...How wrong I was!
First Day in NYC:
After waking up at 5am with some shocking jet lag, I decided to start the day with a morning walk/run in Central Park, which was one of the first things on my list to see! I couldn't believe the sheer size and beauty of the park, and it was a great way to start the day.
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| Central Park |
I was in New York with two friends from college in Sydney and two of their new awesome friends from Contiki! We did so much in our first day in New York that I almost don't remember everything. We visited:
- Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty (which was really far away)
- The 9/11 memorial - it was huge, and quite eerie to think that the old World Trade Center towers once stood in the spots that are now the memorial water fountains.
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| 9/11 memorial |
- Wall Street - a great big street and a guy "occupying" the street shouting "Outsource America!"
- Brooklyn Bridge - gorgeous and a great view of Manhattan Island and Brooklyn
- Dumbo in Brooklyn - we hit up Starbucks for some lunch and also saw a guy in a photo shoot looking pretty sultry!
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| Brooklyn Bridge |
- Carrie Bradshaw's house from Sex and the City and the Friends apartment
- Went to Soho, then Little Italy for dinner (they had some great Spag Bol)!
- On the way home we went to see Beyonce/Jay-Z's house (stalkerish I know)
Finally, we arrived home at about midnight and I was exhausted!
Second Day:
The second day in New York, whilst a bit slower than the first day, was also jam-packed full of sight seeing!
Three of our group left very early (5am I think...) to go see Macklemore & Ryan Lewis play in Central Park for the Morning Show. Me and our other friend could not get up that early after that exhausting first day so we decided to have a slower start!
Leaving at about 10am after breakfast (a much more humane hour), we took the subway down Central Park and headed for the Loeb boathouse to meet the others. We saw many great sites alone the way, including the Bethesda fountain and terrace, the lake, and some sweet inscribed benches by the water.
The boathouse was a fantastic tourist activity for summer - only $5 each for 2 boats between us and an hour on the lake!
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| Boating on the Lake in Central Park! |
We then all split up - I went to go do some shopping/have lunch/MoMA and the others split up to do the Natural History Museum/a bike tour/explore.
MoMA was fantastic, but as it was Free Friday Nights, it had the longest line I've ever seen in my life! It hugged three sides of the building, but luckily it moved very quickly. It was worth the wait though, as the gallery had amazing works, from artists such as Jasper Johns, Lichtenstein, Van Gogh, Monet and Sol Lewitt.
After this, we walked to Times Square for dinner at a cool Chinese/Asian infusion place.
Third Day:
I started the day fairly early in order to hit the Museum of Natural History when it opened (at 10am), and I'm glad I did as there was barely any line! It was incredible - if I had decided to pursue a career as a scientist, I knew that it was exactly where I'd want to work! I didn't have much time, so I did the Planetarium (I had to, just because of Friends!), the animals from all countries, some of the human sections and the origin of man section.
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| Origin of Man Section of Natural History Museum |
Next, I crossed Central Park and tried to find something to eat. On the way back, I stumbled across the Jewish Museum, which was a nice (FREE! On Saturdays.) gem. I particularly liked the exhibition of Jack Goldstein's work, some conceptual paintings and film.
I then made my way to the Met which was ENORMOUS! I would have liked at least a week there to explore everything! I particularly liked the rebuilt Temple of Dendur (a gift from Egypt to the Americans for their help in saving monuments from damage in the building of a dam). That glass wall in the room is incredible too - such great light and so iconic! (When Harry Met Sally)
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| The Temple of Dendur |
After all this, I was a bit museumed out, so went back to the hostel early and had dinner at a cool Mexican place called Blockheads.
Fourth Day:
After saying goodbye to one of our friends who was off to Washington, me and my other college friend paid a visit to Columbia University! It was incredible, with such history, but looking at an Ivy League University made me realise how lucky we are at Sydney University with our sandstone castle!
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| Columbia University |
We then met another friend for lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner and decided to go see a matinée Broadway Show (Chicago)! Ellen's Stardust Diner was awesome and had a great vibe - our waitress was super cute! I think she was called Shortcake...
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| Ellen's Stardust Diner |
Chicago was also good - although it didn't quite live up to my expectations as I had seen a couple of Broadway shows in Australia (such as Wicked) which were incredible! I imagine only the very best ones tour overseas though.
For dinner, we hit up a "family style" Italian restaurant called Tony's, where you shared the dishes on the table. The food was delish and we had a super nice waiter!
My final day in New York was pretty quiet after parting ways with the others, I mainly spent it exploring more of Central Park.
In summary - New York was a vibrant and interesting city, full of tourists, with so, so much to do! In the five days I spent there, I still feel like there was so much I didn't get to do, so I will definitely be back! I found the people in New York really kind and friendly once you got talking to them, all with great tips about the city.
So sorry about the essay everyone and welcome to the blog! I am a bit behind but will try and catch up the posts on my travels over the next couple of days!
Erin xx
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