new york

Saw this book at a bookstore and laughed because I basically came to NYC to eat everything here. 

I still have two more days here but wanted to reflect on my trip so far because I feel like I've done so much the past few days I've been here. 

New York has been amazing and the city is just flowing with creativity and unique sightings that make NYC so special. There's always room for innovation in NYC and I realized that people don't have to worry about being anyone but themselves. During my short stay here I was able to see that once we stop judging others and start to see the beauty in our differences, life in general seems to be more beautiful - and a lot easier. No one does Christmas better in the U.S. than New York. When we arrived I saw crowds of people everywhere wearing santa suits and our taxi driver said by Christmas, we would only be able to see Santa Clauses walking around the streets. There are obviously a few things that I just don't like about New York that makes me never want to really live here (at least permanently). When you walk through the busier/tourist streets, it's so crowded that people are shoulder to shoulder with each other pushing and shoving + true to the rumors, most people here (minus the few genuine kind people i've met) are straight up rude. 

We were lucky enough to do and see a lot of things but a few memorable places were:

+ Bryant Park: Went to winter village to see the small shops. We wanted to go ice skating here as well but the line was just too ridiculous we decided it wasn't worth the wait.

+ Lombardi's Pizzeria: Walked around Chinatown & Little Italy. After walking the Brooklyn Bridge we went to Lombardi's. They claim to be the first pizzeria that ever opened in America and it was some pretty dang good pizza!

+Central Park: Central park was so relaxing despite the fact that I was freezing. It was amazing that there was such a beautiful park amidst the bustling city. 

+Rockefeller Center/Top of the Rock: Rockefeller Plaza was just too ridiculous, the whole place was packed with tourists everywhere we were unable to move or get away from the crowds. Everyone looked so annoyed and unhappy as we all suffered. We walked through the crowds to go buy tickets for Top of The Rock which i've heard was better and cheaper than the ESB. 

You can see our apt from here!

+Union Square: We went to Union Square to check out the holiday markets and there were a lot of cool vendors and we were able to do some successful holiday shopping here. The hot apple cider here was really yummy!

 

 This trip has been amazing so far and i'm dreading the trip home where I'll be going back to work and school. In the end, a very much needed vacation away from home. Feeling very blessed & thankful for these experiences.