🙂 Ellen’s Star Dust Diner! Basket Ball at Madison Square Garden!
🙁 Toooo much walking!
The girls and I did a ‘girly ‘ trip in March 2017 when friends generously offered their apartment to us on 5th Avenue across from Central Park – how spoilt were we?! The apartment overlooked Central Park and had a doorman – just like in the Movies!
The girls had such fond memories of Ellen’s Stardust Diner that this had to be our first stop!
Aspiring Broadway singers keep you entertained while you enjoy typical USA Diner food – fabulous!!
We then set off to walk and wander and wonder at the sights of the Big Apple!
We walked the Highline which was interesting.
Our next stop was the moving Ground Zero Workshop in the Meatpacking District. In remembrance of the events that took place in New York City on September 11, 2001, take this guided 1.5-hour tour where you can see and touch 100 images and artefacts from the nine month 9/11 dig for the missing and experience the heroic efforts of the New York Fire Department. Listen to audio stories … an hour well spent.
We stopped for lunch before walking the 30mins to the Ground Zero Museum.
This bell is rung on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
It was a somber visit.
We then walked to the One World Observatory for our 17h30 slot….incredible views!
We walked back to Time Square and to Broadway and stopped en route for dinner. Nachos has been the order of the day!
The Lion King was as wonderful as we remembered! A great evening! We walked home and discovered that we had done 45,000 steps!! YIKES.
The next morning we were up bright and early and ready for our 25min walk to the Loeb Boathouse for breakfast in Central Park.
Located in the lower Southeast quadrant of Central Park, Bethesda Terrace is one of the park’s most photographed (and certainly most busy) settings for a photo-op. 1908’s Romeo and Juliet was the first movie to ever be filmed in Central Park, with scenes depicted in front of Bethesda Fountain. In 1976’s Marathon Man, Thomas Levy (Dustin Hoffman) visits the terrace (as well as the Reservoir and Delacorte Clock), and in 1979’s Hair, a song and dance sequence for “Ain’t Got No” features “several shots of Bethesda Terrace’s intricate carvings, which represent the four seasons and, on the side facing the Mall, the times of day,” according to the Central Park Conservancy. The fountain also makes a cameo in the 1992 sequel to Home Alone, wherein Kevin, running from the “Sticky Bandits”, hops into a horse carriage in front of Bethesda Fountain. Most recently, the same backdrop was featured in 2012’s The Avengers and in 2008’s 27 Dresses, in which Bethesda Fountain and the Boathouse restaurant serve as the backdrop to Jane (Katherine Heigl’s) continuous marital misgivings.
Designed to beautifully coexist with its natural surroundings, The Loeb Boathouse is the only Manhattan venue right on a lake … This iconic venue has appeared in multiple films including Borat, 27 Dresses and arguably the most famous movie ever filmed in Central Park is 1989’s When Harry Met Sally, beginning most notably when Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) has lunch with her friends at Loeb Boathouse.
We strolled around to walk off our hearty breakfast…
Our next stop was the Blue Note Jazz Club – very cool and relaxed vibes for a Sunday afternoon.
Our friends had told us about a hilarious interactive experience called the Accomplice … It is a blend of walking tour, scavenger hunt and immersive, adventure theatre all set in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Guests meet characters, solve puzzles, have a few drinks along the way and lots of laughs! It really did have us in stitches – a MUST DO when in NYC!
We finished with a drink and a laugh with all the actors and then headed to do some shopping! Macy’s was established in 1858 and is an iconic flagship store covering several floors and selling EVERYTHING!
The flowers were especially pretty!
We were starving so walked to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner…. hugely over priced but we have been there and bought the t-shirt and got the photo! 🙂 LOL. We walked back to the apartment to shed some of the vast calories we had just consumed – 37,000 steps today!
We were up bright and early and had breakfast at a diner before walking to Grand Central Terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. Grand Central Terminal is spread over 49 acres, has 44 platforms and 67 tracks on two levels. It is the world’s largest train station by number of platforms and area occupied!!
We headed to the Grand Central Oyster Bar for oysters. Such an iconic station. The oldest restaurant in Grand Central, this landmark has one of the largest and freshest seafood menus in the city. Here, you’ll find 25 types of fish and up to 30 varieties of oysters, along with other seafood specialties, including the world-famous pan roast.
We walked to Brooklyn Bridge which is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
We then hit Wall Street…
We took a taxi to the Christmas Resaurant! Bizarre!
We were so excited to head to Madison Square Garden for the Basketball!
We met our friends there and had an absolutely excellent time feeling as though we were in a film – so cool….. It was the New York Niks vs the Detroit Pistons – can’t remember who won but great fun was had by all!
After the basket ball game we headed for a drink with our friends at an Irish Bar around the corner … we bade them farewell and headed up the Empire State Building. The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from “Empire State”, the nickname of the state of New York. No queues and magnificent to see the City from this perspective at night! We walked home on a buzz and had equalled our 45,000 steps!
We were up early the next morning to get our ferry to the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, a gift from the people of France, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and its metal framework was built by Gustave Eiffel. From 1892 to 1924, Ellis Island was America’s largest and most active immigration station, where over 12 million immigrants were processed. On average, the inspection process took approximately 3-7 hours.
This was our last sightseeing trip – very interesting… We hopped into a taxi and headed to the airport for home – what a great visit to the Big Apple!
This is an interesting comparison of the Manhattan Skyline: 1995 vs 2008 vs 2017
Go Back to: New York – 1995
Go to: New York – 2008
