New York: Day One
One month ago, I got a text from a friend and fellow blogger Sammie from Little Blonde Life. “British Airways has a January sale,” it read, “want to go to New York?” 24 hours later, in a fit of impulsiveness which is very unlike me, the flights and hotel were booked – we were off to New York for four days! Last weekend, we set off to the Big Apple and I wanted to share where we went and what we did, day by day, with you all:
We actually landed on the Saturday, but this day consisted of travelling and a wonderful meal at Buddakan which I will review separately at a later date. For our first whole day, we started by exploring Times Square. Our hotel, Row NYC, was a great location, just a couple of minutes from Times Square, yet not to noisy or cramped. I should have taken photos, but you can check out their website! Our room was clean and well-designed, including a safe, a huge full length mirror and ‘blackout’ blinds to ensure a good night’s sleep. The staff were very helpful and friendly and it was a great base to explore the city. I would definitely stay there again as it was so affordable too.
After exploring Times Square, and indulging in some goodies from Forever 21 and Sephora, we caught the subway to Central Park. We bought a 7 day Metro Travelcard for $31 and I would definitely recommend it, it made travelling so much more convenient as you didn’t have to queue each time. We quickly discovered a Mexican restaurant called Cafe Frida and decided on brunch. We ordered the guacamole to start, which was huge and amazingly presented along with corn chips, although it could have been spicier as it was a little bland. Then I ordered the Huevos Rancheros O Divorciados; it may be one of the ugliest dishes I have photographed but it was delicious! I really enjoyed the green tomato sauce in particular and it was an enjoyable unplanned find.
We were so lucky with the weather and as we headed back to Central Park, the snow was crazy. It meant that we couldn’t see some of the sights like Strawberry Fields, but the atmosphere was incredible. I have an outfit post on its way! Next, we headed to the Museum of Modern Art to explore some amazing art, including Van Gogh’s The Starry Night and Andy Warhol’s famous printed soup cans. It’s worth noting that if you are a student, bring your student card as entry is then just $14 rather than $25.
We walked back to the hotel, which allowed us time to see the entrance to The Tonight Show and try a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery. This was admittedly a disappointment – the cake was dry and there was far too much icing for my tastes, but it was something which we had wanted to try. We then got to explore Times Square at nighttime, with the amazing lights and displays, and we may have been distracted by the Disney store!
Finally, we headed to the Shake Shack across the road from our hotel. I was itching to try this chain and the queues which we had seen outside every store only fueled my need to eat there. Unfortunately, I really don’t understand what the fuss is about. After paying almost $20 for a burger, cheesy chips and their famous milkshake, I was met with a cold, greasy burger in a bun similar to those in McDonalds. The cheese sauce was ‘plastic-y’ and cheap tasting and I was generally underwhelmed. The only part of the meal I enjoyed was the Vanilla frozen custard shake, which was tasty and moreish, and something different to a cheaper fast food chain. All in all, if I want a burger I think I will stick to Byron Hamburgers – a similar price, but a sit down meal and much better food! However, Shake Shack is somewhere I have wanted to try for a long time now, so I was happy to ‘tick it off’ my list of restaurants to try and where better to try it than New York?
We then crashed in our hotel room, one day down. If you plan, you can fit so much into a short time in New York and we allowed ourselves plenty of time to enjoy wandering around Central Park and the MoMA. One of my highlights of the trip was Central Park in the snow; it didn’t feel real, it was so picturesque and atmospheric and truly ‘New York.’
