Feeling crisp in the Big Apple-*COMPLETE*

[debojahh]

Day 3 continued


We started downstairs on the food concourse and grabbed a doughnut. Then went back upstairs to see how amazing it was.










It is so huge and grand. I just think its fascinating to have the mix of tourists and commuters in such close proximity!

We looked in Piq(same as on Citywalk) and then headed over towards Madison Square park via Madison Avenue.

Can you spot the squirrel?

We thought the park was lovely with all the sculptures and the dog park!





We perched here for a while as Arron's phone couldn't take anymore photos so he sorted that out quickly.

Here we stopped to see the Flat Iron too, before walking down West 15th and across to Chelsea Market again.








After accidentally seeing Chelsea yesterday we prioritised to come back today for a proper look around and to get some food.

On the way to the Market we both stood in wet cement without realising it so speedwalked away to avoid any difficult conversations






Everywhere in the market has such delicious looking food that it was hard to actually choose a place to eat, it was also quite busy much like previously.

We went downstairs to the loos, thankful they were there!

But ended up getting food from Dicksons(upstairs). It was absolute mayhem in this place.






Ordering was straightforward but waiting for food was loud and standing by the bar area getting in people's way! Reminded me of a tapas bar.

We found a quiet place to stand in a different bar area and Arron quickly spoke to his sister.

The food from Dicksons was really tasty and filling. After we were done in here we headed onto the street.

Googlemaps helping me out again we went to join the High Kine at W16th & 10th.








We thought this was lovely, and you are only just above street level so there is an interesting aspect to everything you can see.






We started coming across the artworks that litter(not in a bad way) the walk and it is nice to see the greenery juxtaposed with the art.









We saw the famous parked cars which look crazy. Unfortunately didn't see any of them leave though.




We did come across some apartments that can be seen straight into from the Highline. Not sure i'd want to live in them but some of the places were beautiful too.







We walked the Highline right upto 30th street where we had to leave as there was building works so there was no further access.

As we were off at 30th we walked past Penn station and then past Madison Square Garden as we headed back towards W42nd street.








We got back to the hotel around 4pm and chilled out for a little while, before 5pm we popped to the cinema to book some tickets.

We went over to Bubba Gumps to kill some time. They bartender started quizzing the whole bar area here which was awesome as there was a bit of competition!



We were heading to Regal cinema tonight to see Halloween in RPX. The seats were full on armchairs with little tables, shame about the audience though.
Everyone was pretty much narrating the whole film.








Otherwise the film itself was really good and finished near 8:30.

We popped to Carlo's and had a cookie.





Super rock n roll. We were in room watching Training Day and in bed at 9:30

Step count:28588 steps
12.86 miles walked

[debojahh]

Day 4-Saturday 20th October

Woke up at 6am today and I did some googling of directions for the day ahead. Showered and whatnot and were ready to leave the room at 7:40.
We walked straight to the Rockefeller past Radio City.





We accidentally walked into the NBC tour entrance and nearly ended up on the tour

I asked a lady who pointed us the right way thankfully. Crisis averted

We headed into the TOTR ticket area and showed our Explorer passes. The best later time was 5:30 so we booked that in and went on our merry way until then.

We headed out onto the street again and had a look around.



This area was lovely with its Fall theming, and there was no one else really around.









After taking a few photos ad browsing around we chose to get breakfast.

The area didn't seen to have many breakfast options so we ended up in Chick-fil-a.




Again, it was quiet and we sat in eating for a little bit. Didn't enjoy our coffees much and did bin them eventually.

Arron was wanting to check out the Nintendo store which opened at 9am. So we waited for a few minutes and then were allowed in.






The store was really cool with loads of old consoles on display, plush toys, clothing etc. And upstairs there were live consoles to play on too.





Arron got himself a Nintendo NY hoodie after some tooing and froing, their card machine was down so we had to pay cash. Lucky we keep some to hand!

After this we headed back into the Rockefeller complex for a Starbucks and got lost

Honestly we found all the black and gold corridors SO confusing!

Just walking around repeatedly and not finding our way out.

Took us 10 minutes to get out and then we walked up 6th Avenue.

It was Saturday so the street had a market and was pedestrianised which was cool.





There was loads of good looking food here too. Many Gyro stalls everywhere, but we continued up until we reached Central Park.




We saw all of the horse and carriages around the entrance but our plan was to just really meander up the park.

We did get a map which was a lifesaver.

Not far into the park we came across the ice rink and huge open spaces. It is such an oasis in the city.





I enjoyed all the different rock formations and things to climb(as seen below!)




And I thought this little bandstand was really interesting looking.




Then we came across the Sled Dogs statue followed by loads of others including Shakespeare







We grabbed a water and then walked up the Mall where there was art stalls, music and just generally more people!

It was a lovely atmosphere and there was set up for a dog festival




Then we got to Bethesda Terrace which was definitely busier but is super famous and recognisable. We know it from Gossip Girl and John Wick.

The ceiling is amazing too...







And then we sat by the fountain followed by watching some people boating on the lake.






Arron mentioned maybe going to the Tavern on the Green so on the way we ended up at the Sheep Meadow.



