Manhattan, New York

So I have been here a few times so now it's about time to find some new stuff to write about. That's not difficult at all. We arrived on Friday and already then we had plans for the evening. Lucky Cheng's Drag Cabaret dinner show. We had reservations at 7 so we got our food before the show started. It is really easy what they do in this place, you pic out a starter and a main from the menu and u all get a dessert to share, it's 40 dollar pr person and some of the dishes have an extra charge. It is well worth the money and the food is okay and the show is great. Will highly recommend this place, so much fun, you will find it at 240 W 52 St.

I know it is very bad picture quality, but it was really dark in that place and I took the pictures with my phone. We all know that moving while taking picture with a phone, even though it is a Iphone 5, is not the best idea. it doesn't give you the great pictures you want I'm afraid. 

You must have reservations to be able to get a table. When you arrive you are shown to the bar where you can order a drink before they call your name and party and show you to your table. If you have a reservation for 7 as we did, there is a little bit of waiting time before anything happens, however you have your drink so you are fine. After a little while the girls will take your food order and when you are well into your food the show starts. They kind of have to do it this way because it is the girls who serve you who entertain you as well. It is fine to eat before the show any way. i guess you can just choose yourself.

If you can't handle a little bit bad language (not that bad in my opinion) or aren't open minded, this is so not the place for you. if you are looking for good fun and a good laugh, this is your spot. 

As i said in the beginning I have written about New York many times so this post will be about new things, places to see and go. However, I must include a picture of my friends from Time Square.

Every time we go to New York we stay in different places (except one hotel where I have stayed twice). This time we stayed in an apartment on 27th street between 2nd and 3rd ave. It had three bedrooms, a small kitchen/sitting area and a bathroom. It was good enough for the four of us and I think that the location was just perfect. You can actually walk everywhere if you are up for walking a little bit. 

But before walking anywhere it is breakfast time. we could have gone to the food shop and bought some food there and had breakfast in the apartment, but when you are on holidays it is nice to just go out to eat, even for breakfast. There is plenty of diners all over the place and it is not that expensive to eat at those. 

Of course that's mimosas!

Not the most healthy breakfast however, we are going shopping and we will walk it off any way. besides, it is vacation and St. Patrick's weekend.

We love walking around so the day we went shopping we just walked from our apartment down to Century 21 on 22 Cortland street between church and Broadway. If we hadn't had any pit stops I think it would just have taken around 40 minutes to walk. But we had to stop and take pictures and have a little drink in a bar. Hey, it's 5 o'clock somewhere (in Norway actually).

I have had pictures of One World Trade Center on my blog before, but here is another one as in the previous pictures the building wasn't entirely finished. 

It's right next to Century 21 so before I went in and did some damage I managed to get an okay  picture. 

Spent a few hours in the department store and did buy some stuff but it wasn't as bad (for the wallet or visa card) as I had suspected. I never find much clothes in this place it is mostly handbags, wallets and shoes i buy. This time I did look for clothes as well, but no success. I'm extremely happy with my purchases though. 

Michale Kors wallet and Tori Burch handbag

I also got shoes, Steve Madden beige sand shoes, price 30 dollars. Can't complain about that. This wasn't the only day we went shopping, went out another day as well, and I will just post the pictures here. I also have to say that I was just going to buy socks at H&M, I never shop there as we have tons of those shops in Norway (Danish brand that's why). Abroad I like to go to shops we don't have in Norway.

Michael Kors on Fifth Ave

Oh, happy times!

So this time in New York we had big plans to see and do stuff that we haven't seen or done before. We had found out about a few places before we got there so we knew where to walk. that's right, we walked to these places as well. First one was Crif Dogs. Yeah, they do serve good hot dogs there, and a lot of people go there for the hot dogs. We however, went for the bar PDT, or full name, Please don't tell. It is very funny how you are suppose to get into this bar, because you walk inside Crif Dogs and then you need to go inside the phone booth that is on the inside, pick up the phone and the door will open. 

Now, here's the tips you really need. Make a reservation! Or maybe be there early. We did neither and was rejected, was gonna say door, but inside the phone booth. So sad about that because the place looked very nice and cozy, and it would have been funny to tell people you been inside. Oh well, maybe next time. 

So next place on you list was Death & Co. As you will see from the picture I use TripAdvisor on my phone and I just love that app, gives me all the info I need about bare, restaurant, sightseeing and loads more. This place is a little bit of a secret as well. When you get to the address you will just see a door and a man standing outside. there is nothing that will give you an indication that this is a restaurant and bar. Or maybe if you are perceptive. 

The clue about this place is that you walk up to the man by the door, he's a bouncer, and you give him your phone number and when or if they will let you in they give you a call (make sure you go to another place to wait for the call). But for us, big bummer again. We arrived to late, the place was packed and they don't call international phone numbers, only U.S. So if you are a foreigner and really want to go here make sure you arrange for yourself to have a american phone number in hand. The guy at the door was very nice and friendly so we asked him what he would recommend us to to. He said we should go to Gin Palace which was just on the corner of the same street as we were standing. It was a great place, loved it and want to go back some day. This is not a place where you find a lot of tourist, only local people here, which I like.

I might have mentioned it before but I will say it again, we came over from Norway to New York to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, as we have done a few years now. Did you know that Empire State building have loads of colors on their spire depending on what celebration there is. So during St. Patrick's Day weekend it looks like this. 

So how do you start St. Patrick's Day? With a full Irish breakfast in a bar!

After breakfast it is time to watch the traditional St. Patrick's Day parade on Fifth Ave. Just walking around in the streets made you get a pretty good idea of what day it was. All the decoration in the shops, bars and restaurants, and all the people dressed in something green. 

And on our way from Blarney Rock, where we had our breakfast, and up to 47th and 5th, where we were going to see the parade we stopped by Rockefeller Center to have a look (only outside).

 




During the St. Patrick's Day parade they block off the whole Fifth Ave so at some places the streets looked completely dead and abandoned. However, when you got to where the parade was walking by there was a few more people. We found a spot that wasn't too crowded so I got to take loads of pictures.

After standing outside for a while, and been walking from 2nd and 27th street (with pit stops of course), we needed to warm up on some good cocktails. Where do you go then? Yeah you have several nice, trendy cocktail bars in Manhattan but we wanted something nearby. 

They have really good cocktails at Hooters, and the fried finger food is okay too. So cocktail hour at Hooters, green beer and green Long Island Ice tea, important to drink local drinks! 

Paddy's Day was once again a success and since I have written about Paddy's Day in New York before I won't be getting anymore into that. ready my other New York post here and you will understand why.

As I have mentioned we were looking for new experiences this time and went for the restaurants as well. We went to Lucky Cheng's the first night and there is one more restaurant I would like to mention here. STK Steakhouse on 26 Liltle West 12th street down in Meatpacking. The place looks great, and it is a bit of a trendy place. I really liked it but it was a little bit expensive, not too bad though I think, not for that kind of a place. Seems like this is a bit of a celeb place as well because on the table next to us three players from the NBA was seated. I have no clue who they are but other people did as they were taking pictures. Our waiter was the one who told us this. Funny though!

I will be seeing you soon again Manhattan.......