All posts filed under: New York

top of the rock last day in NYC (15 of 26)

Goodbye New York

It was always going to be a day of farewells and (happy) endings. 31st of December was our last day in New York and we decided to leave with the best possible view in our memories. Because we are both creatures of habit, once again the day started with bagels and a wonderfully perfect flat white from Stumptown. Good cup of coffee used to be something I could not have imagined my morning without. A big bonus of flying west is that mornings are your best time of the day. Even after over 7 days in the States, I still would wake up around 5 and enjoy my early morning, watching the city come to life through a window. Around 7 we would leave our hotel and walk 2 blocks to Stumptown. On this last day I treated this as a ritual. I took it slowly, took my time to take pictures and enjoyed the frosty air. One “the usual for you guys?” breakfast order later, we were on our way to the Rockefeller Centre to …

New York Central Park Williamsburg Staten Island Ferry and Highline at sunset (14 of 17)

Kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats under coats

Everybody here wanted something more Searching for a sound we hadn’t heard before And it said Welcome to New York It’s been waiting for you Welcome to New York Welcome to New York Welcome to New York I may be slightly repetitive, but there was something absolutely enthralling about waking up still slightly jet lagged at 5 AM in our small room in Manhattan and planning a day ahead in New York City, still in darkness as J would happily sleep until late (here: 6.30AM). I’m not sure if I’ve talked about it here before, but I’m a bit of an obsessive planner when it comes to travelling. As much as 50% of my pleasure from visiting a new place comes from making it my own by reading about its history, stories and finding out the best spots to eat, stay, walk and play. This was our second last day in the city. Overwhelmed with choice, as always, we thought that rather than try to fit in as many new places to discover as possible, we …

New York City travel blog itinerary (31 of 65)

NYC Part 6 : Central Park, Soho and East Village

When I visit a new city for longer than just a few days there is usually a point when I run out of ideas of what to do. It would be a sin to say that there is nothing to do in NYC, but too much choice sometimes is worse than no choice at all. On our 7th day in the city however, we still didn’t see one of the biggest attractions – The Central Park. I mean, we did visit Central Park on Christmas Eve but the weather was awful and I didn’t see much. So the plan for our 7th day was to walk up the 5th avenue all the way to Central Park and then in the afternoon to find a few iconic foodie places around town. Do you know how I knew it was going to be a good day? Two reasons: the sun was out and J found the most incredible and at the same time the most ordinary bagel place. We were getting fed up with breakfast from the …

Highline Artichocke pizza and Stumptown Coffee (21 of 33)

New York – part 5

On every trip there are good days and worse days. This was one of the latter ones. Things didn’t go to plan, places we wanted to drop into were closed and we ended up walking aimlessly without seeing anything interesting. Except, we were in New York so pretty much any mundane view had a higher aesthetic value. It was a Sunday, so once again we went to St Patrick’s cathedral for Mass but this time we didn’t take our camera with us. Later we went looking for breakfast and ventured all the way to the Garment District. We were sitting in a café next to a group of dancers from Juilliard and the conversation went something like this: – I can’t believe you’re doing your 60th show tonight – I know, right…fuck I’m so bored with doing the same thing – I know, I’m gonna get another coffee. No! I shouldn’t, I’m getting a glass of water. – I want to smoke, why can’t you smoke indoors any more. It sucks. Fuck I’m bored. What …

New York Blog Trip Brooklyn Bridge Dumbo Chinese Park (23 of 51)

New York – part 4

The plan for that morning included all my favourite things in the world: good coffee and a walk with J, this time across the Brooklyn bridge at around 7:30 in the morning to avoid crowds. As usually NYC decided to mix our plans and we didn’t manage to get any coffee until we got to Brooklyn, but the day was glorious and the weather totally made up for the lack of caffeine. Following the recommendation of some bloggers I didn’t look back until reaching half way of the bridge. Runners and dog walkers were passing by, the sun was shining straight into my face and then I looked back. Sometimes when we travel to a place I’ve dreamt of for a long time I get slightly overwhelmed and cannot fully appreciate the views. I find myself standing in front of Manhattan skyline bathed in morning sunshine and my brain refuses to process the information. Instead, it starts counting the skyscrapers on the horizon or wonders about the depth of the sea beneath the bridge. That …

