New York City Day 1 & 2

I’ve always wanted to share the excitement of New York City with my girls and this past fall we were able to make that happen! It is a tradition that Carly’s drill team heads to NYC for the Macys day parade their senior year so I’ve been excited about this trip for 3 years. I’m finally sharing the itinerary with you today but since our first two days were so full, I decided to break it up into two posts as to not overwhelm you with pictures.

Because Carly stayed with her team, our itinerary bounces around alot. I did my best to group like things together to try and experience as much as possible but know, this is the highlight reel and there were sore feet and a tired dancer who just wanted to nap some days!

Day 1

• Flew into LaGuardia
• Washington Square
• Greenwich Village; The Happiest Hour & Olio e Piu
• Iconic sites in midtown: Time Square, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, etc

Jordan and I flew into La Guardia arrived around 1:30pm on a Sunday and had the afternoon and evening to explore. Carly arrived on Saturday and her first two days were packed full of practice. It took us about 45 minutes to an hour to arrive at our hotel, The Warwick, in midtown. I chose this hotel as it was conveniently located on the parade route and right across the street from the Hilton where Carly was staying.

We quickly dropped off our bags and headed for the subway. Yes, we took the subway the entire time we were there and it was perfectly safe. Be smart and be aware and it is fine. The google directions app as well as the city mapper app were an integral tool in helping us navigate to the correct subway station and the most efficient train. We only made one mistake on our first day and after that we felt like pros.

I wanted to share Washington Square park with Jordan while the sun was still out so I planned our afternoon/evening around that. The square is always hopping with people, artists and so much lovely fall color. We strolled around the park and through the adjoining neighborhoods on our way to happy hour.

A friend had visited in October and recommended The Happiest Hour for drinks and it was such a festive venue. The Christmas lights just make everything feel so happy and we enjoyed some cocktails and an appetizer. This is the Greenwich Village area and there are shops and restaurants all walkable and it has a bit of a Sex in the City vibe as Carrie Bradshaws apartment is located here!

For dinner we had reservations at the Italian restaurant Olio e Piu and it was amazing! It has a cozy vibe with close tables and plants everywhere. We ate the burrata and lots of pasta and it was such a great first meal in the city.

After we grabbed a coffee at a darling little combo coffee/flower shop next door before catching the subway to Time Square. They say you should see time square in both the daytime and nighttime which I have done in the past but I did not make that happen this trip. We walked off the pasta on the way back to our hotel, passing by Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall and St. Patrick’s Cathedral before falling into bed and crashing for the night.

Day 2

• 9/11 Museum/Memorial
• St. Pauls Chapel
• Wallstreet
• Battery Park
• Staten Island Ferry/Statue of Liberty
• Brooklyn Bridge
• DUMBO
• Hudson Yards

We were up bright and early on day two for an early bird tour of the 9/11 Museum. After a friend told me there was an early bird option it made my plans for this day pretty much fall into place and it truly was probably my favorite day of the trip. I highly recommend this tour as the museum was much quieter, just our group of about 25 and the guide. He provided so much information we would not have received walking through on our own such as the fact that each blue square on this wall is a slightly different shade of blue to represent the individuality of each and every victim. The entire experience is very sureal.

Afterwards we spent a moment by the 9/11 memorial before walking over to St. Pauls chapel. If you don’t know the history of this little church, it was not harmed by the destruction of the twin towers and became a refuge for those working at ground zero. I was a little sad to see they had updated it and removed the pews in lieu of chairs as it looked so much more stark than I remembered on my last visit. Oddly enough, the only other people in the church this morning happened to be Riley’s college baseball coach! It was quite the reunion.

We stopped and grabbed breakfast at Liberty Bagel on our way to ride the Staten Island Ferry. In my opinion, unless you are wanting to stop on the island where the statue of liberty actually is or on Ellis island, the ferry is the best free thing to do in NYC. Yes, it’s completely free! You ride over to Staten Island, get off and walk back through the port and right back on for your return ride. Definitely be careful of scammers as there are plenty who confronted us and tried to send us a different direction to a paid tour.

Once we were back, we walked through Battery Park on our way to meet up with Carly Jo and her group as they were on a different cruise where they clearly had so much fun! I checked out several of Carly’s friends and we headed for a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I don’t know why this is such a favorite for me but it was on my last trip too. So historic and just lovely views of the city. I actually would recommend starting in Brooklyn and then walking back towards Manhattan but that wasn’t workable for us due to timing.

We were starving after all the walkign and stopped for pizza at Front Street Pizza in DUMBO. That’s short for down under the manhattan bridge overpass if you didn’t know. After we finished eating we walked around and took some pictures of the Manhattan bridge. If you look closely, you can see the Empire State Building through the arch in the bridge.

The girls had to be back for practice by 4:30 so we rode the subway back to midtown and dropped them off. The day was still young in the city that never sleeps so Jordan and I headed back to the subway and ventured over to Hudson Yards to see the Christmas lights. I’ve never been to any other city that does Christmas quite like NYC. Lights are everywhere and even though it was cold it never felt frigid.

We walked the High Line to Chelsea Market where we were happy to take a load off for just a bit for a cocktail and some dinner. In hindsight we should have flipped Hudson Yards and Chelsea Market as many of the restaurants and shops close earlier than we anticipated.

Between the time change and the light disappearing by 5pm, we had no trouble heading back to our hotel and calling it a night. Our feet were aching (we logged almost 13 miles!) but our hearts were happy.

It was such an amazing start to our trip! If you haven’t been to NYC, the holidays are a great time to go. I would suggest going sooner in the season but would also suggest waiting until after the tree lighting. That was one thing I was sad we would not be there for by going Thanksgiving week.

Stay tuned, I will try to get the rest of our trip wrapped up shortly!