New York City 2018 – Day 3 – Beauty and the Ballroom

Word of warning – this is a long post – you may want to make yourself a cuppa before you even start!! 😛

Having visited New York for the first time in 2017, we had a good idea of where we would want to go to show the kids what we saw last time. I still believe that the best way to explore New York is on foot. You get to see all of the things you’d miss by travelling on the train or sat in traffic (albeit in an iconic yellow cab!). We headed out early to Times Square and as it was also my youngest Son’s 13th birthday, we gave him the choice as to where we should have breakfast. The Hard Rock Cafe was a perfect choice as the food was fantastic and just what we needed before heading off on what was going to be an extremely long walk!

Starting from Times Square we headed in the direction of the Hudson River, which we walked alongside until we reached the start of the Highline – a disused railway track that was turned into a parkland walkway above the streets. It makes for a scenic walk, again something that would be missed if traveling by taxi or train. As we walked, we realised that although we had planned to take the Staten Island Ferry across and back, the weather wasn’t looking great and rain looked likely so we scrapped that idea. On our previous trip we had done so much but there was still so much we hadn’t discovered! Along the way we found the apartment building from ‘Friends’ and the firehouse from ‘Ghostbusters’ neither of which we had seen before. There’s no mistaking when you’re in an area of interest like that as there’s people taking photos everywhere!

We continued walking down to the 9/11 Memorial which is such an emotional place to visit. The first time I saw the memorial in 2017, I got quite upset. Knowing how many people died that day who were simply at work or had run in to do their job as emergency services, to think such an event happened is unthinkable and standing there, looking around at the space, the footprint of what was once two insanely tall buildings, the water jets, the white roses in the names of those who’s birthday it would have been on that day, of course we know it happened but to visit the site is something else.

There are still ongoing works there, which no doubt will take some time to complete but we had a quick drink in the Oculus shopping centre before starting to head back via Wall Street but as the weather wasn’t looking great, we were keen to get back despite having over an hour’s walk still to do! I was hoping to pop into the Glossier studio however the queue was huge along the street and I couldn’t expect the boys to stand in line to get into the building let alone wait for me to browse!

The Brooklyn Bridge was only a slight detour away so as that was somewhere I’d always wanted to visit we headed over to check it out, take photos and admire the view. It was getting late though so we didn’t stay long and continued to head back to the hotel where Ryan, my youngest, was greeted with a birthday cake and chocolates from the hotel! If there’s one recommendation I would make about this trip, it’s the hotel. Sofitel were amazing! The London Heathrow location was superb and the New York one was amazing too. Another recommendation would be for dinner. Benjamin Steakhouse was again pre-booked given our visit there last time was out of this world amazing food! Steaks like I’d never seen before!! So so good and booking in advance is a must!!