Let’s Explore The City That Never Sleeps | Five Days In New York Part Two

Are you ready for the second part of my New York trip? I will keep this intro short because I know you don’t really care about this and just wants to read about New York (I would too btw). In these last two days we saw a lot and that’s why these “a day in” posts are divided in two parts. This posts features Central Park, The High Line, lots of shopping and so much more.

THURSDAY 23 JULY | DAY FOUR

I was really excited for Thursday because it would be a chilled day where we would go cycling through Central Park! When most people think about The Netherlands they think about cycling. It’s true we cycle a lot and I really enjoy it so I was pretty excited to cycle around Central Park. But before we got to the place where we would rent the bicycles we saw the Love sculpture. I had seen this in movies and series on television and now it was just in front of me, in real life. How awesome!

When I was done taking lots of photos of the Love sculpture, we went to the place where we would rent our bicycles, which was called Central Park Sightseeing. My mom saw that we could also do a guided tour around Central Park with our New York Pass, so we decided to do that.

Our guide was called Damian and he was hilarious. He took us to some of the hotspots of Central Park and also told some history about the park or sight when we got there. In between his stories he always made some funny jokes, which made the whole cycling trip so much fun.

One of the stops was the beautiful Bethesda Terrace and Fountain. In the middle of the fountain you see the Bethesda Angel. I had seen this before in movies but in real life it’s so much bigger. When you walk underneath the bridge, which is called the Terrace Drive, you will see people painting the Bethesda Fountain and singing some lovely songs. I saw a video on Facebook (here it is!) from Tori Kelly singing there once so I really wanted to stand there and listen to their songs for a while.

After seeing the Bethesda Fountain and Terrace we cycled by the Guggenheim Museum (which we wanted to visit but it was closed), the New York skyline, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, the Shakespeare Garden and the Swedish house Marionette Theater. Even though it was really warm, I did really like to cycle in a different environment and learn more about how New Yorkers cycle (which is actually kind of dangerous haha).

Because the cycling was pretty intense and took a lot of energy, we decided to walk to Times Square and buy some souvenirs for friends and family. For some reason we always leave this to the last second, I don’t know why but we kind of did. Anyways, we went to the M&M Store (where I bought something that’s really cute), we also went into the Hard Rock Cafe shop (just because we wanted to) and I went into the American Eagle. I had never been here before but since I had lots of money with me, why not? I feel really bad for saying this again but I will show my purchases in an upcoming blog post. So get excited…

FRIDAY 24 JULY | DAY FIVE

Sadly *insert ugly crying emoji here* Friday was going to be our last full day in New York but we planned some really fun things. At first we took the metro to Penn Station because on Saturday we would go to Washington D.C. by train. Of course you need tickets to go with a train so we decided to get them on time so we would know at what time to leave the hotel etc.

Then we took the metro again because we were going to Chelsea Market and The High Line! I had been looking forward to this for such a long time because last time I didn’t go here. When we exited the metro station, we walked for a little bit and all of the sudden we saw Chelsea Market. Chelsea Market is kind of the same as Markthal in Rotterdam or Foodhallen in Amsterdam. It’s a marketplace where they have lots of different food places and unique stores. Especially this pop-up store called ID Pop Shop caught my attention because they had so many different brands and items here.

After shopping for a little bit at Chelsea Market, we got some delicious lemonade (which I am obsessed with) and lunch at Hale and Hearty. We actually ate our lunch at the beginning of The High Line! Don’t know what The High Line is? Well, it was an old train railway and the people in the neighborhood didn’t want to break it down when it wasn’t used anymore. So they made it a public garden where you can also look over the city.

When walking over The High Line you have to look everywhere around you because you will have to most beautiful views. The photo above is a perfect example of that. But that’s not the only thing you will find here. This is also a place for artists to place art like the Physical Graffiti you see on the photo below.

I loved walking on The High Line and enjoying the beauty of nature for a little bit. But since it was really warm outside again, we decided to walk around the neighborhood, which is called Chelsea, for a little bit. After walking for about five minutes I loved it so much. I think this has to be my favorite part of New York so far. I saw some street art, lovely gardens and typical New York houses like you see in the movies.

While walking for a little bit, we felt like getting a snack because with a jetlag comes getting hungry at weird hours haha. My mom saw this place called Doughnut Plant and we went in. I love donuts a lot as you might know, so I was pretty pumped to get one.

First things first, the store looks so cute! They have these different donut cushions hanging on the wall (I want them all!). I looked at the menu what I should get and saw that they have square donuts… How weird haha. Anyways, the staff was so kind and the donut I got was beyond delicious. I have never had such a tasty donut. It was the fresh blueberry yeast donut, which turns out to be a seasonal special. So if you are in the neighborhood, run to the store and get one!

My tummy was ready for the rest of our fully packed, fun but unfortunately last day. So the next thing on our list was to see the Flatiron Building. This was actually such a strange building to see because it’s so flat. How people live in there? It is however a really photogenic building, which is really important.

Opposite the Flatiron Building is Madison Square Park. An unexpected thing we could cross of our list because I didn’t even know it would there already. It was a really busy park with lots of people walking around and stuff. The cool thing about this is that is has this reflective roof thing above it. I don’t know if you will understand what I am saying (I don’t know if I even understand haha) but you can see in the photo below.

After all of these things, we took the metro back to Grand Central Station and decided to visit the New York Public Library as well. But on the way to the library, of course I had to get something to eat. To be an official tourist, I got a hotdog. It may not look very good but it was.

When we arrived at the New York Public Library, there were these dancers performing in front of it. I really like these type of things for some reason, so we looked at it and gave them some money. After that we entered the library. I have never seen such a beautiful library before. They even had a expositions about photography there, which was pretty cool.

Unfortunately this was the last thing we saw in New York. We got tired after such a long day with fun stuff, so we went to the hotel, packed our suitcases and got some sleep before another travel day. On Saturday we would go to Washington D.C. by train and I was so excited! This time I got to explore a completely new city and I already knew we would have a lot of fun. I hope you all enjoyed these two part blog posts about my time in New York. I definitely did and next week you will read all about my time in Washington D.C.! Which of these days is your favorite? Are you ready for my DC adventure?

Love,

Neeltje