The World of Joel Szerlip It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward.

New York Trip Day 6 (August 3rd, 2011): Bittersweet Symphony

Having back to back birthdays is never easy. I worry about Jenn's upcoming birthday on my day and she is busy making sure I have a great day just a day before its her big day. Regardless over the almost eight years we have been together we have managed to work it out exceptionally well.

Each day Jenn and I have woken up and looked at the weather to make sure our itinerary jived with the upcoming forecast and adjusted as needed. Since today was forecasted to have rain on and off for the entire day we decided that a carriage ride in the park would be best done in the sunshine so we switched the American National History Museum for today. We woke up at (surprise, surprise) around 10 AM and began to get ready for the day. We were feeling exceptionally lazy this morning and since it was Jenn's birthday we laid around for as long as possible.

We made our way out of the beautiful Surrey Hotel at around noon and made our way through central park and on over to Central Park West down to the Lincoln Center on 65th street. However we didn't make it all the way to 65th before realizing it was time to stop for a much needed birthday lunch. Since it was Jenn's pick we went to a really quaint little Italian Restaurant called Bello Giardino on 71st street. We were seated in this really quaint back patio with a roof filled with grape vines and ceiling fans to keep it cool. Jenn had spaghetti with meatballs and vanilla ice cream and I had penne alla vodka with a house salad. Both of our meals were fantastic, super rich with flavor, and just an all around great experience.

From the really nice lunch we walked down to 65th street to the Lincoln Center to pick up our tickets for our symphony that night. We picked those up and then walked all the way back to 79th street to the American National History Museum. The weather today was a good ten to fifteen degrees cooler then the past few which made walking everywhere much more bearable. The museum itself was actually a lot of fun. Both Jenn and I walked around making up much of our own versions of history for many of the different areas of the museum.

One of the big highlights for both of us within the museum was the dinosaur section. They have some of the biggest dinosaur exhibits around and they are truly breathtaking to look at. Not only are the bones in amazingly good quality but their recreations and stature are incredible. One of the things we got free with the City Pass besides skipping all of the lines was an IMAX viewing of "Journey to the Stars". We missed our designated 3:30 showing but were allowed to come back and see the 4:30 which we did and were kind of bummed we hung around to watch it. It was an incredible quality of video but I think both Jenn and I were snoozing a bit during the thirty minute long performance.

When we got out of the museum the weather took a huge turn for the worse and started pouring rain. Jenn in a skirt and a blouse was in no way dressed to walk the mile back to our hotel so she nabbed us a taxi (nailed it again) and we got back to the hotel safe and sound.

We had around 3 hour gap between the time we got back to the hotel and when we needed to leave for the symphony so we ordered a pizza and picked it up a few blocks away. This is our first and only time eating New York pizza on this trip so we were both pretty excited about it. Walking to the pizza place wasn't bad it was pretty dry and was only sprinkling rain. From the moment we picked up the pizza it started to pour again and being the two smartest people in New York we didn't bring an umbrella with us so we pretty much ran back to the hotel. The good news was the pizza survived and we chowed down on it right when we got back to the hotel. According to Yelp we got the pizza from one of the best in the Upper East Side but neither Jenn and I loved it. It was good don't get me wrong but it wasn't the amazing pizza that people have raved about.

We had about an hour or so to get ready for our symphony that started at 8PM. Both Jenn and I have always talked about going to a symphony but have never been to one. When we booked New York that was one of the things that we said we wanted to do while we were here so Jenn booked us tickets to a symphony called "Mostly Mozart." Let me just say that Jenn looked absolutely stunning in the dress she wore for the symphony.  It might have been raining outside but you would have never known it by taking one glance at her. She had only wore this dress one other time on our Europe Cruise in 2008 and it still fit her like a glove. When we went to get a taxi about 30 minutes before the start of the performance it was once again coming down cats and dogs outside. With the help of people staying at the hotel (Jenn couldn't help due to her dress) we were able to nab a cab and make it to the symphony with plenty of time to spare.

Jenn as always did not let us down with amazing seats for the symphony. We were in the box seats almost directly above the orchestra and somehow managed to get the box all to ourselves. The symphony itself was incredible to say the least. The music was amazing, the environment electric, and the experience was simply memorable. Although the performance was almost two hours long it felt like 15 minutes. They had a few songs with two famous violinists, and a few more with a world renowned opera singer. It definitely ignited a flame in both of us to get out and experience more symphonies in the future.

