The Big Apple, at Christmas!! Managed to get an amazing deal on flights for this one, from our very own Leeds Bradford and we arrived at The Ludlow on the Lower East Side mid-afternoon. This is a beautiful hotel in a very cool neighbourhood, our room was epic with a HUGE terrace looking over the city, which was great as despite it being December the weather was actually pretty warm!
We headed straight out to the Empire State Building, smugly holding our pre-purchased tickets to avoid the queues, which turned out to be non-existent, typical! We got to the top just as the sun was starting to set and we watched as the city lights started to twinkle. Yes its a super touristy thing to do but the view is totally worth it. Next we ticked off some of the midtown sights, radio city, Macy’s, Times Square, blown away by the size of everything, including the giant Christmas decorations. We stopped at the Rockefeller to watch the ice skating under the famous Christmas tree, magical! We then made our way back down Manhattan and after stopping for a couple beers we came across Lavagna, an Italian in the East Village, super cute all candle light and intimate tables, and the food was delicious – a great first day.
The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Dirty French, and headed out for the day. First stop was Ground Zero, hard to put into words how you feel when you look down into the 2 huge pools which were once the bases of the Twin Towers. Reading the names of the people who died is truly heart breaking, and even though its in the middle of the city its such a quiet and reflective place, One World Trade towering defiantly above. We then wandered through the financial district and past the New York stock exchange as we went catch our helicopter ride! This isn’t cheap but it such an amazing way to see the city as they take you on a full loop round Manhattan, passing the Statue of Liberty, so much fun!
After all the excitement we needed some food so while exploring the Meat Packing District and Chelsea we stopped at Joes Pizza for a slice, authentic NYC and very tasty. Yes we had 2. We stumbled across the really cool Gansevoort food market and pottered around there for a while, this area is just a nice place to hang out. We did a quick stint of the High Line and made our way to Grand Central Station. There’s actually a nice little bar inside the station called The Campbell which was super cosy and we couldn’t resist a drink or 2.
You might think that was enough excitement for one day, but not quite… we got back to the hotel and as I opened the door I was surrounded by pictures of Dan and I and all the places we have been as well as cute little notes, there were rose petals everywhere leading out onto the terrace with fairy lights, a huge bunch of red roses and a bottle of Champagne. I turned around and you guessed it, Dan went down on one knee and asked me to marry him!!! I of course said yes, it was just so perfect, he had gone to so much effort and I don’t know how he managed to stay so cool all day! We sipped the Champagne looking out over New York while calling our nearest and dearest to give them the news. We were so excited to go and celebrate and had tickets for The Lion King on Broadway that night, the show was brilliant but it was a little hard to concentrate!
The next day and still on a high we set out to explore more of the neighbourhoods, we found ourselves in little Italy, found a perch in an open window and watched the world go by for a couple of hours with some beers and snacks, ideal. We strolled into China Town although to be honest there wasn’t much to see so we headed up to 5th Avenue and on to Central Park for some Ice Skating which was very funny, a real mix of skating abilities!
That evening we were booked into Keens, a classic NY Steak house and it did not disappoint. We shared our news with our server hoping for free fizz, but we got some cheesecake instead! After dinner we headed to Le Bain, a nightclub perched on top of The Standard hotel where Dimitri from Paris was on the decks and we took in the outstanding views of the city at night.
Last day, we ventured east over the Brooklyn Bridge, first to Williamsburg which is cool but mainly a residential area, I think Dan only wanted to go here so he could checkout a record store! We made our way to Brooklyn for more pizza at Grimaldi’s and after a few snaps of the city from the pier, we headed back over the bridge for a final cocktail at the hotel before leaving for the airport.
BEST WEEKEND EVER
If you like Piña Coladas... 