The Honeymoon: NYC 2017

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As I sit on the train on the journey back from Heathrow I can’t actually believe our honeymoon is already over. We stayed for 5 days in New York, and with the time difference it worked out that we did a day in London beforehand too.

Getting to NYC was a bit of a nightmare, and the flight back wasn’t much better, but the rest has been totally and utterly fabulous. It’s been a whirlwind of travel and people and sightseeing and noise and VERY cold weather, and I’m absolutely exhausted, but it was a wonderful experience. My back aches, my feet and legs hurt, my gloves are shredded but my phone and The Bloke’s camera are now full of pictures and I have a million memories to cherish and write about.

Here were just some of the highlights… To see the images in a full screen simply click on them.

Staying at a fabulous Premier Inn near Heathrow the night before our flight – it was huge, ridiculously cheap and far better than the ones in the centre of London.

Having my bag fully searched and swabbed for drug residue at Heathrow – it happens every single time that I fly. Not a highlight as such, but it did make me smile. I must have a dodgy face…

Getting a free train ride on the LIRR Train to Penn Station as we used the wrong tickets. The ticket inspector must have felt sorry for us as he didn’t charge us, he just simply told us we had the wrong tickets and walked off.

The location of the hotel – just one block away from Times Square.

Eating a sesame seed bagel with cream cheese every morning for breakfast at the hotel, and then to save some money, taking one each with us for our lunch too.

Watching a couple who had just got married pose for photographs in Grand Central Station with their wedding party.

Grand Central on the first night
Times Square at about 6.00am, just because…
Sunrise down West 46th Street

Being asked by a group of Americans from Ohio what the building we were looking at was. It was the Empire State Building… They weren’t joking.

Discovering that the McDonalds do ALL DAY BREAKFASTS. Honeymoon or not, I indulged in a sausage McMuffin more times than I should probably mention… Yes, a McDonalds sausage McMuffin, before the smutty comments start…

Going to Times Square at 5.30am when there was virtually nobody there and then watching the sun rise down East 46th Street.

Standing in front of the Monet at the MOMA.

Monet’s Waterlillies at the MOMA

Visiting Tiffany’s, having a nice chat with the lift operator and adopting my inner Audrey Hepburn, without the croissant.

Deceiving the squirrels in Central Park into thinking that I had food for them. I didn’t, but it took them all while to catch on, by which point they had come close enough for me to give them individual names and take pictures.

Seeing my first ever wild racoon. It looked like it was up to no good, but it was incredibly cute!

The Temple of Dendur at The Met
A friendly squirrel – I called him Arthur. He looked like an Arthur.
The view from inside the MOMA

Sitting by the Temple of Dendur and then embarrassing The Bloke around the Egyptian exhibits in The Met – museums are always a source of fun and amusement whenever we go to one…

Drinking a cocktail on the rooftop bar of our hotel and toasting to the memory of our friend, Jan.

Watching the sunset from The Top of the Rock. Incredibly romantic – I think this was my favourite bit.

The sunset just disappearing and the view of the city from the Top of the Rock

Discovering an abundance of Snapple and proper pink lemonade. It’s not as easy to find in the UK, and it’s much more expensive.

Standing outside The Nederlander Theatre (the original home of RENT) with the opening song in my head.

Having a lovely chat with Alexander, the Empire State guard on the viewing deck while I got over my initial fear of the height…

One of the smaller rooms in Tiffany’s
The Bloke at The Top of the Rock
The crowd gathering at sunset at The Top of the Rock

Making our way down to the FDNY 8 building that was used for the Ghostbusters film, only to discover that it is having a major revamp and completely covered in scaffolding to the point we could only see the bottom part. Nobody is going to be calling the Ghostbusters anytime soon.

Paying our respects at the 9/11 memorial. The last time I visited New York, Tower 1 had just started to be constructed and the pools were still an enormous building site, so it was lovely to see it finished and looking beautiful. I couldn’t quite understand the people standing around them while smiling and taking selfies though – that didn’t seem right to me.

Bricking myself as I was eagerly approached by a drugs dog at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, (despite the fact that I’ve never touched drugs in my life) only to discover that it wanted to play with the large woolly bobble of my hat that I was carrying in my hand. It’s handler just said ‘that’s not for you’ and pulled it away.

The Kreisler from the Empire State
FDNY 8 – The Ghostbusters Firehouse was undergoing a complete revamp. Gutted.
Alexander, the lovely guard at the top of the Empire State building

Seeing the skyline of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry.

Feeling like I was on a movie set when I saw the classic Brooklyn Bridge shot with Manhattan in the background.

