Last weekend, my family braved the risk of getting Ebola and flew to New York to see me. A few hours at immigration later, they arrived weary at my apartment on Friday night, so after a quick catch up (and a few gifts exchanged, mainly Cadbury’s chocolate!), we got some rest ahead of a very busy 5 days!
Saturday morning arrived (very early for my jet lagged mum and sister) so I turned to Pooh and Piglet for some advice on how to start the day:
“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”
“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”
“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.”
In true New York style, we made ours brunch at a place called Penelope’s just around the corner from mine. Let’s just say the portions were definitely American-sized but the food was also amazing. Here’s Lulu with French toast (bigger than her head), filled with nutella, topped with caramelised bananas and drowning in syrup… My mum had amazing pumpkin waffles and I had a more modest (by comparison) poached eggs and smoked salmon on toast!
Once we had got over the excitement of seeing the Empire State Building everywhere we looked, we took a stroll down to the Flat Iron building, stopping to admire some squirrels in Madison Square Park on the way.
Then it was onwards to join the thousands of tourists the High Line, with the aim of getting to the Standard Hotel and Chelsea Market. There was a halloween fair going on so that provided plenty of entertainment in the form of lots of fancy dress.
We finally made it and found our cousins in the Standard Hotel, where we caught up over mimosas (where age appropriate!)
A quick stroll through Chelsea Market was all we had time for before heading to the main event of the day- the Rockefeller Center! I had been saving this activity for their visit and we booked to go up around 5.15 to catch the sunset and watch the city light up.
The views are incredible- we looked over Central Park bathed in late afternoon sunshine…
Took a panorama of the skyscrapers…
And couldn’t take our eyes off the view as the sun slipped below the clouds and the skyline began to light up.
I would definitely recommend this for anyone visiting New York.
Sunday morning, we went for jazz brunch at The Kitano. They have a jazz trio who play every weekend, with a singer from Harlem, a pianist and double bass player, playing all the classics. It’s a great New York experience and the brunch food was pretty good too!
We decided to walk off our brunch over the Brooklyn bridge and made an effort to blend in with the locals…
Ok, ok, I couldn’t resist either…
The views from the bridge are pretty spectacular., especially with the sky all moody:
We headed to the 9/11 memorial museum which was actually very interesting and thoughtfully put together. I think it’s very important to understand its part in the history of this city so I’m very glad we went. And then our final stop of the day was for some pizza on Stone Street in the financial district – two very weary tourists!
Part 2 coming soon!
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