BEST WAYS to see NEW YORK CITY in just 4 days! Who needs sleep?

Well, well, well.

Hellooooo New York City!

🍎 🗽

This can easily be a stand alone quick blog about our short stay here -

but as we are in the midst of a 10 week trip,

it does directly follow on now from my USA blog.

And after this, we step onboard a ship to sail towards Iceland, Norway and beyond!

But it's nice, for a change, to write a short roundup!

(And for anyone wanting to have an idea on how to spend a short stay here -

here's what we did, with some handy tips and links.)

We left Niagara Falls and enjoyed the quick hour and a half flight into NYC,

where we had four nights booked in the MOXY Hotel (by Marriott),

right smack bang in the middle of Times Square.

I booked this place for two reasons: The first; was it's amazing location.

Walking distance to everything Times Square stands for;

Broadway, entertainment, shopping, food - and chaos...

All hail to the Yoga Guru!

The second; it has the most amazing rooftop bar,

which has the iconic Empire State Building as its view - front and centre!

Day and night, that building is extraordinary.

Plus we had a full moon. However, I don't think this city needs any more encouragement to go crazy!

I knew the hotel room was going to be a little snug,

but as we didn't plan on being there for long spells, it didn't bother us at all. Rooms aren't cheap in Times Square, so we took the good with not so good.

All good! 👍

But first things first.

FOOD!

And what more typical fare could we possibly find, than this. New York pizza!

And dessert? Trev heaven.

Bless.

Go on, Hun, all yours! He's so cute.

As we arrived in the late afternoon on our first day, it basically meant a good solid walk around to get our bearings, eat more food than intended,

and find a Margaritaville for some tequila refreshments.

🍸

It's true, this place never sleeps.

And besides the fair few people having heated conversations with themselves,

(that's being empathetic...) on a whole, we didn't feel unsafe at all. It's crowded, there's no denying that ... so always have a take on your belongings.

But it was tourist central and crazy busy,

so the vibe was full on, but yet casual all the same. Does that make sense?

Homelessness is a prevalent issue, and not limited to just New York City, unfortunately.

Just calling it as I see it.

Back home in Australia, we live on acreage, in a peaceful little valley,

so this kind of city life with its hustle and bustle, is very much out of the ordinary for us. Always good to experience though, but definitely out of our comfort zone.

That said, it's not going to stop us one iota.

A quick peak up at the roof top bar, where we suddenly felt very much like 'Boomers',

well, technically I'm still Gen X, 😉...

but either way, we left the young beautiful peeps to their cocktails, and we called it a night.

---

Day two saw us jump on the proverbial On/Off bus.

Although it is possibly the most touristy thing to do,

I do find it to be the most convenient way to navigate around a new city.

Trust me, the streets are so congested with traffic that taking a taxi is neither

convenient nor cost-effective.

We found a lady who not only sold us our three day bus ticket,

but also loaded the app on my phone, brought up all the tours that needed booking,

including a night tour of Brooklyn and a boat ride to Lady Liberty.

She just clicked away, and had it all sorted in a New York heartbeat!

We walked past her constantly over the next couple of days,

and we were always 'Hey Momma!' to each other. She loved us, and we loved her, so we had to get a pic with her at the end. She was an absolute delight.

Today, we opted for the 'Red Route' that led us Downtown.

We chose to leave the Empire State Building till sunset on our last day,

so we continued down through Soho, over the Brooklyn Bridge,

and had a little meet and greet with the renown Charging Bull Statue -

You'd expect nothing less from me, hey?! 😁

This bus route also also covered the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

It featured an included ferry trip passing by Lady Liberty - unfortunately no stops were allowed on this ticket, so a reminder to self:

We should plan to visit those tomorrow! We're not going to miss seeing her up close and personal.

And we'll also do the Ground Zero - 9/11 Memorial too, when we come back in a day or so.

We needed to get closer... this wasn't going to cut it!

And that's what you need to do in NYC. Have the time to be flexible. You cannot see it all in two days. Heck, you can't see it all in four!

But we'll give the highlights a decent crack.

And who doesn't love Brooklyn?

It has THE best bridge, and I think this poor cousin to Manhattan has finally found it's niche.

It looked super cool, with heaps of parks and a lively restaurant/bar scene, plus it's HUGE!

I also love the classic NYC water tanks.

And how about the funky shots you can take with all these amazing old buildings

featuring their windows, shutters and fire escapes. So quintessentially New York City.

So, after a day of cruising around sweltering in the early summer heat,

we were very much looking forward to our evening's plans.

Our first Broadway show ...

and it's Back To The Future, the Musical, for us.

Great Scott!

So excited!!!

Getting Trev to a musical was my challenge.

I knew he'd indulge me, bless him, but I wanted him to enjoy it too!

So when I saw this listed, and read its great reviews, I snapped it up.

Man, IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!!

