New York City

I am sharing our New York City Itinerary from April 2018. I will admit I am not a huge NYC fan, but I do recommend going in the spring. All the parks are full of beautiful flowers and people! We went on the first weekend that the weather was warmer (60s) and all the flowers were freshly blooming! I will admit the parks were very crowded, but I loved seeing so many people happy to be enjoying little pieces of nature throughout the city!

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Friday Evening

I flew in late in the day Friday and landed around 5:00 pm. It was about an hour long taxi ride into the city. Once, I dropped off my stuff at the hotel we quickly walked over to the Rockefeller Center!

Jake kept saying he had a surprise for me. That surprise was a beautiful view of the a NYC sunset!

You can wait in a long line and pay $38 to get to “Top of The Rock” or you can wait in a short line and pay for a drink (~$12-20) to access Bar SixtyFive. (FYI – Access to the outdoor portion has a $85 minimum, it was closed when we went).

Highly recommend this for those early sunsets in spring/fall! Great pre – dinner date idea!

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After taking in the beautiful sunset, we headed over to dinner at Aureole.

We ended the night with a quick stroll through Times Square. Way to busy for my liking, but worth stopping by the Iconic street lit up with shops and advertisements!

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Saturday

We woke up, put on our comfy shoes, grabbed some coffee, and hopped on a Subway to the south end of City where we saw:

Ground Zero Memorial

The Oculus

Wall Street

Trinity Church

Took the Free Trolly to Statin Island and back to see the Statue of Liberty!

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Then, we made our way over to The Brooklyn Bridge.

From there, we walked over to Little Italy and grabbed lunch at Grotta Azzura. There was no wait and the food was delicious and very reasonably priced!

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After filling our bellies with yummy Italian food and Gelato we made our way through Soho and ended up at Washington Square Park where we decided to sit and relax for a bit.

But, of course we needed more wine! We decided to check out Eataly New York. After, we kept walking north to The Broadway District to see a play!

Sunday

Sunday was more relaxing and my favorite day!

We started the day off early with AMAZING BAGELS from ESS-A-BAGEL! The line is very long, but SO worth it.

We let our bagels digest and eventually made our way over to mass at St. Patricks Cathedral (my favorite part of the whole trip).

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After Mass, we took the train to Upper Manhattan to go to The MET. They actually had just upped their donation based admission to $25 shortly before we went in 2018. We spent 3 hours there and didn’t even see it all! There were so many breathtaking exhibits.

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After hours exploring The MET we ate lunch at Grazie and finally made our way over to Central Park! It was packed with tons of people and blooming trees! It was so full of life and put me in awe!

Lastly, we checked out the Roof Top Bar at The Kimberly Hotel (of course) before our flights home. It was called “Upstairs at the Kimberly.”

Overall, we ended up having a wonderful trip, but I want to be honest and share the negatives about NYC (so that you’re fully prepared for your next trip:

• Expensive – If you’re a Midwest Gal like me, that $2 coffee you’re used to will cost you $4.
• Dirty – Subways are an easy way to get from point A to B, but they are gross and don’t be shocked if you see a rat! NYC also doesn’t really have allies, therefore early in the morning you’ll see mounds of trash on the streets.
• Pick-Pocketing – Like any major city pick-pocketing is common so keep a close eye on your valuables!
• Bathrooms – Holy Moly! It seemed impossible to find a bathroom sometimes and when you do be ready to wait in a line! My advise to you, look for a bathroom before you really need to go.

But, despite these negatives there are so many amazing things to do in New York! See a broadway play, eat amazing food or get lost in the beauty of the MET!