After our star studded première on our first night in New York my sister and I two days free to do as we pleased. Or as much as jet lag allowed us anyway.
So what did we get up to?
First thing on most people's New York list is shopping. And we are exactly like most people. So after a traditional pancakes and maple syrup breakfast at the swanky and perfectly located Hudson Hotel we set off for Macys - about a half hour walk away through the fabulous streets of the city.
But the problem with shopping in New York is, well....the shops. There's just too many of them. Having popped into the first store that took our fancy along the way the very
Like I said, Evil.
I'll let you into a little secret here. Strolling down 5th Avenue is the ultimate test in shoppers restraint.
And as it turned out we had absolutely zero.
Six hours and countless 'we'll just pop in heres' later we arrived at the famous Macys - biggest department store in the world.
It's just a pity that at that stage I was completely shopped out and the thought of joining throngs of others on the escalators of despair made me wanted to vomit up all the dollars I'd already spent just getting there.
So instead I sat outside people watching and admiring their gorgeous window displays.
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| One of Macys festive windows with New York reflected in the background |
After braving the Subway back (and not getting lost I might add)...
...we had time for a quick jet lagged induced nap before heading out to the West Village for dinner. There were loads of gorgeous bars and restaurants there all decked out with fairy lights and Christmas trees - we really were spoiled for choice.
Top Tip: If you're not sure ahead of time when \ where you want to eat when you are in any city like New York (and who likes to be tied down to dinner plans these days?) then Open Table is a fantastic app that allows you to put in the time \ area \ type of food you are looking for and they will tell you all the places that match your search terms with tables still available. They even give you the times left that you can book at. A fabulous and extremely useful service for flaky tourists such as ourselves.
After dinner the rest of our evening was spent taking directions from good natured but clueless New Yorkers as we tried to find a band \ music \ gig venue. In the end we learned how not to hail a cab on a busy street (sorry nice man whose taxi we almost stole), got cold and gave up.
Day 2 on our brief New York stay consisted of cleansing our dirty shopped out souls by heading to Central Park for a bike ride. One dodgy deal and two more than adequate bikes later we were off.
Just look how happy this fool is...
Of course I was far more restrained
We passed Lewis Carroll, iconic monuments, ice skaters, chestnut sellers and saw the city from a whole different perspective.
At the end we strolled around the lovely Central Park Christmas Markets and did some feel good shopping. Clean crisp air, blue skies, chats with foodies, artists and creatives - beats a six hour hike to Macys any day.
With just enough time for lunch we followed the (secret) directions for the (secret) burger joint in a (secret) hotel we had heard about close by. Having found the very posh hotel our doubts set in as to whether the burger joint was actually secret or in fact non existent. We walked through the huge revolving doors, past luxury couches with luxury tourists drinking luxury coffees and through the grand cast iron gates to the lobby.
A man in a suit stood sternly in front of thick red velvet curtains as we tentatively asked if there was a burger place nearby. He pointed up a little corridor behind the curtains and there it was.
A small queue had formed in the corridor but when we got to peek inside it was even better than expected. A dirty burger joint where menus aren't required.
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| Well of course we did |
Our final port of call was a quick massage and manacure before grabbing our bags and jumping in our luxury Merc back to the airport. Ah how the other half live.
48 hours in New York. Worth every second.
Huge thanks to Netflix for flying us to New York, putting us up, putting up with us, and generally giving us the time of our lives.
Huge thanks to Netflix for flying us to New York, putting us up, putting up with us, and generally giving us the time of our lives.
