You've all heard me talking about my trip to New York for weeks and I've finally gotten round to writing a post about it! A warning though this post will be very very very long, so that being said I better get on with it...
Day 1
After waking up at 3 o'clock to get to school for 4.15 we made on our way from Bristol to Heathrow and despite getting stuck in traffic on the motorway we made it to the airport in time and boarded our flight to JFK with Delta Airlines. I've never been on a long haul flight and was dreading it but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; the crew on the flight were lovely regularly supplying us with free headphones, pillows, blankets, food and drink and I spent most of the flight watching films (Despicable Me 2, Now You See Me, A Beautiful Mind and The Internship). It was very turbulent, which resulted in some guy in front of me vomiting gross, but despite that all round a good flight!
We got to JFK and were soon on our way to the hotel.
First impressions: SNOW!
After sprucing myself up at the hotel we made our way to the subway in the evening where we bought a weeks subway ticket for $31 as we would be traveling by the subway and on foot. We then took the subway to Times Square. Times Square is truly breath taking, the lights are so bright that it could have almost been daytime, the buildings are tall and the atmosphere will consume you. After taking a few pictures we then went round the M and M and Hershey's shops which are expensive but amazing (I never knew they did so many different types of M and M's!) We then went to a diner and had some food before making our way back to the hotel for a good nights sleep after what had worked out as a 24 hour day.
Day 2
I woke up everyday at about 6:45 to be at breakfast for 8 we would then leave the hotel at 9. The time in between breakfast and leaving the hotel would normally be spent by everyone by checking our social media using the hotels free WiFi haha! Our first full day was by far the best out of the whole trip because we did so many incredible things, the first thing being that we got the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and the Immigration museum. The Statue of Liberty is breathtaking, seeing something so iconic is truly mind blowing while the Ellis Island Museum of Immigration is a very beautiful building filled with lots of interesting information about a crucial part of american history.
After traveling across the city to around 5th Avenue we grabbed a bit of lunch and made our way to the Museum of Modern Art. This might have been my favourite museum that we went to but if you're not particularly interested in art then I wouldn't say it's essential to a trip to New York. The MOMA had lots of interesting exhibitions as well as famous artwork including Starry Night by Van Gogh and Campbell's Soup Cans by Andy Warhol.
We then had a bit of time to spare before going to watch Mama Mia on Broadway so we went for an evening walk through Central Park. Central Park is beautiful and one of my favourite places in the world because while you can still hear and see the city, it's very quiet and peaceful. When we were there the park was covered in a blanket of white wintry snow resulting in a fair few snow fights taking place and adding to the magic of the whole trip.
After stopping off for some smoothies and frozen yogurt, we went to Broadway and watched Mama Mia, a special suprise that wasn't on the original itinerary. While it's not my favourite musical it was funny, lighthearted and hard to not start singing, and rounded off the perfect day.
Day 3
Day 3 was reserved mainly for shopping and we spent the morning looking round Macy's. When they say the world's largest store they are not exaggerating, Macy's spans over several floors and 205,000 square metres and is shopping heaven. My favourite part of the shop was obviously the makeup department and where I spent the majority of my time and money! If you'd like to see what I've bought the link to my New York haul is here.
After spending a good few hours in Macy's we made our way to the Flat Iron building where we had another snow ball fight before getting some lunch.
After lunch we made our way to Wall Street where we had a self guided tour around the Federal Reserve Bank. If you like money and are interested banking and finance, then you will find the Federal Reserve Bank really interesting but otherwise I wouldn't say it's the most important place to go if your visiting New York. That being said I found it very useful as a lot of it related to studying economics.
In the evening we went to watch an ice skating display which included a talk from a paralympian. It was very inspirational and the ice skating was magical. Afterwards we considered doing some ice skating but not many people wanted to go (including myself as I broke my arm ice skating a couple of years ago)!
Day 4
In the morning of day 4 we went to the Top of the Rock Observatory which was amazing! Despite it being a bit fogy when we were right at the top you could still see the view incredibly clearly. You don't realise the scale and the height of the buildings in New York until you see it from 259m in the air. Everything seems unreal, the cars look like toys and the people are the size of ants, suddenly everything is put into perspective.
In the late afternoon we visited the 9/11 memorial and it was truly humbling. Sadness doesn't even begin to cover how devastating the events of the 11th September 2001 were but the memorial is a beautiful tribute to the brave men and women who lost their lives due to the events of 9/11. Visiting the memorial taught me that there are so many things that I didn't know about 9/11, like the Survivor Tree. The Survivor Tree was the only tree left standing after 9/11, it was uprooted and replanted in a nursery where it grew strong and healthy before being replanted at the 9/11 memorial. While the damage is still visible, it is stronger and more beautiful than ever before, giving hope to everyone effected by 9/11.
For dinner that evening we went to Planet Hollywood in Times Square, and while the food was nothing extraordinary there is lots of very interesting film memorabilia such as a dress that Kate Winslet wore in Titanic (one of my favourite films), so it's like having a meal in the funnest museum ever!
Day 5
On our last day we went to Brooklyn and visited the Museum of Moving Image, which is seriously cool! The Museum of Moving Image is filled with lots of props from films, the history of film, information on how films are made and an exhibition on video games. Below are some pictures of some of the props they have like all of the makeup used in Sex and the City. I'd really recommend visiting the Museum of Moving Image if you are a movie lover like myself as it is really interesting.
Before we went back to the Hotel to get our luggage and start the journey home, we had time for a quick walk across Brooklyn Bridge. Ideally it would of been nice to have a bit longer on Brooklyn Bridge to enjoy to view of the city or look at the love locks but aside from that it was perfect very much like the entire of my trip.
In this post I will never be able to convey the atmosphere of New York, describe why it is now so special to me or explain precise reasons of why this was possibly the best week of my life. All I can say is that if you ever have the chance to visit New York, you have to go, I promise you that you will not regret it. It is so much better than what you see in the films and pictures does not do not New York's beauty justice.
Have you ever been to New York?
Eleanor xx
