I made a spontaneous trip to New York City! I went for a weekend, three days, in July and boy was it an adventure! I’m splitting up this trip into a three part series like I did with San Francisco a few months ago (check out day one of my trip here!). This is the third and final day of my trip to NYC, but be sure to check out day one and day two!
Day three began with packing up my stuff and grabbing some breakfast (a latte and blueberry muffin) at a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts – I know, not authentic NYC food but it was the only place near mt AirBnB with grab-and-go food.
I took the subway to the Staten Island Ferry with excitement for my destination. The Staten Island Ferry is a free ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island. It goes right by the Statue of Liberty, the main attraction for the ferry if you’re not a commuter using the ferry to get home. Since it is a free service, the ferry is extremely busy. It does, however, run every 30 minutes so it’s easy to get to the island and back. The ferry ride itself takes about 25 minutes, but I wish it was longer. I love boats and being on the uppermost decks, feeling the wind whip my hair and the swells of the waves. If you’re concerned about seasickness, the ferry is extremely smooth. It moves fairly slowly so it breaks the waves instead of riding them. As a rider, it hardly feels like you’re on a boat.
If you’ve never been to NYC, I recommend spending the $20 or so that it takes to take the National Park Service ferry trip to go see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It’s incredible and awe-inspiring. The history of the place overwhelms you. I can only imagine what it would have felt like to see the Statue of Liberty after having traveled across the Atlantic Ocean, seeking solstice and hope. To experience the struggle of getting authorization into the new United States through Ellis Island and beginning a new life. I went the last time I was in NYC and absolutely loved it. I had planned to visit Ellis Island again but time constraints restricted me.
Something else that I had also planned on was walking around Staten Island but again, time constraints restricted me because I had more destinations that I wanted to visit. If you have time, I’m sure that it’s an interesting destination to see. I ended up wandering the ferry terminal, which was very nice, and realized that I had no NYC gifts for my family. We have a tradition of purchasing magnets of all the places that we visit, so I bought a magnet for my mom, and my little brother loves snow globes so I bought him a small NYC snow globe.
Right next to the Staten Island Ferry terminal in Manhattan is Battery Park. Battery Park features cafes and restaurants, as well as memorials for the military and other famous figures. It is right along the water and has side views of the Statue of Liberty. It is a major port for touristy boat rides and cruises – there is even an old colonial boat!
A few minutes’ walk away from Battery Park is the Bowling Green Park. While the greenspace itself is beautiful yet small, featuring a large fountain and some flowers, the main attraction is the Wall Street Bull and the defiant girl statues. I didn’t realize how much of a tourist attraction this was, but there were hundreds of people surrounding the statues. People posed on both ends of the bull, and yes, I do mean both ends. A favorite pose was right under the bull’s butt, fondling its balls. Real classy people. Young girls stood next to the defiant girl opposite of the bull and struck her “superman” pose for their mothers.
By this time I had to grab my stuff from my AirBnB and start heading Penn Station to catch my train. But my adventures in NYC were not over. I had a few more stops left.
One of the few things I definitely wanted to see during my trip was the New York Times building. It has been a dream of mine to work for the New York Times ever since I was in around 8th grade. While I highly doubt that I will ever get the opportunity to work for this news organization, I was pleased to at least have been able to visit their office.
Finally, I couldn’t leave New York without eating pizza. I found a small shop called “Kiss My Pizza” and ordered two slices and a soda for $5. The pizza slices were huge (I ordered before I saw how large the slices were) and I was only able to finish one slice.
As I walked to Penn Station, I happened to pass by the Empire State Building. During my previous trip to NYC I went to the top of the building and it was spectacular! The views are incredible and they let you go outside, so you feel the wind whip your hair and the entire building swaps with the wind. It’s so crazy. It costs about $20 to go up to the top and if you’ve never been to NYC, I highly recommend visiting.
Now it was time to catch my train back to Washington D.C. and end my New York City adventure. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to see it again soon.
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Thank you for reading! Have you ever traveled to New York City? Let me know in the comments below and like this post if you want more like it!
Xoxo’s
Emmalee
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Emmalee Mauldin 
It’s my dream to see the ball drop in NYC, but hotel prices are insane. Loved the info about the ferry. Great Post!
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Thank you so much! I’ve always dreamed of seeing the NYE ball drop in Times Square as well! However, it is always so cold and crowded, and being a child of the desert with vast open spaces, it seems very stressful. I’m sure I’ll get there some day. Happy New Year!
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