Pano across Madison Square Park and the Flatiron Building

Witnessing the most ridiculous posturing and posing by teen wannabe Instagrammers at Brooklyn Park. The Bloke and I joined in…

Laughing at the further posturing and posing as we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, listening to the cyclists yell at the tourists to get out of the bike lane and seeing the sunset over the Statue of Liberty.

The classic Instagram shot of the Manhatten Bridge from near Brooklyn Park
The Bloke and I putting the Instagrammers to shame with our selfie skills
Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge

Figuring out the Subway system… sort of.

Sitting on a bench in the B & H technology store while The Bloke went and got his geek on amongst all the camera equipment he wants.

Watching The Bloke attempt to use the chocolate dispensers at the M&M store, and accidentally ending up with about 2 lbs of them in a bag.

Walking along part of the High Line and then along the side of the Hudson River to see the U.S.S. Intrepid on a gloriously sunny day, even though it was freezing.

The Highline
The Nederlander Theatre, original home of RENT
The Bloke getting far too many M&M’s at the store on Times Square

Watching a group of guys perform semi-acrobatic moves around the poles on the subway.

Seeing actor Paul Kaye at Euston while waiting for our train home

 

Special mentions to the people who helped us out when they didn’t have to or who were just very nice:

The awesome man with the strong Brooklyn accent who appeared out of nowhere and told us the best subway route to get to Brooklyn from the Staten Island Ferry.

The friendly man who told The Bloke that he should ‘marry me again’ when we gave money to his charity.

The really nice young couple who wanted us to take a picture for them as they posed at the Top of The Rock.

The lovely lady with a child in a pram who showed us how to find the start of the Brooklyn Bridge path.

The kind man who stopped to ask us if we needed help when we were clearly lost on the way back to JFK.

A lovely woman named Kelly from Virginia who was visiting with her sister and 82 year old mother. They had been to see Bette Midler perform in Hello Dolly and were completely overawed.

Central Park

We did have a couple of negative experiences with the locals, particularly with snobby people in Central Park, the staff at the New York Public Library who were INCREDIBLY rude and an idiot who waited until The Bloke and I got into a revolving door and then pushed it really hard and laughed as it slammed into us. I stumbled a bit but neither of us were hurt, thank goodness. However, in a city of over 8.5 million people, to say that there were only a few negative incidents, (and all but one were silly and minor) is an incredible thing. It was a lot more clean than I expected it to be and I felt safe (although it probably helped that I had a 6’3″ man walking next to me). I was warned in advance that New Yorkers are quite abrupt and rude in their interactions, but I found that most people just kept to themselves.

And now we’re home I’m already thinking about our next trip… I just need a month off for my feet to recover.

THANKS NYC – IT’S BEEN AMAZING…

The Brooklyn Bridge and Manhatten skyline

 

All images in this post are my own and are not available for use

86 thoughts on “The Honeymoon: NYC 2017”

  1. Sounds like an awesome experience, Suzie! It’s definitely a place I’d love to go as it sounds like such an amazing city. And The Bloke ‘accidentally’ ended up with 2lbs of M&Ms did he? Hmm! 😉

  3. That drugs dig story made me giggle, as did the M&Ms! I should have got you to bring me back some of my beloved peanut butter M&Ms – my stash from Canada has finally run out! Glad you had a fab time x

  4. Wow Suzie, what an amazing place and trip. NY always seems like this place you see and never visit but you’ve very much brought it home. Great to see you had an amazing honeymoon ☺️

  5. This is so lovely to read Suzie. So glad you had a lovely time. You’ve made me miss NYC even more now! I canNOT believe the group from Ohio who didn’t know what they were looking at!! Ah and Times Sq at 5:30am sounds amazing. I’m going to do that the next I’m there.

  6. Looks like you had an amazing trip. I will be heading to NYC in a few months and I can’t wait!!!

  7. sounds like a lovely honeymoon. You did have quite the cold snap while you were there. I am so glad there were only a few rude moments here, for the most part we are a pretty nice country… Glad you got back safe and sound, enjoy the start of your marriage. ❤ Cathi (DAF)

  9. So, I’m a New Yorker so I might be a bit biased, but I think NYC is one of the most fun cities to visit as a tourist. Glad you had a great time. You saw quite a bit – but there are many more fun things to explore on your next visit!

  10. It’s true we do keep to ourselves but don’t mind being approached at all, I love giving directions when I can. Too bad that I didn’t get to see you. The Brooklyn Bridge Park is one of my favorite places. And the walking across the Brooklyn Bridge with tourists and natives in the bike lane is the worst! You picked the absolute best time to be in Times Square because New Yorkers avoid it like the plague if we can. The ferries are the best way to see things in the five boroughs unless it’s cold, it’s gotten much warmer today. And NYC is a waking city most people unless they’re wealthy or in debt walk just about everywhere and take public transportation or short Uber rides everywhere else. I’m very happy that you enjoyed your stay.

