Living in NYC
- Adam
- Jan 2, 2018
- 4 min read
We're now two weeks into our worldwide adventure and what a whirlwind it has been! After spending the first week in the Philippines, we arrived in New York, the Big Apple itself!
Our biggest consideration when we arrived in New York was how to make the week spent in the city more than just a tourist-experience. Remember, our big thing for this time away is creating a lifestyle, living simply and being present in each place we travel to. Essentially, we viewed it as living in NYC for a week.
The challenge with doing that is that there is so much to see and experience in New York. To really live in a place though is to dig a bit more beneath the surface of its exterior and discover the pulse of a place.
New York has a pulse. Beneath its busy, bustling exterior, there is a steady, calm beat that defines the City. Beneath the lights and the glamour is a hard-nosed toughness that has seen New York stand the test of time. And that's what makes this City truly stunning.
That history was most apparent to me at the Empire State Building. If you survive the queue, you discover the architectural marvel it is. Towering over the New York skyline (it's the second tallest building in New York), I was dumbfounded to learn it took just thirteen and a half months to erect the building - in the 30's! There is so much history and accomplishment to this towering beauty - and the view is stunning. And we got there late, skipping the endless lining up and seeing all of the City's lights.
We saw that same view early the next morning from the Rockefeller building or Top of the Rock. And as pretty as the skyline is at night - I found it even more mesmerising at daytime. The beginnings of a snowfall probably helped that perception! Still, in the quiet of that moment, before the crowds had set in, I couldn't help but admire the marvel that is New York.
You get a sense of the pulse of this place riding the subway. Even with the millions of visitors that pour into this place, New Yorkers just get on with their day. Riding the subway was normalising for me, that New York isn't just a massive attraction set up for visitors, it is, in fact, home to people. We were able to get an appreciation of this away from Times Square and Broadway, walking the streets of West Village, or across the Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn.
Away from the city lights, we discovered gems like the quirky Brooklyn Flea Market (Industry City, 241 37th St, Brooklyn), which had such an eccentric and bizarre collection of sellers and goods. There was Carroll Place (157 Bleeker St), a bar in West Village, which was a toasty reprieve from the cold and had to-die-for wings. In Lower Manhattan, we tried the most delicious dumplings at a little hole-in-the-wall place called Vanessa's (118 Eldridge St); before eating the best cannoli I have ever tasted at Ferrara Bakery (195 Grand St). There's also a chain of organic burger joints called Bareburger (http://bareburger.com) - after those wings and that burger I will never be the same again! One last hint, visit Battery Park in Lower Manhattan at sunset for a spectacular view of the Statue of Liberty.
And then, of course, there's New Year's Eve. We were in the biggest city in the world on the night of the biggest part of the year. Our advice: you don't have to stand around in Times Square all day to enjoy it. We had dinner at the craft burger joint downstairs in our hotel called Black Tap (https://blacktapnyc.com/locations/) - they also do insane shakes! We then headed across to McGee's Irish Pub (240 W55th St), the same pub that inspired the show How I Met Your Mother.
As midnight drew close, the atmosphere in the bar wasn't really building, so we headed out onto the streets. We were actually able to get a bit of a view of Times Square from 55th and Broadway but there were also large screens displaying what was happening in the Square. A crowd had built up, so by the time the Ball dropped, we basically had the Times Square experience without all the fuss! We do think that if we had gone a street over, we might have had a view of the Ball. Regardless, we didn't have to stand around in the cold for hours to have a good spot.
By the end of it, we were smitten by New York and by the NY experience. It is by all standards an absolutely incredible city. It's worth getting in line to see its stunning attractions - but it's also worth getting out of those lines, walking the streets and seeing New York away from the noise and lights. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, check out all of our favourite photos from our time in NY and our December highlights video!
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