Literally don't have any photos of the Tavern now but we did see it!

This bridge is so pretty/spooky(think its now in You on Netflix).




We then hit Strawberry Fields and the Imagine mosaic. We saw some beautiful fluffy dogs on the way over too.






Imagine was very busy and we only stopped briefly before carrying on as it was a bit manic.

There was only one more area I wanted to go to which was the Shakespeare Garden.




Wasn't really the right season for all the plants to be bright and blooming but I loved the layout.

[debojahh]

Day 4 continued


We left the park just after 12:30 and were wanting some food. Stopping at the food trucks, where we sat on the wall to tuck in.



I sat in bird poo so managed to use water and napkins to sort it out. Phew

We could see the queue for the Muyseum of Natural History was absolutely huge but joined it anyway.



Took ages to get in and through security, but once we were inside it was crazy.

The queue inside was even worse but when we mentioned Explorer passes they pointed us down a different queue and we got straight in!

We were really impressed by how much these passes had helped us all in all.



Once in we went to the Asian people exhibit which we walked through and appreciated. Arron took a lot of photos but i've only put a couple here.






From here we headed to the second floor to the animal exhibit.



I feel like these exhibits have been used in films but can't place exactly when.

We wanted to see the dinosaurs...who doesn't! We found all the crowds on the 4th floor with those skeletons.








There was a dinosaur area closed off which was a shame, but some of the viewable ones were really cool.

We left the museum just after 3pm as it was busy and we had walked alot around there.

Arron said we could go to Levain to get a cookie which I was soooo excited for.

We chose the one on W74th street and there was a queue when we got there
Ended up waiting about 10 minutes so I got 2 cookies to make up for it.








It was still busy when we left with cookies in hand, pretty bizarre to see such madness for cookies.

We walked from here in the direction of our hotel so around 34 blocks down.

It was another lovely walk in a pretty, residential area.








We stumbled across the Lincoln Centre which is another Ghostbusters location. So we took a few photos and continued our walk.

The decision was made to stop somewhere for a drink so we went to Buffalo Wild Wings but there were no seats at the bar, same in an Irish pub we found. So we finally sat in TGI Fridays.



This was a weird set up as it felt a lot more 'local' than a chain place so we wondered if it might be a franchised restaurant.

We also bought bus tickets to the airport while in here(on my phone).

We settled up and walked to TOTR, the street market was still on and very busy now.




We got to TOTR and had to wait for the time to tick over before heading in.





We got sent through a line which was very much like in theme parks which we found odd compared to our previous ESB/SOL experiences.

When we did get into a lift, the ceiling was seethrough and the lighting was changing which was funky.



The lift stops at the 69th floor but you can then go up to the 70th and 71st floors.

We took these photos on the 69th floor which all enclosed. We went to the 71st but there was no glass at all and it was very windy so we came back down quite quickly.








We stayed up on the 70th floor mainly to get a good photo of the sunset.




It was still very windy on this floor so we stayed up until 6:25 after the sun had fully set.





We got down to the ground and walked to Schnippers for dinner.




Dinner was great and afterwards we visited Dave and Busters. It was just horrible in there, manic and loud.

So we popped to Duane Reade at 8pm to get Snapple, then we watched Freddy vs Jason while eating the leftover cookie.

Started watching Nightmare on Elm Street and went to bed at 9:30.

[debojahh]

Day 5-Sunday 21st October

I woke up at 5am and Arron was already awake, we just chilled out for a while before showering. We packed and checked most stuff this morning.

We were out before 8am and headed to Duane Reade where we bought suncream, eyedrops and some sweets.

They overcharged us and somehow I think we ended up getting undercharged

We walked up to Hard Rock cafe and loitered until they opened, we were the first people in

We helped ourselves to the buffet and had tea.









We stayed in for breakfast for around an hour, then Arron went back to the hotel room while I scouted our bus stop.

We were packed and knew there was much to do with our spare hour so made the decision to get the 10:40 bus.





We walked the 2 blocks with our cases and waited for our bus. If our flight had been later we would've gone to Midtown comics but it doesn't open until midday on a Sunday.

This bus cost around $45 for both of us and was really straightforward as we just checked our cases in and sat on it all the way to our JFK terminal.













We stopped atone other bus stop on the way but otherwise it was an easy drive and got to the airport at 11:30...our flight wasn't until 15:30




Security and bag drop was really quick so we ended up in the BRKLYN bar by 11:55.

After that we perched on some other seats where Arron played Switch and I wrote up some notes.



Flight boarding started at 2:50 and it was such a chaotic mess. It was a free for all as people were being asked to volunteer their bags to the hold.

When we did board the plane was lovely and modern.

We were on the runway until after 4pm but we gained plenty of time and landed at 6:22 into MCO.




When we landed our luggage was already waiting and we walked over to the Magical Express waiting area.

We were on a bus by 7:15pm and into our room at Pop Century with MagicBands and suitcases in hand by 8pm.


Not completely relevant, but we got a bus to Disney Springs where we tucked into Blaze pizza and were back in our room and to bed by 11:30.




Thanks for reading. If you have any questions let me know!