“What! You have been in the US for 4 years and you haven’t been to New York? That’s like a crime Vibha” – I kept getting that EVERY time I happened to touch New York in a conversation. Well, being a consultant I was a little hopeful of getting to fly to the other coast over a project, which in my imagination had extended into a vacation. Don’t look at me like that – I can use some perks of my job here and there right (I know you’re saying “of course”). It’s been over 3 years of me working on local / border line local projects with a few surprise projects in Dallas and Atlanta, but New York – none, not even New Jersey or Philly for that matter. Almost felt like God had heard of my plan and subtly disapproved.
So I finally gave up and we voluntarily planned the NEW YORK trip! J booked the hotel and flights, rest of the planning was on me. Fancy NYC excel sheet with color coded themes was created. Touristy places to visit (with weightage scoring), neighborhoods to explore, eateries and cafes to enjoy and live events to attend – my NYC excel sheet had it all. It kind of reminded me of my project scrap book from childhood where colorful stickers and labels were replaced by conditional formatting and pivot tables. Adulting is quite a thing people!
An instant love affair with NYC
(if interested only in specifics, feel free to skip to the next section)
Yes, finally NYC happened! I am not going to lie, it was love at first sight, first feeling rather. I know I’m not the first one, but this city touched my heart in multiple ways. I have traveled to quite a few representative cities of the US, but NYC has a charm of its own, vibe, rules and a life of its own.
The city has so much history and the most spectacular thing is, that you can still see and feel all of it around you. It’s untouched and raw. It hasn’t moved on and stayed true to its backstory in the most beautiful of ways. It hasn’t detached itself from any of the events and happenings, it’s proud of what it has and only swears to standby it. What surprises me to another level is that a city that has such rich history has not only managed to maintain it, but also proved to be the most outrageous when it comes to the finest and fanciest of architectures. Both the things generally don’t go hand in hand right, but in NYC it does! That is exactly what the beauty of the city is – it doesn’t go the generalized way! It doesn’t have any barriers – not to the races, not to professions, not to classes of the society and not to the idea of perfectionism. It welcomes anything and everything and doesn’t compel one to change. For the first time, I heard myself saying, “It is okay to not change, what is important is to adapt”. Interesting, how a city can give you so much perspective.
Now, because there is diversity in the truest of senses, the city has immense character, a character that alters a bit with different neighborhoods and boroughs. The city has flaws and it’s not ashamed of it. It wears its imperfections with pride, at times even flaunts it. Isn’t that the kind of diversity we should be talking about? All this while I thought Silicon Valley was diverse. A trip to NYC gave ‘diversity’ a real meaning to me. Yeah of course I covered Central Park, Times Square and everything on my touristy ‘to do list’ and have the pictures of them too. But what will stay with me for the longest of times that came from this trip is that “You may not necessarily need to be perfect or flawless, or may not need to run with the trend. You can make mistakes, own them, let them stay with you, not follow the herd and still manage to do well enough for yourself."
The city has an untamable spirit. It keeps running and welcomes you to get into the race. Growing up in Bombay, it felt like I was back home. We took pretty much all the modes of public transport and no prizes for guessing – I loved the subways. There was always so much happening, someone was playing music at the station entrance, someone selling candies, a few chanting Sanskrit mantras on the side, some others chatting and eating burgers. Watching so many people around doing so many things just gave me so much joy! How small things can give you immense joy! There are always people around you, wherever you go, you would never feel lonely! Again, felt like I was back home.
Roadside hawkers selling street food, construction workers pretty much working across the city, a bunch of street dancers dancing their hearts out, a man feeding pigeons on the side, a group of hardworking people getting produce from underground stores to prep for the next day, traffic police calmly managing the traffic, yellow taxi drivers driving all around – every direction you turn, it’s a sight of joy. The city doesn’t have the most beautiful coastline or the most enthralling forests, what it has is the most amazing people and their sky rocketing spirits (skyline to die for, is an add on ;))! Ohh and you don’t have to small talk. Let’s stop at that! :D
What all did we do
J wanted to do all the touristy things on the list (priority were museums, hint: geeky husband). I wanted to explore the neighborhoods and stroll around. Something that might more than often bring a rift in vacations, we took an advantage of. We decided to do some touristy things and also explore neighborhoods around, Win-Win. Did we have arguments on planning our 4 days in NYC – Let’s leave that for later ;)
Where we stayed
We stayed at Conrad Hotel in Tribeca. A beautiful hotel with an amazing rooftop bar. It was in Downtown so a lot of touristy spots were pretty accessible. A lot of amazing food streets, eateries and cafes were super close to us. That was a huge PLUS.
Touristy stuff we did
· Big Bus Tour
We took a 2 day big bus tour. It is a hop-on and hop-off bus service. It covers three different routes and pretty much the entire city, covering all the tourist spots. You can get onto any bus (using the same company) and either:
a. plan to stay on the open air bus and feel the city from up top, or
b. if you have an itemized agenda for the day, you can sync with the route and get down at specific spots.
The bus doesn’t wait for you, it drops or picks up people at bus stops and keeps moving. When done, you can get onto a different bus and continue based on your plan. (That’s how it’s different from a typical Mumbai Darshan kind of bus tour). The bus also has a travel guide that gives you good context and additional information. You get headphones to be able to hear the travel guide speak (No noise pollution)
We used the bus tour in both ways. Places that we were keen on visiting, we would get down and cover. Other places, we would take a feel of, from the bus itself. We covered areas like Wallstreet, Financial District, some other buildings and churches from the bus itself.
Here are the other tourist spots that we covered at length either using bus or through public transport.
· Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum
Boy, how excited was J to make a visit to this museum. The museum is dedicated to the exhibition and interpretation of history and science as related to the aircraft carrier Intrepid fought in World War II.
