New York City Break

Four days in the Big Apple

Recommended days	4
Budget	££
Difficulty	Easy

My two daughters have been obsessing about visiting here for ages so we chose a New York city break as a summer holiday venue, between one finishing exams and one starting them. I’d recommend quite a long stay as not only is there a lot to see but it’s also quite exhausting being surrounded by so many people so it takes a few days to adapt.

We handed our car back at the airport after the drive from Niagara. We had to wait a while to get a car big enough to carry the 4 of us and all our cases but eventually we drove through the city to the NY Marriott Downtown on Manhattan Island. After settling in to our rooms we had a quick walk around the shoreline near the hotel and looked across to the Statue of Liberty. How bloody magical!

Manhatten Island

9/11 Memorial

We had the by now expected, excellent breakfast before heading out into the sunshine for our first full day in NYC. I eventually managed to drag everyone out of the hotel (well, Deb and the kids, not EVERYONE …..) by 9.30 and walk the 5 minutes to the 9/11 Memorial. First impressions of the city are, noisy, smelly, crowded, hot and no one speaks English!

The memorial was very nicely done, plaques with the names of all the victims around a central well with waterfalls. A lone white rose on each side gave a sense of personal loss, rather than it just being a list of names.

From here we walked to Century 21. Thanks Christine for telling the kids about this place! 2 hours and $380 later we went back to the hotel to escape the afternoon sunshine!

Battery Park

About 5 ish we headed out again, had dinner and then crossed to Battery Park and watched the sun set over New Jersey with the Statue of Liberty in the distance. We followed the coast around towards the Brooklyn Bridge.

The bridge is an iconic item but the area around it is pretty run down and in need of redevelopment. We then walked through Wall St as it got dark and finally back to the hotel for much needed sleep.

The next day was a long and busy tourist trek, 12 hours out walking, shopping and sightseeing. I was soooo glad to get back to the hotel!

Harbour Cruise

Started the day with a long walk to Brooklyn Bridge to catch the harbour cruise – excellent cruise with good views of the Statue of Liberty. I also met another couple on holiday from Chipping Sodbury! We couldn’t visit the statue itself as tickets to go inside are sold out months in advance – something to remember next time!

After the cruise we had an amazing ice cream – peanut butter and chocolate! Lush! We then walked to catch the sightseeing bus by city hall and stayed on that as we drove through Tribeca, Chelsea and Times Square. That was manic, so busy and crowded and like everywhere else here, in a constant state of repair/rebuilding with scaffolding and road works everywhere.

Rockerfeller Centre

We had a good lunch though and then the kids did loads of shopping as we meandered to the Rockerfeller Centre and to the 70th floor for the views. Amazing. I did find it difficult to get too close to the edge (vertigo) and that wasn’t helped by some twat banging the safety glass for a ‘laugh’!

It was very windy though and you could feel the building swaying! We walked back about 45 minutes before eventually catching a bus as the tour buses had finished.

High Line

The next day we decided to take things easier. Deb stayed at the hotel and the kids and I didn’t leave the hotel til gone 11 and took the bus to Chelsea and then got off for a walk along the High Line – an old elevated rail track that has been converted to a park. Excellent use of space and very well used! It was interesting to see some of the parking areas too!

From there we took another bus to Times Square for lunch so Natalya could try a burger! The food was quite interesting here – the restaurants we went to served massive portions, literally double what we could eat and I’m a reasonable eater. The burger bars though were no different to the UK, not what we expected at all.

Central Park

The place was manic as usual so we then took another bus to Central Park. Some bad photos (shooting in to the light) but the place was pleasant enough, an escape from the heat and noise of the city although still very crowded. On the plus side, we had Hagen Das ice creams.

Times Square

We then went back to Times Square and waited for Deb to arrive so we could have dinner – we ordered 3 meals between the 4 of us, no starters and I think there was enough left at the end to feed another 3 people!

It was starting to get dark so we headed over to the bus rank via a few shops for the night tour. Times Square was still manic and an interesting selection of ‘characters’ – nude cowboy and cowgirl, miss USA wearing just bodypaint etc.

The tour was excellent although the bloody bus didn’t stop anywhere so the photos are rubbish. It was interesting to see some of the areas that we hadn’t seen before and the noise and activity at 11PM was quite incredible. I really couldn’t live here, just too much constant noise!

Our final day was a lazy day ambling around the Seaport area buying some Xmas pressies and then another trip to Century 21. After that we went to a brilliant Greek fast food place for dinner.

Brooklyn Bridge at Night

Sofia and Deb then went back to the hotel whilst Nat and I took a walk to Brooklyn Bridge. There was a brilliant pedestrian walkway on a raised area the whole length of the bridge. There were also loads of people and plenty of police too. I didn’t have the tripod, just a monopod so the photo’s are a bit blurry but to have space to use the tripod I’d have had to go around 2AM I think! Great walk anyway and lovely to see the skyline from this vantage point.

The walk was a spectacular end to a really fantastic New York City break. There is still a lot more left in the city that I’d love to see but the sights we did see were superb and we have some great shared memories. It’s not an ‘easy’ city like some of the smaller European capitals but it is definitely worth the time and effort.

2014