New York never sleeps

We visited Times Square within the first hour of arriving in the city
What can I tell you about New York?  Where do I begin to explain how we fell in love with the Big Apple?  This definitely is the city that never sleeps and we made the most of our five-night visit literally from the start of the trip . . . within two hours of landing we were standing in the middle of Times Square at four o'clock in the afternoon.  But I can't really do the city justice with a blog post, it really is a place that everyone should visit and have on their bucket list.

We stayed at the lovely Belleclaire Hotel in the Upper West Side, the perfect base to discover the city; with a subway station just five minutes away and plenty of restaurants and bars nearby on Amsterdam Avenue and Columbus Avenue, which were the next two blocks from the Hotel.  Even Central Park was in easy reach with a brisk walk ten minute walk in the early Spring weather where we were able to find the John Lennon memorial in the park not far from the Dakota Building where he was killed.  A beautiful tribute, it seemed fitting that a guy was busking at the memorial as tourists paid their respects at the memorial.  From the very first day of the city break, we made the most of what New York has to offer, from viewing the city from the Empire State Building at eight o'clock in the morning, shopping till we dropped at Macy's to taking the trip across the river on the Staten Island Ferry. We even managed to watch The Anfield Wrap present a live podcast recording at the Legends Bar!

We started the city break with a mini itinerary of what we wanted to see in New York, thinking that we'd only be able to manage a couple of things per day but the city is so good to navigate whether you are walking or using the subway (we made use of both) so we managed to see so much more than we expected: the Empire State Building, Times Square, Little Italy, Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Bridge, Greenwich Village, Soho, Chinatown, Ground Zero and the 9/11 memorial, Central Park; to name a few of the places we were lucky to visit.  Seeing around 250,000 people marching through the main city streets to celebrate St Patrick's Day was amazing considering it was freezing.  There was that much to see, the hours passed us by without realising it but I could have stayed a few more days to explore the city more. And lets know forget the shopping - you can shop till you drop and believe me I nearly did in the Macy's store with its nine floors of wonderful retail therapy to enjoy - and the amazing restaurants and food that New York has to offer - from BBQ to slices of pizza.  We even spotted a star on our last night out, Richard Kind  who starred in Argo and was one of the characters in A Bug's Life was just strolling down Amsterdam Avenue.

There is so much I could say about the Big Apple but let my pictures give you a little taster of what the city has to offer . . .


Had to take a picture of this shoe-themed billboard in Times Square

Ground Zero and the Statue of Liberty from the 86th Floor of the Empire State Building

Manhattan Island in the wake of the ferry 

Me in front of the iconic Flatiron Building

The very Grand Central Station

The Brooklyn Bridge

The New York subway was our transport of choice

Little Italy within easy walking distance of Chinatown and Soho
A girl can't visit New York without having a Cosmopolitan

Coffee and beautiful cakes in Little Italy
While it would have been tempting to skip around New York in heels in the style of Carrie Bradshaw, it just wasn't practical.  These boots and Converse were my wardrobe staple.

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