New York – Day 1

So where did I leave off? Oh, yes. The celebrity sighting. Sad to say that was the only celebrity sighting, but that’s okay.  They were probably soaking in the sun out in California far away from the snow in New York.

So we arrived in New York City early in the afternoon so we decided to walk down to the Empire State Building and see the sunset from the observation deck. This is probably my favorite photo of the Empire State Building. Something about seeing it through the frame of the surrounding buildings.

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From our hotel it was about 20 blocks to the Empire State Building which may seem like a lot, but in reality the walk there and back was under 3 miles.

I really think it’s best to sight see by walking for the most part.  There are so many things you might miss in a taxi and especially on a subway. (Oh and not to mention you never know when you want to stop and take a photo.) Now we did take the subway a couple of times, but that’s for another post.

On the way we stopped in Times Square and walked through Herald Square. We found Brendan’s Cafe and Grill on 35th Street as we were walking and decided to eat there. It was good and not that expensive since it was early enough to eat off the brunch menu.

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If you go to New York you have to go up to the observatory of the Empire State Building.  An adult tickets costs $18.00. (If you plan on going to many of the museums and the Statue of Liberty you can buy a City Pass at any of the locations. More on that in a bit.) The observatory is open from 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 a.m. seven days a week. Of course cameras are welcome, but no tripods are allowed. You will go through airport type security before being allowed to buy a ticket.

We did get to see the sunset from the observation deck and the view of New York City is wonderful. Seeing the lights of the city “come to life” as the sun was setting was quite a sight.

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On our way back to the hotel we unintentionally walked past Bryant Park. It was night and nothing was going on, but it looked like a lot of set up for something was going on and only later did we realize it was for the fashion shows.  Of course I had to take photos of the city sights at night. Just a few blocks before our hotel we see Magnolia Bakery that one of the Scrap, Etc girls kept mentioning on her blog the month before I left.  Of course we couldn’t walk past it and not buy a cupcake… or two…. or four. 🙂

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If you are planning on visiting most of the museums, Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty then City Pass is definitely worth the money. I’ll post more about it and which museums it covers in a later post, but it is something to consider.

Keep checking back for more posts about my trip to New York City. You can see all my photos from my trip on Flickr by clicking here.

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