a dreamy trip to NYC
New York City. The land of bagels, rom coms and supposedly the place dreams are made of. It’s so good they named it twice. Okay. The clichés are out of the way. I have been lucky enough to visit this vibrant city 3 times, and each trip is better than the last. This time my mum and I went to New York for 5 days, 4 in the city and 1 in the Hamptons and I couldn’t resist sharing the trip with you. As like I said, each visit seems to be better than the last, and getting to see a place in real life that is constantly romanticised and seen on TV, is an experience like no other. So I thought I would write about what would be my perfect day in the city.
Brooklyn Heights was the perfect place to stay in NYC, it’s so easy to get to Manhattan, either walkable or just one train, and is just generally a cool neighbourhood. Which is home to supposedly one of the best bagel spots- Court Street Bagels. My sandwich of choice is sausage, egg & cheese on a sesame bagel, and is definitely enough to keep you going until lunch. But if you fancy a proper, hearty American breakfast, Cafe Luluc is delicious. It’s a French eatery with an American take on the dishes and has such a cool atmosphere. No reservations, all cash, quick turnover and great food (I loved the Nutella French toast on my last visit). Then head to Brooklyn Bridge, which has to be one of my all-time favourite touristy things-to-do in New York. It’s such a lovely walk with great views and you can learn so much about New York history. Once you reach Manhattan, without a doubt, my favourite neighbourhood is Soho- especially for shopping. From the financial district take the 6 train to Spring Street and walk towards Broadway. Here you’ll find rows of boutiques from the high-end brands of Chloe to Burberry to Louis Vuitton to the more high-street shops of Zara, Brandy Melville, Garage, Cotton On, PacSun, Uniqlo and then, quite possibly my heaven on Earth, Aritzia. Which is nowhere close to high-street shopping prices but the Artizia store on Broadway is a shopping experience like no other :) (my bank account thanks Aritzia for not existing in the UK).
After being worn out by shopping, head towards Central Park for a more relaxing afternoon. Enjoy the Bethesda Fountain or the Alice in Wonderland statue or perhaps Literary Walk, where every so often you’ll find charming musicians, fun tours of all the top movie spots and darling dogs aplenty. It can be a fun game to see if it is true that all dog owners look like their pets. For a sweet treat, which should always be a yes, visit Levain Bakery (particularly the original location on West 74th Street) for their renowned choc-chip cookies. Which in my opinion, do deserve to be considered one of the best choc-chip cookie spots in the city. I’ve never had such a chunky yet fluffy, perfectly crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside cookie. And it’s also so filling. Like not even finishing one cookie had me feeling full, but every bite is so so worth it. Don’t get me wrong, I have in no way shape or form scoped out every choc chip cookie spot in the city but my goodness this cookie was good.
After all this, if you still have enough energy, I do love the Met. Purely for their collection of Degas, Monet, Regnault and so many more greats, but personally, the impressionists and post-impressionists is one my favourite movements. It would take I think, an entire day and more to fully explore and enjoy the Met in its entirety so if you are an art lover and it’s worth it to you, definitely dedicate at least a day to enjoy it. But of course there are hundreds of galleries and museums to visit in New York such as MoMA, Artechouse, Guggenheim, the Frick or the Smithsonian (and many many more)- something for everyone’s taste.
New York City is full of amazing hidden gems, and getting recommendations from the locals is the best way to scout out the best restaurants. One guy told us that the best place for New York style pizza was John’s in Greenwich village, so if you fancy something casual for dinner after a busy day roaming the city, getting a pizza from them would be the way to go. Or around the Brooklyn Heights area there’s a couple of neighbourhood spots that I still cannot get over. Aromi was a recommendation from a friend of mine who lived in New York and it was some of the best Italian food I’ve ever had. We visited on a Saturday night and the place was consistently full of people in a cool, buzzing atmosphere. Or if Italian cuisine isn’t to your liking, there’s a fantastic walk-ins only Thai restaurant called Untable which was also amazing. The whole concept of the restaurant was so cute with hand-drawn menus, innovative drinks and unconventional dishes. My personal favourite was their signature chilean sea bass and grilled tiger shrimp, but everything we tried was delicious.
I am nowhere close to being an expert of this amazing city but after this last visit I really wanted to share some of my favourite parts of the city that I’ve been lucky enough to experience- and truly this would be my ideal day spent in NYC. While New York doesn’t always seem to live up to its expectations and it can be hard to enjoy the city as the magical place it’s described online, there are certain parts of this city I truly love and hope you do too if you ever get to go <3
