Hi everyone,

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you who helped with this last minute quick trip to New Jersey and New York City, all of the information was very helpful!!

Day 1 August 10
Montreal-Newark via NYC

I wasn't able to get the time off work to leave on Thursday with boyfriend and his family so I had to leave late Friday night (11:00pm) on a greyhound bus. The bus ride was not so great....but survivable lol! We had to stop in Albany, and then I had to switch buses in NYC to continue onto Newark. I arrived at Penn station in Newark and took a cab to the hotel they were staying at in Paramus, NJ. The cab ride cost 64$ which I thought was ridiculous but I didn't ask a price before entering the cab so I guess it was my own mistake, oh well live and learn!!


Day 2 August 11

We stayed at the Comfort Inn and Suites in Paramus because my boyfriend had a wedding to attend on Friday. The hotel was cute, and clean and came with free parking and complimentary breakfast, which was OK.

I arrived just as the family was eating breakfast so I grabbed a quick bite, got freshened up and then we all headed out to spend the day in NYC.

One of the other family members was staying at their friend's appartment in hell's kitchen so we all drove to the apartment together and parked our cars in the area.

We started the day by walking to Times Square, spending a short amount of time there, and then heading to 5th avenue. On 5th we stopped at Saks and did some shopping along the street as well.

We strolled along 5th until Central Park, and then we wanted to go see the little restaurant/general store called Serendipity which is located on 60th between 3rd and Lexington. Once we got there we found out it was a 2 hour wait for a table and we only wanted to have a quick snack so we said forget it and went to Dylan's Candy bar just up the street and had some ice cream and coffee....which were all delicious! The line up was long though, so be warned!!!

After our snacks we took a cab ride back to the apartment and met up with everyone else. My boyfriend, his sister and I decided we didn't want to stay at the appartment so we took a cab back to times square and did some more shopping. It's such a fun area!! We went to Sephora, The MTV store, Foot Locker and bought some prints and t-shirts from some of the street vendors.

After that it was back to the appartment to head out for dinner. We had 9:30 reservations at a restaurant in hell's kitchen on W46th called Becco, it's owned by celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich. Everyone was somewhat disappointed with the restaurant however. 8 out of 10 of us ordered the prix fixe dinner which is supposed to come with an appetizer and unlimited servings of the daily pasta specials. The food was good however they did not serve us our own individual appetizers, they brought us samples of several things to share...which would have been fine except for the fact that the portions for 8 people weren't even what most people would consider adequate for 2 people. We received small amounts of ceasar salad, maybe an ounce of fish (not per person....in TOTAL), two small pieces of octopus, a tablespoon or so of ricotta and small amounts of the grilled veggies. I thought this was somewhat ridicilous because there was far from enough for everyone to share and we had all paid to have individual appetizers. Thank goodness their pasta was good because they were so cheap with their appetizers that we were all starving! lol!

After dinner we drove back to our hotel in Paramus and called it a night.

Day 3 August 12

We woke up and had breakfast at our hotel, then we checked out and headed towards the Woodbury Common outlet center in New Jersey. The bargains here are fantastic!!! They have so many stores anywhere from Gap and banana republic to Gucci and Dior. I managed to get myself a big, suede burberry bag for 149$ when the real price is 635$! I was VERY happy lol!! We spent the day shopping there and then we drove home in the late afternoon.

My trip was great....it's too bad it was so short!! I can't wait to get back...especially to the outlets lol!!!


Thanks everyone!!

Layla

Layla:

It sounds like you enjoyed yourself and I hope you get to return to NYC very soon.

Thanks for sharing your mini vacation.

Sandy

Sounds like you have a good time for sure. FYI Woodbury Common is actually in NY, not NJ.

Very interesting about Becco. We are a family of 5, and two of us got the antipasti with the prix fixe dinner. It sounds like they served the 8 of you EXACTLY the same quantity as they served the two of us! Needless to say, it was plenty for the two of us, but it would have been impossible for 8 to get even a bite of everything.

Thanks sandy and debit for your nice comments, i hope i get back soon also!!

Its true the outlets are in NY...sorry for that, I didn't even realize! I thought they were in NJ! What a dufus I am!

Missypie,
I'm glad that someone has eaten there and could compare their experience with mine. I did enjoy the pasta and antipasti, however the service and their stingy-ness with the appetizers left a bad taste in our mouths and we will probably not return, which is unfortunate. I was thinking about writing the restaurant an e-mail, but I'm not sure if there is even a point in doing so. Anyways, thanks again for your response, I'm glad I got to compare and contrast with someone!

Layla