Friday 31 May 2013

New York City - Day 5

Day 5 - Tuesday 7th May

Walked to Grand Central, found breakfast and caught subway down to Battery Park. Ate parfaits overlooking the Statue of Liberty!



Caught the Staten Island ferry to get a good view of the statue and the skyline, turned around and got right back on again to go back to Manhattan!



Caught subway to Columbus Circle, bought lunch at Whole Foods, picked up some fro yo with extra berries and went to find Strawberry Fields, the John Lennon memorial in Central Park which we'd missed on Saturday.



Long hot walk back to hostel to collect bags, ended up at bus stop a little early so ate our lunch outside Madison Square Garden.

Caught bus home to Baltimore, very tired, was very excited to get there and sleep!

So that's where the story of my very first trip to New York City ends, stay tuned for more tales of fun sisterly times in Baltimore, Washington DC and on our road trip baby woo!

Thursday 30 May 2013

New York City - Day 4

Day 4 - Monday 6th May

Slow start trying to find the right subway to downtown Brooklyn. Finally made it just in time for the opening of the TKTS booth where we got tickets to Avenue Q, 40% off!

Headed for Brooklyn Heights, eventually decided on somewhere for a brunch of egg and cheese bagels with gingerbread chai, nom nom nom!

Amazing view of skyline from Brooklyn Heights Promenade, just like on Friends! Then walked over the bridge which was hot and busy.




Ended up in financial district, saw City Hall (surprisingly small for such a large city), the Woolworth building, Ground Zero and the new WTC, Trinity Church, Wall Street, and the Stock Exchange, Federal Hall and and the Bowling Green Bull.





Chilled out for half an hour on a park bench then wandered over to Little Italy. Had amazing pastries for afternoon tea swiftly followed by amazing pizza at Lombardi's!



Caught subway back to hostel, changed then headed out to make it to New World Stages (off Broadway) just in time for Avenue Q. Obviously still hilarious, and so much more intimate than the last time I saw it which was at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff (think: back row of a massive auditorium!), this time second row of a tiny theatre! So awesome to watch the actors faces as well as the puppets.

Finished day with hot chocolate in Times Square, before sleep in preparation for the final day!

Wednesday 29 May 2013

New York City - Day 3

Day 3 - Sunday 5th May

Slept so much better! Slow start to morning but still out before ten, bit chilly! Met a guy trying to sell tickets to the Empire State Building who tried to speak British "street" and then proceeded to inform us that Baltimore is otherwise known as "Bodymore." Quite.



Saw flat iron building, very cool!



Walked about half of the Chelsea High Line, awesome linear park on a derelict elevated railway.



Had an amazing brunch in Greenwich Village, involving Earl Grey and Belgian waffle with yogurt, berries, almonds and honey, at the Bus Stop Cafe.



Explored the Village, starting with the Friends house! 



Lots of bicycle perving and incredibly cute dogs, awesome bookstores (a whole shop dedicated to secondhand cookbooks!) and stationers and chemist, cobbled streets and Washington Mews, finishing up in Washington Square Park.



Got the L line subway to Williamsburg. Found bagels and chai, did some people watching on a bench. Wandered around some quaint shops (the cheese store has loads of English stuff like digestives and black treacle!) then hung out at the park watching people playing a kick ball tournament!



Found a really cool bar for a drink then pan-Asian vegan restaurant for dinner, very tasty! Then subway back to Manhattan.

Went back to hostel for warm clothes and decided it was too early for bed so went to check out Times Square! So crazy!


Tuesday 28 May 2013

New York City - Day 2

Day 2 - Saturday 4th May

Got some interrupted sleep, ear plugs were awesome! Shared room with two nice girls who unfortunately left. Went out around nine, got bagels and started seeing the sights around the hostel: Empire State, Chrysler, Grand Central. Ate bagels outside library before going in. Got tickets for Top of the Rock at sunset. Went in Tiffany's! and Bloomingdales, not worth it!



Got lunch from Whole Foods salad bar, and much needed chai. Ate in Central Park, amazing. Nice weather, bit chilly though.



Went to natural history, pretty awesome, Tamzy loved it!



Got more tea and went back to park. Did some relaxation on a rock! Tried to find non- existent carousel! (NB. I have now discovered that the carousel does actually exist!) Then desperate to pee got stuck in The Ramble! Did see Belvedere Castle though.



Made it to The Rock in time for our slot, amazing views of Manhattan in time for sunset. Got cold waiting for complete darkness but so worth it!


Found very late dinner at ramen place near hostel (mochi green tea ice cream!)


Monday 27 May 2013

New York City - Day 1

Those of you who know me well will already be aware that my absence this month has actually been for a very good reason - my little sister came from the UK to visit me for a whole three weeks! As well as staying with N & I here in Baltimore, we took a couple of awesome trips together which I would like to tell you all about in a series of blog posts. I'm planning to pretty much just cut and paste from the journal I was writing while I was away. We started off in New York on Friday 3rd May, so here goes, enjoy!

Day 1 - Friday 3rd May

Woke up at 6.10 to go to the bathroom and decided to put WiFi on and check email before going back to
sleep, only to end up getting up: Tamzy's flight was delayed for 3.5 hours, meaning she missed her connection and wasn't going to arrive in NYC until 10 pm, five hours late! So I got up to see if I could get a later bus, but in the end decided to get my original bus anyway.


Bus was good but full of French school kids! Listened to lots of music. Stopped at a rest stop in New Jersey so I got an extra state!

First views of new York skyline very surreal! Getting off the bus very overwhelming, so busy with traffic and people! Went to Macy's for restrooms, awful place! Tried to find a recommended food truck but failed so walked back and ended up with salad sat in a little square.

First glimpse

Found hostel easily, friendly staff and nice and clean. Has WiFi! Spending some time chilling before going back out, don't know what to do! Tamzy should be landing soon if on time, but instead I have to wait five hours! Will go to Grand Central to catch bus to airport at 8, but still have three hours to fill...



So I waited an extra 40 or so minutes at the hostel until I knew Tamzy had landed then went out, first to Starbucks for a chai latte, then wandering 5th avenue in circles for a while trying to find the Girl Scouts headquarters. I eventually found it after I stopped looking, typical! Then I wandered past the public library, had some cool views of the Chrysler building, and checked out Grand Central station, which is nowhere near as grand as I expected! Found the airport shuttle stop then went back to a Panera on 5th for pasta and salad. 




Got on the bus for La Guardia around 8.30pm, thinking I'd seen on the website that it took an hour. No way, it took a maximum of 25 minutes, meaning I was here before Tamzy even left Philly. Stoopid!




Tamzy arrived safely, so exciting! We got bus back to city, checked her in to hostel and went downstairs to drink tea and chat about plans. Excited for first proper day tomorrow!




Stay tuned for the next installment!