NYC Trip-Day 1
I forgot my camera cord, so I plan to come back and add pictures. But, I want to write about our trip day-by-day so as to not forget something.
Last night my mom drove up from Oregon to stay with Jordan. She got stuck in traffic, so we ended up driving south to meet her between our house and the airport (which worked out just fine). I was thrilled that J seemed to warm up to her right away and didn't mind us leaving. We took a red-eye (departed Seattle at 10pm) and arrived in NYC this morning at 5:30. We used the NYC Airporter shuttle to get from JFK to Midtown. It was crazy because it took us more than 20 minutes to just get out of the airport roads. The sun rose as we were driving into the city, which was really cool!
We got dropped off close to Times Square and went to check in at The Westin where we're staying. There wasn't a room available yet (which we knew was a possibility), but we were able to drop off our bags and provide a phone number so they could call when our room was ready. And, with that, we set out on the town.
1-Breakfast at Westway Diner. At the recommendation of the hotel staff, we walked two blocks to eat at the Westway Diner. We were blown away at how quickly it goes from crazy/touristy Times Square to totally normal, low-keyish neighborhood! This obviously is a favorite spot of the locals and a great way to begin our trip. The food was not outstanding, but was good.
2-Walked through Times Square. It was exactly how I pictured it! All of the pictures/videos I've seen must have represented it really well, because nothing was a surprise. The energy of that place is exciting, but we were anxious to walk through and get out.
3-Walk around Rockefeller Center/etc. I loved seeing Radio City Music Hall, the GE Building, the skating rink, NBC studios, etc. We took a lot of pictures, LOVED the people watching, and just sort of wandered around.
4-Dunkin Doughnuts. Coffee and pumpkin doughnuts. Yum!
5-Miles and miles and miles of walking. We found ourselves really near 5th AVe and Chris had wanted to go into the New Balance store on 5th. He knew the address was "150" and we were at "580", so we figured we'd just walk the couple of blocks. It wasn't blocks...it was miles! I was not wearing the right shoes for walking SO long and I now have very sore, raw, and blistered feet. But, we found the New Balance store, enjoyed seeing the other shops, as well as the Public Library, and then found a subway entrance! :)
6-Successful trip on the subway back to our hotel...which is saying something, considering Seattle's lack of public transportation and our lack of traveling. I changed shoes and then we walked a few more blocks.
7-Lunch at Bar Americain. We really enjoyed it! Good food, cool atmosphere, helpful staff.
8-Back to the hotel. Check in and a nap! We neither one slept well on the plane, so we were more than ready for a little shut-eye.
9-Grey Line Night Tour through Midtown/Brooklyn. I'm glad we did this tour on the first day. Much of the route was exactly where we had walked (which was humorous, but also helpful). It was good to see how close/far everything is and to get a good sense of where we want to spend our time.
10-Pizza at A Slice of New York. Delicious!!
11-Another successful subway ride took us toward the East Village. We ended up walking around the Lower East Side for almost two hours, most of which was fun. There are quite a few cool places. We wished we could visit all of them! At this point we were tired and irritable and got frustrated because we felt pressure to find the 'right place'. A slight argument insued. But, we rallied and found ourselves at Pulino's (a little after midnight!) which did not disappoint.
Last night my mom drove up from Oregon to stay with Jordan. She got stuck in traffic, so we ended up driving south to meet her between our house and the airport (which worked out just fine). I was thrilled that J seemed to warm up to her right away and didn't mind us leaving. We took a red-eye (departed Seattle at 10pm) and arrived in NYC this morning at 5:30. We used the NYC Airporter shuttle to get from JFK to Midtown. It was crazy because it took us more than 20 minutes to just get out of the airport roads. The sun rose as we were driving into the city, which was really cool!
We got dropped off close to Times Square and went to check in at The Westin where we're staying. There wasn't a room available yet (which we knew was a possibility), but we were able to drop off our bags and provide a phone number so they could call when our room was ready. And, with that, we set out on the town.
1-Breakfast at Westway Diner. At the recommendation of the hotel staff, we walked two blocks to eat at the Westway Diner. We were blown away at how quickly it goes from crazy/touristy Times Square to totally normal, low-keyish neighborhood! This obviously is a favorite spot of the locals and a great way to begin our trip. The food was not outstanding, but was good.
2-Walked through Times Square. It was exactly how I pictured it! All of the pictures/videos I've seen must have represented it really well, because nothing was a surprise. The energy of that place is exciting, but we were anxious to walk through and get out.
3-Walk around Rockefeller Center/etc. I loved seeing Radio City Music Hall, the GE Building, the skating rink, NBC studios, etc. We took a lot of pictures, LOVED the people watching, and just sort of wandered around.
4-Dunkin Doughnuts. Coffee and pumpkin doughnuts. Yum!
5-Miles and miles and miles of walking. We found ourselves really near 5th AVe and Chris had wanted to go into the New Balance store on 5th. He knew the address was "150" and we were at "580", so we figured we'd just walk the couple of blocks. It wasn't blocks...it was miles! I was not wearing the right shoes for walking SO long and I now have very sore, raw, and blistered feet. But, we found the New Balance store, enjoyed seeing the other shops, as well as the Public Library, and then found a subway entrance! :)
6-Successful trip on the subway back to our hotel...which is saying something, considering Seattle's lack of public transportation and our lack of traveling. I changed shoes and then we walked a few more blocks.
7-Lunch at Bar Americain. We really enjoyed it! Good food, cool atmosphere, helpful staff.
8-Back to the hotel. Check in and a nap! We neither one slept well on the plane, so we were more than ready for a little shut-eye.
9-Grey Line Night Tour through Midtown/Brooklyn. I'm glad we did this tour on the first day. Much of the route was exactly where we had walked (which was humorous, but also helpful). It was good to see how close/far everything is and to get a good sense of where we want to spend our time.
10-Pizza at A Slice of New York. Delicious!!
11-Another successful subway ride took us toward the East Village. We ended up walking around the Lower East Side for almost two hours, most of which was fun. There are quite a few cool places. We wished we could visit all of them! At this point we were tired and irritable and got frustrated because we felt pressure to find the 'right place'. A slight argument insued. But, we rallied and found ourselves at Pulino's (a little after midnight!) which did not disappoint.