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Day 23 and 24: Brooklyn, Wall St, Statue of Liberty, Times Square and so much more.
New York, New York
I have two days' worth of stuff to write about. When I was in Dunedin that usually wouldn't mean much to write, but travelling is crazy. Matt and I are squeezing in a ridiculous amount of things in to each day. It's too hard writing in chronological order so I will just write things as I remember them!
Places we have seen:
1. Upper East Side. OH MY GOODNESS I loved doing this part! For those who don't know me as well, I frickin love the show Gossip Girl and could watch all the seasons over and over again multiple times. So it was really cool walking through the area that the author based her books on (which later became the TV show). The houses all looked sooo fancy and the shops were so nice. We also sat on the same steps which are used in Gossip Girl often - where Blair usually has lunch with her friends when she was in high school!
2. Upper West Side. This was also quite flash. The real fancy Columbia University was here as well as loads of crazy looking old buildings
3. Ground Zero. This was sad but also interesting. One of the new towers has already nearly finished being built and the other one is underway. I learnt a bit about the even that I didn't know before (like apparently seven buildings went down - I didn't realise it was that many). For anyone coming to New York sometime soon I have some advice. Visiting ground zero is free but you have to book online first!
4. Financial District. Matt and I have a peak at this area and also walked along Wall Street! It's so strange being in places that you hear about sooo much! We saw where the Occupy Protest began - and where it was moved to after many months. There were A LOT of fancy old and new buildings here - although this is what most of Manhattan consists of (crazy variety of buildings).
5. Central Park. EEEE probably one of my favourite places so far. I love parks and duck feeding as my close friends will know. The park is absolutely massive and you would have to dedicate at least two days to fully enjoying it I reckon. We only did a small chunk of it but got to see a lot of the famous bridges, as well as FEED DUCKS AAAAAAAAAAAAAND a turtle! I didn't know they had turtles there so that was an amazing surprise.
6. Brooklyn. We were only here for a few hours but I can still claim to have been there. This was a more hipster version of Manhattan and felt a lot more chilled out. The buildings weren't as big and you can tell it's a cheaper area than the other island. ALSO! You can get an amazing view of Manhattan Island if you head towards Brooklyn Promenade! I would definitely recommend checking that out.
7. Dangerfields. We went to this place to see some live stand-up comedy. It was really funny and definitely a cool experience BUT a warning is we felt a bit ripped off. The guys were selling tickets on the street and on the ticket it said "2 for $40" but I was really reluctant to buy one so eventually the guy sold it for $20 (for two of us). We thought this was a pretty good deal so we bought it - but then when you arrive you HAVE to buy at least two drinks (a frickin orange juice was about NZ$8) and the food is like expensive restaurant priced but definitely not restaurant quality. So if anyone is coming to New York and gets approached by people selling comedy show tickets a) make sure you bargain with them because they WILL make it cheaper and b) be prepared to spend that money you saved and more on the compulsory drink and food buying later on
8. Sightseeing cruise around Manhattan Island. I loved this! It came free with our $59 72 hour hop on hop off bus tours. The tour lasted for 90 minutes and we got to get right up close to the statue of liberty and get great photos! Another reason why I would definitely recommend the bus tour package.
Few tips about New York:
- The Counter (Custom built Burgers place). YUUMM I would definitely recommend this yummy place. Matt and I were strolling towards Times Square for like half an hour looking for a goodish burger place. Then suddenly a woman handed us as voucher which gave us free fries if we bought a burger at this place. It worked out perfectly because when you sit down you are given a sheet of paper that has loads of tick boxes and you choose how you want your burger. Mine was made of a veggie patty, feta cheese, normal hamburger bun, basil pesto, tomatoes, organic greens, roasted red peppers and baby spinach and it was honestly the most beautiful burger I've ever had. I'm sure I've told quite a few people about the amazing burger place called Grill'd in Australia - but this one actually beat it! And it's cheapish too. The burger was just $10.95 (plus free fries - then you add tax and tip) - but that's still a good price for New York. It can be found on the corner of 41st and Broadway!
- It's been REALLY challenging finding public bathrooms. I assume this may be because many places don't want homeless people using their bathrooms. So just a trick I have picked up on is if you go in to big stores such as Toys R Us or Macys and head up to the second floor they usually have a bathroom up there!
- Food in this city is reaaaaaaaally cheap if you don't eat at restaurants. But I don't think that's necessarily a good thing most of the time. I always feel worried about the quality of what I'm eating. Even at Subway I feel really grossed out by the veggies. So that's something to be mindful of because sometimes it's good to splash out a little extra
- Do nottttttt underestimate the power of a good sleep and healthy food. Something Matt and I are quickly finding out is that these two things halt your ability to travel more than money does. Seriously take every opportunity to catch up on your sleep and make sure to buy like a few bananas or apples to snack on if you're struggling to find cheap healthy meals.
- Be aware that drivers are total psychoes here. All I ever hear 24/7 is cars honking at each other and sirens going off. It's insane - I can't believe I haven't seen a car crash yet because people are constantly cutting each other up.
- If you're like me and travelling on a budget, I would highly recommend the New York Budget Inn. It's about half an hours walk from times square which sounds quite far but a) the island is HUGE and its really not that far in the grand scheme of things, b) good luck finding anything below $150 any closer to Times Square, c) it's still in a great location as it is walking distance to a few different attractions (i.e. UN is about 20 mins away, Empire State 10 mins, etc), d) I think it only cost us about $50 a night for a single bed in a 4 dorm room which is a sweet price for such a great location
- comments
nan Have you been to Yonkers I love the name of that place it was mentioned in Hello Dolly. Glad you are still having fun and glad you have worked out that sleeeeeeep is important. Won't be long now and you will be in Europe, just across the water from us. Love you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Stephanie Eek I don't know what the Yonkers is! There are so many places we have been to or driven past and had things pointed out and I just can't remember it all! So probably :) I'm on the bus heading to D.C. at the moment. After our mental 72 hours travelling from the West Coast to the East Coast I managed to get sick which is really annoying! I have a little cough and sore throat, and get tired really easily. So starting to really look forward to settling down in Poland in a few weeks and finally being able to unpack my stuff without worrying about packing it up again the next morning! Woo! Miss you guys xoxox