NYC days 3 and 4 – Snow and sights

Our final full day in New York began as planned with a trip to Central Park.

Yes, it was still -7⁰c and therefore utterly cold, but it was still really dry and as a result quite bearable as far as really cold temperatures go.

Originally, I did plan to run around all of Central Park but ultimately the cold and ice just put me off so we got a metro to about half way up the west side and walked across from there to Belvedere Castle and then down towards the Bethesda Fountain and the Hans Christian Andersen monument.

We then decided to leave the park via the side of Central Park Zoo (surprisingly small) and then on towards first Bloomingdale’s (expensive – horrifically so) then on towards the Roosevelt Island tramway.

For anyone who’s not visited it’s important you understand this isn’t a tramway at all. It’s a cable car across a river. A lovely journey if you ask me though.

On Roosevelt Island itself, we settled down in Granny Annie’s Bar And Kitchen for a couple of drinks and the unexpected opportunity to watch Liverpool score a few premiership goals while another Jersey resident commentated.

We then wandered back to our hotel via the gorgeous Grand Central Station.

In the evening we decided to visit Rockefeller Plaza and it’s surroundings and we had a lovely evening but were quite surprised how small the ice rink looked given others we’ve visited in the past. Still a lovely evening though.

On our last morning, and having had a bit of a false start as their web site didn’t seem keen on selling us tickets, we visited the Empire State Building. We loved the journeys both up and down but ultimately it was a place offering amazing views.

The trip back to the UK was actually quite heavy going with perhaps not as much sleep involved as we’d have liked but it was alright in the end.

At the end of the day, it was an incredible trip and we’ll be back one day for sure.

NYC days 1 and 2 – Snow, Friends and not the High Line

The first couple of full days in New York continued the winter weather theme we arrived into.

In the morning (and twice more during the trip) we picked up breakfast from a local deli a short walk away from our hotel. It meant a very relaxed, albeit slightly early, start to our days.

That morning we already had an appointment to see the Friends Experience (“The One in New York City”), but on the way there we thought we’d have a quick wander down 5th Avenue – the shops were generally a little out of our price range but still good to see.

Our first stop was actually Madison Square, answering the first question of where the name of MSG came from (sort of – the concert / sports venue isn’t actually that close as we saw later that evening).

The Friends Experience itself was excellent – a very faithful-to-the-original collection of props, scenes and memorabilia which brought back and recreated some good memories from the show.

On leaving there, the snow really started to come down pretty heavily. It was cold but actually it was gorgeous.

We wandered back to our hotel via another Irish (themed) bar and relaxed for a bit before aiming to head for the south end of the High Line.

Except it was closed. We didn’t really know why but suspect it was related to the weather. There had been a lot of snow and it was probably quite icy, but ultimately we couldn’t go there so instead we just followed the line of it north towards Hudson Yards and then made our way back to the hotel via another pub and later a lovely Italian meal just across the road from our hotel.

The next morning we planned to cross the bay on the Staten Island Ferry (which looking back at this now shows me we actually crossed into New Jersey during the trip). We got the necessary photos of the Statue of Liberty, then because everyone had to get off the ferry at each end we had to run around to the entrance to the ferry station to catch the return trip.

Next up, we made our way towards the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. Everyone is going to have their own memories of the terrible event itself – mine were mainly of the aftermath as during the attacks themselves (bearing in mind these days were before everyone was always online in some way) I was in a classroom studying for an accounting qualification. I knew nothing of it at all until seeing someone I knew by the cycle park before I went home.

The actual museum was really thought provoking. There was a section inside where the main exhibition was kept more quiet and respectful with no photography allowed and very much hushed tones throughout. The artifacts and debris and personal items found just told a story of horror contained within the event. There were screens showing the planes hit as shown live on TV news and the towers collapse as well. Just incredible stuff.

We popped across the road by the Oculus shopping centre to see more…. interesting… exhibits.

In a fairly diverse turn to the day, after another break back at our hotel we went to Broadway to watch the jukebox musical & Juliet. While the story was a bit mad, it was an excellent afternoon’s entertainment. Great performances, excellent signing and a great atmosphere throughout.

Flying to NYC

To start our journey to New York we had a lovely experience in the Jersey BA lounge. We’ve missed this clearly. A very comfortable and relaxed experience indeed, and the arrival of chilli rice crackers to the snack boxes is definitely positive.

Chicken salad and champagne on the way over which was really nice.

Chilled out in our hotel which was an excellent start to the week.

Another relaxed start the following day with pre-bought croissants and a not very early alarm. Not much waiting at security meant we were soon at the Galleries North lounge, except as our flight was going from the B gates we were very helpfully advised to go to that lounge instead which we were happy to do.

In there they had a fairly full breakfast buffet which was quite a suprise but most importantly plenty of lovely fizz. A very nice hour or so very well spent.

A nice hour or so within which we discovered the seats we thought we’d moved to didn’t exist so we were moved back to our original ones that did. Very odd but glad we did speak to someone at least.

On to the plane then and having experienced BA Club World a couple of previous times this hasn’t disappointed. Food was good, wine had been excellent. The in-flight screen for me was acting up but I had plenty of podcasts prepared and downloaded for listening so that’s been a minor irritation at worst.

We were through immigration at JFK incredibly quickly and soon onto the AirTrain to Jamaica Station and then Long Island Railroad to Penn Station in NYC.

We got out as planned in the evening visiting Times Square as the night got dark and then stumbled across a lovely British or Irish themed bar which was playing “Sit Down” by James to welcome us.

We popped into Carlo’s bakery on the way back to our hotel, and then we ended the day with a gorgeous bottle of fizz in a room with a pretty spectacular view. A great day for sure.