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Sunday 9 December 2018

Christmas Time in New York




Hi Everyone,

I'm back with a new travel post on New York. I will share all the places we visited when there. I got lots of recommendations before going but didn't have long enough to make it to everywhere on my list. If you want to check out the full list I have it saved to the New York highlights on my page.

I had a couple of Dm's with some frequently asked questions so thought I would answer those here first. I got asked how long is the right amount of time to go for, would I recommend purely going for shopping, did I buy much, did I spend a lot of money?

We went over for one week as Damien had got the trip for me as my Christmas present last year. He initially booked it for 10 days and we changed it to 7 days as it was quite close to Christmas. I think you could get most of the sites and what you want to do in about 5 days but it was nice to have the 7 to relax and do them at our leisure. To be honest I definitely wouldn't recommend it for shopping. We went to Woodbury Common and I found it quite disappointing. In general I didn't buy that much and I'm sure you all know I am an avid shopaholic and I think the shopping is much better here. Its ok for workout gear etc and toys but not much else. The shops are amazing though and so christmassy, I loved Macys. New York was the most expensive place I've ever been to and I have lived in a lot of different places in Australia. We went to a broadway show one night and it was 60 dollars for 2 drinks and for a nice meal you would pay upwards of 250 dollars for 2 people and then have your 20% tip to add in too. In saying that you wouldn't have to eat in fancy restaurants every night and theres loads of pizza shops and cheap eats too if you were doing it on a tighter budget.

Where to stay... 
We stayed at Life hotel and I absolutely loved it. He pre booked a hotel last year but we were able to change our minds if needed. Most of my friends have been and recommended staying in time square which is where the hotel he originally booked was. After looking up pictures of the original and different ones we decided to change to Life hotel. They were similar in price but Life hotel looked amazing inside and I absolutely loved the decor. It was located on 31stW and just off fifth avenue. Im so glad we stayed here instead of at Times Square and we were just around the corner from lots of shops. I feel like where you stay is crucial. They have so many nice hotels but location is key in this city. You are going to walk so much so definitely bring comfortable runners. We racked up an excess of 25,000 steps a day according to his Fitbit!!

The cocktails in the hotel bar are to die for so try them if you stay here or if you are visiting, The restaurant and bar was packed every night of the week so I think its a really popular place to go as well as stay at.

For this hotel you are looking at paying about 2,500 dollars including tax for a week. We booked through booking.com and the tax is only added on when you make the final payment on arrival. I don't think there are any cheap hotels in NY so think you would be looking at these type of prices or upwards for most places.

Where to visit...

There is just so many sites to see and things to do in New York that you could spend forever there and still find new things to do. I will leave a list below of my favourite things we did.

Cycle Central Park...This was definitely a highlight for me and so many of you told me to do this. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be but it was so fun. We rented our bikes just outside the park for 2 hours so we could cycle it at our leisure and get off for a look at different areas around the park. The cycle track around the park is about 10km but its so much quicker to cycle rather than walk it. Theres a really cute boathouse restaurant located in the park too and an area where you can take little rower boats out on a lake. We went back to rent a little boat on our last day and it had been locked up until April so must only open April to November because it was open a few days previously when we were cycling by. I was raging we didn't get to do it.

Go to a Knicks game... The Knicks basketball game was the best thing we done while there. I wasn't pushed on doing this one because I have no interest in basketball so it was his pick but so glad we went. The whole experience was amazing and its like a basketball game and show all in one. They have entertainment in between each quarter and play games to interact with the crowd. Damien caught a t shirt that they shoot out and throw up to the crowds every so often, the excitement of catching one was real! Even if you are on a girls trip and have no interest I think you should definitely go to one of these games. Tip: don't forget your i.d. They are super strict and won't sell to you if you look under 40.

The Brooklyn bridge... I loved it here. We walked the bridge on two different days because one wasn't enough. I got some cool pictures here!