Moma Hells Kitchen and Flatiron New York Blog Advice (24 of 38)

New York – Part 3

You can catch up on my previous posts about NYC below: First Impressions from NYC Part 1 – First night in the city and Christmas Eve in the Met and West Village Part 2 – A bit of a surprise in St Patrick’s Cathedral on Christmas Day, two starving people and a banned film. We started the day with a cup of the gorgeous Stumptown coffee (which was only one block away from our hotel) and tried to look for a place for breakfast. As we were about to cross the street, I looked left and I saw the Flatiron. I completely didn’t expect to see it that day so I had a bit of an NYC moment. I waited for the yellow taxi to drive past me, for the white man (not green) to appear on the other side of the road, I looked at the water tower on top of a nearby building and I realized that I was in New York City (I know it sounds cheesy but it was a bit …

Christmas in New York Blog Advice (4 of 28)

New York – Part 2

Yesterday was Easter so I’m spinning the wheel of the time machine, which will take us back to December 25th last year – yes indeed, Christmas Day. I could have easily lied and said the pictures were taken last autumn in NYC, but I’m truthful like that. This week will be a New York week on The Fleeting Day. I finally have enough time (and health) to write and edit the photos and will get the NYC trip out-of-the-way so that I can start waxing lyrical about glaciers and mountains and dreams. You know, the usual. After the second night on the Upper East Side, it was time to move location. The first two nights were paid for by the Skyscanner prize and for the rest of the trip we decided to stay in Midtown – mainly to be close to everything and maximise our time in the city. (I will write about the hotel we chose in a different post, because I kind of loved it). We took a subway early in the morning. …

NYC travellogue 1 (6 of 6)

New York – Part 1

Good news, friends. The New York diaries are about to be published, almost three months after I set foot in the land of dreams and the city that never sleeps. Brace yourself for two weeks and countless photos from New York City. This trip was completely unplanned. As some of you may remember, I won a prize on twitter from Skyscanner for a trip to NYC. The only thing I did was click “retweet” on one of their tweets and a couple of days later I was a lucky winner of tickets and a couple of nights in a hotel in the city I never thought I would have a chance to visit. I never believe in that kind of competitions, but I am a living proof that it’s possible to win! So thanks a million to Skyscanner for allowing me to tick another place off from my bucket list. Now, since by that time J used most of his annual leave, we had two choices: go to NYC for a long weekend, or go …

nyc

First thoughts after coming back from NYC

6 hours across the Atlantic,  one plastic cup of champagne drank in the skies, 4 hours of interrupted napping on a hard bench in Amsterdam airport and one rainy walk from the bus stop to our flat. We are back home after 9 very full days in NYC. I caught myself looking up when walking down from Haymarket station this morning, here in Edinburgh. Except instead of skyscrapers I saw heavy rainy clouds. It’s funny how quickly one can develop a new habit. Some people say if you don’t want to look like a tourist in NYC, you shouldn’t look up. But how could you not look up at all those art deco buildings, glass walls rising on left and right hand side. Yesterday we went for the last breakfast to a local bagel place in midtown Manhattan. Sesame bagel with cheese and bacon, toasted please. Order taken, we move on in the queue to pay. The Mexican man behind the till glances at us and asks: The usual? $7.62 and happy New Year guys.  …

nyc

New York, New York

So, on Monday this happened. I can’t believe my luck.* A llama in Times Square, photograph by Inge Morath in 1956 [source] * the price is a trip to New York for two people, including flights hotel and car hire (not sure about the last one…do people even drive in New York?). The last thing I won in my life was a disposable camera in a contest about alcohol and smoking awareness in primary school…