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Street art, the High Line and New Year in New York

New Year in New York

It’s a tradition of ours to go away for New Year and this year we spent it in New York. We just love New York! In fact, this was our fourth time in the Big Apple so I was determined to explore a few different places and try some new restaurants.

We were fortunate to purchase our flights in the British Airways Black Friday sale so we flew Business Class, which was fabulous. The last two times we flew to New York we were actually upgraded so we have experienced it before and of course it makes going back to Economy so much harder! It was a great way to end the year and start the new one. (Dear British Airways, if you’re reading this please upgrade us on our next flight! Thanks).

So there are a few things we always like to do when we visit New York and they are:

Walk across Brooklyn Bridge
Have lunch in Chinatown
Walk from our hotel in mid-Manhattan all the way to Downtown
Go to Central Park
See the Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Centre
Visit Saks on Fifth Avenue
Eat a GIANT steak
Eat a burger

So of course we did all of the above, did a few things we hadn’t done in years and explored some new places.

This year we walked the High Line again. We did it the first time we visited the city and it was in May so the weather was ideal. Luckily this year was quite mild so we thought we’d do it again and one advantage was that it wasn’t so busy. I love the High Line as you get amazing views of the city and the Hudson and the route is dotted with artwork. To be honest, I’m not sure if that nude sunbathers sign is actually art or a genuine sign!

The High Line in New York

This year we explored Hell’s Kitchen as we’ve never been before even though it’s pretty close to Times Square. It’s full of restaurants from all sorts of nationalities and even has a street called Restaurant Row. That day we decided we felt like a sandwich and stumbled upon Melt Shop. OH MY. My fried chicken and slaw sandwich was the bomb!

Fried chicken sandwich from Melt Shop in New York

We’ve never really explored Brooklyn that much apart from the last time we spent New Year in NYC, we had friends staying in Brooklyn so we met them for lunch and explored the Brooklyn Flea – which is a great place to pick up a New York souvenir. This year I really wanted to visit Williamsburg so off we went. We got the subway mixed up so it took about an hour to get there instead of around 25 mins. The New York subway system is so confusing! This is also one of the reasons we prefer to just walk.

Anyway, we eventually arrived in Williamsburg (FYI subway stop is Bedford Avenue for the shopping district) and walked around exploring the shops. There were some great places to eat too but we wanted to eat in Chinatown, although we did have breakfast at a Williamsburg cafe. I bought a gorgeous vintage dress from Awoke Vintage – I adore it! It fits me perfectly, like it was made for me.

Williamsburg has loads of street art and I love street art – I’ve been on a tour in London’s Shoreditch so of course I had to take loads of pictures. The weather was really gloomy so the colourful street art definitely brightened it up!

Street art in Williamsburg Brooklyn

Another place we visited again that we hadn’t been back to since our first visit years ago was Harlem. Unfortunately the day we went it was absolutely pouring with rain and horrid to walk around in so we just went for lunch. I’d read about Red Rooster on the flight over and my friend Nicolette, who lives in Harlem really recommended it. It was fabulous! I loved the decor, the service was great and the food was scrumptious. I highly recommend it!

Chicken wings at Red Rooster in Harlem

This year we visited the National September 11 Memorial on New Year’s Day as we’d visited it the first time we’d been to New York but hadn’t been back since. When we first visited it, the memorial pools were there but there was still a lot of construction going on so it looked quite different this time around.

9/11 Memorial park in New York

The new World Trade Centre in New York

I have to say that I don’t really like visiting Ground Zero because there are so many people who treat it as a tourist attraction rather than the memorial it is to the 2,977 people who lost their lives. The smiling selfies do my head in and this year I spotted a woman posing with two thumbs up. WHAT THE ACTUAL… I mean, show some respect!

Rant over…

New York is such an amazing city, with so much to see and do. Is it on your 2017 travel list?

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Exploring New York at New Year

Kirsty Marrins

Reader, writer, occasional runner, travel lover.

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16 COMMENTS

  • AlicevstheWorld

    Oh my goodness I’ve got no words to describe how good that food looked!

    • Kirsty Marrins
      AUTHOR

      It was so delicious, Alice! I’ll be doing a post soon on where to eat in New York 🙂

  • Hra

    Love your photos !! I am in love with New York

    • Kirsty Marrins
      AUTHOR

      Thank you! New York is so awesome… It’s a city I can keep returning to!

  • I’m going to visit NYC for the first time this summer, so I took some notes!

    • Kirsty Marrins
      AUTHOR

      Fab, Amanda! There’s also a link in there to another post of mine on free things to do in NYC. Have a great time!

  • Rachel

    Oh this looks so fantastic, I have never been to NYC and would love to see the sights x

    • Kirsty Marrins
      AUTHOR

      It’s such a great city! I remember the first time I went I was in awe – you see it so much on TV and films and then to see it in real life is so awesome.

  • Mellissa Williams

    Love the post Kirsty. I so want to go to New York and haven’t had the chance yet. I love the street art. Bookmarking this as we may go to NY and New England in the autumn.

    • Kirsty Marrins
      AUTHOR

      Thank you Mellissa! I hope you get to go in the autumn – I’m sure you’ll love it

  • Sara Broers

    Street art and food make for a perfect experience anywhere! Thanks for inspiring me to make New York a travel priority.

    • Kirsty Marrins
      AUTHOR

      No problem, Sara! Hope you get to visit NYC soon

  • Global Brunch

    I would love to visit NYC in winter and see the Christmas tree & all the decorations. I went for the first time last summer and had no where near enough time, so there are lots of things like the High Line and a walk across Brooklyn Bridge that I had to miss. More to look forward to for visit number two 🙂

    • Kirsty Marrins
      AUTHOR

      Luckily NYC is a city you can keep going back to and never get bored because there’s so much to see and do!

  • Carla Abanes

    My favorite experience was taking the subway and seeing times square. I was only in NYC for a short visit and hope to come back soon this time to see that famous statue and central park!

    • Kirsty Marrins
      AUTHOR

      Hopefully you’ll get to go soon for a bit longer, Carla! The best way to see the Statue of Liberty is to take the free Staten Island ferry – great views!

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