The best of NYC on St. Patty's Day weekend

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The three Pastorii in NYC!

New York, New York
Start spreading the news
You're leaving today (tell him friend)
I want to be a part of it, New York, New York

Your vagabond shoes, they are longing to stray
And steps around the heart of it, New York, New York
I wanna wake up in a city, that doesn't sleep
And find your king of the hill, top of the heap

Your small town blues, they're melting away
Don't make a brand new start of it, in Old New York
You always make it there, you make it anywhere
Its up to you, New York, New York!
-Frank Sinatra

Last March, my sister, Anne and I flew to NYC to see our younger brother, Dan. While we didn't have a ton of time to explore the city, we did have lots of quality time with our brother and a few of my good friends from Boston College (Kenny), Macalester (Cara and Nick) and the Fogarty Program (Miranda, JZ, and Anastasia)! Here are the highlights from our St. Patty's Day weekend in NYC:


Top dining experiences:
-Delicious sunset dinner at One on the 101st floor of the One World Observatory


Cheers to us enjoying ourselves - appetizers, entree, dessert and drinks until sunset
-Ellen's Stardust Diner in Times Square (food was so-so) but the hot chocolate hit the spot after 2 hours waiting on the windy sidewalk and our performing waitress/singer/actress was excellent in "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast
-Greek dinner and amazing Galaktoboureko dessert with Anastasia, Cara and Anne at Korali on the Upper East Side
-Giant pretzels and beer at the German Biergarten in Chelsea
Cara and I at the biergarten

-Soup dumplings and jellyfish with Kenny and Jessie and Cora at Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao in Queens
-H&H bagels for breakfast
-French toast and omelette with Cara on the Upper West Side

 Top sightseeing:
-the elevator ride to the top of One World Observatory - over 100 floors in under 60 seconds with breathtaking panoramic views of the Empire State Building and all of the boroughs lit up in green for St. Patty's Day
Empire State Building lit up in green for St. Patty's Day!
-getting lost wandering around the Metropolitan museum for four hours. From the Impressionists painters - Monet, Manet, and Seurat - to the elaborate Greek statues and pottery, and from the gold headresses from the Incans to the giant poles carved by indigenous groups, and from the prairie style Wayzata living room by Frank Lloyd Wright to the Tiffany stained glass and the Russian Faberge eggs, the Met has it all.
The Met
-9/11 memorial waterfalls into a giant square hole
-Rockefeller Plaza and the ice skating rink
-St. Patty's Day parade and every college student from the five state region drunk and wearing green wandering along 5th street
-Walking along the windy High Line in Chelsea
-Shopping in the pop-up stores at the Chelsea Market
-Browsing the bookshelves at the New York Public Library near Bryant Park
-Running around Jackie Kennedy Onoasis reservoir in Central Park
-Eating dark chocolate and drinking Benziger wine by the boat house in Central Park
-Locking arms with the fearless girl statue on Wall Street
You go girl! Fearless girl facing the Charging Bull on Wall Street

 Top experiences:
-The comedian at Comedy Strip Live talk about how people in Manhattan walk around with their dogs in strollers and their kids on leashes.
-The Irish lad who broke out in an irish ballad on the subway while a completely unrelated guy was painting the people sitting in the subway on a giant canvas
-Hanging out in Miranda and Noam's apartment drinking green beer and reminiscing about living in Peru
Drinking green beer for St. Patty's Day with my Peruvian gringas - JZ and Miranda!
-Hanging out in Anastasia's apartment looking at photos from our Fogarty orientation in 2009
-Helping Cara (39 weeks pregnant) figure out how to connect her fancy car set to her fancy stroller
Do you like my flamingo?
Sometimes you just run out of time. Here is the to-do list for our next visit in July:
-Frick Collection
-Whitney museum
-American Museum of Natural History and the Planetarium
-Lincoln Center
-9/11 museum
-Cooper Hewitt Design Museum
-Coney Island
-Chrysler Building
-Top of the Rock
-Statue of Liberty
-Hamptons

Cute market


Anne, Me and Cara at the dew drop near Madison Square Garden

Trying on hats



Family reunited!

At the Rockefeller plaza and ice skating rink

Literally, the Big Apple made out of legos!

St Patty's Day parade in front of the St. Patrick's Cathedral

Chrysler buidling

New York Public Library old Winnie the Pooh exhibit

The Duluth Library pales in comparison to the New York Library

Dude painting on the subway



Wall street bull

Anne in front of One World Trade


9/11 Memorial

View from the top of the One World Trade

Not a bad place to eat dinner and have a drink

Beautiful clear day

Statue of Liberty

Inside the top of One World Trade

View of Queens 

Happy St Patty's Day to me

Manhattan isn't that big but there are a lot of people who live there


Cara, can you find your apartment?




Dessert time!


Standing on the edge 







Central Park boat house

We did it -NYC!







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