New York: Day Three

I hope you've been enjoying my New York posts, as I've enjoyed reminiscing about our four day trip. Today I wanted to share the details of our final full day, before we had to catch our flight home in the evening back to the UK. I know it's supposed to be Fitness Friday, but today we are talking travel!

We started the morning by heading to Junior's for some all American pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. I enjoyed the accompanying stewed apples, raisins and cinnamon and the gigantic vat of coffee to give me my caffeine fix. They weren't the most exciting pancakes I've ever tried, but the diner was close to our hotel and ticked off my wish for pancakes in the States! After breakfast, we headed back to Times Square to spend some of our remaining dollars - and this meant Sephora. I don't normally buy high end beauty, but the staff were so friendly here and I couldn't resist treating myself. I was offered a 15 minute 'beauty tutorial' so I decided to be shown contouring. My makeup artist was so friendly and showed me a really simple way of contouring, which resulted in me buying the Sephora brushes which he had used. I'm glad I did because they are amazing!

We then returned to our rooms to check out. Row NYC allowed us to leave our suitcases with the concierge until we left for the airport, and this was so useful as it allowed us to spend the day exploring without dragging our suitcases with us. Our next destination was the Rockefeller Centre and the Top of the Rock. In 43 seconds, we had climbed 67 floors and headed out to the wonderful New York views. I loved seeing Central Park covered in the remaining snow and seeing the Empire State Building, rather than standing on it. I opted for the Premier Pass, which for an extra $5 meant that I got a map of the skyline, pointing out all the various buildings for you, and a digital photo taken by a professional photographer. It was worth it for the map alone, which is now on my wall above my desk! I would definitely recommend it over the Empire State Building, as it is cheaper and there are less queues.

We treated ourselves to Five Guys for lunch. I know that this chain has now even reached Cambridge, but we wanted somewhere quick and easy for lunch. Five Guys was cheaper than Shakeshack, which we had tried the day before, and also better. I love that you can choose all the unlimited toppings you want, although I am not entirely sure what I chucked on my Little Cheeseburger as a result! The skin on fries were really tasty and I got very excited about that drinks machine, full of all the different fruit-flavoured fizzy drinks you can think of.

After filling our bellies, we headed down to 5th Avenue to indulge in a little more shopping. It felt very much like Oxford Street, but we enjoyed exploring the shops and of course visiting Macy's. We also checked out the front of the Rockefeller Centre, with the ice rink and statues. The snow started to fall again as we headed into New York Public Library. Isn't it crazy that this beautiful building is New York citizen's library?

Finally, we collected our bags from Row NYC and headed to the airport, although this wasn't as simple as we had hoped. A snowstorm hit and a 30 minute taxi drive actually took us two and a half hours, to then discover our flight had been cancelled. The staff at both American Airlines and British Airways were fantastic and luckily we managed to catch a different flight at 11pm, not much later than originally planned. The lesson is to make sure you have travel insurance!

Have you been to New York? We are already planning our trip back to the Big Apple and have definitely caught the bug! Where are your favourite places to visit?

Read Day One here

Read Day Two here

Jess

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New York: Day Two

You will hopefully have seen my last post about my first day in New York, and today I want to tell you all about the second day of our trip. The heavy snow from the day before had been cleared away and the sun was shining as we headed out for the day:

We started our day with a trip to Carlo's Bake Shop, the bakery owned by Carlo from the TV show Cake Boss. I opted for an Oreo cupcake with my coffee, and it was much better than Magnolia Bakery - the cake was moist and chocolaty, and the icing was a much better ratio to cake. We caught the subway to Grand Central Station, where I was amazed by the stunning architecture and the locals walking past without a glance at the surroundings. We saw the Chrysler Building then popped over to Bath and Body Works, where I picked up five miniature hand sanitisers for just $5.

We then headed to well-known Katz's Delicatessen for lunch, where I was excited to try a Reuben Sandwich. I was surprised with how quickly we were served and the size of the place, as I had been envisaging queues to try their famous sandwiches. The sandwich was packed full of corned beef, Swiss cheese, Russian and Sauerkraut, and it was pretty hard to eat! It was definitely one of those places where you can just dig in and get messy, which I quickly did. I enjoyed the meaty cheesey contents, especially once I added some of the delicious Katz's mustard. My only criticisms would be the slightly fatty meat, and the bread was rather uninteresting for such tasty contents.

After we had stuffed ourselves, we headed to the Staten Island Ferry which you can catch for free and takes you past the Statue of Liberty. I get childishly excited by ferry rides and I loved standing in the freezing wind and staring back as we left New York behind. We were lucky with the day we had chosen, as the sky was so clear and bright, especially in comparison to the snowstorm the day before - although you can still see all the ice left behind! The ferry runs every half an hour from both sides, so we waited and caught the next ferry back to New York straight away, then continued with our travels for the day.

