These Streets Will Make You Feel Brand New: NY Part 1

The drive up to New York was pleasant and fairly smooth. (Our return trip was not as enjoyable). But we arrived and easily found our hotel in the financial district. After getting settled in, we planned out a course of action and set out to see my first Manhattan sights.

The Statue of Liberty was closed so we decided to not spend the time and money to go out on the ferry, so I have some small far away photos of her.

We decided to walk and just explore some neighborhoods on foot. Blocks after blocks of tall buildings is what I couldn't get over! I have never been anywhere that was just wall-to-wall buildings. It was such a crazy feeling to know I was finally in NY!

We headed in the direction of the site of the World Trade Center and where the new memorial is. We didn't plan enough in advance to get tickets but seeing the site and the new construction was a pretty moving experience all in itself.

In SoHo we ran into one of my favorite people:

We wandered through Washington Square Park and listened to the various bands and performers. My favorite was a pianist who was playing a montage of Broadway musical songs in a remix version AND it was from MEMORY! Not to mention it was pretty amazing to see a grand piano in the middle of a park in an urban space.

(Can you find the POODLE??)

We continued our walk and were going to try to make it to the Highline before the end of the day, but our stomachs had food on the mind. Considering one of the things I was most excited about was the food, I was pumped to just find some awesome food adventures. We stumbled upon a place that had rotisserie and fried chicken. Who can say no to fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and a stick of cornbread?!



Based on the weather we had decided to catch a Mets game on Friday evening to avoid some of the potential rain that was fore casted. On our way out to the game we stopped off to see Times Square. The only comparison I had was to being at the Olympics in SLC or at the Inauguration a few years ago! People everywhere!

 



I loved the energy of the Mets game and absolutely loved the ball park! The weather was perfect, if not cool and we lucked out with not a drop of rain!

On the way back to our hotel we attempted to go to the Empire State Building at night to see the view from twilight. I luckily had a stellar tour guide (and travel companion ;) ) who did a great job of impromptu stops that I wanted to check out while we were in NY. On our way to the ESB he was quick to take a detour through Grand Central Station which was beautiful! All I could think about was what a stunning location for wedding photos!

While we didn't go up in the ESB that night, we did get to see its nighttime beauty. It was breathtaking with the fog and city lights.

We finally made it back to the hotel and crashed into a blissful sleep. It was just the first day of a wonderful trip that I will continue with later!