From the symphony we grabbed a taxi in the pouring rain and headed back to our hotel to pack for our 5:45 AM flight home tomorrow. You couldn't ask for a better way to not only finish off Jenn's birthday but also an amazing trip to The Big Apple.

New York Trip Day 5 (August 2nd, 2011): A Carriage Ride Through the Park and a Meal Fit for Kings

Spending your birthday on vacation in New York City is probably enough for ones birthday right there. But when you combine that with an absolutely incredible day, life just can't get any better. Like every day on this trip we woke up well past a "normal hour" at around 10:30-11. After the last few days have been jam packed with sight seeing we decided that the rest of the trip would be more centered around enjoying the experience of New York. So we woke up got some hot dogs and a pretzel from the corner street vender and walked over to Central Park. '

When we got to 5th Ave and 61st Street we made our way over to the beautiful horse drawn carriages that will take you on a nice walk through the park. We were lucky enough to get a very nice Irish man who talked to us about some of the different movies with scenes filmed in the park and random historical tid bits. Jenn and I had a great time laughing and taking in the beautiful park. When we did get to the end of the trip we learned that they were shutting down the carriage rides for the rest of the day. New York City has a mandate that if it gets past 90 degrees (it was 92 at the time) that they had to shut down the carriage rides for the day. So we were even more stoked that we got the ride in before it was shut down.

From the beautiful carriage ride we took a leisurely stroll through central park, people watched, and just enjoyed the nice day. From there we headed back to 76th street and even picked up Jenn some vanilla gelato along the way. This gave Jenn and I an hour or two to regroup and get ready for our big night.

After a lot of debate we decided to go the Chef Ramsey's London restaurant. We knew going into it, it would be a pricey affair but were ready to take on a brand new experience and one that would be memorable for a lifetime. Jenn got us a taxi (3 for 3 in nabbing a taxi within a minute of stepping out of the hotel) to take us to the London hotel. The doors were immediately opened for us as we got out of the taxi and we let them know we had reservations for Chef Ramsey's London Restaurant and they took us through the Maze Restaurant and through double doors to a very private dining room that seats at most 30 people. We were given a beautiful corner seat with a great view of the rest of the dining room. Our reservation was for 6 PM and when we got there we were only joined by one other party who was at the other end of the restaurant. So really we felt like we had the restaurant to ourselves.

I would be lying if I said I didn't do a ton of research about the restaurant and the experience beforehand. What was amazing that even after all the research the evening far exceeded my expectations. We were immediately greeted by three separate staff members who talked to us about the restaurant, the menu, and the specials. There was really two options in terms of ordering either do there 3 course meal or there 7 course tasting menu. Jenn and I in the "go big or go home" mentality decided to both get the 7 course tasting menu. Jenn ordered a cosmo to start with and I had the wine pairings to go along with the 7 courses.

Prestige Menu

Course 1: Amuse bouche

Course 2: Poussin roasted on the bone, foie gras torchon, baby lettuce, Burgundy truffle

Course 3: Maine diver scallops, curried cauliflower, pressed mango, spiced chickpeas

Course 4: Filet of turbot “gratiné,” marinated sungold tomatoes, white asparagus, basil velouté

Course 5: Colorado lamb, Moroccan couscous, braised artichokes, Meyer lemon, lamb vinaigrette or Caramelized Long Island duck breast, sweet rutabaga, potato rösti, Szechwan consommé

Course 6: Peach, thyme crumble and lemon verbena ice cream

Course 7: Lime ganache, coconut dacquoise, passion fruit, tequila gelée, Thai banana ice cream

With each course came a new work of art. Each dish was portrayed in the most unique and beautiful setting it was hard to imagine anything was even edible on the plate. Some of our highlights from the meal was the scallops, the chicken (which didn't taste like chicken it melted in your mouth), and our main entrees of Lamb and Duck were both out of this world.

Throughout the meal I had 5 total glasses of wine (3 white, 1 red, and 1 desert) and each of them was amazingly paired with the food. Jenn later on in the meal got an Espresso Martini which was extremely strong but delicious. I think what Jenn and I enjoyed most even over the food was the experience. Every second you had someone asking how they could help or explaining the cooking methods or the vintage of the wine. I for one have never been treated like such a king in my life.

