This day last week, I was getting ready to head to New York. I am still recovering from the madness of the weekend and I have serious holidays blues. Once again, NYC did not disappoint! Last year we went in February and got unseasonably good weather and this year we got so lucky again. The sun did not stop shining all weekend.
Myself and Parker arrived from Toronto on Friday night. The flight, after a delayed take off was quite scary, they are small planes and the wind was bad, so the turbulence was the worst I have ever experienced. When we did land it was an hour and a half wait in customs. We didn’t get downtown until around 11pm. We were staying with friends in an Airbnb in Greenwich village and the location was ideal. Myself and Parker dropped off our stuff while my friends were in the pub and when I went to open my suitcase, I realised that a can of 7up that Parker put in my bag while we were on the train downtown had burst over ALL my clothes. The poor guy felt so bad! I had a little cry and then got over it and headed out to meet my friends. We headed to a cool speakeasy bar in Greenwich Village that you must walk through a FIVE GUYS to find. I love things like that, so I was very excited! It was great fun.
The next morning, my 7 up clothes had dried and although some were a bit crunchy there was nothing I could do! Lol. As it was St. Patrick’s Day and the rugby match was on, we had to get up bright and early to head to a pub! We headed to the Brass Monkey around 9.30am and had full intention of getting breakfast in there. However, it was super busy, so it was drinks for breakfast! After celebrating a great win and feeling super proud to be Irish we headed for lunch in The Standard. We went upstairs after to the roof top to have a drink and admire the amazing views.
We then headed to 5th avenue to catch some of the St Patricks day parade and again I felt so proud to be Irish. We even spotted Des Bishop who waved and remembered my friend from his show 2 nights before. One of the highlights of our weekend. Lol!My friends then headed back to the apartment to rest and myself and Parker went to meet my cousins for a drink, it was great to catch up with them. We went back to the Airbnb for a quick change and headed out to a few bars. I honestly don’t know how we kept going.
Sunday, after a well needed lie in we headed for brunch before going to Brooklyn Bridge. I didn’t get a chance to go there last year so it was high on my list. It did not disappoint. The sun was beaming down, and the views were incredible. I really enjoyed it. After we walked over it into Brooklyn we headed to the “the most Instagramable” spot in NYC, the street with the view of Manhattan Bridge. It was kind of crazy how busy it was. Everyone doing it for the gram. Lol. We were all a bit tired and hungry so went to Shake Shack to get food. I have never been so disappointed with somewhere in my life. It's highly over rated. To be fair, I felt a little sick, but I will just say, I wouldn’t be rushing back.
We then went on a hunt to find a nice roof top to watch the sunset and went to The Wythe Hotel rooftop to catch the incredible views of the sun going down. Sunsets are my absolute favourite. That night we went to “Fat Cat” in Greenwich Village. It is an underground jazz bar with a games room also. We were all a little tired from the day before, so we didn’t say out too late.
On Monday, we headed to Facebook NY as my friend works in the Dublin office and she was able to take us in for a tour. We even got some breakfast and snacks. Hence why I loved it so much, haha. The FB office was amazing, and I felt really inspired after coming out of there. It would be a cool place to work. We then went to the Freedom tower, as last year I never went up to the top. The views are unbelievable up there. We spent the last few hours walking around down by the water and went to see the Irish hunger memorial by Battery Park, which was great to see. Tired and sad to be leaving we said our goodbyes to my friends (only for a short time though) and headed back to Toronto.
I have fallen in love with NYC even more now and I am already thinking of when I can go back! Its not long now until my next trip and I cannot wait! Roll on May.
Talk soon xx
Zita J
