My Trip to NYC

If you follow me on any social media you won’t have missed that I went to New York City a week or so back. It’s a crazy, crazy place and I have a lot of opinions, thoughts and experiences to share. Prepare for an avalanche of photos!

The Food

You have everything at your fingertips in NYC. We stayed on West 40^th Street and 8th Avenue, a mere five blocks from Times Square and every type of food I could have imagined was within a five minute walk. Alas, my sister is crazy fussy so we basically spent two weeks searching out the best burgers, hot dogs and shakes we could find. And we found some excellent ones:

Left to right: Guy's American Kitchen and Bar; Planet Hollywood;
 Whole Foods Market; The Counter 

Central Park

When you first come down the interstate from JFK you realise the significance of this being a city covering an entire island; I couldn’t possibly image how Central Park could be the green paradise that I’d read about. It seemed absurd, and it kind of is. You forgot that you’re in one of the biggest and busiest cities in the world almost instantly:

Coney Island, Brooklyn

I’d heard about the Coney Island years ago – an old school boardwalk and fun fair with a gorgeous beach and pier that people are trying to bring back to its former glory. We just about made it, being there for the first day of the season. It was windy, but we had glorious sunshine:

 

Empire State Building/Top of the Rock

The Empire State deck stands at 86 floors yp and on a clear day (which ours wasn’t completely) you can see as far as the Pacific Ocean, New Jersey and Connecticut. Top of the Rock, located in the Rockefeller Centre is a little lower, the observation deck being at 67-69 floors up, but right in the heart of midtown with fab views of Central Park and the Empire State Building:

Statue of Liberty

You can’t go to New York and not pay a visit to Lady Liberty! I was surprised by how easy the whole thing was! The Statue Cruises dock was well sign-posted (unlike anything else in NYC) through Battery Park and as we had pre-booked tickets, it took us only about 25 minutes to get on the boat! Even with airport-level security… And again to get into the statue.

The Views

We stayed in the Distrikt Hotel in the heart of midtown and our room was on the very top floor – the 32^nd – so we had incredible views that stretched out onto Hudson River on the left and the bright lights of 8^th Avenue on the right. And of course, once you’re down on Times Square it’s impossible not to grab a few pictures!

Left to right: View from hotel room; 8th Av,; Chrysler Building from 5th Av. and 41st; Times Square

I had an amazing time in New York. It was more than I ever hoped it would be and I’ll definitely be going back!

Sophie