The comedy, the likeness to the film's characters, and the great lines

from the film all still featured...and best of all - the chemistry onstage between

Doc and Marty was brilliant. At one point they both cracked up, and barely held it together - it was hilarious! The joy of live theatre at its best.

The special effects were outstanding!

And the Delorian, wow! All I can say is that I hope it comes to Australia so we can see it again!

The Wintergarden was a lovely smaller theatre and perfectly suited to this production. Tip : If you go to this...don't sit up front - sit further back where the effects and illusions are perfect, and you'll be literally transported - Back In Time!

HUGE thumbs up!

A great 'first show ever' on Broadway to see!

That certainly wasn't the end of the night. Its NYC, and the night was but young!

The street entertainment certainly drew a big crowd...

...and the choices for restaurants and bars are endless.

I don't think we got back to our room before midnight.

---

Day 3, and we used our bus tickets to go on the 'Blue Line' Uptown this time,

to visit the enormous,

and I must admit, highly anticipated Central Park.

I had dreamt of coming here, in the cold of winter, having a blanket over my lap as

Trev and I cruised romantically around in a horse drawn carriage...

Well, not this trip!

It was nearly 100 deg, and I wouldn't dare make a poor horse suffer that fate!

Instead we opted to go on foot, after a running repair first!

Tip, have some elastoplast in your day bag...

At first I thought we'd hire a bike, but you can only really just ride around the

circumference of the park. You really want and need to get into the interior. Up and down numerous stone steps, across those darling bridges, admire all the fountains -

and so on and so forth!

But JUST before we do that, as we were right outside of it, we thought we'd poke our heads into the American Museum of Natural History.

AKA, The Night at the Museum!

We honestly didn't have the time this place deserved, as we felt like we needed to crack and see Central Park, but we really appreciated the short time we spent here.

The exhibits were first rate...just wow - like the Smithsonion.

But, as the movie geeks that we are...we high tailed it to the very end - to find this guy.

Remember him?

Me want Gum - Gum, you Dumb - Dumb!

(I so wish I had some bubble gum here, would've made the photo complete!)

Its how we roll, life is one movie set or quote after another sometimes!

(Especially Seinfeld.)

That said, the other exhibits were amazing.

The displays of the animals were first class.

We made the most of our short time here, but I assure you,

if you have the time, take it, and take it ALL IN.

These were all life sized.

Across the road from the Museum, was our next adventure - Central Park. All 843 acres of it!

Without a map, or a clue, in we went.

And it was sweltering.

There were plenty of vendors selling water, cheaply, and tubs of fresh fruit.

Man, a container of watermelon and strawberries went down an absolute treat.

We knew we were 'kind of' in the middle, so when we found the very cute 'Belvedere Castle' and shop, we grabbed a map, alongside some pics, just to get our bearings.

The 360 deg view from the top was glorious.

What a sanctuary amongst what must be the largest concrete jungle in the world.

Having such an incredible park accessible to all is truly a gift.

It provides a tranquil retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city streets, that's for sure.

And here I was excited to see what I call and what is also colloquially known as the

'Ghostbusters building'.

I took this shot, and as I was trying to get a selfie with Trev,

a kind man offered to take our photo.

So sweet.

Just look at the smiles on our faces! 🤣🤣

A perfect shadow!

(Severe hat hair meant the cap stayed on 😉)

Instead of deleting, I celebrate the quaintness of it all.

Too funny.

We kept strolling, honestly just trying to find our way out now,

but always enjoying the glorious scenery and photo ops along the way.

Back to the city jungle -

...for some sustenance, well if you can call pizza (again) sustenance...it was delicious though - and a wee afternoon rest, as we had big plans tonight.

This is something I only booked a few weeks ago whilst we were in California -

Tickets to see the Yankees play at the iconic Yankee Stadium!

Wooohooooo!

But not before saying G'day to this legend of the streets of NYC... What a classic!

The Naked Cowboy!

🎸

So, for the first time, we were going to ride the NY subway - to The Bronx, no less. Hey, we are Aussies, and have seen too many movies about what happens on subways...

However, we were told that it'd be all good, safe,

just don't miss your stop at Yankee Stadium.

Just sayin'.

Okaaaaayyy.

We asked a couple of coppas for directions, and before we knew it, we were deep in the bowels of the subway, really hoping to find other baseball fans,

(dressed in the Yankees gear - like us),

just so we were assured that we were going the right way.

Nope.

Shite.

Haha, I did find a father and son wearing Yankees hats,

so I asked them if they were going to the game.

"YEAH!"

"SWEET! We'll just follow you if that's ok?"

"Sure!"

👍

We ended up chatting the whole way, haha, no surprise there,

and as the station is right beside the stadium, it was easy as pie.

We were pretty pumped.

(And relieved!)

😅

Once inside, we walked around the whole stadium,

and ended up deep in the outfield boundary, enjoying a drink as they warmed up.

Back for a hot dog (a must do), and we settled into our seats, way up high in the bleachers, to watch them beat the Atlanta Braves convincingly.

