It’s been a few days now since I got back from New York, but I am still missing it so much. It was a quick trip, but we really took full advantage of our time in the city and fit in so many fun things! My mom, sister, and I went to New York and met some friends there for a long weekend. Thursday afternoon I drove home from college and we drove to the airport, had two flights through the night, then made it to the city at around 2 a.m. Friday morning. We slept in a bit on Friday, then started our day and explored the city as much as we could! I had been to NYC the summer after I graduated, back in 2019. I really enjoyed it, but I think this time my trip was even better. I just fell in love with the city and everything going on there. I loved how we explored so many areas and we didn’t even see a fraction of all there was to see.
Our hotel was in the perfect location, about a ten minute walk from Central Park and the Columbia Circle subway station. On Friday, we walked around the area near our hotel, took a pedicab tour around Central Park, then got on the subway to head to the Chelsea neighborhood. I loved just walking around and seeing all the different streets and different shops/restaurants everywhere. We walked to the High Line, an old train track with a great view of the city, then went to Chelsea Market for lunch. After fueling up on acai bowls, we took the subway over to Washington Square Park to see the famous arch, then explored the Greenwich area for a bit. After a few hours of a break at our hotel, we ventured out again to grab salads from Sweetgreen, look around at Target, and get frozen yogurt from Pinkberry. We walked over 10 miles that day, but there was so much to see!
The second day, we took the subway over to the Columbia University area and got coffee/pastries from a Hungarian bakery. We sat outside as the leaves fell from the trees and all the college students walked around from Columbia, it was so cool. I got a delicious matcha from NYC Basics, then we walked around Columbia University. We went to a few bookstores and then went to 72nd Avenue and walked the streets for a little bit. Honestly, a lot of our days were spent walking around, just exploring and looking at random streets. There’s so much to see and do! We got Levain cookies, went to Trader Joes, and then took the train to Times Square. After seeing Times Square, we walked to Rockefeller Center, then took another subway over to Central Park. We cut through Central Park to 5th Avenue, where we had reservations for the Met! After walking around the Met for a bit, we Ubered back to our hotel, freshened up, and got pizza for dinner.
The last day was a Sunday, and our hotel was only 5 minutes away from Church of the City NYC. My mom had read a few books/listened to sermons by the pastor, so it was such a great coincidence that his church was so close to us! It was such a great service, and then we stopped in Paris Baguette afterwards for coffee and pastries. We took the train all the way to Dumbo and walked around that area for a while. We went to the Dumbo Flea Market, popped in a local bookstore, and walked along Pebble Beach and Bridge Park, then got lunch at Juliana’s Pizza. After lunch, we walked along the Brooklyn Bridge over to the Manhattan side. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip, the view was great and there were so many people! We walked around Manhattan, then went to the World Trade Center and 9/11 Memorial. After a little more exploring, we decided to call it a day and head back to our hotel for the night.
We left around 9:30 on Monday morning, so we had a little time before our flight. My mom and I went on a cold morning run around Central Park, and it was such a great running path! I was super cold so it wasn’t the most pleasant run, haha, but it was so cool to see all the locals out running with their dogs. Then we grabbed coffee and a chocolate croissant from Birch Coffee before catching our ride to the airport!
It was such an amazing trip. I have a newfound love for NYC and would love to explore more and stay for longer. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend planning a trip!