The Best Way To See New York City?
By admin
By running! More on that in just a second.
I had the best weekend. I still can’t get over the fact that my mom surprised me with this trip for my 30th birthday.
At the beginning of the year Dan and I told ourselves we were going to travel more, and so far I am doing just that!
New York City was the perfect place to visit for a girls weekend. Plenty of shopping, good food, and amazing sites. We were never bored, but then again could anyone be in the city that never sleeps?
Our trip kicked off on Friday when we boarded Jet Blue. For a woman who is fearful of flying, my mom did great. A glass of champagne always helps, right?
My mom and SIL, Julie
It blows my mind that the flight is less than 2 hours, while it also makes me angry for never taking advantage of it! After about an hour and forty five minutes, we landed at JFK and took a taxi to our hotel, The Marriott Marquis which was right on Time Square.
Talk about convenient! And very clean. We were only in our room for sleeping but I have nothing bad to say about our stay. Everyone was so kind, the food was great, and the cocktails even better! The top of the hotel had a revolving bar. So cool to be able to get a 360-degree view of the city.
Enough of that… what did we do?
Broadway
Once we dropped our bags off it was about 2:00, so we immediately went in search for food. We quickly found Carmines and enjoyed splitting lunch three ways. Classic sub sandwiches and a round of prosceccos later we were energized to go.
We had tickets for a broadway show that evening so we decided to stay close to the hotel. Even doing that, there were so many stores to pop into and with the seasons changing, some great sales!
I may have picked up a few new things which I wore to the show that evening.
After finding Macy’s, we headed back to get dolled up for that best night ever: Rock Of Ages.
I can not say enough about this show. It was mind blowing. I had the goofiest smile on my face the entire time. Everyone in the show was incredibly talented and I was in awe of the entire experience.
All three of us walked out of the theater trying to find the right words to explain it. Incredible, hypnotizing, and hands down the best show I have ever been to!
After a quick dinner, we headed back to the room for some shut eye. We were all exhausted!
Central Park
I had 2 things on my must do list and one of them was to run in Central Park.
The park was a little less than a mile from us, which was perfect. We ran up 7th Ave straight to the park, from there we headed to the Boathouse before turning around. We exited at a different entrance for extra site seeing and headed back up to the hotel via 6th Ave.
Julie was a trouper, she is in fantastic shape but isn’t a big runner. I loved that she agreed to wake up early with me to get a run in. By the end, we covered 3 miles.
Sorry for the blurry action shot! We had the best time, it is amazing what you can find when you put on a pair of running shoes.
While on our running tour we came across the Plaza, Rockefeller Center (and ice skating rink) and of course great areas of Central Park. We also took note of places we would want to explore later that day with my mom (Saks 5th Ave of course!).
The Plaza
Via Julie’s Instagram. While we were running, my niece was back in Charleston playing at the beach! Too cute.
Once we got back to the hotel, we enjoyed room service breakfast (the best) and then quickly got ready for a full day of walking and shopping.
We shopped ALL DAY LONG.
With the exception of lunch at St Regis. Which was hands down the best meal of the trip. The atmosphere, cocktails, service and food were just amazing. All 3 of us raved about the experience. It didn’t hurt that our waiter brought us a big ice cream sundae to split. And he didn’t even know it was my birthday!
We had to take Mom by Rockefeller
Once we made it back to the hotel, we enjoyed a cocktail up on the circulating bar, and then decided to do dinner in our room.
We were all exhausted and it ended being the perfect idea. A glass of wine and some sushi later we were off to sleep!
Solo Sight Seeing
Our plane was taking off on Sunday afternoon, but there were still a few things I wanted to do before we checked out. So, I set out my running hear and turned on my alarm.
By 7:00am, I was out the door and on 7th Ave heading towards the Financial District.
Besides the show and running in Central Park, I really wanted to see the site of 9-11 and the memorial. So I made it my goal to run there, which was about 4 miles. The map made it look easy enough and it was.
I enjoyed every mile as I ran through Soho and Greenwich. I passed adorable cafes, smelled delicious breakfast pastries, and stared up at amazing buildings.
I found Big Gay Ice Cream! So many of you recommended it! But sadly at 7:30, it wasn’t open 🙁
It’s great to run someplace that has even sidewalks, unlike Charleston where you’re too busy making sure you don’t trip instead of taking in the sites around you.
Every mile that passes, I was so proud of myself for having the ability to do my running tour.
Time passed too quickly and before I knew it I was at the site of the old Twin Towers. I asked a few cops how to get to the memorial and continued on.
Along the way I saw several runners with race bibs on and I was a bit bummed I hadn’t known about it (though I didn’t even look into it).
I finally realized it was a 9-11 memorial race, what are the chances? Sounds cool, except that a lot of the area was closed off for the run and events later on in the day. When I almost made it to the actual memorial, I was stopped by two cops who informed me the memorial was closed until 9am and that the entire area (not just the memorial) was closed off for the event.
I was bummed. I told them I was headed back to Charleston in a few hours and that coming back wasn’t an option. He just shrugged and said he was sorry. He then suggested I come back to New York soon. Thanks mr.
I turned, called Dan and cried. Yup, I’m a baby – I was upset and disappointed.
At least I got to see the actual site where I stopped and said a quick prayer before heading the 4 miles back to the hotel.
The Way To See New York
2 days isn’t long enough to see everything there is to see. But with only 2 days, I do felt that my feet allowed me to see as much as I possibly could.
Getting a view of the city through a runner’s eyes was amazing and an experience I will not forget. I had no intention of running as much as I did, but I am happy I decided to set my alarm.
With all the running and walking, we covered well over 16 miles. No taxi needed!
I was really surprised at how much I loved NYC. I had been intimidated by it and nervous that the people would be rude, loud and pushy. That wasn’t the case at all. I was able to stand my own and felt very comfortable, even when running down the streets all by myself.
In fact, everyone surprised me with their kindness and I cannot wait to get back with Dan so we can do some more site seeing!
Thank you New York for an amazing time! And thank you to my amazing mom and SIL for a trip I’ll remember forever. I’m a lucky girl!
Do you like big cities?
Do you run when you go on vacation?