It’s been a good while since my trip to New York, and I really wanted to document my adventures there in a series of various blog posts, but that obviously never happened. Whoops! I’ve decided to go ahead and put together a Cliff Notes-like post about the rest of my trip for the sake of documenting. And also because I don’t want to have any regrets about not writing about it! Plus it’s Thursday, so it goes with the interweb’s whole #throwbackthursday #tbt thing. Yay!

I already blogged about going to BookCon, visiting Jane’s Carrousel, going to Top of the Rock, and the American Museum of Natural History, so here are some of the other fun things I got to do while I was in the “Big Apple.”

♥ Central Park

The only other park I can compare Central Park to is Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and, in my opinion, it is far superior not because it’s bigger, but there are more things to do, and the fact that you can walk (or bike or take a carriage ride) and not drive through it is nice too! Parks are meant to be walked in, not driven through, y’know? We didn’t get to explore the whole place, and I didn’t get to see the ginormous Alice in Wonderland bronze statue that I’ve been wanting to visit since forever, but I still enjoyed what little of it we did get to venture through. We happened upon the Dairy Visitor Center where part of Enchanted was filmed by accident, and it took everything in me to not burst out singing “That’s How You Know.” We also saw the fountain near the tunnel where Rory got abducted by Weeping Angels in Doctor Who! And we walked through the Strawberry Fields part of the park where people were gathered around singing John Lennon songs.

 

♥ My very first show on Broadway (and high fiving Zach Braff)

This was a HUGE deal for me as watching a musical on Broadway, preferably with its original cast, has been on my bucket list since I was a kid. And Zach Braff is one of my absolute favorites, so getting the opportunity to not only watch him originate the role of David Shayne in Bullets Over Broadway, but to witness his debut to Broadway, was a such a fantastic treat! My sister and I waited by the door after the show where all the actors come out to greet fans, and we both got to take pictures with him! I was so nervous. I wanted to say “thank you for Scrubs and Garden State, and I can’t wait for your new movie [which I watched a few weeks ago and is brilliant]” and “This was my very first Broadway experience! You were great!” But then some girl by me started talking to him as he signed my Playbill and said it was her first Broadway show and he was all excited and asked if she enjoyed it and I’m thinking, “HEY, THIS IS THE CONVERSATION I’M SUPPOSED TO BE HAVING.” I got too shy, but I was able to take a selfie with him and as he started to walk away I grew a metaphorical pair of cajones and asked if I could high-five him. And lemme tell ya, Zach Braff gives excellent high fives! It stung for a while. It’s not a good high-five if it doesn’t hurt. Truth.

And by the way, his Bullets Over Broadway run is ending VERY soon, like this Saturday,  so if you’re in NYC before the 24th you should definitely go to the St. James Theatre ASAP!

♥ Eating at Serendipity 3

I’ve been to Serendipity 3 in Las Vegas and I loved their infamous Frozen Hot Chocolate, but let me be honest: I mostly wanted to go Serendipity 3 in New York (its original flagship location) because Serendipity, one of my favorite chick flicks ever, was filmed there. So how serendipitous (ha!) was it that my sister and I were seated at the very table John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale sat at in the movie? We didn’t even request the table, our host just brought us there and was like, “And by the way, this is the table that they sat at in the movie Serendipity.” Naturally, we did our best to re-create the scene.

♥ Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge

My friend Julia, who moved to New York last year, said it’s a lot nicer walking across the bridge going towards the city because the view is much better, so that’s what we did. Like the bridge in Paris where couples place a lock to represent their love, there were many locks adorned along the Brooklyn Bridge too (although people are being advised to not do that anymore because it’s actually ruining the bridge and costing tons of money to repair — so stop doing that!), however the things I found more interesting were the messages passerbys left along the bridge. My favorite find was “In love with a character in a book I’ve never read.”

♥  Times Square is kinda scary

Times Square is such an iconic part of New York, but talk about sensory overload. SO MANY FLASHING LIGHTS. Even the entrance to the subway was bedecked in sparkling bright lights. And everything is so… well, enormous. It’s like everything is on steroids! I don’t know, it just felt like I couldn’t handle it all — it was too much to take in all at once. Does that make sense or am I just overly sensitive?

I also ran into a t-rex at Toys ‘R Us! See? Times Square is SCARY.

♥ The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET)

Like everything else in New York, the MET was fuggin’ massive. We didn’t get to see a whole lot, but one of my favorite things was a taxidermy deer with clear acrylic spheres placed all over it in the Asian art section by Kohei Nawa. It’s called “PixCell Deer #24.” I really liked the renaissance area with all the armor as well, it reminded me of Bed Knobs and Broomsticks a bit.

And look! I also found Princess Leia in golden carbonite.

And the triplets from Brave!

♥ Shake Shack

We ate at Shake Shack A LOT. It seems like it’s NY’s equivalent to In-N-Out, and as a West Coast girl I have to say I kind of liked it better. I feel so wrong for saying that, but it’s true! Here’s why I think so: there’s more variety on the menu and the fries are not okay, they’re delicious! And crinkly (well at one location anyway)! I’ve never met a french fry I didn’t like, but like pizza there are just some that are better than others. In-N-Out’s fries aren’t necessarily my favorite. Plus, Shake Shack have more milkshake flavors besides the ‘ol vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry (but if you ever happen to find yourself at In-N-Out, get the Neapolitan shake off the secret menu). And they have these concrete ice cream thingies too; we got one with jelly donuts and it was heavenly! The lines were always outrageously long whenever we went, but the wait was always so worth it.

Dammit, I’ve just made myself hungry. * hangry sigh * 

♥ Strand

Yet again, Strand is another giant New York has to offer in the form of a bookstore. I didn’t even get to explore half of the store because we were running short on time, but I did manage to find a few fun things to bring home! My typewriter tote is the best tote EVER. It’s extremely roomy and even has a little pocket on the inside to put some stuff in like chapstick and a business card holder and whatnot. Plus it has typewriters all over it! Who doesn’t love typewriters?

♥ Momofuku 

Eating at Momofuku and Milk Bar were on my seester’s list of things to do in NY, so we met up with Julia for some yummy treats and noodles! Seriously good stuff. My mouth is currently watering just thinking about the cookies and other sweet goodies at Milk Bar. * insert crying emoji * 

♥ Grand Central Station (or Terminal, whatever it’s called)

Grand Central Station was beautiful! While we were there, there was a little exhibit to help promote CNN’s series The Sixities, and there was a bunch of memorabilia from the era including pieces of Beatles history such as a guitar signed by them, some toys, records, etc, a shelf full of books published in the 60s, and women’s clothing. The main thing I was excited about seeing there was a wax figure of my favorite neighbor, Fred Rogers!

We also got dessert at Magnolia Bakery (and ate at the Shake Shack there for the umpteenth time). It’s all about the om noms when you travel, right?

A couple of other noteworthy highlights were meeting up with my online pal David and walking around the Bowery and acting like kids at Toy Tokyo with him, and exploring High Line Park and Chelsea Market where my sister shopped like a Food Network star.

I want to go back to New York soooo terribly! Despite being there for a whole week, I didn’t get to explore as much of the city as I would’ve liked to. Hopefully I’ll be able to go again someday in the near future. It’s doubtful, but you never know! Are there any places you’re itching to go to, my little ponies?

Cheers,
Nina