9/11 memorial... We visited the memorial and also did the tour of the museum. It tells the story of the people who lost their lives that day but also the many brave men and women who took part in the rescue efforts. The memorials twin pools are the largest man made waterfalls in Northern America and they lay where the twin towers once stood. The names of every person who lost their lives in the attack in 2001 and also in 1993 are engraved on the panels on the rim of the pools as "a powerful reminder of the largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil and the greatest single loss of rescue personnel in American history".  This is a place you definitely have to make time to visit if you are a first time visitor to Ny.

The Empire State building... The views from the top of the building were amazing. You can see so many iconic photos of the construction of the building inside and read all about it and the early years of the tower. We chose to do the Empire State building instead of the top of the Rock as we were only going to do one and thought this was a better choice for us.

The flatiron building.. is one of Nyc's most iconic landmarks and you have to go and see it. Its triangular shape makes it so different from any other skyscraper and makes for some cool photos too.

A broadway show.. We went to see phantom of the Opera. In truth I'm not that into shows and found the basketball game better than the broadway show. In saying that it was really good and the actors were amazing and it was a really good New York experience. I always wanted to see this one and he wanted to see the Lion king so we compromised and saw phantom of the opera (joking!!) I put a poll on my instagram and almost everyone voted for the Lion King but when we went to get tickets it was completely sold out so went with the phantom instead.

The Rockefeller tree.. this is the thing I was most looking forward to doing. I have seen this tree and ice rink in so many movies that its the most New York thing I could think of. He purposely booked our trip for this time so he knew we would get the lighting of the tree ceremony in. He said when he got the trip last year he was saving for my engagement ring and had planned to purpose at this ceremony until randomly one day months and months ago we were on the subject and I brought up how I'd hate it to be in public if he was ever going to do it. So Kerry it was and I'm so glad he did it in Ireland because I'd say he would have been so stressed carrying a ring around New York waiting for the time to do it and having to put it through every metal detector into each site without me noticing.

Times Square...is brighter than my future. I was in awe when I came here, I have never seen anything like it. Brightly coloured billboard advertisements adorn every crevice of this area. Its so bright, busy and noisy but definitely take a stroll through here. I was really glad that we swopped our hotel from here though and I can't imagine being able to get asleep anywhere around here. In the city that never sleeps this place is on another Level.

Where to eat/drink..

Beauty and Essex... Book this place now if you are going. You can book restaurants through an app called open table up to a month before. From the outside it is an old pawn shop with old record players, jewellery and guitars and through the door at the back of the shop it leads into the most amazing bar and restaurant. I absolutely loved this place and the food was gorgeous too. This was the coolest place, its a must.

Del Frisco's grill... there is a couple of these steak houses located around New York and this was without a doubt the nicest meal we had there. Our waiter was so nice which always makes the dining experience nicer and it was packed too. Another one you would have to book in advance.

Try Joes pizza.. just off Times Square it is a small pizza shop with delicious pizza slices. Celebrities pictures that have visited cover the walls of the small shop and you can expect to wait in a long queue to nab one of these slices. We got lucky the day we went and there was only about five people in the queue.

Rolfs restaurant.. if you are heading at Christmas time its another MUST VISIT!! Have a look at the picture of it from my instagram and you will be able top see how extra the Christmas decorations are, its like a grotto! we just went here for a drink rather than eating here as I just wanted to see the place. Expect to queue outside here. It opens at midday every day so get there early to get in for a drink.

Ellens Stardust diner.. I loved this place. Eat your breakfast while listening to some amazing singing wait staff. All of the wait staff are aspiring future stars of stage and film. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner but we went for breakfast here. Its another place you can expect to queue for but its worth the wait.

I am going to wrap this up here because I feel like its the longest blog post ever and if you have gotten this far thanks for reading and hopefully you liked my tips and have a great trip to New York.

Dominique
xoxo


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