Ah, the Big Apple. I just love New York City. Yes, it's kind of dirty and gritty. But, it it absolutely amazing that so many distinct neighborhoods, cultures, and people can be packed into such a small area. I love the energy of the city. Everyone is always on the move. It makes me want to do big things and be more than I am right now. My friend, Heidi, and I planned a Girls Weekend in New York, which ended up being kind of a "five year reunion" trip, since we traveled to Ireland together almost exactly five years ago. When I go visit Wisconsin, it's hard to divide time between family and friends, especially on short visits, so we thought, "Why don't we meet somewhere cool for a girls weekend and some quality time?" New York was the immediate answer, since we both love theater and had talked about a NYC trip in the past. First Night in New York CityThe first night I arrived, Heidi met me at Penn Station when my Amtrak train arrived, and we walked the 14 or so blocks to our hotel, Hotel Edison NYC. It has a beautiful art deco entry and lobby. The rooms were not spacious but fine, since we weren't planning on spending too much time in our hotel anyway. The best thing about Hotel Edison? We had registered for a "Grab-n-Go" breakfast with our room and felt a little nervous the next morning when there was no restaurant or breakfast room to be found. However, at the front desk, we received vouchers to pick up our breakfast next door at Danny's Gourmet, a deli with prepared food and made to order items. With our "Grab-n-Go" breakfast, we were entitled to a coffee/tea, pastry, piece of fruit, and yogurt. It was so easy to stop by and pick out our items, hand them the voucher, and take our food to go as we set off to explore the city for the day. The worst thing about Hotel Edison? It was really close to Times Square (which I'm sure is a plus in a lot of people's minds), which meant being practically assaulted by tour bus operators at every turn. Yes, the location was convenient for some activities, like waiting for Broadway tickets, but we spent much more time downtown and the aggressive tour guides were not pleasant. On our first night, we ate at John's of Times Square, a pizzeria in an old church. As you eat, you can look up and admire the old domed ceiling. We actually did not have pizza, as there was no gluten-free crust, but they did offer gluten-free pasta! Statue of LibertyThe one touristy plan that we had was to visit Ellis Island. I booked the ferry ahead of time online with Statue Cruises, the only official boat that stops at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. You couldn't get a ticket for one without the other, so we sailed to the Statue of Liberty first. The skyline views were great as we headed out onto the Hudson. I had a similar experience previously in New York when taking the Staten Island Ferry, which is free and also offers great skyline views. Seeing the Statue of Liberty is one of those things that you should probably do once in your life. There is the option for a free audio tour, but we just walked around the statue and took some pictures looking up at her, reading a few signs about the history. In about 15 minutes, we had exhausted the Statue of Liberty. I'm not trying to say that it's not cool to see this symbol of America, but that's all there is to do - see it. To be fair, you can reserve a ticket to go up into the pedestal or the crown. I was going to reserve a pedestal ticket, as it did not cost extra, but the online store was sold out, and the crown tickets cost more. I was totally ok with this, since going up in the Statue of Liberty fits into my "views from tall things" opinion category. Namely, these tall landmarks (e.g. Statue of Liberty, Space Needle in Seattle, St. Louis Arch) are the things that make a city's skyline unique. When you look at and take pictures of the city from up in these landmarks, they are not in the picture, so the city looks pretty much like every other city without it's defining landmark in the shot. Given this opinion, I was happy to look at the Statue from the ground, with New York CIty in the background. Ellis IslandAfter circumnavigating the Statue of Liberty in 15-20 minutes, we boarded the ferry for Ellis Island. This was the thing that Heidi and I were eagerly anticipating. I enjoy learning about history, and Heidi actually had ancestors arrive in America through Ellis Island. Sailing up to Ellis Island, I imagined what new immigrants to America had thought when they were docking there, probably things like "We made it", not realizing that they had a long process ahead of them. At Ellis Island, we did take the free audio tours and headphones and spent hours exploring the exhibits, taking in the information about people arriving in America. Unfortunately, as a result of Hurricane Sandy, the climate control displays had failed and had not yet been fixed, so most of the original artifacts had been moved to another location for safekeeping. So, when we looked at a display that said "Medical instruments", there were blank spaces under the glass. I wish we had gotten to see the original instruments and documents! However, we were able to get a sense of the process when immigrants arrived, the medical examinations they underwent, and the conditions at Ellis Island. There was a beautiful display of photographs of immigrants in their traditional garb. Despite spending a few hours walking through the exhibits, we still didn't have time to see everything! World Trade CenterReturning from Ellis Island, the ferry dropped us at Battery Park, located at the very tip of Manhattan. From there, we walked to the World Trade Center site to see the memorials and 1 World Trade Center building. Looking over the pools was an interesting experience. The last time I had been in New York (January 2008), the site had been a dirt pit, filled with scraps of debris and construction equipment and surrounded by a chain link fence. Now, the World Trade Center memorial was so clean and pleasant that it was hard to reconcile the tranquil pools with the scene I remembered from seven years earlier, harder still to reconcile it with news footage September 11, 2001. Somehow, the pools looked vast and small at the same time. I had trouble imagining them being the footprint of building. There were names carved around the edge in tribute, and I felt incredibly sad to see one that said a woman's name "and her unborn child". ButterHeidi and I planned to meet up with a friend from high school who now lives in New York. He suggested that we grab drinks and food at Butter. I have to admit that the first thing that came into my mind was Gossip Girl: Blair: "I have a table at Butter, reservation's under Waldorf in case there's an after-party." Gossip Girl: "As any good general knows, you never let your soldiers see you sweat. Looks like this battle's ending at Butter, and the win goes to B." Jenny: "But Blair, um, we're all going to Butter and I was wondering if