It’s funny how people’s faces dropped when I told them prior to spending a weekend trip in New York City, the furthest north I’d ever been was Washington, D.C. but that changed back in January when Robert finally took me on my first trip to the city. He’d already been a few times before hadn’t taken me yet. Leading up to the day I was super hype because we had our plans and where we were going to eat so I was READY.

This is how our weekend trip in New York City went:

Day 1

The first day is always the most chaotic between flying and getting situated at our hotel. The flight wasn’t bad at all. I’m pretty sure we both fell asleep at some point but I woke up just in time for the snacks! What’s crazy is flying into LaGuardia looks just like the movies and that’s when me going to NYC got real. Once we got situated, the first thing we did was ride the subway to Clinton St. Baking Co. and shared a huge stack of Wild Maine Blueberry Pancakes and a cup of hot apple cider (when in Rome, right?). I’m sure I took a cat nap at some point when I got back to my hotel room and I woke up to Robert coming back with an Uber Eats delivery of Unregular Pizza. Later that night we went to a Knicks game (my first one btw)  and had a great time. My feet were hurting something serious after walking around all day so we ended up back at the hotel to get ready for day 2. Just know as soon as my head hit the floor, I passed TF out.

Day 2

We covered A  LOT of ground our second day. It started off with cronuts from Dominique Ansel’s bakery then back on the subway to go down to explore the MOMA. The part that sucked about this day is it rained all day and was so gray outside too. We stayed in the MOMA for a couple hours; my favorite exhibits were the Crafting Pinocchio (based on Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio) and Just Above Midtown (JAM). Seeing a multitude of Picasso paintings in one space was pretty cool too.

Obviously, we built up an appetite by this time. We went over to Harlem to eat and walk around. Lunch was at Amy Ruth’s and we shared a plate of chicken & waffles (honestly, it definitely was a large enough serving for 2 and the chicken was crispy and juicy like I like) before walking around the corner to the Apollo Theater. Like many other Black kids in the 90s, my cousins and I pretended we were on the Apollo Show so seeing the building in person was like an Inner Child dream come true. I called my cousin Seslie immediately and we joked they let me sing Colors of the Wind on stage. Fun times.

We spent the rest of the night in the room because it was still raining. I know my body was tired because as soon as my head the pillow, I passed out from a nap. Dinner that night was Chinese food and a slice of Junior’s Cheesecake.

Day 3

We covered the most ground this day and, according to my Apple Fitness app, I walked about 9 miles…my body was TIRED. We started the day off with slices of pizza from Prince Street Pizza then walked around Soho. We ended up doing a bit of vintage shopping (and some window shopping) at Buffalo Exchange, Reminiscensce NYC, and Beacon’s Closet. I found a fairly-new pair of Zara heels plus three kimonos from Reminiscense NYC. I wish I had more luggage space to really ball out on vintage pieces I found.

Once our shopping excursion was over, we took the train to the Brooklyn Museum to see the Virgil Abloh/Off-White and Thierry Mugler exhibitions. Both exhibitions were amazing but seeing all of Thierry Mugler’s dresses and his inspirations was insane to see. There were a lot of dresses I recognized from Beyonce’s I Am… tour and Cardi B. I’m sure Robert probably thought I was a maniac because I could point out when and where a dress was made.

We worked up an appetite so it was time to eat again. We went to Black-owned pizza spot Cuts & Slices in Brooklyn. There was already a line forming outside but we didn’t have to wait for too too long. We shared 3 pizza flavors: Curry Oxtail, Chopped Cheese, and Shrimp & Salmon Alfredo. The slices were large enough for us to share and each one was still amazing. It’s funny we went there because now it feels like everybody and their mama goes when they’re go to NYC; the pizza is AMAZING so yes please go!

We went back to the hotel and dropped our bags. We relaxed for bit then went to Brooklyn to get tacos at Cerveceria Havemeyer with Robert’s friend Chris and his girlfriend Sarah. I ordered some tacos and guac but it was a cute spot. It’s a small space so our food came out at a decent pace.

Our night ended with a couple ice cream scoops at the iconic Milk Bar. I got the swirled Cereal Milk soft serve topped with sprinkles and Robert got the regular degular vanilla Cereal Milk with cornflake crunch. It’s funny because ice cream spots in Tampa close around 9 so it being after 10 p.m. and city is ALIVE still blew my mind.

Day 4

A restful night of sleep (and packing) got us ready to head back home. It felt like we were going in reverse from the hotel to the bus to the airport really. I thoroughly enjoyed New York City; my grandma asked if I’d live there and TBH I wouldn’t. I’m a Southern Girl through and through so I’ll do another weekend trip to New York City, get my fix, and come back home.