Towards the end of December 2012 I was extremely lucky to go with my family on a trip for 4 nights to New York City. It was one of the best holidays I've ever had and would love to go back sometime in the future. It's a beautiful city which is really easy to get around and there are so many things to see and do. This is a pretty picture heavy post, but below are a few photos I took whilst I was there and also my thoughts on a few of my favourites places I visited whilst there.
The Staten Island Ferry/Statue of Liberty
I would highly suggest going on this to get a good view of the Statue of Liberty. From our hotel it was about a 10 minute Subway ride and about a 5 minute walk to get to the Ferry port. The ferry is completely free so it's a great and cheap way to see the Statue. The ferry doesn't get you as close to the Statue as the one that is specifically designed for viewing of it but the ferry does take a nice path so you can still get an amazing view.
I would highly suggest going on this to get a good view of the Statue of Liberty. From our hotel it was about a 10 minute Subway ride and about a 5 minute walk to get to the Ferry port. The ferry is completely free so it's a great and cheap way to see the Statue. The ferry doesn't get you as close to the Statue as the one that is specifically designed for viewing of it but the ferry does take a nice path so you can still get an amazing view.
The views from here were amazing! Standard entry with give you access to the Main Deck which is 86 floors up. It was freezing when we went up, mainly because it was December but also it was really windy on that day so I do suggest taking a coat. If you pay a bit extra you can go all the way to the top deck which is 102 floors up. The top deck is a lot smaller than the main one, but I would really recommend going to the top because the view you can see into the distance is incredible. This was I think probably one of my highlights of the trip.
This was a lot closer to our hotel than I first thought, so we ended up visiting it quite a few times. At the weekends there are A LOT of people there, it is so busy! When you go on a weekday it seems like a completely different place as a result of the traffic running through it. At night the billboards are amazing! The lights are so bright and the place is bustling. The whole area is filled with atmosphere and was an awesome place to visit and would love to go back and check out the surroundings blocks.
At the moment there is quite a bit of building work going on as they are currently refurbishing the area and in the future they are going to make the area completely open to the public from all of the side walks surrounding the site. The ponds there are beautiful and the area was very peaceful even with the work being done to it. Entrance to the memorial is free but they do ask for donations as they are currently refurbishing the area and in the future they are going to make the site so that it can be accessed from all surrounding streets and completely open to the public.
L-R Tiffany & Co, Giant Christmas tree lights!, Empire State building gift shop,
Traffic in Times Square, Grand Central Station,
Abraham Lincoln made from gingerbread!, taking the Subway and the giant piano from BIG.
We did visit more places whilst there like F.A.O Swartchz, Tiffany's and Co, 5th Avenue and a lot more. This holiday was amazing and I can't wait to go back one day!