Mum & I loved New York so much last time we came that she decided to come again for her birthday. Obviously, we didn't leave daddy at home and Aunty G joined us too. Funnily enough, we're already planning another instalment next year!
For once the long haul was vaguely ok. The movies were good and I was sat next to a lovely couple of newlyweds. Despite mum's argument with another inconsiderate flyer, it was possibly the best flight in a while!
I thought this time we would get an apartment, rather than paying through the roof for a hotel. We stayed in an authentic little apartment in the East Village. It was a tad more stressful than turning up to a hotel with concierge and bell boy but we made it in the end. Apparently, I forgot to add the dialling code when trying to call the landlord. I was convinced we had been scammed and were stuck on the side of the street! Trust me to stress myself out for no reason!
Oh well, the multiple tequilas that followed definitely mellowed me out.
To round off our first day, we stopped in at Mum's favourite restaurant, Kat'z Deli. I'm not going to lie, it's a tourist trap and it's over priced but it's our guilty pleasure!
You would think that the second time up the Empire state building would be quite unimpressive. If anything, it is better the second time around! It's captivating.
Now, we couldn't get that close to Macy's and not go! Plus, I was in desperate need of a new handbag. After a quick drink in the refurbished cafe and on a handbag hunt I went. There were two new bag options, one was way out of my budget and the other a little too small for my liking. In the end, the bank of daddy swooped in and saved me by buying half of it as my birthday present! It is literally my favourite bag of all time.
We ended our day in Times Square and Bubba Gump's. If you're going to brave Times Square, I would always suggest doing it at night, it's just too busy and not that impressive during daylight.
God Friday was hell. I had planned a lovely morning on the upper west side and a casual lunchtime stroll through central park. It turned out I had planned a trip to the seventh level of hell.
Breakfast started well at Cafe 82, by far the best breakfast diner in Manhattan... And they do take out! We decided to take a casual stroll towards Central Park, stopping off in a cute little chocolate shop. It took me the whole walk to the edge of Central Park to realise I had left my new handbag on the back of a chair. Bitch has never run so fast! Bear in mind, it was liked 30000000 degrees at this point. Mum and I spent the rest of the walk through Central Park trying not to die! The only good thing to happen since breakfast was receiving the best text ever telling my bestie S had just got engaged ♥
I cried, in the middle of Central Park, I cried.
To round it all off we ended up on the subway at rush hour. I'm not even going to explain how painful that was.
We ended the night at 5 Napkin, if you followed my last trip to NYC you will know it's my favourite American chain. Me and Aunty G got a little tipsy and went shopping. We ended up losing track of time and left mum and day chilling outside a pizza place because I had the keys! Oooppss.
We thought we would do out own things today. Dad disappeared, probably to the pub and the girls hit 5th Avenue. We started in Bloomingdale's, Aunty G got a make over and mum and I ate the largest chocolate cake ever. Not forgetting the best cocktail ever to grace this planet!
We spent the majority of the day waltzing down 5th, nipping in all the places I wish I could shop! We chose a bit of a poop day for this area, St Patrick's was shut for the 9/11 memorial and it was really quite sad. There was also a workers union parade going up 5th, it was a sea of people and police. We ended up hiding in the Rockefeller Centre, left mum in a cafe and me and G went up to the 'top of the rock'.
If you think you need to choose between the Empire state building and the Top of the Rock, you don't. They both have such different aerial views of the city and both well worth the ticket prices.
We all met back at Schulberg's, our local. Dad had managed to make friends with a couple of Arsenal supporters while he waited for us. Then we headed off to this Greek restaurant we had been talking about. It was amazing. They had real Raki and the food was beautiful, I supposed it helped that I was white girl wasted by this point.
Today was the anniversary of 9/11. I can't imagine many people would want to be in the city today. We chose to use this time to hit up Woodbury common in upstate NY, the discount shopping mecca. Let's just say, we all went a little crazy! on the plus side, I replaced my Rebecca Minkoff with a mini version and tried on my first pair of Loubs (definitely not walking shoes!)
The hour(ish) coach out there is totally worth it, albeit, a little cramped on the return journey. The night time views coming back into the city were almost as good as the Empire and Rockefeller! On our next trip, I am definitely doing either one at night!
We caught an Uber and went to Bill's Burgers downtown. Never introduce your parents to Uber in NY, just don't do it. They became a daily occurrence after that.
Monday was a big day for us, we went all over the county. Started out in battery park to catch the Staten island ferry, which is free by the way! A few pictures of the Statue of Liberty later and we arrived in New York's beloved suburb. I don't want to ruin anyone's Florida childhood but Perkins has gone right down hill. Possibly the only bad meal of the week. One long ass Uber with and Elvis lookalike driving we arrived in Coney Island. The Blackpool of NY. It is my new favourite place! Aunty G managed to get me on the weirdest Ferris wheel ever! I'm just happy my corndog stayed down! We kept up the family tradition and found a miniature golf course, dad won, obviously.
After a lovely afternoon at the beach, we made our way back to the city. An hour later and we make a pit stop in Brooklyn, found a high-rise prison and mum went mental in a Michaels. Seriously, we were in there for a lifetime!
We had no plans for food so trip advisor helped out. Forlini's, an old school Italian restaurant on the border of Little Italy and China Town. It has mixed reviews, but by god it was amazing. It was like being in a 1920's mafia joint. The owner, Joe came round and welcomed everyone, we had chosen quite a quiet time so it was just us and a few other tables. The only complaint I have is their 'apple martini' it tasted like a glass of shaken apple sourz.
We didn't really do too much on our last full day. I hit up all the shops to rinse the remainder of my money. Didn't actually buy anything, I know, I'm shocked too.
If you made it all the way through my NYC memoirs, congratulations!
Until next time.
R x
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