you wanted to join us?" I can't lie, I was excited to pretend I was Blair Waldorf for an hour or so. Although, I believe it has moved locations since the Gossip Girl days. We sat in The Garden at Butter, surrounded by brick buildings and fire escapes rising while string lights and greenery set the mood. The executive chef at Butter Midtown is Alex Guarnaschelli, an Iron Chef and Food Network TV personality. Heidi and I only shared appetizers, but the food was delicious! ChinatownAfter Butter, we planned to meet up with another high school friend, Kabir, who lives in Chinatown, where we ate a full dinner. Aux-Epices, the restaurant that Kabir found for us, featured French-Malaysian food and an exuberant owner. I can't be sure if it was in Chinatown or Little Italy, but Aux-Epices was delicious and fresh-tasting. Kabir and I had Malaysian-inspired dishes (Laksa and Curry Squid, respectively), while Heidi went the French route with mussels. The space was a cozy little restaurant, wide enough for one row of tables, with a wrought-iron gate framing the tiny porch and a brick wall behind the tables. I fell in love with the space immediately. One thing that I always hear about New York is that it's "so expensive". Yes, it is easy to spend a lot of money in New York City. However, at Aux-Epices, we were treated to wonderful food, friendly service, and great ambiance, and each of us paid $14 or less for our plates, comparable to a dinner out in Austin. After our meal, we considered getting ice cream, but we were all pretty full. Thus, Kabir decided to take us on a walking tour of Lower Manhattan. We wandered past an Asian movie playing in a Chinatown park, strolled through the streets of Little Italy, gazed up at City Hall, and walked halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge. The view of the skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge was incomparable at night. It was the perfect ending to our New York day to look back on the city lights with friends. P.S. 1 World Trade Center's spire was lit up in a rainbow to celebrate the Supreme Court's ruling on marriage equality! It also happened to correspond with NYC Pride Week, which occurred while we were in the city.
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When heading to New York City, I asked around for recommendations from my friends. One comment on Facebook suggested a "Lower East Side Food Tour", which sounded like a lot of fun. I started looking into tour options and stumbled across Free Tours by Foot, a tour company that offers walking tours in various cities...on a pay-what-you-wish basis. Since I was on a tight budget, especially by New York City standards, Free Tours by Foot sounded like the perfect opportunity compared with tours that cost $40-$50 or more. They believe that everyone should be able to enjoy a tour for whatever price they like, even free, and guests can decide what to pay after they experience the tour rather than pay upfront. After perusing the numerous New York City options (Greenwich, Chinatown, Williamsburg...oh my!), my friend, Heidi, and I selected the Greenwich Village Food Tour. I figured that, with no upfront cost, we didn't have anything to lose by trying it out! The Tour: We selected the Greenwich Village Food Tour on Saturday at 11:00am. This was a fantastic decision for multiple reasons. First, a two-hour food tour at 11:00am can be your lunch, and, as you'll see, it ends up being a very cheap NYC lunch. Second, the neighborhood wasn't super crowded on a Saturday at 11:00am, despite it being the weekend of the Pride Parade. We figured a lot of people were still sleeping off their Friday night. Third, the food in Greenwich Village is awesome. Fourth, we got a lot of information about the history of Greenwich Village, even though it was a "food tour". Greenwich Village has a long, fascinating history, from the early farmer's fields and bodies buried under Washington Square Park to the bohemian culture that launched many musicians and writers to being the center of the LGBT movement. I appreciated that the tour guide took us to Washington Square Park and pointed out landmarks like Cafe Wha?, The Gaslight Cafe, and the Stonewall Inn. The Food: Our tour consisted of 6 stops, including many classic NYC foods. Free Tours by Foot has great relationships with these establishments, so they have "tasting options" at each restaurant. For example, you could go in and order your own slice of pizza for $3.50, or you could have 1/4 slice for $1 with the "tasting option". Even though it's only a 1/4 slice, New York slices are huge and, when tasting food at 5 or 6 stops, you will be full by the end. Here were our stops:
Food allergies and Preferences:
The Cost: If you do the math, you'll see that one of each sample item on the tour adds up to $5.50, plus whatever you decide to get for dessert at Sugar & Plumm. Our dessert cost was $5 each because we each indulged in two macarons. It was really hard to stop at just one, but, if you have more restraint, it could be even cheaper. You could choose to spend more if you buy double of something. There is no upfront cost for the tour, but, of course, the tour guides always appreciate tips. They say that you can decide what the tour is worth or pay what you can afford. Our guide was personable, very helpful, and offered free maps for us at the end. She definitely got a tip from each of us at the end of the tour. Heidi sampled everything and had 2 macarons, bringing her cost to $10.50 plus a tip for the guide. I couldn't sample everything (see the Food Allergies section), so my cost was a bit less. I spent $1 on falafel, $3 on corn from a street stand we passed, and $5 on macarons, bringing my total cost to $9 plus tour guide tip. For an awesome activity and lunch, we felt that was pretty affordable. In New York, you can easily spend much more on a meal. Even our cheap lunches in the city cost about the same without the fun tour. Recommendation: Highly recommended for a fun, low cost activity! We got to spend two hours in Greenwich Village, sample a variety of restaurants, meet some other people, and hear the history of the area. Our tour was great, and I appreciated that I could still enjoy a food tour, even on a tight budget. I would not have been able to afford a $50 food tour at this point in my life. They have a variety of tours, some involving food, some involving bikes, and some that just explore certain neighborhoods. Check them out in New York, London, Chicago, Washington DC, Paris, New Orleans, Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston, San Francisco, or Berlin! http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/
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AuthorMy name is Alyssa Good and I have a passion for travel, adventure, culture, and new experiences! I focus on budget friendly travel, trip planning resources, and seeking out new experiences. Archives
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