Exploring Times Square and Midtown
Pre-Flight and Beyond
Tam and I spent the night before packing everything into an Eddie Bauer bag. If you know me, you know I'm not a fan of procrastipacking... I consider the night before procrastipacking, he considers it the hour before.
(We ended up procrastpacking 2.5 hours before the flight. I forgot to pack some chocolates in the check-in).
We made it to the airport, and TSA Pre-Check got us through pretty quickly. It was fortunate because the walk to the terminal was so far. It was humid, and we were carrying our cold weather jackets through. After picking up a quick meal from Burger King, we headed back to the terminal where they started the boarding process. I didn't know chicken fries were back at BK, so I was on that like nobody's business.
They were checking bags because there had been bomb threats in NYC close to our travel dates. As they were checking our bags, I overheard this gem:
"Do you smell that?"
"Smell what?"
"Something smells like chicken."
It was us (go chicken fries!). They didn't even say anything about the fact that we were transporting frozen Portuguese sausage onto the plane. We quickly scarfed down our food and slept through most of our extremely pleasant flight.
Landing in NYC
When we landed, it was the first time I saw newly fallen snow on the ground. The blankets of white were tinged with the soft strokes of a golden sun. Night was giving way to dawn, and the soft blue contrasted with the orange hues. So poetic, I know, but it was literally everything I have ever thought about when looking at pictures of snow.
After grabbing our bags we took a Lyft. Based on my broken understanding of Spanish, the guy wasn't so thrilled to be driving in Manhattan on a parade day. We were dropped off our stuff at a luggage storage; a recommendation by our Airbnb host since check-in might be late. We headed to a nearby bagel shop to have breakfast. As we finished, our host contacted us saying that we could check-in early! Yes!
It was Saint Patrick's Day, and there were a lot of people wearing green everywhere we went. The parade was going on 2-3 blocks away from our place... But I was tired, so I napped for like 3 hours.
Then it was off to the sights!
Making Our Way Downtown
By the time we made our way outside it was around 4pm or so. Either way the parade was already over, and I was very, very refreshed! The streets were opening up slowly as the parade passed different sections. I know I missed the parade, but sleep is more important sometimes... you know?
Rockefeller Center
Sometime before our trip or while I was sleeping, Tam booked the Rockefeller tickets. Most people preferred the Rockefeller: Top of the Rock because the view is better and you can see the Empire State Building. It's also less expensive and crowded. We were aiming for around sunset since that was what Tam was most interested in.
We ate and headed over. Unfortunately, getting to the check-in was kind of confusing if you bought your tickets online. If I didn't take a nap, I would have been annoyed by the runaround I was given. Either way, you know it's a good purchase when all the employees are telling you that VIP tickets were a good idea. The lines were long and many visitors couldn't come up until around 8:15pm. We were going up at 5:30pm.
Random Note: The elevator up reminds me of the tunnel ride in the original Willy Wonka. Should you ever get to experience it, you would see why.
Once on the top, you can face north towards Central Park, or south towards Wall Street. There are also two decks which give different viewing angles and perspectives. I'm not a fancy camera person, so my pictures aren't as fancy pants as other people. Tripods aren't allowed, and the guards are very strict about that and standing on ledges to get a better shot. A guard scolded a tourist to take his whole setup down. Today was an especially good day to go because the Empire State Building changed its lights to mimic those of the Irish Flag.
Times Square
As I said, our Airbnb was close to everything so we headed over to Times Square. The blizzard was just two days ago, so there was still snow on the ground and it was very cold for a 5-10 minute walk. It was still a very visually appealing sight, but it definitely feels like a tourist location. Still very eye-catching in a Vegas sort of way.
Closing Out the Night
I was still pretty awake because of my nap. We wandered to Nintendo World (the only one on the planet, so I could figure out what I'm buying as pasalubong for my friends. This is foreshadowing!
Anyway, I was hungry, so of course we went to eat some more! We headed over to Katz Delicatessen via Lyft, then walked over to Milk Bar in East Village for dessert. Food is a such a large part of our trip that it has to have its own post each day... ANYWAY. After a quick debate, we decided to take the subway on the way back to the Airbnb!
Random Note: People in East Village didn't seem as festive as the drunk college students stumbling around Midtown for St. Patrick's Day. You could tell the students were rookies on their slurred speech alone.
My friend Melissa lives in NYC, and she said that the party doesn't start till 12am. It was 10pm, and I'm basically an old lady so I opted not to stay out. Since 10 is "early", riding the subway through Manhattan at that hour isn't as scary... As long as you remember where to stop. Our Airbnb was very close to the line we needed, so it was super easy. Google Maps did a good job of directing us there and it was off to bed for the night!