October was the month of decision-making. The trip to New York, was definitely a last-minute decision and it was the best one. Like they say, when you are stuck, change your perspective and this trip gave me just the right change of perspective I needed to make an important decision (on that in another post soon). I do owe it Tom to have pushed me to go with him, so thank you. Now, let’s go straight to what we did during those 4 days.
Before I start, let me quickly give you some context. I went to New York 9 years ago for the Thanksgiving long weekend and although I have a very good memory of it, I also remember it being very cold and only have vivid memories of how pretty New York felt at sundown with all the lights lit up. Also, a little tip, do not visit New York during Thanksgiving because, after the parade, everything literally closes. I ended up eating a horrible triangle sandwich from the only 7-Eleven. I also remember missing out on some key sights and was determined not to miss them this time.
But first things first… Shake Shack! I have to admit, I was looking forward to having a Shake Shack as my first lunch when in New York. Luckily for us, there was one just around the corner and although I have had it in London, having it again on American soil hit differently, it brought up so many memories and I couldn’t feel happier. I also forgot that the US is the country where people talk straight to me in Spanish, with no hesitation about my origins. What I did not miss… their obsession with air-conditioning and the need to fill a glass or cup with so much ice. Is it really necessary for things to be cold all the time? (important detail for later). With full bellies, we decided to continue exploring the financial district and we walked to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal to get on the free ferry to have a beautiful view of the city and the Statue of Liberty. It was so cold and cloudy but even 9 years later I still can’t believe that the statue is smaller than it looks. After the little ferry trip, we continued our walk downtown and got to the 9/11 memorial, which still has a special atmosphere. We continued through the new station World Trade Center, as pretty as I had seen in pictures, and have to admit that it felt good to be inside for a bit, sipping my chai latte. Our adventures for the day didn’t stop there and we decided to continue rediscovering the city by checking other sights that I hadn’t seen – the High Line and the Chelsea Market.
To get there, easy, you take the metro. Although the Americans love things to be cold I can tell you the metros weren’t. I quickly went from not being able to shake the cold out of my body to sweating and feeling dizzy from the warmth of the metro! What a horrible feeling, and that’s where I felt it… I was getting sick. I mean, I hadn’t been sleeping properly for weeks and feeling cold was definitely not a positive sign, but nothing that a trip to CVS couldn’t fix. some throat drops that numbed both our whole mouth and some “day ‘n night” cold/flue medication later we were enjoying the beautiful sundown on the High Line, talking about our US memories and realizing how better I felt being so far away from the reality I was living at home. Totally recommend doing it at sundown, the colors were gorgeous and the light made it picture-perfect. Arriving at the Chelsea Market I was suddenly not hungry and started feeling very tired. We had to stay awake as long as we could to avoid jetlag, but it was only 6pm. We were definitely not hungry so staying at the market after having a look around was not worth it. I wished we would have been able to enjoy it a little more though. To make sure we would sleep like babies we decided to have an hour-long walk back to the hotel. Not going to lie, it felt really long and we both were too exhausted even to eat but remembering that walk makes me smile because I spent most of that walk looking up and New York is indeed the prettiest at night. We finally got to the hotel at almost 8pm, we totally failed at staying awake and I 100% was getting sick and the jetlag didn’t help.
Day 2 – Although I hadn’t slept well, I felt sick and cold, I wasn’t going to let this ruin our day! The best thing to do first is go for breakfast, we went to a little brunch place called Hole in the Wall. It was delicious! And off we went to visit the Public Library. The visit was shorter than what I thought it would be, but I have to admit it felt good to be inside. If you haven’t had the time to plan your day, this is the perfect place to be to figure that out. The main hall was only open for visitors at certain times with a guide and when we arrived we just missed it. My favorite part though, was the little museum they have. where you can see a copy of the Constitution and here and there 1 page of the real thing as well as other things that give you insight into the American culture.
The next stop was the Rockafellar Center. We didn’t stay long, we literally had a look took a picture and started walking straight to Central Park. The sun was finally out and we were craving a pretzel. I’m not really the type of person who particularly enjoys walking in parks unless it’s COVID, I have nice company or I’m going for a picnic. But Central Park brings so many different feelings. Probably because it cuts you out from the busy city life. The park actually inspires me to walk for hours, enjoy the views and read a book. I also enjoyed it because we saw another side of Central Park I hadn’t seen the first time around. After a couple of hours in the park, it was time to go to one of the attractions I was looking forward to the famous Museum of National History. We spent there the whole afternoon and even like that we didn’t see everything. It’s huge and I surprisingly really enjoyed it, led us to discuss lots of topics and I love when Tom and I have those discussions about culture, the world and imagining what could have been.