Even the local hero, centre fielder, 6 foot 7 Aaron Judge, hit a home run,

much to the delight to the home crowd.

It was definitely a trip highlight and worthy of my opening photo of this blog!!!

And naturally we couldn't resist singing along with the anthem at the end,

as they were celebrating their win.

Sorry not sorry for the singing!

What a cracker of a day!

---

Day 4, and after an easy lie in, it was onto the bus again, this time to get back down to the Staten Island Ferries, to take us across to the Lady herself, as well as Ellis Island.

Now, the Staten Island Ferry is free to go around the Statue of Liberty, but not to stop there.

That's a different ferry, and you must pay.

No problem, just don't make our mistake and think we could take the free one!

Once that was sorted, off we took to finally see our girl.

First time I laid eyes on her, many many moons ago when I was 18,

she was covered in scaffolding.

It was so nice this time, to be here with Trev, to see her properly.

We didn't bother buying the tickets to go up inside, as it was searing hot,

and my claustrophobia ain't great these days, besides anyway,

its the outside of her we were most interested in.

It was fab.

Easy strolling around, and it was nice for someone to take an arty photo of us.

Its actually my favourite one we have from there!

From here, the ferry then takes you across to the historically significant Ellis Island.

This was the very first port of call where 12 million immigrants arrived in America,

during the years 1892 -1954. After weeks, or even months at sea, often in horrendous conditions, they had to pass a strict health and mental inspection, and its said 1% of immigrants were refused entry,

only to be put back on a filthy ship to return to where ever they came from. I'm sure many didn't make it.

There are some amazing archival photos online. Fascinating.

They had a museum set up in the old hospital, and a decent cafeteria as well. It felt like a disused asylum to me.

Definitely worth the visit.

Ellis Island in the foreground with its imposing structure. You can imagine how the new, tired and poor immigrants must have felt,

seeing the Statue of Liberty right there,

promising them hope of a new home, and a better life.

From this history lesson, once back on Manhattan Island, we walked from the docks up to Freedom Tower, and the 9/11 Memorial.

Two massive history lessons, back to back.

What to say, other than there were many people, from all walks of life,

just milling around in respectful silence,

taking in all that occurred that fateful day back in September, 2001.

We all remember where we were when we first heard, and saw this,

no matter where you lived in the world. And for those too young to remember, you'll soon discover,

and its important to never forget.

They have done a marvellous job with the huge fountains marking the site of the original skyscrapers, and we took our time to take it all in.

Don't rush it.

And wow, the Freedom Tower.

Worth looking UUUPPP!

After a fairly hefty day of sightseeing, we had saved going up the Empire State Building till this evening, which is our last night here. A lovely way to finish.

Point to note: You need to not only buy a ticket, but reserve your time slot as well. Easily done online.

A good thing, as it was really crowded up there for the sunset, so plan ahead. And also hope for good weather!

We were lucky.

Check it out.

I found absolute peace up there, away from the madness way down below at street level. That said, it was extremely windy, (but only one side) and I actually felt a little bit uneasy as it seemed as though it was moving in the high winds.

But it was a huge privilege just to be standing on top of such an historical building. I couldn't help but think of all the classic movies that shot there; King Kong and From Here to Eternity, to Sleepless in Seattle and Trev's favourite, Oblivion,

with so many others in between.

When we did finally arrive back down to the hustle on the streets,

we ran into our favourite lady who sold us our bus tickets, and she reminded us that we still had time to jump on the only night tour of Brooklyn. Perfect timing.

This was to go for an hour or so - no stops - just a great way to see all the bridges at night.

A wonderful way to end our day, and our stay!

Tomorrow we say goodbye to New York City, as we sail past Lady Liberty for the last time, and head north towards the Arctic Circle. We'll be looking forward to the change in climate!

(Well, maybe me, not Trev so much!).

---

Day 5 and that meant just one last sight to see before we check out. The New York Public Library.

I did take this shot last night, as we walked back from the Empire State Building.

Much prettier than in the cold light of dawn.

Both of us have long desired to visit this iconic building,

and the effort of arriving early and queuing up was justified.

We were able to appreciate it in its tranquility, as a library ought to be,

before the crowds and guided tours all poured in.

We sat at one of those traditionally lamp lit tables,

chose a couple of classic books, and just sat.

And read.

And basked in the glory and grandeur of such a place.

After that, it was a leisurely stroll to explore,

and everywhere I turned there was yet another wonderful photo op just waiting to be taken.

Say no more...

So that's a New York wrap!

A quick pack of the bags, a yellow cab, and we were down at the docks,

boarding the sensational Viking Star, our home for the next month,

and the next stage of this exciting and enormous 10 week adventure that we are on.

Bye bye USA, we've had a blast!

Next blog, will include a little of Canada,

then Iceland and Norway and will follow directly from here.

Until then,

it's

CIAO

(only for now),

M x