Travellers' Tales...

NYC - Part 2 (Tues & Weds)

Tuesday dawned and I got up super early (5.45am!) to shower and get ready for a day in Manhattan. We ate in the hotel which is a buffet style so I had eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes - they have them with every meal over here - and a blueberry bagel with grape jam.

After taking Aum to school I walked to Hoboken PATH station, where I caught the train to 33rd Street. From there I walked all the way to the Planetarium to see if they had tickets (they didn't as the last showing was too early for after school), stopping at Central Park on the way for a break to read my book and have an ice lolly.

I walked back through Times Square which was cool, and popped into a few shops before heading back to the hotel to collect Aum. After school we went and did the Empire State. Aum loved the Skyride and we got some great pictures. We ate afterwards at The Rockefeller which was gorgeous - I had a lamb and squash kebab after some of their famous guacamole and chips. We stopped for some cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery on the way home (I had a lemon and blueberry and a peanut butter with jelly) and I had the first one with a cup of tea before bed - delicious!

This morning we ate in the hotel again; this time I had some oatmeal with berries and honey as well as my eggs, bacon and sausage, and tried a corn muffin which I left as it wasn't that nice. After dropping Aum off all of us (including his aunt, cousin and nanny) walked to Carlo's Bakery of the legendary Cake Boss. I got a caramel cupcake which was my favourite so far - the sponge was more dense than most and the topping was like whipped cream it was so aerated, a perfect combination.

Afterwards I walked and got the PATH, this time to 14th Street to explore the East Village. I had made a stupid decision to wear uncomfortable shoes though, so stopped in Washington Square Park and Tompkins Square Park to give myself a rest from blisters! Luckily the scenery was pretty enough to make me forget them.

I got the train back and had a wrap in a cafe in Hoboken and gave Mo a call as he has gone to Tallinn today on a stag weekend. After school we were all quite tired so just had dinner locally at a place called Henry's on the Hudson which had a gorgeous view of the sun setting across the water as we ate. I had a chicken caesar salad as my wrap at lunch was so filling, and I can feel myself falling asleep already, so imagine an early night is calling!

Travellers' Tales...

NYC - Part 1 (Sat-Mon)

This could be a long post, as I feel I have crammed so much into my first three days here in New York!

Saturday was a fairly chilled one, as we arrived at our hotel (the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City) at 1pm and I went to my room straightaway for a while so I could unpack. Anjali and Aum's wasn't ready so they waited downstairs and I joined them afterwards for some lunch. I had a simple salad of spinach, olives, tomatoes and bacon with a ranch dressing which was really tasty. After lunch we went back to our rooms (theirs was now ready) and relaxed for a while. At this point it was around 3pm (8pm UK time) so we were all fairly tired after very early starts. We were going to go out but we all just didn't have the energy so stayed in our rooms - I was fast asleep by 8pm!

Yesterday we were all up really early because of the jetlag, I got out of bed at 6.30am and showered before meeting Aum and Anjali for breakfast at an American diner near the hotel called City Diner. In true US style I ordered a waffle with bacon and poached eggs; which filled a hole as having missed dinner the previous evening I was ravenous!

Straight after breakfast we caught the ferry across the River Hudson to the Financial District (very reasonably priced at $5 return for the weekend) and walked to find Wall Street and the New York Stock Market. We then continued walking for the whole rest of the day! From Wall Street we went along to see Brooklyn Bridge and Seaport, through China Town and Soho where we stopped for a drink. Next we went up through Greenwich to Macy's where we had a toilet break and Aum had some lunch (I was still stuffed from breakfast!).

Outside Macy's we jumped in a cab to Central Park, but by this point we were all knackered so only stayed for ten minutes before jumping back in a taxi to the ferry port and going back to the hotel. That evening after an hours chill in our rooms we went out for dinner to a place called Honshu Noodle Bar where we shared some edamame, pork dumplings and vegetable spring rolls before I had shrimp udon for main. We walked (waddled) back to the hotel where I lasted for half an hour before falling asleep at 8pm again!

This morning we woke up super early ready for Aum's first day at summer school. We ate at the diner again, this time I had three huge pancakes topped with nutella and granola - it was delicious! Then we used Uber to catch a cab to school (this app has been a lifesaver over here!) and dropped Aum off. After getting a taxi back to the hotel I went for a run along the boardwalks, great view to exercise to with the New York skyline in front of me!

After a quick shower I went for a wander around Hoboken where we're staying. I walked along the seafront and stopped to read my book for a while when I got a bit hot (the weather is so nice!). I was trying to find the mall but must have missed it and ended up in a Target where I bought some supplies for nibbling! I eventually found the mall and had a look around, there's a Macy's and a few other decent shops, handy to have nearby.

Anjali picked Aum up and we went for a walk around Liberty Park, which is the best place to see the Statue Of Liberty from apart from going around Ellis Island on a ferry. We ate at a bistro called Amelia's where I had incredible mac and cheese with bacon, mushrooms and truffle oil in. We walked back to the hotel as Aum was really sleepy, and I plan on sleeping soon after reading for a while!

