Hi everyone! I am SO excited for today's post. I'm currently writing it from the car on the way back to Pittsburgh. We have a pretty cool setup going on- our portable wifi and Gemma's surge protector with like 11 wall plugs and USB plugs plugged into my dad's car. š
Seeing New York City was SUCH a unique experience. It is truly a place like no other. We have been there before, but I got a terrible flu and barely remember any of it. This trip was definitely our redemption. We saw so much in only 2 days. I pride myself in saying I was the ultimate tourist, even though my sisters complained about all the walking!!
I have no idea how I'm going to structure this post, so we will see how it happens. I'm thinking of just going through everything we did the two days we spent in New York. We didn't do much the time we were in New Jersey, so I probably will only talk about NYC from Friday and Saturday. I will make sure to link as much as I can, but I don't think I'll link outfits again, for those you'll have to check out the Pack With Me post.
Let's get on into this post! I am so excited over all the content I got for the blog, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!!
FRIDAY
We got up on Friday and started getting ready! It took a bit for all four girls to get ready in the room, but we eventually left our hotel in our matching Vans and headed towards the New Brunswick train station 2 blocks away. We got Dunkin' for breakfast and it was perfectly attached to the station. We got tickets and were able to catch the 11:50 train to NYC!
The train took a little over an hour to NY Penn Station. We walked out and were greeted by sun and crowds of people. Right outside the station is Madison Square Garden so we had to take a pic for the boys. There was also an Eagle's ad which was hilarious because I was wearing my Eagle's shirt!
Mask usage was about 50/50. We were supposed to have them on while on the train, but we were eating and mostly sitting alone so we had them down a lot. Gem and I still had ours up from the station, but while walking outside we had them off. Some stores/buildings required them and others didn't, like Ulta, where some employees weren't wearing them either.
We started walking north of Manhattan towards Times Square. The walk was about 9 minutes I believe? Not sure if I remember that right, but it was a bit of a walk but not too terrible. Gemma got a picture with a Transformer and some Disney characters on the way.
We didn't stay in Times Square long because of the crazy crowd and the heat. The girls were also a little overwhelmed by all the people around and needed something a little calmer, lol. We started walking to our next stop: The Empire State Building. It was about the same distance we had walked from Penn Station to Times Square, but in the southeast direction. We actually walked down Broadway and took some photos on the way. We saw the Macy's, Burberry, the Shake Shack, and more on the way to W 34th St.
We spotted the Empire State Building immediately when we turned onto its street. It is QUITE the sight to see. But before checking it out, we passed a few stores we had to run in. The Steve Madden store was STUNNING so we looked in there, Ulta, and the girls ran into Build-a-Bear. I 100% took photos of shoes I'm ordering ASAP. Plus, what a good photo location was this SHOES SHOES SHOES LED light sign?!
aka the cutest shoe store I've ever seen in my life.
This Build-a-Bear was literally RIGHT NEXT to the Empire State Building. How cute!? The girls made some stuffed animals and got them some NYC apparel. (I 100% got Leo an NYC shirt, don't worry!!!)
We checked out the Empire State Building, and then took an Uber from there to our lunch destination. The walk would've been 40 minutes and we had a reservation in 20! By this time it was already 3:40.
We ate lunch at the cutest little all-pink restaurant in Little Italy called Pietro Nolita. The food was super yummy and the perfect portion size for a lunch after a late breakfast. I definitely recommend checking this restaurant out online for some more pictures, cause I sadly didn't get a ton. But it's the cutest little place ever, and was perfect for our girl's day! We made reservations but we definitely didn't have to. We were the only ones eating inside and there were maybe 4 people eating in their adorable outdoor dining space.
After eating lunch at Pietro Nolita, we tried to locate this mural of angel wings. Unfortunately, the location I originally saw online was wrong and it was super far from where we were. Instead, we walked through SoHo on the way to the Washington Arch. We saw the cutest stores, including this incredible Louis Vuitton store.
There was also a Tiffany & Co. across the street. The architecture of all the buildings on this street was breathtaking, I took lots of pics. There was also a Fendi store, Ray-Bans, and Chanel nearby.
Then we finally made it to Washington Square Park! We got to see lots of cool things in the park, all leading up to the Washington Square Arch. It looks so much like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, though I'm sure much smallerš! But it was still pretty huge. It was so incredibly beautiful.
Washington Square Arch (peep the Vans, LOL)
After checking out the Washington Arch, we hopped in an Uber to the 9/11 Memorial. We didn't take any photos of it, but it was definitely surreal to see and imagine.
We walked inside the Oculus right across from the memorial. I had seen some really cool photos of it online. It's an utterly amazing building both inside and out.
We grabbed some Italian Meringue ice cream from the Bona Bona ice cream truck parked outside. It wasn't the best ice cream I've ever had, but it was definitely cool to try something different. I got the mint chocolate chip flavor.
After eating our ice cream, we hopped in another Uber and headed back to NY Penn Station to catch the train back to the hotel. At this point, we were all exhausted and ready to take a break. We had done a lot of walking and seen a ton of things in just a few hours.
SATURDAY
On Saturday, my brother had an early baseball game. Then we relaxed and took our time getting ready before heading back to the city. My dad and brother came with us this day and there was a chance of rain, so we decided to take our car instead of the train. We got some Chipotle and drove the hour (ended up being closer to two with traffic) to the city!
Battery Park view of the Statue of Liberty
My dad parked in the drop-off lane and me, my mom, and siblings ran down to the pier at Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty. It started drizzling as soon as we got to the pier. (I told Gemma to grab an umbrella, but nobody listened, so we got rained on!)
We took some photos at the pier and some more along the cute bikeway with an incredible view of the World Trade Center as the rain started to clear up.
We hopped in the car, with the best Uber of the trip: John Fratto!! We made the 30 minute drive back up to Manhattan to see Central Park and the Met. Thankfully, I grabbed umbrellas this time, because as soon as we finished taking Gossip Girl-inspired photos on the Met steps it started POURING. It was actually hilarious though, the steps were packed with people and then everyone just scattered!
The Met steps were incredible. I definitely would love to go inside next time I'm in New York. It was so surreal to see all of these things in person.
After we got rained out at the Met, we drove down 5th Ave. The rain cleared up for us almost immediately! We saw The Plaza, Trump Tower, and even went into the Gucci store. It was INCREDIBLE. I even snagged the pearl Gucci belt I've been DYING for!! š¤¤š¤¤š¤¤
After this, we got in the car and headed back to New Jersey. We saw almost every single thing I wanted and only spent portions of 2 days in the city. It's truly amazing how much there is to see.
That's about it for the recap!! I'm going to attach the map I made and the little itinerary I made for us as well. The map is organized by day, and when I printed it I colored in the Friday dots orange and the Saturday dots Pink. The itinerary is when I was brainstorming places to see and organizing everything by location. It was super helpful to have the map while we were walking around, I referred to it a bunch of times to know where we were headed next.
We originally considered winging it, but organizing everything by location and planning out a schedule was definitely the way to go in New York. We definitely made the most of our time and were able to fit lots in this way.
Thank you so much for reading this post. I had such a good time going through the photos and putting it together. I realized how much I love navigating and putting things like this together. If anyone ever needs a tour guide, lmk!!!!
As always, thank you all for reading. I am so obsessed with how this post turned out and with NYC!! I hope you all loved the content.
Xoxo, gossip girl.
Jk. -Bella
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