The long awaited voyage to New York City had finally arrived and we had planned to do it in style. We arrived just as the sun was coming up after an exhausting overnight bus trip from Niagara Falls. Lack of sleep didn’t stop how excited we both were to get out and explore this city. After gathering our belongings we were on the subway for the first time and on the way towards 5th Avenue where we were booked into The Plaza for the week (the perks of Nick working for the Fairmont). This is the hotel that the McCallister family spent Christmas on Home Alone 2, where they filmed part of The Great Gatsby and Crocodile Dundee (A room with two dunnies).
We were happy and relived to find out on check in that our room was ready so early in the morning. Once we got up in our suite it was hard to believe the luxury that we were lucky enough to be enjoying for the following week.
We had a busy week planed for NYC, after a little nap on arrival to The Plaza we were straight into it. A lot of the sites in New York need to be seen more than once, so we would often return to attractions multiple times throughout the trip.
We had pre purchased tickets to a New York Yankees game out in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium against the Toronto Blue Jays. It was a very hot and sunny day, our seats were in the sun the whole afternoon. Lucky for us it was the Yankees promotional cowboy hat day and the first 25,000 people received free Hats. Towards the end of the game we had to get out of the heat and spectated from the standing platforms at different parts of the stadium. Yankees lost 5-0, although we weren’t to bothered about the end result.
On returning back to Manhattan we explored 5th Avenues high-end department stores, chain stores and the Rockefeller Centre. We then continued towards the lights of Times Square which was extremely busy due to the beautiful evening weather and school holidays.
We kept moving towards Grand Central Station where Sommer wanted her gossip girl photo taken (I had no idea what she was doing). The Station is still serviced by the subway and busses however the beautiful architecture makes it a popular tourist attraction.
We then made our way back to the Plaza for dinner and an early night as we were still very tired and exhausted from the overnight bus trip.
The next two days in New York were long and tiring, both leaving at around 9am and not getting back until 9pm.
The One World Trade Centre Observation Deck opened only two months prior to our arrival in New York. Positioned on top of the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, on levels 100, 101, and 102 it provides a unique, panoramic view of New York City, its iconic sites, and surrounding waters. We began the tour of the building in the elevator, reaching the top in under 60 seconds. The elevator, from floor to ceiling is immersed in LED and displays a video from the 1500s to the present day. We were continually impressed with the new attraction which made us eager to explore the city.
On returning to ground level we decided to make our way to the 9/11 Tribute Centre where we were did a tour with a survivor of 9/11. It was a very interesting and confronting tour as we walked through the Memorial Pools and he explained the significance of the two pools as well as the design of the whole area.
He was located in the South Tower (2 World Trade Centre) which was struck 17 minutes after the North Tower. He told us how his day unfolded and how his wife seen the second plane hit his office building from her office in New Jersey. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house, as he spoke you could hear the emotion he felt and still had to face every day. His wife then sat at her desk waiting 2 hours for her husband to call. He then mentioned some of the heroic people who risked their life in this devastating event. A lot of the stories were fatal as they risked their lives for their country.
We couldn’t imagine how one would have felt being apart of this modern terrorist attack! I will never forget some of the stories and insights that we heard this day. While exploring the memorial ourselves we found the only Australian who lost his life in this event. We covered his name with water from the memorial pool, something we were told was a way of showing respect.
After an emotional morning we made our way to the financial district. We walked down Wall Street and past the Stock exchange on our way to the Raging Bull. Although we couldn’t get a photo with the head because there was so many tourists, in the end Som settled for its arse and touching the balls.
Staten Island Ferry was the next point of call. The free ferry over to Staten Island was the cheapest way to see the Statue of Liberty, although you don’t go right over to the statue the ferry just passes by. Once at Staten Island we walked off and boarded the same ferry to go back to Manhattan. From the ferry we had great views of the downtown Manhattan skyline.
Brooklyn Bridge was one of our last activities for the day. After walking across the bridge we explored a little of Brooklyn and then relaxed in the sun with a couple of beers and a stunning view of the Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn Bridge.
The following morning we started with a 1.4 mile long, 22 blocks, 30 feet high walk along the High Line, which is an old train line that was left for many years becoming overgrown. Now it is a fantastic and popular stroll and public facility for locals and tourists on the West side of Manhattan.
We then explored the art deco style Chelsea Markets which full of boutique stores, small restaurants and takeout stores. This is where we had lunch, however with so much amazing food it was a tough decision deciding what to have as we would have loved to try a little of everything. It was not only the markets in Chelsea that attracted us, the rest of the stores located there and in the Meat Packing District area was somewhere we could have strolled for hours.
Soho was our next destination were we enjoyed street art, shopping and looking around little Italy and Chinatown.
We then found ourselves in East Village at McSorleys Old Ale House. This was an original pub still serving the beers out of the old taps that friends had recommended for us to see. They had one dark beer and one light beer on tap and when you ordered a beer you got two pots of beer regardless. The floor was covered in sawdust to soak up the spillage, a nice authentic touch.
Stay tuned for the second half of our week in NYC.
Chao for now,
N & S xx
Abroad with Nick & Som... 