'We had plans and then we changed them' Brooklyn Bridge, Staten Island Ferry, TotR ~ Orlando and NYC

[DisneyDaffodil]

Index

Sorry, this report is really photo heavy but we saw so many wonderful sights that we had to share with you

We woke up, showered and took time to take in the spectacular view outside our room. It was a sunny morning and we couldn't believe that we were actually in New York and able to see Central Park out of our window.

We met up with Justin and Emily and headed towards our nearest Subway station, all of us a little nervous to catch the subway. Justin and Emily have caught the Underground in London and they find it confusing which didn't bode well for us. It was very quiet when we arrived at the station around 10am, so we were able to buy our MetroCards easily.

The subway stations were stuffy, hot and not particularly enjoyable but the trains were easy to catch and even though we aren't accustomed to catching trains, we were able to navigate the routes well with the help of a New York Subway app (which included maps of all the routes).
We got off the Subway at Grand Street Station and began our walk through Chinatown to Brooklyn Bridge. We realised afterwards, we could have caught a Subway that got us closer to Brooklyn Bridge but we enjoyed the walk as it gave us a glimpse of the real NYC and New Yorkers.

It was incredibly hot already, so we stopped and bought water from a small shop. We seemed to buy a lot of water today, as the heat increased throughout the afternoon and we spent a lot of time walking. The water only cost around a dollar in the store but around 3-4 dollars at Brooklyn Bridge.
We got a little lost walking through Chinatown, but managed to find our way to Brooklyn Bridge. We somehow ended up at the riverside and had a great view of both Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge.

After taking many photos under the bridge and having a short rest, we walked towards the start of Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge was very busy with tourists. It was really hot, as there wasn't much shade so we only walked to the first of the archways. The bridge was so impressive and the views were extraordinary.

After spending some time on the bridge, we started to walk again. We were heading towards Shake Shack for our lunch. We walked through City Hall Park and rested here by the fountain.

We arrived at Shake Shack, all very hungry. Georgia, Rob and I don't usually choose to eat burgers and don't like many fast food restaurants in the UK but Shake Shack has been recommended to us by many on the Dibb and as Justin and Emily really like burgers, we chose to give it a try. We were blown away by the taste of not only the burgers, but the fries as well. It was really nice and not greasy, like the fast food we are used to in the UK. If there were Shake Shacks in the UK, I would choose to eat here more often. We all chose to have the SmokeShack burger, all with fries (including one portion of cheesy fries to share between us, which were delicious!) and all had milkshakes (other than Justin and Emily who had coke). Georgia had the peanut butter milkshake, I had the red velvet one and Rob had the coffee flavour. The milkshakes were so much better than anyone we have tried in the UK. The prices at Shack Shake were very reasonable and was possibly our favourite meal of the holiday.

After lunch, we started our walk towards the Staten Island Ferry, as we wanted to see the Statue of Liberty from the ferry. On the way, we stopped at the Freedom Tower and the Reflection Pools. We did not wish to go into the 9/11 museum, as we felt it would be too emotional. We did find the Reflection Pools moving and thought it was a fitting tribute. We did think it was quite inappropriate to see so many people taking selfies in this area and for this reason, we did not take many photos here.

From here, we continued walking to Battery park, where we saw the East Coast Memorial.

We had decided before the holiday that we weren't going to visit Statue of Liberty itself, but we were going to go on the ferry to take pictures from the boat. The queues for the Ellis Island boat trip were really long, so we were pleased that we had decided not to do this. There were a lot of people waiting for the Staten Island Ferry and it was very cramped when we were boarding the boat. Once we were on, there was plenty of room for everyone. We weren't able to stand on the side of the boat closest to SoL on the way out but on our returning trip we were able to see the Statue clearly out of the window.

We caught the Subway from the nearest station which took us back to 57th Street, where our hotel was. As we arrived back at the hotel, it started to rain. We dashed inside and went to our room to shower and change before having our snack meal at the hotel reception. We enjoyed the hour relaxing at the hotel.

At around 7pm, we slowly strolled towards the Rockerfeller Centre, for our 8pm reservation for TotR. It had stopped raining and was very bright again.

There was still time before our TotR reservation so we decided to have some ice cream from Ben and Jerry's. I'm not sure what flavours Emily and Justin had and Rob didn't have an ice cream but Georgia had phish food and I had coffee coffee buzzbuzzbuzz, which was delicious

It was now time to go to the lift and up to the observation decks. We were really impressed by the views from TotR. The weather was beautiful, with clear skies and the timing was perfect. We saw the views in daylight, dusk and night (with all the lights of the city beneath us). We took so many photos and I think you'll see from them just how wonderful it was.

We spent about two hours on the observation decks, taking photos, enjoying the views and the atmosphere. I think this was our favourite part of our NYC trip, although we did so many amazing things in New York.
Step Count: 25,100

[Cloverlady]

Wow those photos!
Got me really excited for my trip now!
And you were right about how you'd described those burgers to me - they look delish in the photo! Not usually a fan of burgers myself usually but those chips - sorry, FRIES , look amazing too!

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Cloverlady

Wow those photos!
Got me really excited for my trip now!
And you were right about how you'd described those burgers to me - they look delish in the photo! Not usually a fan of burgers myself usually but those chips - sorry, FRIES , look amazing too!

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I will try and post another day before you go 😀. Don't get me started on those burgers and cheesy fries again... so good 😀. Glad they don't have them here as we don't like UK fast food places at all but couldn't resist Shake Shack

[Fuellady]

Fabulous day The Brooklyn Bridge was really quiet when we walked it, it's a shame it was so busy and hot for you. Great views of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry.

Love your pics from TOTR, it's such an amazing city and your pictures really capture that.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Fuellady

Fabulous day The Brooklyn Bridge was really quiet when we walked it, it's a shame it was so busy and hot for you. Great views of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry.

Love your pics from TOTR, it's such an amazing city and your pictures really capture that.

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I think this day must have been the hottest of the whole trip, despite this we still walked 25,000 steps! And that was only walking some of the Bridge 😀. My poor feet after the holiday, I think they have only just recovered now. My Go Walks were a great help in New York though.
Georgia is the photographer and she took hundreds on this day alone! So many beautiful views to capture. We were very lucky with the time of our TOTR visit, the sky was amazing.

[mrsdjh]

What a great day seeing some of New Yorks iconic buildings - Georgias photos are really good.

There's a Shake Shack in Covent Garden, London if you're ever there

[DisneyDaffodil]

We discovered a Shake Shack in the centre of Cardiff a few weeks ago as we visited the theatre there. Cardiff is only around 45 minutes from our home so we can get a Shake Shack fix here now too 😀