Eating at a place that cost as much as The London did is not something you would do everyday. But its those rare occasions in life that you just sit back and feel tremendously blessed to be alive and to be able to experience something as amazing and as delicious as the experience we had at the restaurant. Nearly three hours after we sat down the experience was coming to a close and we just spent another ten or fifteen minutes sitting and enjoying the now much busier restaurant.

We picked up a cab and got dropped off at our hotel ten minutes later. Literally for the rest of the night all Jenn and I could talk about was how amazing the experience was. The food, the atmosphere, the art on each plate, it was just incredible. We spent the rest of the evening watching great old re-runs of The Office and Friends and even caught half of the Mark Whalberg version of Planet of the Apes.

I can honestly say I enjoyed every second of my 25th birthday.

New York Trip Day 4 (August 1st, 2011): It Smells Like B.O and the Ocean

After a full day yesterday Jenn and I knew that waking up at a decent time was unlikely. We ended up waking up at around 11AM and headed out about a half hour later to Central Park to pick up the Double Decker Bus. Our plan was to take the bus all the way to the Statue of Liberty stop which is about twenty stops after the central park stop.

We made it about ten stops in and realized that there was no way we were going to make it all the way to the Statue of Liberty without picking up some food. So we got off at the stop for China Town and walked our way up to Little Italy. The walk through China Town was interesting there was definitely some drug movements going on up there. You also couldn't walk a few steps without someone hassling you for money or to buy some knock off purses or watches. When we finally reached Little Italy there were quite a few restaurants to choose from. We randomly selected one called Luna which was a very cool little restaurant. We split some mozzarella sticks again, and then I got chicken parmesan and Jenn got lasagna.  It was the perfect energy booster to get us through the heat and onto the Statue of Liberty.

When we finally made it to the Statue of Liberty the heat and humidity were definitely the worst they have been all trip. We got in line and for the first ten minutes or so didn't move. I looked over at Jenn and asked her which was worse the horrid smell of the ocean or the overwhelming smell of body oder in line. Either way we made it through the line and onto the ferry to take us to the Statue of Liberty. We made our way quickly off the ferry and onto the island that holds the Statue of Liberty. We walked around Lady Liberty took a bunch of photos and sat down under a tree for a good fifteen minutes to just get away from the heat and relax. It was actually a very peaceful island to be on. We ended up making our way back to the ferry and skipped going to Ellis Island to make our way back to New York City.

To our shock on arriving back on land there was a massive line waiting for the double decker bus so Jenn and I spotted the subway entrance and jetted our way over there. For 5 bucks we got onto the subway got some quick directions to Time Square and were off. We had to make a transition at Grand Central Station which Jenn had always wanted to see and then got to Time Square a few minutes later. Jenn as always was the master navigator and literally got us there like she had been doing this for years.

We got to Time Square and immediately went on a search for a restaurant to eat at. We for the first time picked a horrible restaurant to eat at. We ate at a place called Charley Co Bar and Grill which just was far from edible. We both got a fixed three course meal, for our first course we got soup and salad, for our main course Jenn got prime rib and I got surf and turf, and we got cheesecake and ice cream for dinner. There was not one part of the meal that was up to New York standards.

We weren't about to let that stop us from having a great evening. We walked from the restaurant to the Regal Movie Theater down the street and saw Crazy Stupid Love starring Steve Carell. The movie theater was top notch and the movie itself was one of our favorites in a long time. The theater was jam packed which made the experience even better.

From the movie theater we walked throughout Time Square, stopped at Forever 21 where we were supposed to go shopping for Jenn but ended up just buying me a shirt. From Forever 21 we walked over to the Rockefeller Center. With our city pass we had tickets to go up to the top of The Rock and skip the line in. So we made our way into The Rock and were up to the 67th floor within a matter of ten minutes or so. The experience here was so much different then that of the Empire State Building. For one we were seeing everything at night which I think adds an even greater appreciation for how magical the city is. From the moment you step in the elevator and can see a beautiful projection at the top of the elevator that lets you view the entire ride up to the top floor.

We spent quite a bit of time at the Top of the Rock enjoying the magnificent summer evening. There was even some lighting and thunder in the distance which lit up the night sky. Being up there was truly one of the highlights of the day.

From the Top of the Rock we decided to walk back to our hotel over twenty blocks away. It was getting close to 11PM and you couldn't ask for a better time to walk both for the beautiful weather and the peace and quiet you get in the city at this time. We had a great time walking, talking, and taking in the beautiful summer night.