Northeast Trip: New York City in 2 1/2 Days, Part 1

When I think back to our time in New York City, I instantly feel quite overwhelmed! It was a crazy crazy whirlwind of sightseeing and constant moving.

However, now looking back over the photos, I do get an itch to go back. Not only to do the same things we did, but to try a few new things… or to spend more time in those same places.

I really don’t think I took that many photos while in the city, but that’s more because of that overwhelming feeling of go, go go! I mean I took less than 400… which for me is not very many! But I’ve narrowed them down and wanted to share, along with some tips for you, if you happen to take a spin in the Big Apple sometime soon!

We left Boston semi-early, had lunch in New Hampshire, and then arrived at our hotel in late afternoon. Our hotel wasn’t as close to a subway station as previously thought so each day we were there required a hotel shuttle ride for 20+ minutes then the hour ride on the subway into the city.

Times Square and Rockefeller Center

By the time we made it that first night, we just meandered through Times Square as my parents and sister hadn’t yet been there. We walked through the Square, taking it all in; checked out where the GMA’s are filmed—as my parents were going to the next morning’s taping—circled around Rockefeller Center and then walked back to the restaurant we had planned on eating at, John’s Pizzeria—the same place Andy and I dined at 8 years ago!

I kept my eye out for Liz Lemon!

While we were on the Top of the Rock later the next day, my hubby found me the best souvenir ever at the NBC store: a giant mug with the Central Perk logo from the show Friends! Photo here.

John’s Pizzeria is a sit down eatery… a great way to truly experience a New York pizza pie! Plus its in a totally renovated church, just a really cool atmosphere.

Circle Line Tour

The next day, Andy, my sister and I traveled out to meet my parents—after their spot on the GMA’s with the Bachelorette and her new beau—by the waterfront as we were going to head out on a Circle Line tour. We opted for the longer of the tours, just so we could see Yankee Stadium for my New York loving friend! I would not recommend the longer tour though, as scheduled it’s 2 1/2, and because of a delay with a draw bridge, our tour turned into 3 hours! With such limited time, I wish we would have gone on the 90 minute tour instead.

However, I would definitely recommend Circle Line in general. As the start to our full days in New York, it really helped seeing New York on the whole, understand where everything is. And with the short amount of time we had, we were at least able to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island closer than we would have just from Battery Park.

By the end of the trip, I decided that the Chrysler Building was my favorite of the city… funnily enough, it turns out that a NY poster we have at home—purchased years ago—features the building. Guess it was subliminal that it became my favorite over the years!

Shake Shack and Central Park

After our tour, we took the subway up to Shake Shack. And O-M-G is that place AMAZING. By far one of my favorite eateries—ever! No seriously, Andy thinks that may be the best burger he’s ever had! Thankfully it’s coming to Vegas just next year!! We went to the location just off Central Park west, so after getting our food we took it into the park to enjoy the amazingness.

With the delay on the tour, that took a big chunk of our time out from spending time in Central Park. And that is definitely a place I could have spent a whole day in! It’s now become my favorite place in the city… but I barely have any photos of it as we had to hustle to make our 6:00 reservation to go up in 30 Rockefeller. Just to narrow it down, I wanted to at least see the big fountain that Enchanted was filmed in front of, so we headed there and then just kept going.

Central Park truly is so much more beautiful than I ever imagined! After the hustle and bustle of the city, it was refreshing to be amidst huge trees, a large lake, and then random centuries old architecture from bridges and archways to fountains and walkways. I really can’t wait to go back just to visit the Park!

Top of the Rock

We made it just in time for our reservation at Top of the Rock though! Just barely! Again, this is another spot I would totally recommend… it’s much cheaper than the Empire State Building and the view allows you to actually see the infamous Empire State Building! I loved being able to see both that tower and the new World Trade Centers in the same view. Plus being able to see Central Park and just how huge it really is was nice too. There are 3 view levels of viewpoints… the topmost being totally out in the open—no glass. It was pretty crowded but they do limit how many people can come up so that made it nice too. Surprisingly, my dad and I spent a whole hour up there taking in the view and of course taking pictures!

I love how you can see just how big Central Park is from up there… the first lake to the left is the one in the photos above.

One thing I loved about the east coast was the ever changing sky! Just within the hour we were up there, the sky just kept changing! We purposely made our reservation at dusk (6:00)—the photographer’s golden hour—hoping to get daytime and nighttime in one. I would highly recommend making your reservation for 90 minutes before sunset just to guarantee seeing the city during the best hour of the day.

The building to the right and behind the Empire State Building is 1 World Trade Center, the soon to be tallest building in the Untied States at 1,776 feet. The Empire State Building stands at 1,454 feet, while the Rockefeller building we were on top of is only 872 feet.

Thanks Dad for braving the heights with me!

To recap this recap, know where you are going before you set off to go—and plan to spend more time in Central Park just for the sake of how long it takes to walk through even a small portion of it! That truly was my favorite part and I barely got to take any photos from the rush.

Stay tuned for another full day in New York City, posting tomorrow!

P.S. Here’s our video of the trip that I shared in the Boston trip… NYC starts at 52 seconds.