded. The worst part of it all was that people could see I was struggling with my luggage. Not one person asked to help out. When the subway arrived, some man just got in and blocked the door. He looked at me to go around him and stand in the middle of the train with all my luggage. I will never understand how some people can be so oblivious.

I finally made it to the hotel and saw my mom after the work day. We ate dinner in Hell's Kitchen and drank tasty margaritas. Done for the night? I think not. We headed toward the same pub that my dad and I went to the first week I arrived in New York. We decided to get the Dogfish Head 120 Minute Hopp beer. Delicious. Mom was a champion and beat me with the drinks. Afterward, we headed to M&M World.

Delicious chocolate after a night of drinking never tasted so good. Done for the night? You bet. We were both exhausted from our long days so we decided to sleep it off. We both knew an eventful weekend was ahead of us.

Mom and I woke up on Friday and headed toward Times Square. That is when the best thing happened. The tourist attraction I have been waiting to see since my arrival in the city... Naked Cowboy! He sings and plays guitar in his underwear and cowboy boots/hat. Apparently he makes a lot of money doing this. Perhaps I will join him one of these days. Except I will play the recorder.

While in Times Square, we decided to take a bus tour. We did and uptown and a downtown loop. On the downtown loop we decided to see Macy's, Canal St. for some bubble tea and chinese food, and South Street Seaport:

At South Street Seaport, they had the cutest Christmas store. It was truly Christmas in July. They had great ornaments with Macys/Times Square/and Empire St. Building on them. Really fun snow globes as well. Take two people who love Christmas in that store... they will never come out. At least my mom and I didn't for quite some time.

That night when we headed home we decided to stop real quick at Junior's in Times Square. My sister told me about their great Cheesecake. I got a Raspberry Swirl Cheescake and my mom got some ice cream! Interested in their dessert? Here is what you look for to help guide your way toward Junior's Bakery: (Option number 2: sniff it out).

The next day, mom and I went to the NBC Experience Store to take a tour. On the way, we ended up seeing the taping of FOX News and the Today Show:

On the NBC tour, I saw the same studios as last time (NBC Nightly News, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon... which I can't wait to see live, and Saturday Night Live). Even though I saw the same studios twice, it was perfect. I love NBC.

After the tour, we went to the Experience store. I ended up getting a Central Perk Coffee Cup and bag (from Friends) and a NBC NY T-shirt! After that, we did the uptown loop part of the bus tour. We saw Harlem, Columbia University, Museum Mile, Central Park Zoo and we made quick stops at Cafe Lalo and Dylan's Candy Bar.

The bus tour was so nice! It was great to sit there and see the sights in the warm breeze. Since it was such a nice day out, we thought it would be a good idea to walk the Brooklyn Bridge and eat at Grimaldis!

On Sunday, mom and I wanted to get brunch before her flight. We decided to eat at Sarabeth's on the upper West side. It was so delicious! They even had a brunch special that day where you could split a pitcher of Sangria. That is just what we did. Afterward, we walked toward Columbus Circle and found Tavern on the Green along the way! So pretty! Couldn't have asked for a better last day with my mom.