Friday, November 08, 2013

Travels | New York, New York: Day Two!


     Hello again loves! This is part two of our two-day weekend in the beautiful city of NYC!

     After waking up from the previous night out, we grabbed some much needed coffee and tea and headed for the 9/11 memorial. It wasn’t far from our hotel, so we took the opportunity to walk through the city. Once we got there, we went through a few security check points, and were let in.  The memorial was absolutely beautiful. Seeing the two waterfalls, and the surrounding metal plates engraved with the names of every person who lost their lives that day evoked an indescribable feeling. Despite being in the middle of the bustling city, the area that contained the memorial was quietly calm. On certain names we saw white roses, which we later found out, meant it was that person’s birthday. I thought that was such a beautiful thing. If you’re in New York, this is definitely a place to visit. To be in a place of such historical significance to not only Americans, but to people around the world, was amazing.


   Once we left the memorial, we opted to do more sight seeing and hit the places everyone in the group wanted to see. First stop, Wall Street. It was crazy being on the infamous Wall Street, and looking at the actual New York Stock Exchange.  We went looking for the famous Wall Street bull, but it was nowhere to be found (in our vicinity at least). After Wall Street we went to see the Brooklyn Bridge, and from there made it to Grand Central Station. That place was absolutely beautiful. The lighting, the amazing artwork on the high ceilings, the marble, everything about it was breathtaking. Seeing the famous clock in the center was pretty awesome too. I wanted to find the whispering corner, a corner where you can whisper and have someone hear you on the other side, but didn’t. So if you’re ever at Grand Central, find the whispering corner!





   After Grand Central we headed for the last thing we wanted to see, the Empire State Building. Now, this turned out to be extremely challenging due to the fact that I’ve lived my ENTIRE LIFE THINKING THE CHRYSLER BUILING WAS THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING. I know, I know… So due to the fact that we couldn’t actually agree on which one the building was, we ended up walking around for quite some time in search of it. We finally decided to ask someone on the street (who happened to be the most “New York” New Yorker we’d encountered that weekend, the accent, the mannerisms, HE EVEN SAID CAPISCE), and he told us where we needed to go.  Super tourist-y, I know. We finally made it to the building, chose the package that took us right to the 102nd floor, and hopped on the elevators. We first went to the 86th floor, where we went out on the observation deck. This view was absolutely incredible. I literally felt like I was on top of the world. Then we went back inside, and went up to the 102nd floor. Up here there was no deck, but we saw the amazing view from the windows. I also ended up walking right smack into a gigantic beam coming up from the floor, but that’s a story for another time. After taking tons of pictures, we went 102 floors back down to earth and back out into the city.    


   This was the point in the day when the group decided to split up. Amy and I walked (for what seemed like a million blocks) to a sinfully cute Parisian shop called Ladurée. Amy’s obsessed with macarons (I’ve talked about them on here before!), these little French bits of heaven, and this place supposedly had the best ones. After standing in line, we got to the front, ordered, they put em in the cutest little boxes and we were on our way. GUYS, these things were AH-MAY-ZING. SO, if you’re ever in New York. Take the trip to Ladurée, it’s definitely worth it.  After that, we walked back to the hotel took it easy and waited for the boys to go out later that night.

   Once they got back we went out to eat at a little Mexican restaurant, then took the subway to Times Square. The streets were surprisingly empty, I don’t know if it was because of the long weekend, or because there was a music festival there the previous night, but it was more calm than normal. First, we went to the HUGE M&M’s store. I’ve never seen a candy store so big. There were pillow, cups, golf balls, everything you could think of was merchandised. Upstairs they had all of the M&M’s colour coded in plastic tubes mounted on the wall. It looked super cool.  You just grab a bag, pull the lever and fill it up. After the M&M’s store, we went to the middle of Times Square and grabbed a table to hang out at before he headed back to the hotel.


    Our flight was at 6am the next morning, meaning we had to leave the hotel a 4am. So we went back to the hotel napped for about 2 hours (it was pretty much the best nap I’ve ever had), and took the car service to La Guardia. It was a quick trip, and we definitely want to go back and do more, but it was a nice to get away for the weekend with a fun group of friends!

So Remember:
·      Take the subway or walk
·      Bike ride through central park
·      Have an ample budget for partying (There are obviously cheaper spots we just didn't know where to go, so when you find them let us know! LOL)
·      Visit the 9/11 Memorial
·      Stop by Ladurée for some amazing macarons
·      See the things you hear about all the time! Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, Times Square
·      But also visit local things, take time to explore things like used book stores, and check out a small restaurant you’ve never heard of. Walk around and discover the little things that make New York, New York! 

Have fun on your travels!
Let us know where you’ve been recently, and what spots you think we should check out!

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