5 Days in NYC

When I first moved to San Francisco, a few of my closest friends from college were also living and working in the city. It made it incredibly easy to acclimate to my new home and not feel like a tourist for the first 3 months. As is typical with students from UCSD, most of them then shipped off to grad school (if that’s not where they went right away) and fortunately for me, a few landed in New York City. Obviously a trip was in order.

I’d booked the trip a few months prior, and ending on October 7^th, I had 5 fantastic days exploring both Manhattan and Brooklyn. I could go on and on, but instead I just am going to show you the pictures of it all with some fun stories intermixed.

ARRIVAL IN NYC

I took a red-eye, leaving SF at 9pm and arriving in NYC around 6am. I showed up before the sun rose and saw this incredible view.

After a few minutes hanging out in the hall, Lara, my host for the weekend, woke up and let me in to her apartment in time to see the sun rising over the city. She lives in the area called Hell’s Kitchen, which is in Midtown West. She can see the Empire State Building, all of downtown NYC, and the Hudson river and Brooklyn from her window.

A quick catch up and a nap brought me to 10am when I set out to hit my first stop, Times Square. Man, it is busy!

After Times Square, I took the quick walk to Central Park. Here I just wandered around, went to see the famous fountains and bridges in all the movies,  saw a model doing a photo shoot, and then made my way to a recommended restaurant adjacent to the park.

Next I took one of those corny open-top bus tours, and while the guides were not helpful the views and the exploring it helped me do were well worth it. I saw the famous arch thing, I noticed that there are lots of water towers on top of buildings, and I saw the Brooklyn Bridge.

Most prominently, I stopped to view the 9/11 Memorial at the base of the new World Trade Center Tower. The memorial is extremely well done, and there are two fountains in the footprints of the original towers. There’s even a soon-to-open exhibit where you can see parts of the original WTC structure.

The next day was another to adventure and after sleeping in, I found the LOVE sign before we went to the Frick Museum.

Saturday, Lara got to explore with me, so we took some of the CitiBikes and rode down attempting to shop. Instead, we stopped for a food event in Chelsea.

We then stumbled across the High Line and strolled along there before we found some Blue Bottle Coffee.

We checked out the Chelsea Market, a version of the SF Ferry Building Market, before heading home to prepare for a special event that night.

Saturday night, we had tickets to the New York Film Festival’s Opening of the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It’s Ben Stiller’s first movie as a director, and while it strays from the original short story, it’s a fantastic and inspiring movie that helps the mind leap to new adventures. It’ll be out in December and you should absolutely go see it!

Sunday, I went to Brooklyn where my friend Brooks showed me around. We shopped, and I finally found local boutiques (which is what I love). We checked out the Brooklyn Flea Market as well, which had a bag I’m in love with and still comtemplating the purchase of.

Next, we visited the rooftop bar at the Wythe Hotel before I went ot shop some more then meet my friend Caitlin for Dinner.

After some amazing dinner, we visited the Ample Hills Creamery, for some of the most incredible ice cream flavors I’ve ever had. Then it was back to Manhattan for me.

On Monday, I took it easy before going on a walk to just see and experience the electricity of the city
one more time. First I went to the New York Public Library with Lara. Not only was it amazing to see the scene where Carrie and Big’s wedding was supposed to happen, the library is amazingly beautiful and the story of how it came to being inspiring!

Next, I had to find some souvenirs, but along the way I stumbled across the Time Square Museum, where I found the confetti wish wall. You can write a wish that you have for the coming new year on a piece of confetti that is later thrown out during the New Years Eve celebration in Times Square.

After, by way of a random pizza blogger, I went to _______ and had some incredible pizza, followed by tiramisu and an espresso.

And with that, it was over! I ran to the subway with rain beating down on me and after many delays and some dramatic instances with public transportation, I made it to the airport where now I sit and wait for a delayed flight.

New York was an amazing experience, and what was really beneficial is that I didn’t work, much, while I was here. Having the distance and the ability to think about he bigger picture has left me feeling re-energized and has helped me to realize the priorities I should be working on instead of the tasks that often bog me down. I’m ready to get back to the city and organize and execute the crap out of SixDoors J

On a final note, a HUGE thank you to the people who made this trip aboslutey incredible. I not only saw sights, I caught up with some of the most important people in my life. Many, many thanks to Lara for being amazing and a great host, Brooks for his Brooklyn knowledge, and Caitlin for her insights into her new realm of life and the awesome ice cream experience.

I’ll be back some day NYC!