The most exciting part was watching the operations and mechanism of the Intrepid ship; display of authentically restored aircrafts used during World War II and getting up close with the space shuttle Enterprise.
-Other Museums you could visit: Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, The Frick Collection, Federal Hall Museum, Museum of American Finance, Museum of Modern Art, and The Cloisters
· One World Trade Center Observatory & 9/11 Memorial and Museum
You can get the city and skyline view from multiple spots – most famously from the Top Rock at Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building and One World Trade Center. We chose to go to the One World Center as it would be more than just the city view. We got exceptional views from the top floors and an overall great experience.
One World Trade Center is the tallest building in western hemisphere and stands 1776 foot tall. The One World Observatory on 100, 101 and 102 floors provide 360 degree view of the city. The building is the rebuilt World Trade Center post the 9/11 attack.
There is a 9/11 memorial built as a tribute of remembrance and honor to the 2997 people killed in the attack. There are twin reflecting pools with manmade waterfalls and name of all the people inscribed.
-Other observatories you could visit: Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center
· Times Square
We went to the much hyped Times Square multiple times during our trip. We wanted to stroll around the Square and experience all the glitz and glam in both daylight as well as night. It was grand indeed, with larger than life feel, gigantic and loud billboards, and innumerable theaters and eateries.
· Bryant Park
Most of the tourists in NYC are on their foot exploring the city or moving from one tourist spot to the other. There are so many parks strategically located at intersections. Like us, we saw a number of tourists take a small break at these parks, drink a coffee, catch up on carbs and/or just sit and chat. This is an amazing park located in Midtown and is ever so lively. There are a good number of cafes, street food options around. There are a bunch of board games and so many events/street performances happening all at the same time. The most exciting sight was people trying juggling in the park. A peaceful pit stop at this park was a good idea. People watching is a plus ;)
-Other parks we strolled around and you could visit are Central Park, Battery Park, Sunset Park
· Highline Park
This is a beautiful 20 minute urban walking hike that was once upon a time a train track. It’s a manmade trail with beautiful city views and you get to see the tracks throughout the trail. It moves across Manhattan and provides some unconventional views of the Midtown. Grab a snack, stroll around the Highline and you’re in for a sweet surprise.
· Brooklyn Bridge and Park
An amazing 30 minute walk over the Brooklyn Bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn was one of our best (touristy) experiences. We chose to stroll around in Brooklyn, sit and chill for a little bit in the Brooklyn Park and then walk the bridge towards Manhattan.
The bridge is beautiful and gives you the most spectacular skyline views while gives you an exciting Brooklyn bridge feel alongside.
· Staten Island Ferry from Whitehall Terminal
J wanted to take me on the Staten Island ferry that runs to and fro between Manhattan and Staten Island providing the best view of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty. This is free of cost and runs 24x7 in intervals of 30 minutes. We took the ferry really late in the night since we had got the morning/evening views from other places.
The ferry took 30 minutes each way and is completely stable for sea/motion sick people like me. So overall, great views and experience.
-Neighborhoods explored:
Ok, now the stuff that was of my interest – stroll around the neighborhood, eat at local eateries, sit down at coffee shops, comment on the traffic and architecture and shamelessly do people watching. We pretty much walked 6-7 miles every day, one neighborhood to the other. Our favorites were:
· Westside/Greenwich village, Little Italy, Chinatown – An interesting mix of old and new city feel, great regional food options
· East Village and Lower East side: Amazing nightlife, jazz and piano clubs
· Manhattan Midtown (Theater District, Union Square etc.) – Architecture around, skyscrapers, great city vibe, classic financial/professional hub
· Brooklyn (DUMBO and Williamsburg) – considered to be the first hippie town of the country with a completely different feel as compared to Manhattan, artsy and hip. The place has some really cool rooftop bars and cafes.
· Upper Manhattan / Harlem – took the Big Bus tour around the black dominating community that has a lot of history and backstory with unbelievable talent
-Eateries, Cafes, Lounges, Restaurants:
· High on pizzas: Champion Pizza (must order – cheese pizza), Bleecker Street Pizza (must order – Nonna Maria Pizza), Artichoke Pizza (Vodka Pizza to die for)
· Jack’s Wife Freda – cozy Mediterranean breakfast place, must order – green shakshuka
· Beauty & Essex – pawn shop from outside, great ambiance restaurant and lounge from inside, must order – eggplant pizzetta
· Junoon – upscale Michelin starred Indian restaurant, must order – Drunken Shahi Tukda
· Buddakan – Upscale Thai/Asian Fusion Place with the most amazing ambiance, must order – Edamame dumplings
· Jajaja – best tacos and margaritas around, made with unique ingredients, must order – sweet potato tacos and the charcoal sauce
· Westlight - rooftop bar in Brooklyn with the most spectacular skyline view and the coolest vibe
· Junior’s Cheesecake – most popular cheesecake, must order – strawberry cheesecake
· Blue Stone Lane Coffee – cozy little café
· Dominique Ansel Bakery – must order – cronut and cotton soft cheesecake
· Mamoun’s – Falafel wrap
· Any halal food cart – falafel wrap with hot sauce loaded
-Broadway Shows:
We watched The Lion King Broadway show in the Minskoff Theater and boy, what an experience! J & I are both Broadway show fans and the one thing both of us knew we wanted to do since the first day of NYC planning was attending a Broadway show. The Lion King was everything we had imagined and even more – from costumes to actors to music, everything was more than just phenomenal.
I am so glad the NYC trip happened and gave us memories of a lifetime! As I had heard from my friends, there is so much to do and experience in NYC. This was my first time but definitely not the last. I will keep coming to you NYC to fall in love with you, over and over again!
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