Traveller's Tales...

New York City (Part 3)

The Sunday was spent quite hungover, so we took the day slow. We had booked to go to Ground Zero at 4pm, so we set off in plenty of time to get there leisurely. We stopped for food in Grand Central Station again, I had a slice of pizza and a brownie and caramel cake from Magnolia Bakery.
When we got to Ground Zero we had to go through rigorous security to get in, but to be honest I was slightly disappointed. I expected a tour or some kind of museum, however it was literally the two commemorative fountains where the towers stood and that was it. It was beautiful and very serene and I am glad I went, but it wasn't really what I expected. Afterwards we stayed in the same area and went shopping for a bit and then we went back to East Village to Panya for some tea. I had tempura king prawns in a noodle soup, it was gorgeous!
Once we had finished eating and sat chatting for a bit, we went to the Yankee Stadium to watch the baseball. It was a good experience, and the stadium was completely unlike anything I'd seen before, it was enormous! We didn't know the rules though so it was quite hard to follow, and a pretty stop-start sort of game, so we left before it finished; apparently the games can go on for upto three hours!
Monday was our last full day, so we got up, packed most of our stuff up and took it easy until mid-morning, when we all began to get a little peckish. We went back to Soho and ate at Benny's Burritos, which was a cute little Mexican that served the most amazing food - I had the low carb plate which had guacamole, sour cream, rice, tortillas, cheese, salsa and chicken, and I had a pint of frozen raspberry margarita, I was drunk by lunchtime! We went into a few vintage shops after and I got some really nice high waisted Levis denim shorts for $15, I have been looking for a pair for ages.

We spent the afternoon enjoying the sunshine in Central Park; Abi, Hana and Tasha hired a boat on the lake, but Lydia and I stuck to dry land and sunbathed instead. Later in the evening we went for tea at Outback, an Australian steakhouse that Hana and Abi had been to before in Florida. We shared a huge deep fried onion for starter, and then you got to choose the weight of your steak, how it was cooked and any toppings, along with two side dishes. I opted for Caesar salad and a baked sweet potato with sour cream. Afterwards we went home one last time and finished packing before getting a fairly early night, it was a sad evening!

In the morning Abi was at work so we said our goodbyes before she left. We had brunch at the same place as on Saturday, Virage. This time I had the chorizo and eggs - yum! We said goodbye to Hana as she was getting an earlier flight to us, and then wandered about for a bit before dropping the apartment keys back to Abi and heading to the airport.
This trip was hands down the best week of my life, and I had so much fun with my girls! None of us wanted to leave, but we are all looking forward to seeing Abi when she moves back to the UK in July.

Traveller's Tales...

New York City (Part 2)

The following day (Friday) Abi was off again so could join us for the day. We got the subway to Grand Central Station and had some breakfast there, I got a yoghurt, fruit and granola pot which was lovely. Next we went to Brooklyn Bridge and walked across it - the views were spectacular and we were really lucky with the weather as it was lovely and sunny. For lunch we stopped at a little bistro in Soho called Frankies 570 and had some wine in the sunshine, and then got cakes from the world famous Magnolia Bakery - I had a pistachio one that had the fluffiest icing!

We retreated home shortly afterwards to get ready to go out for tea, we had decided to get dressed up for the occasion. We went to Pastis,  a French restaurant that Gordon Ramsay loves. I had mussels and chips, it was the biggest portion I've ever seen. Afterwards we had champagne at a bar and then we went on to a club called The Griffin which was fun, we got free entry and drinks! We didn't get too drunk as we were saving ourselves for the next night, but it was a bit of a tipsy one with plenty of dancing.

The following day we had brunch at a place called Virage - we had the special where you got to choose a 'main' (I had bacon and eggs in wholemeal pancakes with salad) and then you also got a cup of tea or coffee, a fresh juice or a cocktail and a little basket to share of mini muffins and flavoured breads with jam, all for $15.

We spent the rest of the day in Central Park as the weather was so good. We hired bikes and cycled around the perimeter, and then had an ice lolly and sunbathed for a bit before heading to Bloomingdales. We got mac and cheese takeaway for tea from a place called S'Mac; they can put everything you want in it including olives, chorizo, prawns, southern fried chicken - you name it! All three of us (the other two were still shopping) opted for the slightly more traditional Alpine which had two types of cheese in and bacon, delicious!

We got ready leisurely for our night out and had predrinks at a 'hostel' that some of Abi's friends were living at, but it was more like a hotel, and the room we were all in was massive, it felt like a stately home! That evening we went to One Oak - owned by Heidi Klum - and again got in for free with free drinks, I don't want to go back to England and paying for drinks! It was really lavish inside (the toilets were amazing) and we got very drunk and had slices of pizza at 4am before going home.