New York City 2023 PART TWO
Happy Tuesday friends!
I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. I had a great one surrounded by friends and family to celebrate my 28th birthday!
Friday, I got to have drinks with Ryan and some of our closest friends and then Sunday, my actual birthday, was spent eating my very favorite meal made by my dad. It was a relaxing and low-key birthday which is exactly what I wanted.
The only picture I got to document turning 28 lol.
Anyways, part two of NYC…here we go!
We were up bright and early. Grabbed a quick breakfast in the food court of Grand Central Station before we hopped on the subway down to China Town and Little Italy. Our subway stop lead us out right in front of the Brooklyn Bridge…see my terrible picture below.
It was actually pretty early and not a lot of the shops were open quite yet, so we just wandered the streets a little. These neighborhoods were so charming and obviously culturally diverse. Even though staying in Manhattan is always fun I really enjoyed getting away from the touristy spots for the better half of the day.
We knew we wanted to have lunch at the famous Katz Deli so we started to make our way over there.
It was a bit overwhelming to say the least. The place was absolutely packed but for good reason! You walk up to the counter and order what you’d like – but this place is like a well-oiled machine. There were probably 10 different slots and each one had a person there ready to make your sandwich right in front of you. I’d never had pastrami before so I was hesitant. I ordered the roast beef. The most New York man says to me “Baby you gotta try the pastrami. I’ll be back.” He slices a piece off for me and goes “Now baby tell me that’s what you’d rather have.” I almost walked into this place, that is famous for their pastrami mind you, and got the roast beef. HAHAHA. When I tell you it was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten….ohhh baby it was good! So, here it is. $25.00 worth of pastrami. I barely finished half of it, but it was so worth it!
After we stuffed our faces with that deliciousness we decided we were ready for a beer. We jumped on the subway and headed to Torch and Crown Brewing. Their space was so neat and the bartenders were super friendly! One of them was even chatting with us about having been to Asheville to different breweries around the area. I had the Rounding Error Pale Ale and the Tenement Pilsner, both of which were great…crisp and clean!
Afterwards, we quickly made our way to see The Lion King on Broadway. My mom and dad bought us tickets for Christmas and the show was absolutely fantastic. Multiple times I was covered in chills and had tears in my eyes. It was incredible, from the costumes, to the actors and their voices. Such a great gift and I highly recommend seeing this show or any of them!
As our day was winding down, we decided to head back to the hotel, freshen up, and go back out for a slice of pizza. Ryan found a place close to our hotel. It wasn’t exactly the best pizza I’ve ever had…sorry NYC, I think Chicago has you beat. But, it was just enough to satisfy our need for a cheap dinner 😉
The fit was a thrifted Free People top and my favorite Levi jeans that I was super excited to wear 🙂
For a night cap we checked out the Campbell Bar in Grand Central and it was perfect. Dim, moody, and romantic. The glassware was beautiful and the drinks were perfectly strong. Once again, we got lucky with our seating. A couple was just getting up and offered us their end of the bar seats. The bartender was super cool. His niece actually goes to Appalachian State right now, so he was relatively familiar with the area…small world! We settled our tab around 8:00 PM and went back to the room to crash. I know, what party animals we are!
The next morning we packed, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and made our journey back to the airport. Needless to say, the trip back out to LaGuardia was not as easy as the one into the city, but I suppose you’ll have that sometimes. But all in all, the travel was actually pretty seamless.
We were excited to get back to our fur babies, watch the (meh) Super Bowl, and get ready for another week!
Thanks for following along and I hope I was able to list a few places to add to your own NYC bucket list!