For our first actual dinner in New York, we decided to go to a Thai restaurant, the Thai Diner. I think we waited easily more than 40 minutes outside. We were tired of all the walking, I was cold and hungry. We saw all the plates going to all the tables and I couldn’t stop imagining how good our food was going to be, and it didn’t disappoint. We sat at the bar, drinking beer and enjoying my beef green curry. So tasteful, 100% recommend and the proof is when the only picture you have of your food is blurry and you do not care. Although you can get in without a reservation, I still recommend reserving. After dinner, we went for our highlight of the day! A visit to Target! I can’t explain it, it’s a supermarket but there is so much choice, so much different types of food and other things. Tom and I had plans of buying lots of things to bring back home. I don’t know what happened, maybe we were too tired, jetlag or something else, but we didn’t buy anything interesting to bring back home. We regret it…
Little note here. By now I have been taking 2 days of those night ‘n day medications. The medication didn’t fail. The third day in New York, and I was feeling so much better!! I had to feel better, because day 3, was my day alone, while Tom was working. I had a whole itinerary planned: I had a bite at a cute little working café. Didn’t have a lot to eat, because I needed to be hungry by noon for what I had been waiting to eat for the past 3 days. Once I was certain of how to get to all my different highlights of the day (yes, I had no internet), I was ready to start my day. First stop: Chinatown and Little Italy. Ok, so not the best idea to be there in the morning. Although everything was calm and not too many people, most of the things were still closed. So I would recommend you to go in the afternoon and evening. When arriving in a little Italy I stumbled upon a Christmas store. OMG, this was the best store. Bought the cutest little ornaments that I could personalize and right there my Christmas spirit started to come out! I must have spent there some time because when I got out, it was lunch time and I had a place to be. Katz’s delicatessen. To eat the famous pastrami sandwich! Ok, let me tell you this. Every bite was really really good, the pickles were really good and adding a cream soda made it just a perfect lunch in a very authentic New York vibe setting. The meat, I mean I can not get over that meat. Soft and so flavourful BUT my next pastrami sandwich will not be eaten there, instead it will be in hopefully a less famous place to avoid paying again so much money for a sandwich. it was still so good though… I was so happy. With a big smile on my face, I continued my stroll getting lost in the streets of New York until I arrived at what I remembered being my favorite spot. Washington Square surrounded my students and music. I decided to go to Starbucks and take the famous cold pumpkin spice chai latte! People. This was so good. To this day, I still remember the taste pretty clearly. I took my chai, went to the square sat down near the fountain in the sun and enjoyed every little sip taking it all in. When you pass by Washington Square, you almost have to go to the FRIENDS building. I mean you don’t have to if you are not a fan. I love that little area of the Village. All the cute little American houses with the stairs, decorated for Halloween. it is definitely different than home. I love that feeling.
My next stop was of course Times Square. From where I was, it meant a good walk. Like they say. walking is the best way to see a city. So I started walking, having my head always looking up, because that’s what you do in New York. I decided to stop for a bit at the Flatiron Building. There were seats in the middle of the street, where working people and tourists were having lunch or enjoying the autumn sunny day in the middle of the New York chaos. I did the same. took some time to rest, enjoy the moment, do some people watching and took the time to connect to the internet to just give Tom some signs that I was alive and well. I ended up walking all straight to Times Square through Broadway Avenue, passing by Macy’s and all the other stores, that just make you want to spend your money. And just like that you end up in Times Square surrounded by big screens, light everywhere and people everywhere. Groups of people entertaining the tourists, people dressed up taking pictures, music everywhere. My only regret is that I should have asked someone to take a picture of me at the square at the famous red stairs. For dinner, I decided to eat a bit healthier, my body was screaming for some vegetables, so I took my friend’s advice and went to Union Square to have a big salad for dinner. Felt good to have some greens in my stomach and by the time I came out of the salade place it was dark and ready to go home. Took the very warm metro and got back to the hotel looking forward to seeing Tom.
Thursday, last full day in New York. Tom is still working and I felt I had a good time sightseeing, so it was time to do some shopping, but I promised myself to only buy if I really needed it. I visited Marshall’s, TJ MAxx, Century 21. When you are in the US, those are always good stores to have a look at for nice clothes at a reduced price. I also decided to visit a shopping mall called Brookfield Palace at the waterfront. The place is really beautiful with a nice view, but not really my type of store. As I didn’t find anything worth buying, I went for lunch at Chipotle. It was exactly how I remembered it. That’s also where my bank card decided to stop working… Another tip: never go to the US with only one card or no cash. Anyway, after finally being able to pay for my lunch I decided to go to Barnes & Noble and enjoy reading my book while waiting for Tom to finish work and go together to the One World Observatory and do our last stop, Brooklyn. Oh, I forgot to mention: there was a Starbucks at the Barnes & Noble.. guess what I ordered? 😉
To say quickly something about the One World Observatory. We enjoyed the amazing views, but we were there literally for maybe 45 minutes and although we had a good time, for the price I thought it wasn’t worth it. I preferred the Empire State Building. Just my 2 cents. 🙂
My Favorite part of our last day in New York was finally going on the Brooklyn Bridge. lots of people but doing it at sundown was the best idea. It was so beautiful and wanted to take pictures wherever my eyes were looking at. The walk to the other side, wasn’t that long, or maybe it was all the excitement of eating pizza that made it look to be a short walk. before we went to Juliana’s Pizza, we walked to Dumbo Manhattan to have the famous view of the Manhattan Bridge, we walked along the waterfront at Pebble Beach and Jane’s Carousel. My favorite view wat the Brooklyn Bridge lookout. Gorgeous at night. The pizza was really good too, worth the wait.
The next day we had a last breakfast at Seaport and we were ready to take the bus to go to Washington DC, but that’s for another blog post.
I have loved this trip. It ended up doing so much for my mental health and I needed to feel aligned with myself and what I wanted or needed. There is no need to tell you New York is always a good idea. You want to go, pay for that plane ticket and enjoy it because as much as we know New York through movies, shows and others, it’s truly special and makes you forget your daily life. And sometimes that’s all you need.
With Love,
Brenda
Life with Brenda 