Ellens stardust diner – thethoughtsofminitash

Hello again 🙂

So recently I was lucky enough to go on an incredible trip to New York City. I had been a few years before on my own but hadn’t really seen half of what I wanted to see. This time I wasn’t going on my own so it would be much more special. I also was so excited to be going to the US open tennis for the first time. Before leaving I had received a few recommendations from wonderful collegues/friends.

So the Wednesday evening I was on the plane headed for New York. It was kind of surreal to me that I was fortunate enough to be heading back to this amazing city.

Jetlagged but excited we headed out early in the morning to catch Brooklyn bridge at sunrise. We were still stuck on London time. We made it to the bridge in perfect time and watched the sun rise over the city. It was a beautiful site to see.

I was then in need of coffee and breakfast. We stopped in at a lovely little diner to have some breakfast and then we got on the train to the US Open. My first stop was the shop, as I can never not buy a souvenir. So a few moments spent debating on what to allow myself to buy, we then headed to our seats. We got to see brilliant Roger Federer play and on the other big court spotted Del Potro.

That evening we went to a wonderful Italian place called Gelso and Grand in little Italy, where I ate far too much! A wonderful pesto pasta and some calamari. We then headed to a revolving restaurant high up in the Marriott Marquis, near Times Square. It was amazing to sit and have a drink, watching the city revolve by.

On day 2 we headed off after breakfast to the High Line gardens. These are gardens located on an old rail way line. So you are walking through a park but you are overlooking the city.

We then took the train to Coney Island. We tried our luck at winning this big donut cushion. I wasn’t thinking at the time about actually getting it home. Sadly, we didn’t win,so the donut cushion was not meant to be. We had some lunch and enjoyed some time on the beach. Then had a ride on the Ferris wheel which gave a wonderful view.

It was then time to head back as we were going to Yankee stadium to watch the Yankees vs Red Sox play some baseball. The atmosphere was loud and brilliant. We stopped off at a lovely pizza place to end off the day.

The next day we went to a wonderful place called Sarabeths for breakfast. The pancakes and a pumpkin waffle were mouth wateringly delicious.

After that we spent time walking around central park seeing the John Lennon memorial, the Alice in wonderland statue and the famous bridges which have featured in many films. The bow bridge and the bridge known from the home alone film.

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We stumbled across a couple who had literally just got engaged. The newly engaged lady mentioned that the shirt she was wearing was not her favourite and now it would forever be the one she got in engaged in haha.

For lunch we went to a most wonderful place called Ellen’s stardust diner. The waiters all sing!!! It was truly the best thing. They even sing as they are bringing food to the tables or sorting out the bill etc. I loved every minute of it. They have amazing voices. It was like being at the theatre..

We then went to the Rockefeller centre to see the view from top of the rock, which was fantastic. Then I couldn’t resist going into the fabulous Christmas shop in times square. I spent some time there just browsing the beautiful Christmas goodies. In the evening we went Top of the standard. We had wanted to go on the rooftop but it was chucking it down with rain. We sat in their cocktail lounge which was beautiful. The views of the city were just spectacular. Even the bathroom had a view…

The next day we went to see ground zero which I found truly moving and took a ride on the Staten Island Ferry. We had an early dinner at a wonderful Cuban place called Victors Café. The food was fabulous. Then we saw Cats the musical on Broadway. After Cats I was surprised with drinks at this rooftop bar overlooking the bright lights of Times Square. It was an incredible way to end off the Last evening in the city.

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