NYC TRIP REVIEW

I’m sure most of you know by now, New York City is my favorite place to be. Seriously. I know it can be trashy + congested, but I’ve always loved New York City. I can remember at a young age, when I was enrolled in a ballet school, NYC was always a place I viewed as being the IT place. By the IT PLACE, I mean the I MADE IT place. Some of the most prestigious dance companies are located there: New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, + Alvin Ailey just to name a few. So, I thought of it as the place where dreams come true + that’s carried with me through life.

I had the opportunity to go to New York City for a conference that was put on by an organization I recently became a member of. The overarching organization is known as Dance/USA. This conference, however, was a meeting for a committee within the organization known as Dance/USA Task Force on Dancer Health. It is comprised of healthcare professionals that work with professional dancers of any kind. I started working with the Richmond Ballet this past year + that gave me the incredible opportunity to be a member of this committee.

I was able to convince Max to go with me to NYC for the weekend + wow did we get to experience A LOT! We did some of the typical tourist stops + I wanted to try some new experiences that I had never been to. + of course, I had Max take some pictures along the way to share with you all (:

 On Friday, we went to a little hole in the wall Pizza place that Max found off of the app One Bite. It is a pizza rating app on a scale of 0-10. We had a 9.3 close to our hotel, so of course we had to try it. It was great! But let me tell you, the cheesecake at the end was my favorite part!

After that, we went to a stand-up comedy club. You can find people on the sidewalks promoting this event + we were in the mood for a good laugh. We had a great time!

Saturday was my conference, so it was spent mostly indoors at the Actor’s Fund. After the conference, there was a happy hour followed by the Phantom of the Opera with another member of the conference. She found a great price for tickets + the show is a classic, so we had to go! For anyone who hasn’t seen this on Broadway yet – you have to go if you go to NYC!!! It is hands down one of my favorites! Max went to the 9/11 Memorial Museum + the Metropolitan for the day.

Sunday is when we did the majority of our sightseeing. Our flight didn’t leave until 9:00 Sunday evening, so we had a full day to take advantage of. We started with brunch at The Smith Restaurant with a family friend who has lived in NYC for the past few years.

We then took a subway to the Brooklyn bridge, walked across it + visited some of the markets on the Brooklyn side. We went to the Time Out Market + Chelsea Market, both of which were unique + I wished we would have explored earlier. If we ever end up living in New York City we will absolutely spend a good amount of time in those markets. The first market had a lot of food types in one location. The other had a lot of local businesses – from jewelry to clothing.

We then took the subway to Grand Central Station where we found the Whispering Hall. If you have never experienced this, WOW it was a neat experience. There are walls near the eatery that you can whisper into one corner + hear on the corner opposite to it. It has to do with the structure of the walls, but I highly recommend trying this if you haven’t had the opportunity to before.

After Grand Central Station, we walked the High Line which is a park that was created off of an old railroad. It’s amazing to see the addition of plants + trees to make a space beautiful. Last but not least, we went to Central Park. I originally wanted to Ice Skate in Central Park but Max hurt his foot that weekend so I told him that would be something we could do the next time we go (; It gives me an excuse to take him again!

Until we meet again, New York City

xo