A Weekend in NYC

I think a weekend in a city like New York is definitely short. BUT if I had to choose what I’d do / eat / visit in just two to three days, these would be the things I’d pick:

I last went to New York in May of last year and I fell head over heels in love with the place known as the city of dreams. I feel like I fall in love with a lot of the places I visit but New York was different. The other cities were short, heat of the moment love affairs. New York was the one.

1. Visit Central Park and grab a cookie from the Levain Bakery

Thanks to my wonderful friend Rachel I was able to discover this amazing bakery just a stonethrow away from central park. Their cookies are huge! We ordered 3 for two people because we wanted to try the different flavours and could only just finish one. We went for double chocolate, peanut butter and milk chocolate and white macadamia nut. They were the best cookies I’ve ever tasted and I would highly recommend stopping by this bakery. Just make sure it’s after a nice long walk in the park so you can justify the calories!  

2. Climb the Empire State Building 

We did quite a few high rise buildings when we were in New York including the new One World Tower. They were all beautiful but personally the Empire State building was by far my favourite. I think the interior won me over, as well as the building’s history. Last but not least the view…I dreamt of seeing the city from the Empire State building for so long and the reality did not disappoint.

3. Grab a drink at Mr Purple 

When my friend and fashion blogger Dani (aka Blonde in the District) asked me what I wanted to do in New York I had two challenges for her. One – find a super cute coffee place so we can take some Instagram photos. Two – find us a beautiful rooftop to have a drink on. Well, let me just say she definitely delivered! We went to the cutest cafe called Sweet Moment NYC and had the most adorable coffee I’ve ever seen. They even do ice cream style drinks piled high with fruit, chocolate, brownies – whatever your heart desires! 
Dani then took us to Mr Purple, an incredible bar in the East Village with a spectacular view of NYC. It was slightly on the pricier side for cocktails but beers were about the same price as Paris (around 8 dollars). We sat on the rooftop for hours sipping beer and drinking in the view. Sadly the pool was closed when we visited. Next time maybe we will get to take a dip! 

4. Take the free Staten Island Ferry

A lot of people told us to do the ferry that goes to the Statue of Liberty. Apparently the view of NYC from the boat is one of the best you’ll see. However, our New Yorker friends suggested that we don’t pay for the tourist boats and instead catch the Staten Island Ferry. It’s totally free! The ferry doesn’t go to Statue of Liberty itself but it sails past it for those great photos you were hoping for. We really enjoyed it and would recommend doing the same if you’re not bothered about seeing the statue up close.

5. Visit Chinatown 

I had a lot of time to explore Chinatown as my other half was getting some ink in a nearby salon. Shout out to Five Points who are amazing. At first I found it a bit overwhelming because it’s really busy and there are just people everywhere. However, once I got used to the people trying to sell me knock off Gucci, I started to enjoy it. I found a great coffee shop and tried some fun and interesting food from traditional Chinese shops. I nearly bought a kimono type bathrobe, something I later regretted not buying. This time round I’ll be sure to try to do some shopping.

6. Eat BBQ at Mighty Quinn’s

Another top tip from my friend Rachel was this delicious BBQ place. We ate in the one near the one world observatory but they are scattered all over the city so you can usually find one easily enough to satisfy your BBQ cravings. My other half who loves meat went for the brisket (500g) whilst I decided to go for the pork. Both were delicious. We also ordered fries and because they arrived a few minutes after our mains they gave us a free dessert! Some kind of delicious chocolate bread and butter pudding. The service was amazing and the employees were so kind! We tried to tell them that it wasn’t necessary to give us a free dessert but they insisted. Err, I love America!

7. Try New York’s delicious one dollar pizza

Whilst eating with my friend Robin who lives in NYC I made some comment about how good the pizza was. He went on to explain that it’s apparently because of the water. The water makes the dough have a particular taste and that’s where the pizza gets its delicious flavour from! Who knew? We tried John’s pizzeria on Bleecker street but my favourite was the bog standard dollar pizza from our local pizza place. It helped that an XL pizza was only 8 dollars, I think we ate it for three days…

I can’t wait to be back in NYC in a few days! If you want to read Rachel’s fabulous blog you can check it out here.