New Quick Trip!

"Once a year, go someplace you've never been before" - Dalai Lama

So I think this is my new thing for this year: visit someplace new. It can be trip that can take a long time or it can be a very short one where I can apply some of my travel and food thoughts to gain new memories and experiences. It can be a new Country, a new City, or just a new Landmark that you haven't been in before.

Girls Trip

In honor of these thoughts, I recently took a weekend trip with some friends. We headed out to New Jersey and to New York - to re-visit these cities but to step into new places we hadn't been in before. And before I get into details, I must say that the weather was just AWESOME all the way! Nice cold weather - even got to see a wee bit of snow - but sunny days all the way.

We landed in Atlantic City, New Jersey on a Friday night. We headed out to a nice place to spend our night and get some Z's for our next day adventure in New York.

Our New York City adventure started at 6 a.m. on Saturday, when we headed out on train from New Jersey to Manhattan - to Penn Station to be exact. My first time being on a this station and I must admit I loved the craziness in this place.

Our main visiting targets in New York were: the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 Memorial Site, the Empire State building, and the Guggenheim Museum of New York. And even though we had a very handy tool in our hands - a very much recommended site seeing pass called CityPass (practically the C3 Pass) for New York - we only had chance to do 3 places. PSSST! according to a tour guide on-site, it would take us about 4 hours for the Statue of Liberty trip, considering we had the CityPass. So we left that new place for our next visit to New York.

The 9/11 Memorial site is very mystical and peaceful. One place to reflect on life and what is truly important in life. The Empire State is just breathtaking! It's one of those places where you get hypnotized by the view and see how magnificent a whole city can be and how little but powerful one can be inside that city. And the Guggenheim Museum is very unique, indeed. From contemporary to modern art, from heart-warming pieces to images that may shock you - it's very interesting.

Of course my friends and I had to eat. Two stops done were at Umami Burger inside Brooksfield Place and the Buttercup Bake Shop located on 7th Avenue. Just awesome and colorful food on both places. And we ended our night - very very night - in a very down-to-earth diner called Vicentown Diner on our way back to New Jersey. Very fresh food with a homemade taste, even at 11 p.m.

Finally, Sunday was just to chill and re-gain energy. It was a perfect cold but sunny Sunday for winery stops. Visited two (2) places that had their own uniqueness. Sharrot Winery is a large location with a great variety of wines and a nice atmosphere. The red wine is nice and very smooth! Then White Horse Winery seemed a bit smaller but a very cozy atmosphere and I must admit I loved the red wine with a hint of blueberry. OH WINE GOODNESS!

Our trip ended on Sunday night, when we flew back home!

It's trips like this that helps you make great memories. It makes you visit new places and be happy about the whole experience. Dear foodies out there, travel & eat with much happiness and gain much knowledge and lovely memories!