We stopped off for a quick drink at The Dead Rabbit, a trendy tiny bar located just off Wall Street. I opted for the Sweet Jane; gin, Dolin Blanc, apple, lemon, pink gratefruit, anise and bitters. It was wonderfully tart and refreshing, and prepared us nicely for the walk ahead. We had planned a walk which passed the Charging Bull Statue, the New York Stock Exchange and the rest of Wall Street. This then took us to Trinity Church and finally the 9/11 Memorial. In total, the walk took about forty-five minutes, as well as time to take photographs and explore, and ticked off some must-see sights. The final destination of the 9/11 Memorial was actually extremely emotional and I would urge you to include it in any trip to New York.

We caught the subway to the Brooklyn side of Brooklyn Bridge and then walked back over the Manhattan. We timed this to coincide with sunset and it was simply perfect. It's hard to describe how stunning the New York skyline looked as night fell and it lit up. I would definitely recommend it!

I'm going to talk about dinner at Don Antonio in another post, as it was lovely and deserves its own write-up (and this post is long enough!) We then finished our final evening in New York with some beers at the well-known dive bar Rudy's Bar and Grill. It cost us just $8 for a pitcher of 4 pints of beer and I loved the friendly atmosphere. I'm sure it would have been much busier on a weekend, but I enjoyed spending our Tuesday evening people-watching and soaking in the chilled, slightly rock-and-roll atmosphere to see out our final night in New York.

Read Day One here

Read Day Three here

Jess

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New York: Day One

One month ago, I got a text from a friend and fellow blogger Sammie from Little Blonde Life. "British Airways has a January sale," it read, "want to go to New York?" 24 hours later, in a fit of impulsiveness which is very unlike me, the flights and hotel were booked - we were off to New York for four days! Last weekend, we set off to the Big Apple and I wanted to share where we went and what we did, day by day, with you all:

We actually landed on the Saturday, but this day consisted of travelling and a wonderful meal at Buddakan which I will review separately at a later date. For our first whole day, we started by exploring Times Square. Our hotel, Row NYC, was a great location, just a couple of minutes from Times Square, yet not to noisy or cramped. I should have taken photos, but you can check out their website! Our room was clean and well-designed, including a safe, a huge full length mirror and 'blackout' blinds to ensure a good night's sleep. The staff were very helpful and friendly and it was a great base to explore the city. I would definitely stay there again as it was so affordable too.

After exploring Times Square, and indulging in some goodies from Forever 21 and Sephora, we caught the subway to Central Park. We bought a 7 day Metro Travelcard for $31 and I would definitely recommend it, it made travelling so much more convenient as you didn't have to queue each time. We quickly discovered a Mexican restaurant called Cafe Frida and decided on brunch. We ordered the guacamole to start, which was huge and amazingly presented along with corn chips, although it could have been spicier as it was a little bland. Then I ordered the Huevos Rancheros O Divorciados; it may be one of the ugliest dishes I have photographed but it was delicious! I really enjoyed the green tomato sauce in particular and it was an enjoyable unplanned find.

We were so lucky with the weather and as we headed back to Central Park, the snow was crazy. It meant that we couldn't see some of the sights like Strawberry Fields, but the atmosphere was incredible. I have an outfit post on its way! Next, we headed to the Museum of Modern Art to explore some amazing art, including Van Gogh's The Starry Night and Andy Warhol's famous printed soup cans. It's worth noting that if you are a student, bring your student card as entry is then just $14 rather than $25.

We walked back to the hotel, which allowed us time to see the entrance to The Tonight Show and try a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery. This was admittedly a disappointment - the cake was dry and there was far too much icing for my tastes, but it was something which we had wanted to try. We then got to explore Times Square at nighttime, with the amazing lights and displays, and we may have been distracted by the Disney store!

Finally, we headed to the Shake Shack across the road from our hotel. I was itching to try this chain and the queues which we had seen outside every store only fueled my need to eat there. Unfortunately, I really don't understand what the fuss is about. After paying almost $20 for a burger, cheesy chips and their famous milkshake, I was met with a cold, greasy burger in a bun similar to those in McDonalds. The cheese sauce was 'plastic-y' and cheap tasting and I was generally underwhelmed. The only part of the meal I enjoyed was the Vanilla frozen custard shake, which was tasty and moreish, and something different to a cheaper fast food chain. All in all, if I want a burger I think I will stick to Byron Hamburgers - a similar price, but a sit down meal and much better food! However, Shake Shack is somewhere I have wanted to try for a long time now, so I was happy to 'tick it off' my list of restaurants to try and where better to try it than New York?

We then crashed in our hotel room, one day down. If you plan, you can fit so much into a short time in New York and we allowed ourselves plenty of time to enjoy wandering around Central Park and the MoMA. One of my highlights of the trip was Central Park in the snow; it didn't feel real, it was so picturesque and atmospheric and truly 'New York.'

Read Day Two here

Read Day Three here

Jess

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