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Curious about the silence the past couple weeks? I took some time off for a family trip to New York City and Boston. This was the first major family trip that I’ve been on in almost 5 years. It was definitely an adventure! It’s quite different traveling with family as a child or teen and then as an adult, but more about this later.
Visiting NYC was like visiting an old friend. One where you know regardless of how long you’ve been apart, you’re able to just pick right up again as if you had seen each other just yesterday.
I’m fortunate to have visited the city on two previous occasions essentially scratching off all of the major tourist sites. In fact, on this visit, I didn’t even see Times Square. But of course, in a city of its size, there is always something interesting to do and I managed to fill my time in the city nicely, but completely different from what I had planned.
View of Lower Manhattan from Battery Park
There were only a couple of things I actually wanted to do this time around: go to the Williamsburg Smorgasburg and visit the beautiful Morgan Library. I had read about both and was really looking forward to seeing them for myself. Alas, I did neither. In fact, I didn’t get much of an opportunity to wander as much as I would have liked.
The main event and reason for this particular visit to the city was to attend my brother’s graduation from Columbia University. Between rubbing elbows with the insanely smart and hardworking, I did manage to squeeze in some random wandering in the city.
Congrats to the class of 2015 – all 15,000 of them!
I made some new discoveries.
Finally had a chance to wander through Little Italy
Revisited old favourites.
Love Chelsea Market!
Tasted some good food (and also some meh food).
Momofuku Noodle Bar – it was only just okay. Disappointing!
This time we managed to find a fabulous vacation rental just around the corner from the Empire State Building (at a very reasonable price too! Highly recommend it if you’re in the city). It was right in the thick of it all and I absolutely loved it. Sure, it was a 4th-floor walk up, but I missed being right in the middle of the city. We only stayed a couple nights before moving to campus and staying there for all of the graduation events.
It was surprisingly cold the whole time I was there. A stark contrast to the last time I was in the city where I was melting from the summer heat. The weatherman had predicted that it would be warm and, as a result, I packed no pants (so I bought some – I heart Uniqlo!).
Love that at all hours of the day, there are people out and about.
When it came time to leave, I wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye. The city that never sleeps has somehow managed to capture a part of my being though. There is some inexplicable draw I have towards the city. Nothing like the feelings I’ve had for other cities and countries, and yet, there is just something in the city that keeps me wanting more.
One of my favourite encounters of the whole trip was when I read the subway map wrong and got off a stop too early and stumbled upon this quartet playing their heart out. A happy mistake.
[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/126820643@N04/17730196838/ w=800 h=450 show_info=no]
New York City is the land of opportunity. A place where you can just be you. A place with so much happening you can’t be bored. A place where people go to chase their dreams. Something about the city makes me feel like I can go chase my own too.
Have you been anywhere that just draws you in without explanation? Share in the comments!
P.S. Riding the FREE Staten Island Ferry to get a good glimpse of the Statue of Liberty & one of my favourite things in the city – Walking the High Line.
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I think I like New York City so much because it seems so familiar even though I’ve only visited there twice. It’s in so many movies, books, and TV shows that it’s not completely foreign — as if anyone could slip in and belong there if they wanted to. I had been dying to try Momofuku but knew better than to make the kids stand in line for that long. Sounds like it’s a good thing that we skipped it. Congrats to you brother! I hope he has a good graduation trip planned.
Yes! I think you’ve hit the nail right on the head. The city and scenes around town are so familiar. Good for you for skipping Momofuku – definitely not worth the hype. There are lots of other good ramen places that I’ve heard are better (haven’t had a chance to try them unfortunately).
Sounds like an excellent visit to NYC! I’ve been three times at different times of year – and Michele is so right… there’s a familiarity about the city, from years of seeing it in movies and TV shows or reading books set there. Chelsea Market is one of my favourite places! There’s a great place to get coffee in there.
It really was! I feel like I got a sense of the city without having to race around from place to place. Yes there were things I wanted to do, but I wasn’t too bummed out about not having to do it. It’s just nice to soak up the atmosphere.
Now, I want to go back to New York (even though I live in Los Angeles and the rivalry is real). My sister lives there and I wouldn’t have to worry about lodging. I have been there two times but I have never been able to do my own thing since I am always in a group. I will like to visit the Chelsea Market (you mentioned it), the High Line and Williamsburg.
Accommodation is always the most expensive part! Lucky you that you have a place to crash. You definitely should go again and see if you can find some alone wander times 🙂 Wandering even with others just isn’t the same it seems.
I’ve never been to New York, but this post reminds me a lot of my ‘inexplicable draw’ to Bangkok. Which is strange, because I don’t even like cities! But there’s just something about Bangkok..maybe because it’s the first place where I’ve had my own apartment or maybe it’s something else. Who knows 🙂
It’s strange what draws people in. A lot of the time you just don’t even know why! I didn’t really enjoy Bangkok – I found it so overwhelming and huge – but I was young and had just come from a couple weeks in quieter Cambodia. I’d give it another go I think.
The Smorgasburg in Williamsburg is great, I went right after some vintage shopping at Artist and Fleas and it was basically the perfect day – eating delicious street food and looking at Manhattan on the other side of the Hudson. It was freezing though – can’t imagine NY in the heat!
That sounds like a wonderful day! I’m sad I didn’t make it out to the Smorgasburg, but there’s always next time! The view from the other side of the Hudson is definitely worth the trek though.
Always a thrill to visit, isn’t it? One of those cities that always provides a mad rush. It’s a shame it’s gotten so prohibitively expensive to live there. That’s made NYC lose much of the charm that it still somehow held 25 yrs ago.
Yes! It’s so so expensive now! But it’s nice to visit for a couple days. I don’t think I could live there for very long. The thrill of the rush would eventually fade I think.
I have never been in New York, but I felt something similar in Kuala Lumpur (and I usually do not like big cities!). I wonder how it is to travel in family as an adult, my last family trip was also more than 5 years ago. Looking forward on reading about it 🙂
Haha, traveling with family was definitely an eye opener! The last time I went on one was 5 years ago and I think I’ll wait another 5 years before I’ll do it again. Eek!
wow just writing a post on New York City for Saturday and I see this! No place quite like it! great post!
Awesome! I’ll have to check it out this weekend once you post it 🙂 New York is definitely its own ecosystem.
I love how easy it is to fall in love with New York. I have a few favorite places I hit on most trips and then always see so many new things. I could never get bored with New York. Thanks for even more NY inspiration.
You’re right. There is so much to see and do in New York it’s hard to get bored!
Ah, I love New York! You can visit it at any time of year, on any kind of weather and it will still be beautiful, but I agree, spring is perhaps the best time to be there. You were lucky indeed to stumble upon that quartet. Lately I see more and more educated musicians playing in metro stations, which I think it’s a great thing. We need to make good music known.
Yes agreed! Summer is always tough in the city though. It’s way too humid for me. I love random acts of music! I feel like so many people just pass by, rushing from place to place, so it was nice to see a lot of people stopping to listen to this quartet.
Totally loved NY. Its a place you have to go to see for yourself – great ideas to get peopke started.