My husband had business that took him to White Plains, New York, so I tagged along so that I could take the train down into Manhattan to meet up with a friend. After arriving the night before at La Guardia, renting a car and driving up to White Plains, we had checked into our hotel, the Cambria Inn and Suites.
So on this first morning by husband dropped me at the White Plains train station so that I could catch an express train down into the city, arriving at Grand Central Station in only about 35 minutes. I’ve been a shy and not terribly brave person most of my life, so doing something like this for the first time solo makes me feel like I’m stepping outside of my comfort zone, but subsequently it makes me feel stronger! I emerged from Grand Central Station onto the bustling streets of Manhattan on a weekday, and armed with my map, I joined the many people walking west as I headed to meet my friend Vicky at her hotel in Midtown, Staybridge Suites Times Square. Vicky had also flown in from the Mid West, and we were excited to spend a couple of days exploring the city together.
Grand Central Station with the Chrysler Building beyond
After dropping my overnight bag at the Vicky’s hotel, we headed out to get to our meeting point for our walking tour that we had booked online with Real New York Tours. We had booked the Dozen Apples Tour, a 6 and half hour walking and subway tour, that started at 10 am. It was a pretty comprehensive tour, during which we visited SoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown, Wall Street, Ground Zero, Greenwich Village, Washington Square Park, Central Park, and Times Square.
I had briefly been to New York City once before, but hadn’t seen much of it, so this tour really opened my eyes to the diversity of it. Especially when seeing Chinatown and Little Italy, but it was a little sad to hear that the Chinatown area is expanding so much that it is eating away at the size of Little Italy! For me the Brooklyn Bridge is an icon of New York, so it was fun to see that in person
Ground Zero
The Ground Zero site was extremely moving, just standing quietly by the two square waterfalls that mark the site of where the twin towers stood, and seeing all those names engraved into the stone around the edge, grouped not alphabetically as you might image, but with their co-workers and friends.
We didn’t go into the Memorial Museum, or One World Trade Center as this tour didn’t allow time for it, but the way I see it, it means that I have a reason to return and do that sometime in the future.
Pizza from Joe’s Pizza, Greenwich Village
Our lunch stop was at Father Demo Square in Greenwich Village where there were a number of places for the group to break up and eat. Vicky and I decided on Joe’s Pizza as we felt that while in NY you cannot go without trying it. We weren’t disappointed by the 2 slices we purchased at the counter service and it was such a pretty day that we sat out in the square, with the Pigeons hopping about by our feet, to eat it.
Pasticceria Rocco
We also quickly dove into an Italian Bakery called Pasticceria Rocco on Bleeker Street because the cookies and pastries in the window looked so tempting. And of course we couldn’t resist and purchased a few treats to take with us. The Tour then hopped back on the subway to head north to near Central Park. After passing by The Dakota building where John Lennon lived and was murdered, we then walked through part of Central Park, visiting John Lennon’s Memorial along the way, and the tour concluded at Times Square.
Central Park
After 6 and half hours, and over 10 miles of walking, we were pretty tired. So we headed back the short distance to the hotel for a cup of tea, a chance to rest our weary legs, and to enjoy some of the treats we purchased earlier at Pasticceria Rocco Bakery.
After recuperating for an hour or so, we got a taxi to take us down to 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar where we enjoyed a cocktail among the Christmas lights and the spectacular views of the Empire State Building.
View from 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar
From here we walked north up Fifth Avenue, taking in the pretty storefront window displays along the way, until we got to Rockefeller Center. Now Rockefeller Center was like Christmas central as far as the lights were concerned, just beautiful. The Christmas tree was spectacular and as you looked towards Saks on Fifth Avenue there was a line of Angels and the light display beyond on the front of the Saks building that was set to music. The next day we were to go up to the viewing floors of the Rockefeller Centre but you can read more about that in my other New York post.
Angels at Rockefeller Center and the Saks light display.
To finish the evening, we walked by Radio City Music Hall, then back down 6th Avenue past more Christmas lights towards the hotel and a good nights rest.
6th Avenue Christmas lights