    • Next time we go we are going to do a ferry tour all the way around – we went to the side of the Hudson and saw all the boat cruises. It was wonderful – we can definitely catch up next time!

  11. I love this!

    Yay that you had a fantastic honeymoon and good work naming those squirrels. Arthur looks like a sweetie.

  12. It looks like you had a great time. I live in Upstate New York, about 375 miles from New York City. I’ve never seen the things you have. I went to the Brooklyn Zoo about 35 years ago with my parents. That’s the closest I’ve gotten. I’ve lived in the State all my life (58 years), and the thought of visiting the City always scared me. My husband drives an 18 wheel truck, and he delivers there all the time. He’s offered many times to show it to me, but I guess I’m just not a traveler. I’m glad you had such fun.

    • Oh wow! I suppose it’s the same here – I still haven’t been to some of the older places like Bath or sites like Stonehenge that attract tourists from all over the world, although The Bloke and I go to London numerous times during the year when we can get cheap train tickets. It’s definitely worth going to NYC though, even just for 24 hours…

  13. What a marvelous picture essay of your trip to NYC, Suzie. What a crying shame that the bloke got 2# of M&M’s by mistake. Whatever did you do with all that sweet goodness? I haven’t been to NYC for many years, and your trip made me want to go there. It is a fascinating place!

  15. Lovely view of one of my most favorite cities. Having lived in the NYC area for four years I found the people to be warm and helpful. Not friendly but deeply sincere in wanting to help. Thanks for sharing.

  16. Suzie, I haven’t been around to congratulate you and wish you a lovely life together with The Bloke. You’ve seen a part of my country I’ve yet to visit, so thanks for sharing those photos. New York is on my bucket list, but I may have to wait until retirement to get there. I always wanted to be there for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, watch the skaters at Rockefeller Plaza, and walk past all of the stores decorated for Christmas. Perhaps one day…

    I can’t believe the people from Ohio didn’t know the Empire State Building. Geesh.

    • They had just started setting up the tree at the Rockefeller and the rink was out, and some of the decorations was up but I can imagine that it’s completely magical at Christmas!

  17. Suzie, with NYC you have to take the good with the bad. Unfortunately. But it sounds like you packed SO much into your five days – and thanks for taking us along with you!

    • Oh my gosh yes, we were totally exhausted! Completely worth it though – and you always get plonkers wherever you go so it wasn’t a major issue, but it was a shame… Hope you’re doing well lovely!

  18. Walking the Brooklyn Bridge is a great experience, feels like you’re in a movie 🙂 Did you happen by a shop that sells cookie dough? People walk around eating it in paper cups as if it was ice cream. I wanted to try some, but the line was ridiculous. I’ll just have to go back again 🙂
    Glad you had a great trip, minus the moron with the revolving door 😦

    • I think that was how I felt for most of it – like I was in a movie! I’ve been before but it was different this time because I was with The Bloke. We pretty much lived off junk food most of the time so we want to go again on a foodie tour instead…

  26. It sounds like you had a lovely time in NYC and did all the great stuff you should do there. It was fun to hear about some of the little things that we don’t think of as different here, such as the pink lemonade, the all-day McDonald’s breakfast (which I take full credit for) and the bagels and cream cheese. I’m glad you had such a lovely time and again, congratulations. Happy Sunday Suzie!

    • Thanks so much Phil! I have a bit of a penchant for Sausage McMuffins and when I discovered that we could buy them all the time I was far more happy about it than I probably should have been haha!

  28. We stayed in Times Square this year too.
    It’s an amazing place, filled with all humanity has to offer, both good and bad.
    I can’t wait to get back to NYC.
    I’m overjoyed to read that you had such a magical time (mostly) Susie, you both certainly deserve it.
    Thanks for being one of the good ones, young lady.

  29. The best and worst part about NYC is how easy it is to walk. It’s so flat that distances are deceiving and you ended walking farther than you realized. But you can’t help it because there is so much to see, do and eat around every corner!

    • Oh my gosh yes, we had an initial strategy to do morning and then afternoon activities with a break for lunch in between, but we started walking and then by the evening we realised that we were miles out and shattered haha!

  31. Apart from a few “moments and people” you seem to have had a great time together, which is great. I am so happy for you. Can’t remember the last time I was in New York – I think Abraham Lincoln was still President :o)

  32. Loved reading about your NY experience. Sounds to have been a fabulous trip. I’ve only been once for 24 hours, (a very fortunate flight delay) had an amazing time & would love to go back for a properly planned holiday. Stunning photos too. 😊

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