Coming to my third post about my first few days of 2015 before setting off to San Fran, I feel that time really flies. May is already over and that only means my New Zealand working holiday trip is about to start very soon! I might not be able to finish my entry on my San Jose/SFO trip before I set off tomorrow, so here I go to round up my NYC trip:
We headed to lower Manhattan and took a walking trail along Wall Street on 1st Jan, the center of New York’s financial district, before heading on board the Statue of Liberty cruise. Various short stops we had along Wall Street include viewing the exhibits inside the Federal Hall and photo with the Charging Bull.
Having a free and comfortable ferry ride on The Staten Island Ferry (schedules by clicking on the hyperlink); we had decent views of the statue of liberty but didn’t get close enough for a very good shot with our phone/digital camera. The ferry departs from the Whitehall Terminal at South Ferry in Lower Manhattan, next to Battery Park. There are subway stations nearby like South Ferry, Bowling Green, Broad Street and Whitehall Street station. I figure going on a weekday would have lesser crowds and a perfect time to set off would be the late afternoon nearing sunset. In this way, you can catch the beautiful transition views of the liberty and the skyline from before to after sunset. The ferry will stop at Staten Island at the St. George Ferry Terminal, so you would hop off and wander around the terminal for a little bit before taking the ride back.
Useful link I found online for other ways to catch the views of the Statue of Liberty: http://www.dallasnews.com/lifestyles/travel/us/20131227-9-options-for-seeing-the-statue-of-liberty.ece
For dinner, we had a lovely dinner at this nearby Mexican restaurant. I would update this after I check with GS on the name of the restaurant as my pictures look somewhat similar to Dos Caminos. The price is a little steep but good, they got nice spicy margaritas to go with as well.
The next day, I tried skiing for the first time, super anxious and excited for this. We woke up at 4 plus in the morning to head to Hunter Mountain (coach bus ride with tickets by Urban Shepherd). They have several pickup points at United square/Times square etc which were pretty convenient. I had a beginner session to learn the basics before trying my baby slope and moving on to a slightly medium one. I didn’t manage to really control my speed and turning very well yet, hence had quite a few tumbles or falls. I figured later on that a good adventurous way to handle this without falling easily would be to hold a squatting stance and zoomed all the way down slope without making drastic turns hahaha!
After the tiring but exhilarating ski trip, we put down our stuff back home and headed out for Omakase at Yakitori Tori Shin, a Michelin star Japanese restaurant. The bill came up to around 90 bucks each after exchange rate to SGD. It’s an overall interesting experience as I had never tried Omakase before. Some of the dishes were slightly oily but the ingredients are definitely fresh and well plated, along with excellent service (pictures in the video for this entry). The place could be a little more spacious though.
Day 6 was a very fulfilling and eventful one. We had French at this restaurant called Babbo. The pasta and atmosphere were pretty good but the service of this particular front door lady could have been better. She offered us the bar when there were a few empty tables right near the entrance. Later on her manager came and offered us the table near where we were standing.
After brunch we headed right over to the 9/11 memorial ground zero and museum. It was pouring pretty heavily by then, with a snow and rain mix coming down while we were queuing up to enter the premises. As fitting as the weather is for the atmosphere of the memorial ground, it becomes more solemn after attending the video presentation and going through the AV exhibits in the museum.
The evening was a more cheerful one for balance; we built up our evening Broadway mood before watching Les Misérables by dining at Ellen stardust. It was an entertaining and refreshing dining experience, definitely a must-go if you have the chance. The food is not bad either, I totally love the milkshakes!
On my last day at New York, we covered the American Natural History museum, we had to go back in the early afternoon to pack up and leave for the airport hence I would definitely not mind visiting again in future. As I had mentioned in the previous entry, we went in the lobby of the Empire State but decided not to head up due to heavy clouds. Anyway, you can definitely spend practically the whole day or more if you wish to explore the most out of this grand museum and I had only a few hours that day. Pardon the numerous dinosaur fossil pictures in the video but would you not agree all the exhibits will look even awesome with your own eyes? We had a quick lunch at ‘Loft’ at JFK airport before taking a domestic flight via JetBlue to San Jose, which I will cover in another entry.
I do hope I can have the time to update about my New Zealand working holiday as and when during my time there. Please do support my blog and hope the information helps for those planning on a trip to NYC. Cheers!
Life.Dream.Love.Eat 