Day 3 - 17/09/19
Once we pulled ourselves away from the all you can eat breakfast. Less than a 5 minute walk we ended up outside the amazing St Patrick’s Cathedral, in between skyscrapers was this magnificent gem. Opposite was the Rockefeller Center, which we wandered around, popped into the Lego store, before heading towards Grand Central Terminal.
The main entrance of Grand Central Terminal is on 42nd st. One of the skyscrapers that is right next to the station is the Chrysler Building. The architecture around the city was amazing, with so many old buildings mixed in with all the new and modern skyscrapers. These pockets of smaller intricate buildings really draws you in and obviously Grand Central Terminal didn’t disappoint!
You walk in and those chandeliers greet you as well as the US flag, before you hit the main concourse where you look up and see the mural constellations. As well as an Apple store and restaurants at the station. We headed down to the subway, but first we went to the Whispering Walls. Due to the domed intersection of walkways you can whisper to someone corner to corner because of the arches. David is demonstrating this in the below picture, honest he is not going for a pee!
We got on the subway getting off at Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan side and walked to Battery Park. For our tickets to both Liberty Island and Ellis Island, we purchased the NY city pass and it was so straightforward to use at all of the attractions. Before hopping on the ferry we had to go through security, my bra set the alarm off and I had to be frisked. It was super sensitive as the couple behind me also beeped when walking through!
Unfortunately are ticket wasn’t valid to go up inside the Statue of Liberty, but it was lovely to walk around the island. We wandered around the museum which was very informative and it includes the original lamp on display. Unfortunately this had been refurbished so many times that it was beyond repair and removed over 30 years ago.
We then hopped back on the ferry and headed over to Ellis Island, to the immigration museum. We decide to go for the guided tour of the museum and would recommend doing this if you ever visit! The guides really bring it all to life.
We waited for the last ferry back to Manhattan and enjoyed the sunshine whilst waiting.
A little clip of our ferry trip:
After so much walking we were in need of some food, so we walked up West Street towards the one World Trade Center. We popped into the Brookfield Place shopping centre to grab a bite to eat before heading to the subway. We saw a lovely sunset across the Hudson River over to Jersey City!
To end the day we headed to the Empire State Building. Once we found the correct entrance to get in! We got in the lift to take us up to the exhibit level, before heading on to the next lift to get us all the way up to the 86th floor. There was quite a long queue for these lifts, suddenly one of the stewards opened the door and offered the option to go up via the stairs, so we pulled the short straw and climbed the stairs! But, it was so worth the walk as the views from the deck were just magical especially at night...
Day 4 - 18/09/2019
We decided to take things at a steadier pace. We casually made our way to the ‘Vessel’ based at Hudson Yards. On route, the Empire State Building seemed to be shining in all its glory, we went into B & H Photo and video retailer. Walking in we were blown away by the amount of equipment in the store, as well as the way in which the items get to the kiosk. It’s a bit like a Currys PC World mixed with an Argos. We purchased a few camera accessories and a couple of other items.
Once we got to the Vessel it was glistening in the light with its honeycomb-like structure. We took a little rest, sitting on a wall I went live on Facebook to check in and let people know what we were up too. We headed over to the monument and got a qr ticket by going to the necessary website and booked a 13:30 viewing time slot. We had 20 minutes to spare, so quickly perused the shopping mall and then checked out the train yard.
On entering the Vessel we were in awe of the 154 interconnecting staircases and the way in which the lift shaft followed the shape of the structure. With 80 platform decks with different viewpoints, we decided to go up in a spiral pattern and then go fully around once we reached the top level.
We headed back into the mall after we finished and enjoyed a lovely lemon tart with drinks to re-energise after all the stairs. It was a divine experience.
We made tracks back to the hotel via the reebok store on 5th Avenue. Walking pass Penn St Station and the New York Public Library. Dropped our shopping off at the hotel and then heading back out to an evening at the Rockefeller Center.
On arriving at the Rockefeller Center to access the Top of the Rock we got in the queue, but we were a little confused due to having a time slot to enter. Once we got in we entered the lift which had a glass ceiling and as we went up it lit up. We then walked up a flight of stairs to get on to the top deck. The view of Central Park was absolutely spectacular.
Once we had finished enjoying the views we headed out and while we waited for lifts one of the staff members started singing. From ‘You’ve got to move it’, ‘Let me hear you say way-oh’, it was a lovely bit of entertainment and everyone was joining in. Feeling hungry we went for food at the Rockefeller Cafe. On our way back to the hotel we discussed what to do for our last full day in NY.
We hope you’ve loved reading our experience with more to come, see you soon, The Collards xx