new york city is one of my favorite places. i went for the first time when i was seven, and again when i was twelve. from that time on i craved the city, i wanted to go back. i missed the beauty, i missed the way it lit up at night, i missed how anonymous you were in this crowded place but somehow still important.
so for my sweet sixteen last year, that's what i asked for--a trip to new york city. it was amazing and pretty much established the fact that, that's where i belong. keep reading to learn about my adventure to nyc!!!
the day of, i got up super early to catch the train in baltimore. the train ride up was nice and comfortable despite there were four of us in one seating section (i went with my mom, dad, and brother). first time i went was just with my mom, and i remember sitting there and wondering if we'd ever get there (i was only 7 so anything longer than an hour felt like forever lol). this time it wasn't too bad, other than the fact i was getting excited and anxious because i really wanted to be there.
around ten in the morning we arrived at penn station. we grabbed our bags and weaved our way through the crowds. as frazzled as my parents were, we made our way through fairly quickly and easily. once we were out of there, we started walking towards our hotel. when we crossed the street, my brother, dad, and i looked back to find my mom still standing at the corner. my dad goes "jenn let's go" and i'm serious when i tell my mom snapped saying "i don't know the j-walking laws here."
that alone made us die of laughter. as we were trying to weave ourselves through the city, lugging suitcases and bags, my mother decided to stop on the corner because of the "j-walking" laws. anyway, back to the city!
my mom caught up and we continued our way to the hotel, the only problem was we didn't exactly know where we were going. my mom knew the city pretty well but like i said above, she was frazzeled. we ended up taking a cab to our hotel, and although i can't remember what exact hotel we stayed in, when i looked out my window, i saw the top of the empire state building.
we dropped off our bags, and went to the statue of liberty! as much as i wanted to see the ins and the outs of the city, i couldn't help wanting to see this landmark. we didn't have tickets to go up into her, but it was so so cool to see it.
around the perimeter of this are were those things that you put coins into and you can look through them to see something far away. it was awesome to see the new york skyline from far away, kinda put things in perspective.
after we left that we walked through chelsea, the SHOPPING DISTRICT. we didn't get to go to many stores since we were only in the city for the night and wanted to see as much as we could. to be honest, it must be nice to have all those stores. where i live, the closest mall is forty-five minutes away.
since we were there to explore, we tried to not take a lot of cabs. we walked through chelsea to rockefeller center. my brother wanted to go into the lego store, so we did that. we walked towards radio city music hall.
as my parents discussed where we were going next, i just looked around. there were so many tourists so involved in taking pictures and not taking it in. i'm not going to lie and say i didn't take pictures, because i did (and took a lot) but new york city is huge and has so much to offer. there's a lot to take in and you can't do that through a camera lens.
we decided to walk back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner, and to rest because it was a lot of walking and we were tired lol.
for dinner we chose the hard rock cafe. now i've been to other hard rock cafes all over the country, but nothing topped this one. the food was delicious, the decor was pleasing, and it was just a great restaurant. i loved the guitar wall.
after dinner came one of my favorite parts of the trip. stepping out from the hard rock cafe was magnificent. everything was lit with different colors and it was just beautiful. pretty sure i was falling in love.
we took a few pictures and walked through the crowds to the m & m store (because who doesn't love chocolate or m & m's???) my dad and i got personalized m & m's with our faces on them, it was so cute. walking home, we took a back way. it wasn't crowded and wasn't very lit up. it was different walking back to the hotel in this almost quiet world, while parallel there was a world so loud and bursting with color.
as we got closer, the empire state building came into view. in the midst of all the darkness, it stood tall and lit up the surrounding area with a faint white light. we got back to the hotel and relaxed before we had to go again.
this was my favorite part of the trip.
as a part of my birthday present, my mom bought tickets to go up inside the empire state building, and not just to the 90th floor, but the 102nd floor too. we rode the elevator up to the 90th floor, got out and walked through the doors. it was april but felt like february. i pushed passed the flashing cameras and crying children and yelling parents. the view was indescribable. this is where i fell in love with the city, where i knew this is where i'm meant to be.
i loved looking over everything. from up there everyone and everything seemed so small, so unimportant. but down there everyone and everything seemed so big and so important. there was a soothing feeling that came with those thoughts.
after that wonderful experience, we walked back to the hotel and crashed, we were exhausted.
unfortunately the next day we had to leave, but there was still time to do what we wanted. we walked back to times square and just sat on the bleachers and watched everyone go by (well i did lol).
we got back to the hotel, and packed our stuff. my dad and brother stayed in the room while my mom and i made a quick trip back to chelsea--we couldn't stay away.
my mom and i only had time to go to one store since we needed to catch our train. so we went to vicoria's secret, and let me tell you it was the BEST VICTORIA'S SECRET I'VE EVER BEEN TOO. this store had three levels--THREE LEVELS--and was filled with so much clothing, it was a dream lol.
again, unfortunately we had to go. we walked to penn station and stopped by madison square garden, we didn't have tickets to do anything but it was cool to go in and see something so popular. after this, we went to penn station and couldn't do anything else ):
the train ride home was of course sad. but the time i had in new york city was unforgettable and i can't wait to go back.
i hope you enjoyed reading about my adventure to nyc!!!
xoxo,
l.k
No comments:
Post a Comment